The University of Utah campus is bustling as students move into dorms in preparation for a new school year. For incoming freshman Amber San Miguel and her mother Adelaida San Miguel, it’s an especially momentous occasion. When Amber was a child, Adelaida earned a merit scholarship to the University of Utah. But her husband died and she was unable to use it. Now, Amber will be the first one in the family to get a bachelor’s degree. “She’s finishing what I started,” says Adelaida.
Amber smiles at her mother and continues, “We lost my dad. So she’s been the one to bring me here, to push me to do well in school, to show me what it’s like to be a hard working woman.”
When Amber was born, this achievement was hard for Adelaida to fathom. “She’s my miracle baby. When she was born she had a long list of issues. One of them was microtia and they thought she wouldn’t develop one of her ears. So she didn’t pass the hearing test. If she didn’t pass the hearing test, she was not going to be able to talk. And they were expecting that she was going to have equilibrium problems. So she’s probably not going to walk, or have troubles when she walks. She had kidney problems. She had jaundice. She had a big list.” She also had congenital torticollis.
But as she wipes tears from her eyes, standing in her daughter’s dorm room, she says, “She’s here. She listens. She walks. She runs. And she’s super smart. For me, just getting the merit scholarship, that’s a great thing. Her brain is fine. So it’s a miracle. Life is a miracle. How am I not gonna cry when I’m so grateful?”
Amber San Miguel unlocks her dorm room as she moves in to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageAmber San Miguel smiles as her mother Adelaida San Miguel gets emotional as they move Amber into her dorm room at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageAdelaida San Miguel gets emotional as her daughter moves into her dorm room at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageSam Moten, from Boise, moves into his dorm at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageA painting of Aiden Humphries’ cat Binx, painted by his sister, is packed with his other belongings as Humphries, from Sandy, waits for an elevator to move into his dorm at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageEli Hanson and Porter Hanson lift a refrigerator and their father Aaron Hanson holds the cart as they move Porter into his dorm at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. Porter Hanson is from Gig Harbor, Wash.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageStudents move into dorms, with help from friends and family, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageKara Blanchard, from Bountiful, reacts to seeing a friend from high school as they move into dorms at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageHalle Dalton watches Taylor Jue take a selfie with Swoop as students move into dorms, with help from friends and family, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. Dalton is a student. Jue is a friend.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageElliot Goldberg, from Cold Spring, N.Y., moves into his dorm with help from his sister Bridget Goldberg, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImagePorter Hanson, from Gig Harbor, Wash., moves into his dorm room at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. His mother Stephanie Hanson helps.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageAnjali Vieira, a freshman from San Jose, California, hugs her mother Beata Vieira goodbye at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Download ImageAnjali Vieira, right, watches as her mother Beata Vieira hugs Vieira’s new roommate Cameryn Coffey goodbye at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({
appId : '528443600593200',
xfbml : true, version : 'v2.9' }); };
(function(d, s, id){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = " fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
