Excerpt from San Diego City College MESA – A Learning Culture:
Taking STEM Education to a New Level (Summer 2017)
BEFORE MESA
I was raised in Tijuana, Mexico, and I came to the U.S. after graduating from high school to pursue a community college education, one of the most significant opportunities in my educational journey. I am a first-generation college student, and the community college became my first experience in the American school system. I began my studies at City College in basic skills English, and the first couple semesters were especially hard because I was still “thinking in Spanish.” Most professors would talk too fast for me to understand them. However, I was determined to overcome this educational barrier. I studied hard on my own, both to catch up to what I didn’t understand in the classroom and to practice “thinking in English.” I finished my first semester with A’s in all of my classes.
WHAT THE MESA LEARNING CULTURE MEANS TO ME
The MESA learning culture is very important me. MESA has helped me to know the expectations in college, and I have used the MESA strategies to fill the gaps in my approach to the learning. I especially like the use of the MESA progress reports as a tool for taking control of my own learning and for pushing myself to improve my performance every 4 weeks. Thanks to MESA I have also benefitted from participating in industry exposure activities outside of the classroom. I learned first-hand about drone technology in a MESA Training Academy at Northrop Grumman; I participated in a 5-week online NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars summer program, and I was selected to attend a 4-day workshop at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. This summer I am participating in a 10-week Research in Science and Engineering program at Rutgers University in New Jersey. I am very fortunate to have joined MESA. It has propelled me successfully through my community college experience. I plan to take the MESA culture with me to create my own success at the university and beyond in my career.
MY FUTURE
I have finished my studies at City College with a perfect 4.0 GPA, and I am transferring to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in Nanoengineering in Fall 2017. I plan to follow MESA’s 10-point Success Plan for MESA Creators after Transfer to take full advantage of the many opportunities available at UCSD. My academic goal is to earn a Master of Science degree in Nanoengineering, and I am undecided on whether to pursue a Ph.D. degree. My career goal is to apply my skills and knowledge in industry to develop products that will improve our environment and will increase the quality of life for our communities.
MY ADVICE
Students must know and apply the learning culture if they want to succeed in college, but the learning culture is all based on self-motivation. If you don’t have the motivation to do what it takes to achieve your goals, then you will get nowhere. This is what happens to self-saboteurs who blame, complain and make excuses. No one is going to hand-feed you the answers. When faced with a challenge, always choose the Creator role – accept responsibility, take action, and seek solutions. Similarly, MESA’s African Village Story eloquently explains what is needed to successfully achieve any goal: we must truly want it as much as we want to breathe – this is the secret to success. If you don’t really want it, you will never achieve it. MESA also teaches us great study habits that are critical for success, but time management can mean the difference between failure and success. Finally, mental toughness is extremely important, especially in college. As we learn in MESA, mental toughness requires mental strength, emotional power, desire, discipline and confidence. After all, it is not success that truly defines us; it is how we deal with failure. MESA Creators have mental toughness!
Anne Cardenas transferred from San Diego City College to the University of California San Diego, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nanoengineering. She also earned a Master of Science degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California Los Angeles. She is currently a Staff Scientist with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.