For generations of students arriving at Michigan State University through the College Assistance Migrant Program, or CAMP, the first lesson often came before their first class.
“In life, no one owes you anything. No one is going to give you anything. Anything you get in life, you are going to have to work for it.”
It is a message Luis Alonzo Garcia repeated often. Simple, direct and rooted in experience, the words became both a challenge and a promise for students whose journeys to college were shaped by long hours in the fields, family sacrifice and determination.
For Garcia, the message was never about hardship alone. It was about the possibility.
From the fields to the classroom
Garcia was born in Waco, Texas, into a migrant farmworker family. One of 12 siblings, he learned early what it meant to contribute to the household. Work was constant. Days in the fields and long weeks helping his family make ends meet were simply part of life.
As a teenager, his family migrated to Michigan for seasonal work, picking cherries near Traverse City before eventually settling in Alma.
School, however, was not easy. Spanish was Garcia’s first language, and the education system he encountered often felt unfamiliar and unwelcoming.
“It becomes a system that doesn’t understand you, and you don’t understand the system,” he later reflected.
Feeling disconnected from school and uncertain about his place within it, Garcia dropped out of high school and began working third shift in a factory.
But one person changed the trajectory of his life.
A counselor, Abraham Rodriguez, encouraged him to return to school and finish what he had started. Garcia enrolled in night classes, caught up on his coursework and earned his high school diploma. With Rodriguez’s continued support, he applied to Ferris State University.
Garcia was accepted, and he never looked back.
Discovering the power of support
At Ferris State, Garcia studied human services while working with United Migrants for Opportunity and Inc., or UMOI, an organization supporting migrant farmworker families. As a student intern, he helped connect workers with resources and support services in West Michigan.
UMOI also helped cover the cost of his textbooks, a small but meaningful gesture that stayed with him.
It was Garcia’s first experience seeing how institutions could open doors for students who might otherwise be left to navigate higher education alone.
Years later, that lesson would shape the structure of CAMP itself.
A life of advocacy and global service
After graduating from Ferris, Garcia dedicated himself to advocacy on behalf of farmworker communities. He worked as an assistant organizer with United Farm Workers, supporting national efforts such as the Gallo Winery boycott and raising awareness of the labor conditions faced by agricultural workers.
Seeking a broader perspective, he later joined the Peace Corps and served in Paraguay from 1978 to 1980.
There, Garcia helped support community-led initiatives, including the construction of a secondary school and agricultural development projects. He learned the Indigenous language, Guaraní, translated for fellow volunteers and immersed himself in community life.
It was also where he met his wife, Irma.
The experience shaped Garcia deeply. It also inspired a feature that would later become distinctive within CAMP: encouraging students to broaden their worldviews through international experiences and cross-cultural learning.
Building something that didn’t exist
Garcia eventually returned to Michigan and enrolled at Michigan State University, where he earned a master’s degree from the College of Education; he completed in one year what had been designed as a two-year program.
He began working at MSU in student services as the Native and Hispanic coordinator, advocating for programs that supported underrepresented students.
But something was missing.
Garcia noticed that the children of migrant farmworkers — students like himself — were largely invisible within higher education.
So he decided to build something that did not yet exist.
“If someone isn’t doing something,” he would often tell students, “Then it means you have the opportunity to create it.”
Working with colleagues, Garcia wrote and rewrote a federal grant proposal several times before it was finally approved.
In 2000, Michigan State University launched its College Assistance Migrant Program.
A national model for student success
For the past 25 years, CAMP has helped students from migrant and seasonal farmworker backgrounds successfully transition to college life.
The program offers academic advising, financial assistance, mentoring, leadership development and community-building resources for first-year students navigating higher education.
Since its founding, the program has supported more than 2,000 CAMP Scholars on their path toward graduation.
"As one of the first generations of the CAMP program, I am grateful for the support and home the program offered me during my time at MSU," said Melina Monita, 2006 College of Social Science graduate. "They understood that when they were taking in a student, they weren’t just taking in the individual student. Instead, they were taking in the whole family and their culture. Luis and the CAMP staff were a support system that didn’t make students feel like the numbers that they had to report on."
