Growing up in the mountains of Mexico, Armando Porras never thought obtaining an education was possible.

Now at 19 years old, Porras is an electrical engineering major at Sacramento State with a 4.0 GPA and the recipient of a national award.

The National Association of State Directors of Migrant Education, an organization of state officials responsible in helping migrant student succeed in school, awarded Porras a recognition bestowed to one student every year at its conference in San Antonio April 5-6.

Porras was nominated by College Assistance Migrant Education Director Viridiana Diaz.

“Armando was selected based upon his civic participation, dedication to education and motivation to improve the lived experiences of migrant workers and their families by becoming a college educated citizen of an active participant of society,” Diaz said.

At age six, Porras immigrated to Watsonville, Calif. with his parents and two younger sisters.  

“Never did I think I would be awarded for the way I performed in school,” Porras said.

When first arriving to California, Porras and his family lived in a laundry room for three months.  

“There was five of us in a laundry room,” Porras said “Sometimes we would wake up and there would be water on the floor.”

From the laundry room, they moved to a Motel 6 for two weeks before moving into a mobile home owned by his dad’s boss.

“In my mind I was OK,” Porras said. “It was way better than what I was used to back in Mexico.”

Porras said he remembers wearing ripped clothes, torn shoes and living off the land in Guanajuato, Mexico. His family lived off money his grandfather made selling pomegranates in a city two hours away.

“When I was a little kid I never thought I would go to school,” Porras said. “ In my head, I was just like ‘I’ll take care of sheep and cows and work on these farms for the rest of my life.’”

He said attending a U.S. school for the first time was not a great experience. As he struggled with English and wore the same green sweatpants everyday, he was often bullied. However, the experience changed in high school.

After he stopped caring what his peers thought of him, Porras said the bullying stopped. Although he made more friends and got involved in high school, his grades were barely good enough to get into a state university.

Without much effort in academics, Porras soon took into account the hard work his father went through to give him the opportunity at an education.

“My dad had been working so hard all his life,” Porras said. “He had cancer, he is still going to his therapy [and] he is still going to work to put food on the table. I really love my dad and to tell him ‘sorry dad all your hard work was for nothing,’ it was just not an option.”

Soon after his realization, Porras earned a 4.0 GPA the first semester of his senior year. After being denied admission at Sac State, Porras appealed and was admitted when he earned another 4.0 GPA his last semester of high school.

Now a freshman, Porras said he has prioritized his education.

“He believes that education is the best way to break the cycle of poverty and wants to continue with his education,” Diaz said.

Civil engineering major Jonatan Cordova met Porras through Summer Bridge and CAMP, or College Assistance Migrant Program,  and found they shared similar goals while quickly becoming close friends.

“[Armando] never forgets on the sacrifices that his family has done in order to see him in college,” Cordova said. “He knows that graduating from college is not just for him, but also for his whole family.”

Porras plans to graduate in 2018 and hopes to one day fund a scholarship and be a motivational speaker for students with similar experiences.

“I have met a lot impactful speakers in my life, now I want do the speaking,” Porras said.