Latinx Experiences at Hanford: Michelle Molina

Many people in the Tri-Cities have origin stories that include migration, dedication to family, hard work and contributions to the community. The origin stories of Latinas and Latinos are no different. The Hanford Latinx Experiences oral history interviews share the experiences of just a handful of the many Latinas and Latinos who have contributed unique skills to the development of the Manhattan Project, to Hanford, and to the Tri-Cities. These stories reflect the lives of many people who helped build a place that hundreds of thousands call home today.

Michelle Molina grew up in Quito, Ecuador. In her interview, she shares memories of living in Ecuador with friends and family as well as adjustments she made in her move to the Tri-Cities as a teenager in 2009. Many of the ways Michelle found community in the Tri-Cities was connecting with other students who had roots outside the United States. ; hHer involvement with the International Club at Hanford High School was a definitive moment in her transition to life in the Tri-Cities. Michelle pursued an education and an eventual career in engineering. After college, she found work at the Waste Treatment and Completion Company as a vit-plant engineer. Michelle has contributed to cleaning up Hanford’s nuclear waste since 2018, is now working for Washington River Protection Solutions, and has found essential support from Women in Engineering—a professional organization committed to promoting women in engineering and STEM.

Michelle describes community in Quito Ecuador

Michelle describes community in Quito Ecuador in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

Awesome. Thank you. If you could describe, the place you grew up in, in Quito? What was the community like where you came from? What were some favorite activities that you did as a child, or any particular or specific memories that you feel would be important to share?

Michelle Molina

… we had a really, really good time. I remember the sense of community was really, really fun and good, because we always prayed together, went to all of the activities together. They had a lot of small parties, where we always had to either dress up or we had to be a part of the community in some way, bringing food or we had to dress up for a specific holiday that we had in Ecuador. As far as my house, my family has always been very social. My grandpa and my grandma had so many friends in the neighborhood. They would throw sometimes parties outside in the backyard. The way that I like to describe it the best is that it was all stone. It's not a backyard where you see grass, because I want people to picture it that way. You know, it's like it's not grass. It's more like it's outside and it's kind of like a balcony type of view. It's on the bottom of course on the first floor. We usually had parties. One of my fondest memories of when I was 6 or 7, we would have parties outside. My grandparents usually would get a DJ to play, and there was a lot of dancing. I learned how to dance when I was very little. Salsa. Bachata. Cumbia. So, yeah, I was always very social as well. Danced a lot. I think those were one of the key memories for sure for me is always being around people and being a part of something.

Michelle describes Quito Ecuador

Michelle describes Quito Ecuador in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

Thank you. Thank you. You also were kind of sharing, too, about just memories that you've had within community or within your family. I was just curious if you had any particular like words or like adjectives to describe the feeling of living in Ecuador. How would you describe… if there's like a difference in the vibes there as opposed to over here?

Michelle Molina

Yeah.

Drew Gamboa

If that makes sense.

Michelle Molina

Yeah, it does make sense. It was always warm and welcoming. I would say I always felt comfortable around the people. I can be myself. I want to say welcoming and warm is the biggest adjectives I can put in there. Even when I go back, when I go and visit, that's the same feeling I get when I go there and visit. In addition to that, I would say also fun. It's so fun. There's so many activities going on and people are always willing to do things. Nobody goes and says, “Yeah. I don't want to do like that. I want to stay in and do nothing.” Nobody really does that. It's always nice, because there's people that are always down, even if it's just to go out and get food or just to chat. One thing that I was thinking about lately, that I struggle with today, is that sometimes I tend to talk and sometimes I just say stuff and sometimes it goes silent. I want people to answer back, even though it’s something dumb and lame. Sometimes I don't get an answer back. I know that's part of the culture. Like, I've noticed that sometimes it's like, “Yeah, what I said doesn't really need an answer…” But sometimes I wish I had more of a sense of like, “Yeah, I heard you.” Or like, “I heard you. Haha, that's funny.” Just something that answers back to me. I was thinking about it. I'm like, “Well, the people in Ecuador, they would probably do that. They would say something, and they would not leave you hanging.” You know. That is something that I do miss…

Michelle moves to the Tri-Cities

Michelle discusses moving to the Tri-Cities in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

Okay. Thank you, thank you. You were kind of sharing, too, about how you moved over to the Tri-Cities. I guess, like, when did that happen? I'm sure you kind of shared that already. When and then also like, how?

