College Site Coordinator, Santa Maria Bonita School District

Family Background: Farmworker parents, immigrant, born in Mexico and came to US at age 2. Low income. Oldest of four.

Pre College Education:Santa Maria High School

1) Mechanical Engineering Energy Institute, Cal Poly SLO 2001 – discovered I did not like Engineering.

2) UCSB Early Academic Outreach Pre-College Residential 1 week program 2001- Realized importance of rigorous courses, SAT test etc.

3) UCLA Migrant Leadership Institute 2002 Residential 1 month program- Realized that I was “UCLA material”, exposed to College Rigor, and great mentors.

4) Fall Senior Year HS- Psych 101 (Intro to Psych) at Allan Hancock College (realized Psych wasn’t for me).

5) Spring Senior Year HS- Soc 113 (Sociology of Latino Cultures) at Allan Hancock College (realized the diversity within the Latino culture) Considered Sociology as possible major.

6) AP classes successfully completed: US History, English Language/Composition, English Literature/Composition, Government, Spanish Literature, and Statistics.

7) AP Test passed (3 or better): Spanish Language, Spanish Literature, English Language, English Lit, and Government.

College Education:

Bachelor of Arts UC Berkeley December 2006.

Majors: Spanish Literature/ Development Studies.

Minor: Education.

"Aha" Moment:Seeing my parents come home tired from work since I was a young girl and then working with parents in the fields at age 16...I wanted more than that and I wanted to help them.

Biggest Challenge To get to College: Expectations: People having low expectations of me (high school staff, etc). I knew I had to latch on to people that WOULD help me (College Counselor, Key Teachers, Outreach Folks) and then of course once accepted money became a key issue.

Biggest Challenge In College: Being too involved/caring too much about extracurricular activities that “distracted” me from academics but in reality added so much more to my college experience.

Favorite Mentor: Too many. My life has been blessed with good people therefore I can’t pick a favorite, sorry. I can list them but it’s a LONG list!! And it’s not fair to leave folks out SORRY.

But actually my #1 MENTORS are my PARENTS. Without them I am nothing..they believe, nurture, support and put up with my crazy self.

Favorite Teacher:Again I have too many to name. The first teacher that introduced me to college in a tangible manner though was my 5th grade teacher Magda Ojeda, Adam Elementary School in Santa Maria. Her taking us to Cal Poly SLO was pivotal in my WANT to go to college. As a low income student I was impressed with their dining commons which I equated with our family’s Sunday “fancy dinner” at Kings Table Buffet :) I wanted to go to college because I wanted to eat at DC.

Favorite Author/Book: LOTS again!! But Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire which I was introduced to in high school (during the UCLA Migrat Leadership Summer Institute 2002) was monumental in shaping me as a person. Such a POWERFUL book.