Fullerton College Centennial

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STUDENT STORIES: JALINA MARTINEZ

JALINA MARTINEZ

My Fullerton College Story began when I decided to take a different route than all my friends. Our senior year my friends and I all got accepted to CSUF. Though CSUF is a good school I decided I didn’t want to follow where everyone else was going, I wanted to put myself in a place where I knew no one and I could start my own path and that is exactly what I did. Going into Fullerton College I knew no one. I was a scared 18 year old unsure of what I wanted to do. I quickly latched myself to journalism because I knew I liked writing. I became a writer on the Hornet Newspaper and later became an editor. Though I have changed my major to English, the experience of being on the newspaper and forever being a part of Fullerton College history is something I’ll always value.

My time at Fullerton has really given me the chance to explore the many options I have in life. I thought going into college I had to know exactly what I wanted to do and stick to that. But for me college was about finding what I really like by trying different things. Going into Fullerton College my goal was to eventually transfer to CSUF and join my friends, but then I met someone who planted to the idea inside my head that I had more options than just the school down the street. My second semester I met Chris Sanchez, a very prominent and active student on campus. He was the one that first encouraged to think about applying to other schools.

For me college has always been something that I knew I had to do. Before me no one in my family had even attended college. So even though I knew how important college was and that I would go, the school itself had never really mattered to me and that is why I was okay on just settling with CSUF. Now I am not saying there is anything wrong with CSUF because it is a great school and I know many people who attend there and have graduated from there. But what I didn’t realize was that I was limiting myself to what I thought I was only capable of doing. My thinking was I had been accepted once, I will be accepted again. I never thought to challenge myself or to think outside of Orange County, where I have lived my whole life. So I decided on a new challenge. The school I now want to attend is USC, in my mind the ultimate school and the ultimate challenge of getting in. Growing up I never even thought that attending a school like USC could be possible and now here I am getting ready to apply. I have also applied to UC’s and I didn’t think I would do that either.

My time at Fullerton College has really changed me, as cheesy as that my sound. I feel like I really grew up here and found what I really want to do with my life. I owe this to the amazing professors I have had, the staff at the transfer center, and of course the friends I have made along the way. Had I gone to CSUF, I believe I would not be the person I am today, the person I am happy being. At Fullerton College I have experienced things and met people who I never would have experienced or met anywhere else. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason, and there was a reason I went to Fullerton College.