Michelle Molina

Yeah. Good question. I moved to the Tri-Cities in 2009. It's been a bit now, but I was 14 years old, and it was in October. I actually came here when school already started, like a month-and-a-half after school already started. Two maybe even. I think they start school in August here… We first lived in Ecuador and then we moved to Argentina. We lived in Argentina for a year. Then we moved back to Ecuador and my stepdad really needed to come work here. He actually worked at Hanford. He's like, “Let's go to the U.S.” We applied for the visa. It took a long time. It took like four years, and then we finally moved here. I think my mom applied for the visa right after they got married, so within those four years, we were living in Argentina, Ecuador, and trying to see what life would be like. Then, we moved here, and then ever since, we stayed here.

Michelle describes transitioning to the Tri-Cities

Michelle describes transitioning to the Tri-Cities in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

How was that transition for you? Whether that be just like within schools, with friends, if there is any changes within your family too, that you'd be comfortable sharing?

Michelle Molina

That was definitely the one of the hardest times in my life. Definitely a highlight of my life, I would say. As a 14-year-old teenager, I had my solid group of friends in Ecuador. I specifically remember I had six girlfriends. We always did something together and had such a good time. In a way, it was kind of like all that ripped out of my life. All of that like, “Okay, now pick up and leave.” Of course, I mean, I knew that it was going to come. We always talked about moving, and I was excited. I did love the language. It's going to be silly, but I grew up listening to a lot of American music, and one of them was the Jonas Brothers. I was like one of those crazy fans for them as a teenager back then, loved listening to the Jonas Brothers. That's how I learned how to speak it better, because I would try to memorize their lyrics and try to understand what they were even saying. I always had this dream that I would live in the U.S., but of course all the dreams that I had were in big cities like California, Hollywood and all these things that you kind of see on TV. When we moved to Tri-Cities and I had to say goodbye to everyone, it was really, really hard. Definitely a big culture shock. Not just culture shock, but also city shock. I went from Quito, which is the capital, big city to this small town, that had no mountains at all, no trees. Of course, people were, you know, different. They had a different culture. They had a different way of like speaking to me. Of course, the language. It was very hard. Me and my mom became closer even then. I was already close to my mom. I've always been close to my mom, but I think we both held on to each other during this transition phase, because we were the only two people that understood each other and the fact that we are in a completely new place.

Michelle describes finding community in the Tri-Cities

Michelle describes finding community in the Tri-Cities in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

You shared too, that by like the third year or fourth year you kind of started feeling a sense of, maybe, like belonging, maybe?

Michelle Molina

Yeah. I think by my third, fourth year, I started to kind of understand more the dynamics and the social dynamics. I was starting to feel more comfortable talking to people and having a consistent amount of friends, and just being able to know where my safe space was. Part of that was, I think, because I was always in the International Club in Hanford High School. I always looked forward to the school year, because I knew there was going to be new students that were from other countries. I always made friends that way. At least the first three years, most of the friends that I had were international students. I did have two friends that were always my friends that lived here. They were also from different countries. One of them was Korean, and the other one is from Afghanistan. I always connected more with people that were from outside of here or were originally from somewhere else. I think by my junior and senior years, I started to make friends start from here, like American friends. I started to understand the cultural dynamic of how to reach out to them and what is funny to them. [laughter] One thing that I notice is that humor is very different, too, and people here are more dry with the humor and also love sarcasm. That's something that I still struggle with till today, [laughter]...

Michelle describes finding community at Whitworth University

Michelle describes finding community at Whitworth University in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

Thank you, thank you. You also kind of share, too, that it was a lot easier to build that sense of community while in college.

Michele Molina

Yeah.

Drew Gamboa

What made that so? And then also, what type of activities were you involved in? What things on campus or just within Spokane more generally were you doing?

Michelle Molina

I remember of course being really scared at first to move there, but I had a sense of being comfortable. Comfortability, I guess, for knowing that they will take care of me, because of the way they talked about the dorms. I was going to go to a dorm. I remember that as soon as I got there, they moved me into the dorm, and I met the RA and some of the people that were there in my dorm. One of the persons that I met, the first two girls that I met, were from… One of them was from Mexico, and the other one was from Venezuela. I think just knowing that there are people like me. As you know in high school, I already was always making friends with people from different countries. Just knowing that one of them was going to live in my dorm, I was like, “Okay, I'm okay. I'm set. I have someone who understands me. I have someone who I'll be able to rely on.” She felt the same way. I can tell that we both clicked… I think it is nice, because when you're in freshman year, it's like we're all starting from zero. We're all starting from scratch. There is no cliques. There's no people that already know each other. So, it's just so nice. I think that's probably why by my freshman year of college, I felt way more comfortable. I felt like I was starting again. This time I was not starting again without knowing anything about America. This time I was starting out and knowing how it is, knowing the culture and just kind of feeling more comfortable about it. Yeah, that's how it all happened.

