SPONSORED — When Floricel Gonzalez was recognized as a national winner at the Annual Biomedical research Conference for Minority Students, she earned more than a certificate; she earned the admiration of her parents — parents who vowed long ago that their children would not follow their footsteps into the agricultural fields of central Washington.

For Gonzalez, it also marked a payday of sorts — a reward for years of studying, working and attending classes, in hopes of paving the path to a better life.

“(Education) was something that was engraved into our minds every single day,” Gonzalez said. It had to be. As one of six children who immigrated to the Yakima valley with her parents from Zacatecas, Mexico, when she was 4 , Gonzalez knew she would have to work hard if she wanted to attend college and create a comfortable lifestyle. Learning wasn’t necessarily a chore for Gonzalez; in fact, it came naturally.

“I was a big bookworm,” she said. “It was a joke because my sisters would taunt me, saying I wasn’t normal kid. I didn’t want to go outside. I wanted to just stay and read.”

The reading served her well. Acclimating to a new country and culture, Gonazalez quickly learned English in kindergarten in White Swan, Washington. With a grasp on the language, Gonzalez was ready to learn anything she could. Her parents motivated her, ensuring she completed homework each night and helping her find resources to guide her education when they couldn’t.

After reading her way through high school, Gonzalez enrolled at Washington State University as a freshman. Though not the first of her siblings to enter the world of higher education, Gonzalez seized the opportunity immediately. She was attracted to literature — after all, she grew up with her nose in a book — but a couple of sciences courses changed her track.

“This is kind of amazing,” she said of the discipline that compelled her to declare a double major in English and microbiology. Through the latter, Gonzalez realized the “rush” that comes with scientific discovery.

After weeks of attempting a specific experiment with unsuccessful results, Gonzalez thought she was a failure in the world of science. Late one night, the experiment worked.

“It was just a control,” Gonzalez said. “But that little victory reinforced how much I did like research. And so, at that moment, I knew: If I can get this to work, I can get everything else to work too. And slowly, but surely, it did work out.”

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Her experiment wasn’t the only thing that worked out for Gonzalez. Last summer, she accepted a research internship at Virginia Tech University, working closely with Professor Birgit Scharf on a project that would receive national honors: examining the entry of viruses into bacteria. Her oral presentation in November at the Annual Biomedical research Conference for Minority Students in San Antonio won her a national award.

Ever humble, Gonzalez credits her parents, family and the support system she found at WSU.

“There are so many … Eva Navarijo, director of the First Scholars program, and Raymond Herrera, director of the McNair Achievement program,” she said. “They have been huge figures in my life. Without them, I definitely would not be where I am today. They’re both people who have believed in me when I haven’t believed in myself. So when I say, ‘I can’t do this, this is out of my league,’ they say ‘Why? You can do this. Look at what you’ve done already.'”

Going forward, Gonzalez hopes to continue her research, studying the interactions between disease and host to understand antibiotic resistance and the spread of infectious diseases such as Ebola. Her plans include a doctorate degree and a long-term position in a private- or government-based research group.

And of course, making her parents proud.

“Being able to send their children to college has meant the world to my parents. They have been able to experience higher education through us. It’s changed their lives, too.”

Changing lives is what Gonzalez — and her WSU mentors — have in mind for the future, one petri dish at a time.