Portland Magazine
May 1, 2022
Mauricio Paz ’22 goes home to southern Oregon during school breaks to work in the vineyards with his family members. A pre-med biology and Spanish double-major, he isn’t afraid of hard work in the fields or in the classroom. What follows is an edited version of a lovely conversation about his fall break.
Photos by Alisha Jucevic
ON THIS DAY DURING FALL break we started at 7:30 in the morning and worked until about 3:30 pm. All the grapes needed to be picked. We were picking Tempranillo grapes. We pick the grapes along the midline of the plants and leave behind the grapes that are higher up.
Usually, the fall harvest is from September to as late as the beginning of November. After the harvest, we prune the plants and get ready for the next bloom. I’ve worked all parts of the year, from the hottest days of the summer to the freezing cold temperatures during the winter. When the vines begin to grow in spring, we choose which ones to grow, and we cut the excess growth. We also cut the vines at the base of the plant—we call them “suckers” because they can take away nutrients. Then you wait until the grapes are ready to pick.
Harvest season is exhausting. It’s like a workout because you are sore for the first several days, almost as if you’ve done a bunch of squats. After continuous days you get used to it.
It’s a lot of work, so to mentally overcome the intense physical demands of the job, I often treat harvesting season as a competition between myself and my family and coworkers. We see who can make the most buckets that day. It’s $2 a bucket. On this day, I did about 75 buckets. How many buckets I fill depends on the type of grapes we are picking and how long we work that day. The bigger the bunches, the more buckets you fill in a short amount of time. You fill your bucket, dump it in the bin, and get one ticket per bucket. My dad drives the tractor that has the bins attached and gives out the tickets.
This day the tractor did about seven turns, and two rows of grape plants can be picked after each turn. It took roughly one hour a line. Each row is on average the length of three-quarters of a football field.
My parents have always told me to work hard and to use my break to make money, so that I can pay for my personal and college expenses. Since they cannot financially help me for school, this is my way of helping them. Also, it’s a time to hang out with my dad, to spend time with my family. We chat all the time, we listen to music and talk about what’s going on with people, catching up on each other’s lives. Someone usually clips a speaker to their pants, and we listen to banda or older music that they listened to growing up.
When we knew a photographer was going to come this day, we told everyone and asked if they’d be OK if they might be in the background of a photo. As I usually work with jokesters (it seems), they agreed and said, “As long as I’m going to be famous!”
I am the first in my family to go to college, and I have pride in being an FGEN student. I think we sell ourselves short on the things we’ve already done. I’ve asked myself: Am I even a good student? But when I have time to myself, I think about the day I made the shift to come to college, something my parents didn’t do. It was a big leap. I did that. It’s something I’m proud of myself for doing. My family doesn’t always understand how big a deal it is to be doing well in college. They don’t always understand how big an accomplishment it has been.
I’m an FGEN mentor at UP because my high school mentor had a big impact on me and helped me find opportunities I didn’t know about. She played a big part in my journey to UP, especially in finding financial assistance. Now I know of opportunities that can help other students, so I want to give back and share the knowledge I have.
My interest in medicine began when I tore my ACL playing soccer in high school. The orthopedic surgeon displayed a collection of knee models and figures that captivated my eye. This interest inspired me to volunteer at my local hospital in the surgery center, emergency, labor and delivery, and the neurology/orthopedic units where I got to experience different types of medicine. I enjoy working in the medical field. Two summers ago, in addition to working in the fields part-time, I worked as a COVID-19 screener, and I shadowed a nephrologist this past summer.
Communication is a crucial part of medicine, and I believe that having a physician who speaks your language and understands your culture is important to quality care. As a Spanish-speaking physician, I plan to serve those who are underrepresented and face a language barrier to ensure that those patients have access to the care that they deserve.
I have ambitious goals in life that I have shared with my family, one being my goal of becoming a physician. At home, some family members have nicknamed me “the doctor.” They say things like, “Make sure the doctor eats right.” They are meaning to encourage me, I know. I also feel a lot of pressure on me to fulfill this goal. A saying that my family tells me a lot—and one that has motivated me during times of doubt—has been “¡échale ganas!” It’s hard to translate exactly, but this is my translation: keep going, keep persevering, and keep working hard.
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