Excerpt from San Diego City College MESA – A Learning Culture:
Taking STEM Education to a New Level (Summer 2017)
BEFORE MESA
I was born in San Diego and raised in Tijuana. I am a first-generation college student. After finishing elementary school in Tijuana, I was enrolled in a Christian school in San Diego. It was a financial sacrifice for my parents, but they wanted a good education and better future for me. I experienced many hardships in the first months at my new school because I was a complete stranger to the English language and culture. Nonetheless I never gave up, and I won “English student of the year” twice. After graduating from high school, I was not able to apply to a university because my family could not afford the cost of tuition; instead, my father advised me to attend a community college, which brought me to City College and the MESA Program.
WHAT THE MESA LEARNING CULTURE MEANS TO ME
Before beginning at City College, I was invited by our MESA Director Alvarez to a STEM Academy for training in the learning culture. I honestly thought I was ready to succeed in college with my high school study skills, but I was shocked to learn that I had too many gaps. These gaps were filled at the STEM Academy, and my skills were improved at the MESA center with the help of various mentors, tutors, and my Corner Man (MESA Director Alvarez). Although I did encounter various obstacles in my first year at City College, our MESA culture gave me a plan of action, and it allowed me to face up to my challenges and fight even harder. The MESA culture empowers MESA creators, and it does not let them back away from a fight because true MESA creators know that self-saboteurs are not allowed in our MESA family. The MESA culture has not only made me mentally tough in academic situations, but it has also allowed me to use self-advocacy (fight for myself) in non-academic settings. Looking back at my time at City College, three experiences were pivotal to my academic success and future career, and they were all made possible through the MESA program: the STEM academy changed my study skills and overall academic philosophy; visiting The Scripps Research Institute allowed me to discover a career that truly fascinates me and will give me the opportunity to impact people’s lives in a meaningful way; lastly, participating in the UCSD IRACDA Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program gave me the experience of working in a cutting edge research laboratory and contributing to research focused on neurodegenerative disorders.
MY FUTURE
I have been accepted for transfer to UCSD in Biology in Fall 2017. My academic goal is to earn a Ph.D. degree in Neurobiology. I recently lost my grandma who had Alzheimer’s. Inspired by this experience, my career goal is to conduct research on neurodegeneration and help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. I also plan to promote STEM education to underserved communities, and I plan to serve as a role model and mentor for other Latinas.
MY ADVICE
Without the MESA learning culture, the bottom line is that students will struggle and are less likely to succeed in their classes. Adopting the learning culture in your first semester in college will allow you to protect your GPA and truly fill your gaps using effective study strategies, including Bullet Point Reading (BPR), Big Picture Approach to Problem Solving, reviewing lecture notes immediately after class, Section Summaries, having well organized binders and notebooks, etc. I succeeded at City College because I used these strategies. Overall, having the MESA Creator mentality is crucial for academic success. Taking responsibility for your actions will allow you to identify your shortcomings and seek possible solutions. Being a MESA Creator says that you truly have the desire “to breathe,” i.e. do what it takes to accomplish your ultimate goals and achieve freedom!
Julisa Gonzalez transferred from San Diego City College to the University of California San Diego, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Biology. She is currently a doctoral scholar in Cancer Biology and a Graduate Student Researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.