Stanford Graduate Works as Farmworker on Way to Medical School

This wasn't where the dream was supposed to land her.

Gianna Nino-Tapias, 24, figured when she graduated with a master's degree in epidemiology from Stanford this past year, a good job was ahead -- something as far away as could be from the fields of Eastern Washington State where she spent a decade alongside her parents under the vicious summer sun picking blueberries and apples.

But she discovered COVID-19 has no sympathy for dreams. In the pandemic she lost her job at the Stanford Shopping mall -- and her hours as a librarian were cut to the bone. So she headed home to Eastern Washington where she fruitlessly sought out jobs in everything from retail to work as contact tracer. Washington had no jobs for her either.

"My family has worked in the fields my whole life," Nino-Tapias said.