Excerpt from San Diego City College MESA – A Learning Culture:
Taking STEM Education to a New Level (Summer 2017)
BEFORE MESA
Although I graduated from high school with a 4.1 GPA, including ten AP classes, I failed a key class because I got “senioritis,” and this caused me to lose all of my college acceptances. I was shattered emotionally. My parents gave me an ultimatum: school or work. I chose to go to City College, yet I was more focused on playing for the women’s soccer team than school, and this time I was going to fail not one but several classes. This is when I stumbled upon MESA thanks to my MESA friend Julisa Gonzalez, who told me to talk to the Corner Man (MESA Director Alvarez). At first, I was intimidated by all the students studying in the MESA Center. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, they really have their life together. I wish I could be like them.” The Corner Man gave me two options: to be a fighter or be a self-saboteur. I chose to fight for my future, and I ended the semester with passing grades in all of my classes.
WHAT THE MESA LEARNING CULTURE MEANS TO ME
MESA’s learning culture allowed me to redeem myself. The MESA tools given to students are what make a MESA Creator. Everyone is different, but there are so many MESA resources to be able to fit all learning types. Mastering this culture allowed me to go from a 2.56 to a 3.60 GPA in two and a half years, which helped to open doors for technical opportunities. I participated in the MESA Research Academy at San Diego State University (summer 2015), where I was introduced to the concept of research, and I participated in the Summer Training Academy for Research Success (STARS) Program at UC San Diego (summer 2016). My involvement in MESA also introduced me to the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and I eventually became President of the SHPE-City College chapter. MESA taught me how to create opportunities and to be prepared to take advantage of them. I am now participating in a software engineering summer internship at Qualcomm, and I will be attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the fall ready to succeed!
MY FUTURE
My short term goal is to earn my Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering at Cal Poly. I also plan to intern again next summer with a company in my field of study, and I plan to increase my exposure to industry by attending more conferences such as Grace Hopper, SHPE National, and SWE’s WE. In the long term, I want to earn a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. I would like to work in aeronautical, automotive, defense and semiconductor industry sectors before retiring. My ultimate goal is to be able to change the world little by little.
MY ADVICE
I encourage my fellow MESA Creators to join a club that will enhance a skill which you are lacking. For example, I consider myself an introvert. SHPE forced me to become more social by putting me in social settings. I previously avoided speaking to others, but now I know how to present myself and adapt to different social settings, even though I may be coming apart on the inside. In the professional world, you cannot be shy or quiet. You must learn how to stand out, and a good way for this is to learn how to speak in public. Just this one skill increases your exposure immensely. Another strategy is to get involved with technical projects to help you gain experience, add another bullet point to your resume, and work on team building. This experience is very important in industry, since you will be asked about a personal project in every interview. Your interviewer will love you if you can share that you collaborated with other people on a project!
Carolina Salinas was the 2016-2017 San Diego City College MESA Female Student of the Year. She transferred to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in fall 2017, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. She is now an Electrical D&R Engineer with the Ford Motor Company.