(CNN) Erica Alfaro says she never forgot the advice her mom gave her when the two worked long hours together in California's Central Valley tomato fields.

"One day, I was very tired and told my mom and she said to me, 'This is how life is going to be from now on. The only people who don't have to go through this get an education.' Those words stuck with me," Alfaro, 29, told CNN on Saturday.

Those wise words inspired Alfaro, who dropped out of high school when she got pregnant at 15, to dive back into education.

On May 19, Alfaro graduated from San Diego State University with a master's degree in education, with a concentration in counseling. She decided to honor her parents in her graduation photos, standing in her cap and gown with her parents, in work clothes, in the middle of the fruit fields where her mother still works.

"With love I dedicate my master's to my parents. Their sacrifice to come to this country to give us a better future was well worth it," Alfaro said when she shared her graduation photos on her Facebook and Instagram accounts this month.

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