2008 Woodie Awards
The Wall Street Journal has a front page cover story about Princeton senior Dan-el Padilla, who not only is one of the top students on campus but also is here as an illegal immigrant. It’s definitely worth reading:
Dan-el Padilla Peralta, a 21-year-old classics major at Princeton University, has risen from a childhood in homeless shelters and blighted apartments to maintain a 3.9 grade-point average. He has won prize after prize, often taking twice the typical course load. One faculty member, writing a recommendation, predicted “he will be one of the best classicists to emerge in his generation.”
Mr. Padilla stands out at Princeton for another reason: He’s an illegal immigrant. And two weeks ago, he did something few people in his shoes ever do. He turned himself in.
Mr. Padilla recently won a two-year scholarship to Oxford University in the United Kingdom. But according to longstanding immigration law, if he leaves, he can’t return to the U.S. — his home since the age of 4 — for at least 10 years.
Like many people on campus, I found the fact that there are undocumented immigrants in the student body surprising. It was surprising because the thought never crossed my mind and only goes to show how fundamental a role such undocumented immigrants, of all stripes and colors, play in our accepted everyday surroundings and lives. Knowing Dan-el’s story is also important in the context of all the debates, protests, articles written on campus, whether in this publication or elsewhere, about the political hot potato of immigration. His story tells us these public statements and articles are on a topic that is as much of a reality to us as the student sitting next to us in class.
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