Rural students in California: Building local success
A graduate of SDSU Imperial Valley stands beside a campus statue embedded with a section of the original U.S.-Mexico border fence.
Courtesy: April Mazón
When we talk about student success, we often envision young people leaving their small towns to pursue opportunities elsewhere. However, in rural California, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border, success often looks different. Many students want to stay, lead, and thrive in the very communities that raised them.
As a rural educator and researcher in Imperial County, I have seen firsthand how Latina students bring determination, creativity, and deep community commitment to higher education. They are not looking to “make it out,” they are looking to build opportunity within their community. Their stories remind us that talent is deeply rooted across rural California.
For too long, rural students have been described through deficit narratives like “brain drain,” the idea that success means leaving small towns behind. But this framing ignores the resilience and leadership already present in rural communities.
Instead, we should look at it as “community-rooted mobility.” This concept, as suggested by my research, “Voces Rurales,” recognizes rural students who use education to uplift their regions, applying their knowledge, language and cultural strengths to make lasting change at home. The Latina students I spoke to for my research view college not as a ticket out, but as a pathway to strengthen the social and economic fabric of Imperial County and similar regions.
This shift in mindset is critical. It allows us to celebrate rural students as innovators, not outliers, and their home regions as places full of potential, not limitations.
California’s rural regions hold some of the greatest promise for innovation and growth. Imperial County, for example, is at the center of the clean energy revolution with its geothermal and lithium industries. Yet for many years, workforce and higher education investments have been concentrated in major cities, leaving rural areas underrepresented in statewide economic planning.
That tendency is starting to change. Imperial Valley College’s LIFT the Valley initiative demonstrates how rural colleges can serve as workforce anchors. By connecting students to local jobs in lithium production, advanced manufacturing, and industrial automation, programs like this demonstrate that when education and employment are linked locally, rural students can achieve meaningful, sustainable careers without leaving home.
These place-based programs illustrate what’s possible when we design education with communities, not just for them.
To continue this momentum, California must intentionally invest in rural-serving colleges as catalysts for workforce development. Here’s how.
First, the state should align education with local industries. Colleges should co-design curriculum and internships with regional employers to ensure that coursework leads to viable local jobs. The state should also start career exploration early. Bilingual, culturally responsive supports integrated into first-year courses can help students envision careers connected to their community’s future. Finally, California should build mentorship networks. Pairing students with local professionals and alumni reinforces a sense of belonging and fosters long-term connections between education and local leadership.
When rural colleges receive equitable funding and collaboration, they can become innovation hubs that prepare students for both economic and civic leadership.
The Latina students I interviewed represent California’s greatest resource: homegrown talent. They are bilingual, resilient and community-driven, exactly the kind of workforce our state needs to power its next generation of leaders.
Investing in these students is not about helping them “catch up.” It’s about recognizing their contributions as central to California’s success. Equity is not only about race, gender or income, it’s also about geography. Students in places like Imperial County deserve the same access to career opportunities as those in larger cities across the state.
When we invest in rural students, we invest in the future of California itself.
If California is to thrive, it must expand its definition of success to include staying. By creating local career pathways, expanding community-engaged learning, and strengthening partnerships between colleges and industries, we can ensure that education fuels prosperity where it is most needed.
Rural students shouldn’t have to leave home to succeed. They are already building California’s future, one rooted in community, equity and belonging. It’s time our visions aligned with those of our rural students.
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April Mazón, Ed.D., is a rural educator, researcher and program manager at Imperial Valley College, leading initiatives in workforce development and higher education equity.
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