Fullerton College Centennial

FULLERTON COLLEGE CENTENNIAL

Partner With Us!

Get Involved

STUDENT STORIES: PAYTON SANTIVANEZ

PAYTON SANTIVANEZ

2011-present

I am currently a student at Fullerton College. I am 20 years old, and this fall semester is my third semester at Fullerton College, I am majoring in Psychology and I will be taking classes there until 2015. I chose to go to Fullerton College after graduating high school, because I wanted to stay close to home, and I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted my major to be. I have never regret my decision to go to Fullerton College.

After my first semester at the college I came across a program called the Transfer Achievement Program. I was unable to get a lot of classes my first semester, and I decided to meet with a counselor to see if there was anyway I could get into the program. I met with Heather Halverson, and she gave me TAP classes for the fallowing semester. The TAP program has been great for me, and I'm so glad I found out about it when I did. College can be an intimidating place and in the TAP program I had a lot of classes with the same people and I developed special bonds with both the TAP students and the teachers. The kind of environment in my TAP classes are different than non TAP classes, in TAP classes I feel more comfortable because I feel like I am in a class with friends rather than strangers. I've made a lot of new friends, came across great teachers, and I have had great experiences in this program. This program helped me make the transition from high school student to college student and I think more community colleges should have programs like this. I can honestly say that every TAP class I have been in has taught me something valuable and it is very obvious that every teacher I have had genuinely cares about their students and takes their job very seriously.

Fullerton College and the TAP program have made a huge impact on my life and career goals. When I started at Fullerton College I had no idea what I wanted to do. In Counseling 101 and Counseling 151 I began to research some careers and I began to see what my interests were. With much help from Sunshine Vidal and Heather Halverson I decided on the career of a Child Psychologist. The counseling classes also taught me a lot about myself. I know now how to study, what type of personality I have, I know how to make an educational plan according to certain major, and I have learned when to push myself and when I need to back off. In English 100 I learned how to properly write an essay in MLA format, and I now know -thanks to Professor Floerke- how my papers should look for future classes. I am excited to apply these skills through out college, and when I eventually transfer to a university I will take everything I've learned with me. I know I will be successful now and in the future because of what I have learned at Fullerton College. I am looking forward to my next couple semesters in the TAP program and when I transfer and eventually get a degree in psychology, I will happily say that it all started at Fullerton College.