09/24/2013 12:00:00 AM story Leslie Jimenez ('13 M.Ed.) knows that an education changes lives. She completed her master's degree in higher education this summer and was chosen to share her story of being a first-generation college graduate in the national GEAR UP Alumni Leadership Academy. Jimenez will spend one year attending the leadership academy, a National Council for Community and Education Partnerships program. She will then return to her home state of California to speak to low-income students as a GEAR UP education advocate. She aspires to be a university professor.