We asked Karen Navarro-Estrada and Moriah Cortez what message they could send to people who, like them, weren’t great students growing up, or even to anyone reading about this mother-daughter team that defied expectations at Merced College.
They said the same thing: “If I can do this, anyone can.”
Navarro-Estrada, 52, is mother to Cortez, 27, and they both graduated with honors from Merced College on May 23.
“To be honest, this is so new, I don’t know how to feel,” Navarro-Estrada said. “How did we both do it? It’s surreal. I’m still in shock.”
Neither grew up with good prospects.
Navarro-Estrada grew up poor in the Sunnydale projects in San Francisco. She remained poor when her family moved to Atwater when she was 12. She struggled in school, where she was placed in special education classes.
Cortez never warmed to school herself and had already dropped out of high school when she moved to Winton in 2017.
Navarro-Estrada reached her wit’s end in 2023 and gathered her other children, Jack Bishop Jr. and Miguel Estrada Jr., to say, “Hey, I’m tired of being poor. I’m going back to school.’”
Cortez’s academic rebirth began in 2021, when her mother brought home a flyer touting something called the Empower Program.
That three-day seminar introduced Cortez to an academic counselor named Jennifer Scheidt from Come Back Charter School—run by the Merced County Office of Education in an old church across the street from Merced College.
In June 2021, Cortez enrolled at Come Back, designed for students aged 16-24. In February 2022, she married Adrian Cortez. On June 1, 2022, she graduated with her high school diploma as the Come Back Charter valedictorian.
Her graduation was tinged with grace. Cortez, remembering two miscarriages she suffered before, was 39 weeks pregnant with her daughter Rosario while giving her speech.
“I had given up on myself back in high school and was turned away from GED programs a few times before I found my inspiration, through my mother, to start again,” said Cortez, also mother to daughter Delilah. “Mom kept saying she knew I could do it. Then Miss Jennifer saw the same greatness in me my mom saw.
“If you asked me what I wanted from life five years ago, when I was just sitting in my room alone, I would have said, ‘What I have now.’ My family is proud of me. My mom is so proud of me. I’ve made myself proud.”
Graduating With Honors
Both Navarro-Estrada and Cortez started in the Merced College Online program. Mom chose to study Psychology, and daughter chose to study Administration of Justice.
They also, as Navarro-Estrada says, “broke generational curses.”
“We’ve both come a long way,” she said. “We did that so our offspring and their offspring can live a good life, not one where you’re wondering if you’re going to eat tomorrow.”
Navarro-Estrada graduated as a member of both the Phi Theta Kappa and Alpha Gamma Sigma honor societies, and with Superintendent’s Honors (36+ units, 4.0 GPA). She will study psychology at San Francisco State, with a full scholarship to cover tuition, and hopes to return to the pharmaceutical field.
Back when Navarro-Estrada worked to survive, she did a three-day job stuffing envelopes at BioMarin, a Bay Area pharmaceutical company. There, she had a supervisor named Amy Waterhouse who told her that she could work there as long as she worked hard—the high-school graduate turned those three days into 5½ years.
“If not for Amy, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” she said.
Cortez, who also graduated as a member of AGS and PTK and a receipient of Superintendent’s Honors, is taking her AS-T to UC Merced, where a Bobcat Grant will help her pay for school. She wants to go pre-med and eventually become a doctor of forensic pathology.
“I’ve always known I wanted to help people, and forensic pathologists can help people who can’t help themselves,” Cortez said. “I want to know the truth of how things happened. Even the dead need someone to advocate for them.”
When Cortez finally opened the email about her acceptance to UC Merced, she showed it first to her husband and then to her mom. Only then did she look at it herself to be sure the answer was yes.
“My mom and I were both bawling,” Cortez said. “Surreal, but awesome. The one memory I’ll keep from this experience is knowing how badly my mom wanted this for herself and for me.”
Navarro-Estrada appreciates how Cortez supported her in turn.
“I worked to keep my kids out of the ghetto,” she said. “Life is supposed to make us stronger, not weaker. Moriah helped me complete this milestone. I am so deeply proud of her. I could never have dreamed we would do something like this together. I never knew this feeling existed until now.”
Tears and Laughter
There were some tears shed as these two women, overwhelmed with pride in themselves and each other, shared their story.
Let’s balance that with some fun. How about a TikTok-style quiz?
Who is the best student?
Karen: “Me!”
Moriah: “Me!”
Who loves Merced College more?
Karen: “I think Moriah. She has all of the t-shirts and sweatshirts and cups. All of the gear.”
Moriah: “We both do!”
Who will cry at graduation?
Karen: “Me. She’s emotionally stronger. I always wonder if I’m overreacting.”
Moriah: “Both, but my mom first, for sure.”
Here’s where this interview, which was done before graduation, went off the rails. Because both then imagined what it would be like when Cortez helped her surgically booted mom across the stage. (Navarro-Estrada broke her foot not long ago.)
Out came the belly laughs.
“I don’t want to be a crybaby about it,” Navarro-Estrada said. “I don’t want to look like a raccoon at the ceremony. I need some waterproof mascara!”
Warned Cortez, “We’re gonna be enjoying the ceremony for a while. Don’t turn out the lights on us! We’ll be the last ones to leave!”