Another opportunity for Oscar Ocana

Oscar Ocana, a Mexico-born business student, only recently learned English, but he uses a certain word a lot: “opportunity.”

“I have been here for one and a half years,” said Ocana recently, sitting at a picnic table at Spokane Falls Community College. “It’s such an opportunity. I came without any single English. The first year here, that’s all I did, study English.”

Ocana has picked up his new language well, including slang like “for sure.” As if his fast-track bilingualism isn’t enough of a challenge, Ocana is the first foreign student to be elected Associated Student Body president at SFCC.

“I don’t want to make it a big deal that I’m a foreign student,” Ocana said. “I sit on the board of trustees, and when I’m there I’m representing all the students here – I’m not Mexican.”

When Ocana began at SFCC, he joined the International Student Club on campus. That became his entry to student government, where he said he quickly got to know a lot of other students and faculty. When faculty and students encouraged him to run for student body president, he said it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

Born and raised in Durango, Mexico, Ocana became his family’s main provider when his father died of a heart attack at 36.

“I was 17 when my father died in 2001. I worked 15 hours a day in the repair business my dad left behind,” Ocana said, adding that he also attended a university part time. His mother took care of his two brothers, who were 14 and 5.

A chance encounter in a coffee house in Durango became Ocana’s Spokane connection. Spokane geologist Mike Rasmussen and his wife, Rhonda, had moved their family there for a year because of Mike’s mining job. They began hanging out at a local coffee house.

“Oscar was a barista there. He was very outgoing and very curious about us and some other American families that were there,” said Rhonda Rasmussen, who’d hired a private tutor to learn Spanish. She met the tutor at the coffee house, and soon Ocana was involved in their conversation.

“Oscar said he wished he could learn English, and I said I’d be happy to help him with English if he could help me with my Spanish,” she said.

“She spoke no Spanish – I spoke no English,” said Ocana, laughing. “We were using our hands trying to teach each other.”

The Rasmussens encouraged Ocana to study in the United States, but it took some persuading.

“I had to leave my family there, I miss my family, for sure, and I miss my brothers so much,” said Ocana. He also left behind his girlfriend.

“I love that girl. It was very tough, for sure,” Ocana said. “We didn’t know if we would survive or not. But my dad told me real love is only one time and so far we are good.”

Although he had support from his host family, participating in classes and completing homework in a foreign language was a challenge.

“You just nod. People say, ‘Do you understand?’ and you just nod and nod, ‘Yes, yes,’ ” Ocana said. “It was so frustrating. I couldn’t wait to get home to my host mom and talk Spanish to her.”

Rhonda Rasmussen, a pediatric nurse, said they still occasionally have some language misunderstandings – but usually they’re funny.

“My husband asked Oscar if he could give our neighbor a ride, and Oscar said ‘Sure,’ jumped into the car and took off,” Rasmussen said, laughing. “My husband just stood there.” Ocana returned when he realized he didn’t really know where he was going.

“He’s never been afraid of using his English,” Rasmussen said. “He just gets up there in front of people and talks. He’s done that since the first month he was here.”

Ocana is not an exchange student in a traditional sense – he didn’t come to the United States through a formal program. “He’s become a member of our family,” Rasmussen said.

And when Ocana ran out of money after just one quarter at SFCC, his host family paid a big part of his tuition. “Foreign students can’t work off campus,” Ocana said. “And I don’t want to break the rules.”

He’s applied for scholarships, but so far the generosity of individuals has helped him the most.

After a year of English as a Second Language classes, Ocana moved on to the business program. He’ll have an associate’s degree by spring and would like to transfer to a four-year school. His dream is to start a Mexican restaurant – but not in the United States.

“I want to go back to Mexico, I want to help my country and that’s the only way I can do that,” said Ocana, adding that he has always wanted to create good jobs in his hometown. “If I can give one person a job, then that person can take care of their family. That way, you hire 10 or 12 people, and they take care of 30 other people.”

Ocana likes Spokane, he said. The cold weather is one thing he could live without, though, and he misses his mother’s and grandma’s cooking – not that he’s complaining about the food at his host family’s house.

“People here have been so nice to me, I would love to have students here go to Mexico,” Ocana said. “You should open your mind to people around you, and Mexico has a lot to offer. Don’t stereotype. Not all Mexicans are the same, for sure.”