What is your hometown? San Jose, CA
What colleges did you attend? Degrees earned? UCLA - no degree.
Mt. San Antonio College: A.S. in Manufacturing Technology 1998; A.S. in Welding 2001
Azusa Pacific University - B.S. in Business Mgmt 2002; Masters in Organizational Leadership 2014
What motivated you to go to college? It was never NOT an option for me. It was just an unspoken certainty or expectation. I can't say that my parents expected it, or that I wanted it. I first went to UCLA to get away from home. It was far enough away, yet still within California.
Describe your college experience as first-generation. I was an arrogant, cocky 18 year-old. I didn't ask for help. I didn't acknowledge to myself how lost I was. On top of that, I was still very involved in the turmoil of my family of origin. And on top of that, my dad was diagnosed with terminal illness. He passed away three years later and I dropped out of UCLA.
It was actually my girlfriend (my wife now!) who persuaded me to enroll at Mt. SAC. I flourished here at Mt. SAC.
I didn't go back to finish my bachelors degree until after we were married and we had our son and were expecting our oldest daughter.
I finished my Masters degree while I was in the tenure process here at Mt. SAC. At the time, our fifth child had just been born. I was teaching full-time plus I was department chair.
Like many of us, we don't have the luxury of just doing school. Survival first, then family, then work, then school when you can fit it in. Totally worth it, in the long run!!
What unique challenges did you face? Family turmoil, including divorce and death of a parent.
Financial hardship including struggling to maintain employment while balancing a job and school.
Being too arrogant to ask for help or even seek out help, much less accept help.
How did you overcome those challenges? While I was a student at UCLA, I didn't overcome those challenges. I succumbed to them and dropped out.
Once I was at Mt. SAC, I had the support of my in-laws. While at Mt. SAC, I found my real family. My Mt. SAC family has helped me through the past 30 years and is still helping me and now I can be a support to the next generations of Mt. SAC students!
What did you advise other first-generation students? Understand the difference between what is finite and what is not. Your time is finite so use it wisely. Those of us who are trying to juggle school and work and family, one of those things will fall out of our grasp. School is usually the easiest one to drop. Remember that there is no time line for finishing school. You will finish when you finish, just don't give up. "No hay que llegar primero, pero hay que saber llegar."
