I am a psychology major at San Diego State University, but I'm not a typical student. I'm a 'first generation college student', neither my parents nor siblings attended college. In fact, my mother was the only one out of 6 sisters to finish high school. My husband is disabled, and we're the parents of 5 children, aged 8-19.

Starting college in my mid-thirties was daunting, and leaving my kids at home (especially my 3 year old son and 5 year old daughter) was very difficult. I always made my circumstances clear to my professors, and thankfully all of them were willing to work with me when I faced challenges. The situation became easier as the kids got older, and more self-sufficient. With the support of my wonderful husband, and the professors and EOPS counselors, I graduated from San Diego Mesa College with a GPA of 3.6. In my 4 years at Mesa I was an Honor's student, earned two scholarships and became a member of Phi Theta Kappa.

I am now in my second year at San Diego State University. I have found the support of Jose', Chris, and Becky in the Student Support Services program to be invaluable. I am also a McNair Scholar, and I am definitely benefitting from this wonderful program as well. The support of Veronica and Sarah in the McNair program, and my mentor, Dr. Jennifer Thomas, has made a huge difference in my college experience!

This summer I had the privilege of participating the the McNair summer research program, which required spending a minimum of 300 hours doing research with a professor, writing a research proposal, writing a research paper regarding our findings, and then presenting our research at the UCSD Summer Research Conference.

 

This is a personal homepage and does not represent the opinions of San Diego State University