In an op-ed, Jazzlee Cerritos (CC ‘28) writes about the meaning of identity and culture for first-generation students. For her, the first-generation experience means enduring an identity tension between two cultures: one’s origin (“the motherland”) and one’s country of birth. She argues that a person shouldn’t choose between one country or another. Instead, she believes in the coexistence of both cultures. The op-ed delves into epistemological questions of identity and culture and offers a fresh perspective on the first-generation experience. Jazzlee leaves the reader with an important question: what does it mean to be an American? Or in her case, Salvadoran-American?