Where Are They Now?
Amber Mason Garcia studied geology in college, and enjoys collecting rocks and crystals. She loves rocks and minerals for their variation, and sees that diversity as a helpful lesson in life. “Let’s all be different,” she said. “I think that everybody should be their own unique crystal and shine.”
Garcia graduated from Dublin High School in 1999, and stayed in the area working at various places. “I just played around for the first few years out of high school,” she said. “I just enjoyed living and working here and there and being young.”
She spent most of that time working at Sonic as a carhop. Then, in 2006, she went back to school at Tarleton.
Garcia wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do, but finally settled on a geology major. But her senior year, life got in the way. “My parents were in a motorcycle accident and I had to take care of them for a little bit, so I wasn’t actually able to graduate from Tarleton,” she said.
After leaving school, she continued taking care of her parents. She also had two children by this time, so she stayed home to raise them for a few years.
Two years ago, she went back to work as a telephone sales rep for Concentrix, a business services company specializing in customer engagement and business performance.
“It works with American Express,” she said. “I try to get people set up on a new payment type plan. They first think that you’re a telephone [scammer], and I’m like, ‘No, I’m trying to save you money!’ It gets a little frustrating from time to time, but then again, you can make connections with people so it can be fulfilling.”
The job itself has great benefits and potential for advancement. “It builds really well,” Garcia said. “You have a chance to move forward and go up in the company. There’s a pay raise once to twice a year and it pays so much better than anywhere I could just find working around here without a degree. I really enjoy it.”
When she’s not working, Garcia loves looking for beautiful rocks. “I’ve always been an avid rock collector and crystal collector,” she said. “I’ve got so many crystals here, too many to count.”
She also spends a lot of time with her two children, Christian, 13 and Hannah, 19. Hannah has special needs, and watching her progress in life is an inspiration to Garcia.
“Seeing my daughter work through her struggles is amazing,” she said. “Watching her graduate last year was just magnificent. She just worked so hard. Knowing what she goes through on a daily basis, I’m just so proud.”
Raising her children hasn’t always been easy, of course. “My greatest challenge was being a single mom,” said Garcia. “You know, being mom AND dad. It’s difficult and I’m trying to better myself on a daily basis. I just take it one day at a time.”
Garcia’s advice to Dublin graduates is to embrace their individuality, and have faith that things will work out.
“Once school’s over, it gets so much better,” said Garcia. “School is so hard. It’s so tough to get through but you’re gonna make it. Once it’s over, the world is so much different and we are so much more than what we think we are.”
Real life is less about fitting in, and more about being true to yourself, she said. “Being different is what makes us unique and incredible people. Fitting into the norm is not important at all when you get older. You don’t have to fit into any particular shape or size. We’re all special and unique.”
“I think that being unique is what makes this world an incredible place to create creativity to be able to share,” she said. “Without that, what else would we be? We’d just be a bunch of drones going through the world — and how fun would that be?”
Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.