Michelle talks about pursuing chemistry in school

Michelle talks about pursuing chemistry in school in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

Thank you. What made you…? So you studied chemistry at Whitworth, right?

Michelle Molina

Yeah.

Drew Gamboa

What made you pursue a dual degree in chemical engineering?

Michelle Molina

Of course, as we all have advisors, I always told them, “Well yeah. I'm thinking of doing engineering… Maybe.” I did have families that were like, “Engineering pays well. You are good at math. You should give it a try. Try to take some classes.” So, I did and ever since my freshman year, I started taking calculus classes, and I think I took computer science and chemistry. I took all the science classes, because I knew, you know, why not? I know I'm good at them. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. By my second my second year, of course, I already had to start thinking about it a little bit more… The 3-2 program, you do three years in Whitworth University, and those three years is you choose either physics or chemistry or general engineering. That is like the major. And then, you take classes that start you off as an engineer. Then, the last two years, you transfer to a different university that has an engineering degree. You do engineering–only the technical classes for the last two years, and then you're done with the program. It seemed very complicated and very challenging at the time or intimidating. I had definitely my family. I had one advisor that was like, “You can do it. You can try it. If anything, you're still doing chemistry. And if all goes wrong and you don't get the GPA you need, you continue to learn chemistry, and you'll do chemistry, you know. There's other majors you can even pursue if you want to, like dual majors in Whitworth?”** … **But, my teachers or my professors were very encouraging. I think that helped me to keep on going and trying. I think of course, it also has to do with my classmates. Yeah. The classmates that I met there too. That's how I stumbled upon it. It's funny, because up until now, I meet people that have done the 3-2 program. I recently met someone two weeks ago that is in Hanford and working at Hanford. He's like, “You did the 3-2 program, too?” I'm like, “Yeah, I'm did!” It's really cool when you meet or you see someone who's done the same thing as you. Like, “Oh, you went through that?” Yeah, that's how I ended up there.

Michelle becomes an engineer

Michelle talks about becoming an engineer in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

And so, the 3-2 program, like two years in Saint Louis, right?

Michelle Molina

Yeah. I went to Washington University in Saint Louis. Yeah.

Drew Gamboa

How was that? How was that experience?

Michelle Molina

During that time, I just didn't feel like I was fit to be an engineer. I do feel that sometimes even now. Of course, the imposter syndrome comes up, but in senior year, because I would see other people, you know, you always compare yourself with other people. I always see some people like, “Oh they would get a job. I still don't have a job.” I talked to my mom and advisors. They would say, “Don't be so hard on yourself. You will eventually get a job. You know you're going to graduate.” I had research on my resume as well, because I did research for a professor in Saint Louis during my summers. I didn't have any internship in the back of my pocket, so I think that's what scared me the most. I was very scared that, like, “Okay. Other people have internships. I don’t have anything to show.” My grades were good enough. I definitely struggled with it. And then at one point, I just said, “You know what? I should just finish school, and then I'll worry about work.” At one time, I did make that decision. I was like, “If the worst comes to worst, I'm done here, and then, I move to Tri-Cities. There, with the comfort of my house, in the comfort of my family. I'll just apply for jobs.” My mom is not going to be like, “Get the heck out of here.” My mom was like, “No, you have to come back home. I miss you.” That's how it was. She was like, “You have to come back.” That's what happened. I just didn't have a job by the time I graduated. I moved back here in the summer of 2018. I live here till now, but I was applying for two months in the summertime. I got the job in Hanford in WTCC, which is a Waste Treatment and Completion Company, essentially the vit-plant, WTP. That's how I ended up here, again.

Michelle describes her initial role at Hanford

Michelle describes her initial role at Hanford in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

Awesome. Could you describe the role that you were hired initially at Hanford, and what you were doing initially?