Over time, offerings have expanded through Farmworker Student Services, creating a network of programs that support farmworker communities across educational pathways, including:
- High School Equivalency Program
- Identification and Recruitment Center
- Farmworker Student Services Global Initiatives
- Great Lakes Latina/o Farmers Program
- National Farmworker Scholars Internship program
Over the course of Garcia’s career, he’s brought in over $30 million in various grants to establish and grow MSU programs. Along with CAMP, these initiatives make up one of the most comprehensive farmworker student support ecosystems in the nation.
More importantly, they have created a community — a community that for many students is a second family.
“It was Luis who convinced me to attend MSU. It was his demeanor, his mission and his passion,” said Michael Suarez, College of Communication Arts and Sciences 2015 grad. “Throughout my four years, anytime I faced hardship and felt like giving up, I would go to Luis’ office and talk to him.”
Leadership rooted in care
Garcia’s leadership style reflected his life experience: steady, persistent and grounded in the belief that every student deserved someone in their corner.
“Focused on creating pathways and growing opportunities for students and their communities, MSU’s programs help farmworker students navigate unique educational, economic and social challenges,” said Mark Largent, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Education.
“Their journeys to MSU often began with Garcia’s steady presence, his ability to listen and his refusal to let structural barriers determine a student’s future.”
Under Garcia’s leadership, the program has grown into a nationally respected model.
But the heart of the program remains centered on building personal and lasting relationships.
“In 2018, I arrived from Texas with nothing but a suitcase and determination. CAMP saw potential in me that I couldn’t yet see in myself," said Cristo J. Garcia, 2022 and 2024 College of Social Science grad. "Elias taught me how to tie a tie; Luis gave me the guidance I needed to move forward. CAMP wasn’t just a program — it became my family."
Garcia made students — past and present — feel seen. They knew they had someone at MSU who cared about them and their future.
A new challenge: Funding uncertainty
Despite its success and national reputation, the program now faces unexpected funding challenges.
In the 2025–26 academic year, CAMP, along with many other similar programs across the country, did not receive a federal funding renewal from the U.S. Department of Education during the competitive five-year grant cycle.
This loss of funding places the program in a precarious position.
While some universities were forced to dissolve their programs entirely, Michigan State was able to maintain a limited range of services for students while also exploring alternative funding sources.
The setback also delayed Garcia’s retirement. Originally planned for the 2024–25 academic year, he postponed stepping down to help stabilize the program and support its transition forward.
Even after decades of building opportunity, Garcia knew the work was not finished.
A community steps forward
In response to the funding uncertainty, the broader Lansing community has rallied behind CAMP.
One powerful example came at the 42nd annual Greater Lansing Hispanic Christmas Symposium, hosted by MSU Federal Credit Union in partnership with Latino Leaders for Equity Advocacy and Development, and other community organizations. The symposium chose CAMP as its beneficiary.
The result was extraordinary. More than $135,000 was raised to help sustain the program and support its students.
The event reflected something Garcia has long believed: The success of farmworker students is built through the care and commitment of the community.
The work continues
After 25 years of leadership at MSU and, now a grandfather, Garcia has officially retired as of January 2026.
Despite his retirement, the program Garcia built and the values that shaped it remain firmly rooted at Michigan State.
“Even as I retire, CAMP is in capable hands with a team of compassionate staff and CAMP alums who serve as guides of support for first-year farmworker students,” Garcia said.
In November 2025, long-time Farmworker Student Services Associate Director Elias Lopez was appointed interim director of the office and the CAMP program, ensuring a seamless transition.
For the thousands of students whose lives were changed by CAMP, Garcia’s legacy is not measured simply in programs or milestones.
It lives in the confidence of first-generation college students who once wondered if they belonged here.
And in the words they heard when they first arrived: “Anything you get in life, you have to earn it.”
For generations of CAMP Scholars, Luis Alonzo Garcia helped ensure they had the opportunity to do exactly that.
Farmworkers feed America, and MSU CAMP supports first-generation, low-income farmworker students. Make a difference for future farmworker students by giving to the CAMP program. Your gifts will help ensure the program’s continued success.
The cover photo features participants and community supporters from the 2025 International Engagement in Mexico program, who gathered at Cowles House for an evening with the president. Photo by Marisa Laura Photography.
