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While we grow up through our school years we always hear “Do well in school so you can go to college” or “Start thinking what interest you in life so you can make a career out of it” I heard this all the time by professors, counselors, speakers that came into the school but never from my parents. Every time I heard this I never listened. I didn’t think it applied to me I thought I would never go to college. No one in my family had attended college before and I came from a family of 7. I was so naive I believed was a piece of cake that’s how my parents made it seem; but I was so wrong. After graduating of high school I did end up going to college. I attended SAC but just because my friends were going but I didn’t have any plans or see where I was going with this. After completing my first year at SAC my family decided to move to Texas. Living there for almost two years really open my eyes: I got to actually experience the struggles of life and that’s how my Fullerton college experience kind of began.
For this reason I actually moved back to California with my brother and enrolled into Fullerton College. I had never heard of it before but I thought I give it a try since it was a bit closer to where I lived in Anaheim. This time I know I wanted to be here and knew that I wanted to get something out of it but again I didn’t have a guidance and a plan that I did everything wrong was a failure. I didn’t think about how hard it was going to be to be in school full time have a full time job to pay rent, bills, school, books and other stuff I needed. Another thing not having a car was harder had to take 4 buses a day 2 to go home after school and 2 more to get to work it took most of my time. I ended up dropping before the semester even ended.
Two years past by and I was nowhere near where I wanted to be in life. I was working at Target fulltime and was renting an apartment with my cousin. Around the same time I met my boyfriend he was working part time at Fullerton College while attending school. I would stop by the campus once in a while to pay him a visit. Every time I came he would encourage me to enroll again. I explained how difficult it would be for me to work and attend school would be. He always mentioned the many help that was out there but I never looked into to it. The day came when I met my boyfriend’s family for the first time I was more nervous than usual because my boyfriend was Vietnamese wasn’t sure what to expect. I was nervous for no reason I had never met such wonderful humble people in my life with a big heart. His family offered to take me in so I can continue with my college dream; after giving it a lot of thought and my lease almost coming to an end I accepted.
In the fall of 2011 I began my Fullerton journey once again only time it was different from the last time I had attended this time I had a plan. I’m a child development major who will graduate in Fall2013 if everything goes as planned. Since I was more aware of the help that was out there I was able to apply for financial aid and the fee waiver I also became an EOPS student. The staff in the EOPS office is wonderful they do care about you and that you get to the goal you want to reach. My counselor Joe Reyes is very helpful and always gives me good suggestion on the classes I need to take. His patience and friendliness and dedication to the students make me want to become a counselor one day. My specialist Claudia Mojica is always answering any question I have regarding my financial aid and always suggesting to go into the career center to see where in can get possible jobs and internships for my major. She is always suggesting I attend workshops that she thinks may be of good help.
Most of the instructors at Fullerton are very friendly as well. I took an ethnic studies class with Mrs. Adela Lopez she brought in a lot of speakers so we can take advantage of all the scholarships that are out there to help. She also suggested clubs we can join. Mrs. Lopez talked about her college experience and she opened a lot of our eyes and made us aware how things were changing in our school and how it would affect us. Through her class I also experienced being part of the Kinder Caminata. We had to plan out a lesson on Cesar Chavez and teach it to the kindergarten students that came from different elementary schools. It was a good experience and it helped me visualize on my career as a preschool or elementary teacher one day. I’m planning to volunteer to next times Kinder Caminata experience.
As my College experience almost comes to and end I would like to thank my boyfriend and his family for believing in me and always inspiring me to help others and never to settle for less if you can do more. Also the teachers I’ve had who always care about the students and always try to guide us into the right direction and for trying to always trying to keep their office doors open as long as possible for any questions we may have. I also want to thank the EOPS staff, counselors and even the people who work at the cafeteria for always keeping a positive attitude no matter how bad the day has been. Fullerton has a lot to offer they have good instructors, staff a lot of tutoring centers you can come in and get help from. Even though I had a rough college experience in the end it has been a great one and I would recommend Fullerton College to any one.