Michelle Molina

Yeah, the role, the job position was plant engineer… a communicator between the laboratory and the engineering department. We had a lab in Pasco that was eventually going to transition into the Hanford site. They were going to do all of our samples for us, and samples that were very important for the mission. The work that I did and the support that I did was for the waste that we were going to receive from the tank farms. What we had to do is, as soon as we received the waste, we had to sample it and confirm that the waste we had is what they said that they were going to send us. Based on that, we had to analyze and then decide what kind of chemicals we're going to put into it, so that it can become glass. That's essentially what the mission was for us. We had to convert the waste into glass. It is a different way of disposing of the waste. It's a safer way for the public. I had to help with the lab, and then I had to help with the forms that were going to be made when we eventually received the waste. That was the biggest role that I had there… I worked for the WTP for three years from 2018 till 2022. It was like three years and a half, something like that. I did a bunch of different things. I did have to help with a really big document that had… It's called the “Data Quality objectives.” Essentially, it's just a bunch of data that we get from the very beginning of the process, when we receive the waste, all the way to the very end, when we have the vitrification product itself. From the beginning to the very end, there's so much data and how we qualify it and what's the objective of each data is a big piece of work. That was one of the biggest things that I worked on as well. As you can see, not something very concrete, my role wasn’t very concrete, but I did help a lot in different ways.

Michelle talks about Latinos at Hanford

Michelle talks about Latinos at Hanford in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

I guess if you could kind of describe at Hanford, are there any other Latinas or Latinos that you work with?

Michelle Molina

One of the first Latinos I met was in WTP, and he was in the same group as me. I remember how excited I was. I was like, “That’s so nice.” He's from Bolivia, and his wife is from Colombia. We both actually carpool together with another one of our classmates or one of our… You know what I am trying to say. I'm forgetting the word now. We used to carpool together, and my mom ended up… One time I invited them to my birthday because my mom always wants to meet people that are from South America as well. My mom and his wife are, like, besties. They're always hanging out together, like once every two weeks or something like that. It's always nice to bring people together. I haven't talked to him in a while, but I know my mom talks to his wife. That's been nice. Now in my current position, I know… Yeah, three people that have heritage. One of them, I think was born in Mexico but has spent most of their lives here. My boss, she's half. Then one of my closest friends, Lily, she also from Mexico. I have very few, though, very few people that I've met that are Latinos. I think part of it is because not a lot of them are in engineering. One time I gave a presentation in front of people, about my life, and it was a Women in Engineering, actually, presentation. I had one person reach out to me who's Latino. He was like, “Hey, I dance salsa as well.” It was nice to be like, “Oh! There's more people there.” A lot of them are in different areas. Hanford is so big. I'm sure there's so much more Latinos that I just haven't met yet…

Michelle gives advice to younger people

Michelle gives advice to younger people in an interview with Drew Gamboa on October 18, 2024.

Date created:
02/04/2025

Drew Gamboa

If you could share advice to a younger person that may have similar experiences that you've had, whether that be growing up or pursuing a career in engineering, what advice would you want to give them?

Michelle Molina

Oh man. That, see. Well, I think. Perseverance is something that will get you far, a positive mindset… Reaching out for help is hard sometimes, especially because as an engineer, a woman, a Latina woman, it's really hard to not be put in this corner of, “Oh. You're not good enough to be. You're not fit for being an engineer.” That's something that I told myself so much. I think, because I put myself in that spot, and I feel like everyone is so intimidating when it comes to working in engineering, that it's hard to ask for help. Or even, speak up and say, “Hey, I need help with this.” Or, “Can we go over this problem together?” … Part of the reason why I pushed myself so hard when I was young is because I always had that expectation in me from my parents and because I was different. Because I was the minority in school, I had to prove to people that I'm good enough. I had to show them that I'm good enough…

An all encompassing from what I've told you, from the very beginning to the very end. I think it's definitely been a journey that I have been in, because I've moved so much. But because of that, I am very adept to change. I'm open to change. I'm okay with change. I'm sure people that have gone through the same things as I have, maybe go through the same thing, they feel the same way. But yeah, I hope what I have shared resonates with people and hopefully I can meet more people that have gone through the same things, having a support system. I really enjoy being part of the Women in Engineering, because I know I can talk to them about hardships and things that we struggle with being in engineering as a woman. It's always nice to have, like I said from the very beginning, a sense of community and having someone to be able to talk through things, even if there's no solution or if you don't want people to tell you what to do, but just talking about it is always nice.

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