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[ Music ]
>> I began PCC in the fall of the 2001 and that was after--
a year after high school.
I served one year in the military with the Marines.
So, I came having that and once I finished PCC
in 2004 I transferred to the University
of Southern California, USC, and I graduated from there in 2006.
>> I started my education at PCC in 1999.
I transferred in 2002 to the University
of California, Los Angeles, UCLA.
>> I started my education at PCC in 2000-- in the summer of 2003.
I graduated in the summer of 2007.
I went to UCR, University of California Riverside
and graduated from there in 2009.
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>> Why I chose to attend PCC was I had two siblings.
My other siblings were already attending here and they stated
that it was a good school to attend.
So, I said, "Okay, that's where I'm going."
And I have no regrets for doing so.
>> One of the main reasons why I decided to attend PCC was
to get away from all my high school friends.
I grew up in El Monte, which is serviced
by Rio Hondo Community College and a friend of mine who lived
across the street was currently at that time attending PCC.
So, I was motivated to come
to Pasadena City College in that way.
>> I came to PCC just out of the reason that I couldn't go
to a four year college.
I was an undocumented student at the time,
so the affordability was really much why I came.
It was more affordable to come to PCC and I know
that I can get the same education that I could
when I went to the four year.
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>> I received my AA degree, my AS degree.
I kind of got the idea of what college was
like before I went to a four year.
I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do.
I started out as an engineer,
became a psychologist at the end.
So, really like kind of guided me and started my path
within the educational world.
>> For me there was a few programs
that provided the mentorship opportunity,
one of them being the Puente Project
and the other was the guidance was the EOP&S,
the Extended Opportunity Program and Services.
So, just having that guidance and support of being able
to pursue my education here, I received also my AA
and my AS associate degrees.
And having that opportunity, that support to be able
to accomplish the goals that I was looking into.
>> And the way PCC helped me reach my education goals was
through services suggesting teaching learning center.
When I became a student here the first class I enrolled
in was English 100 classes sponsored by the TLC.
So, that really helped-- it gave me a good impression
of what college could be, especially with PCC.
It was an unorthodox English class
where it wasn't lecture based.
We did a lot of field trips and what not.
More importantly, again it helped me have those foundations
towards being able to write well, being able to study well,
just those study habits and I was also part
of the EOP&S program and that really helped me financially
with being able to-- just textbooks and other things.
And that's the I think-- I also earned my AA and my AS
and a Certificate of Liberal Studies.
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>> One of the fondest memories of PCC during the time
that I was here was my last year was September 11th
and just the environment, how the campus was during the events
of September 11th, just seeing how students were just either
confused in a way and there wasn't much activity going
on on campus.
I sort of the remember the day being one of my friends
by the mirror pool, just having a discussion
on you know what had just occurred and being
in shock it was something that I remember.
>> For me, I have to say one of my fondest memories was actually
as a U.S. Marine I was deployed in Iraq
and it was during the spring 2003 term.
So, I missed that term.
And luckily, or unluckily, I was deployed right at the beginning,
so I didn't actually miss any class or anything or have to be,
I guess in college they say get an incomplete.
So, when I came back in the fall a lot of my friends
that I had studied with in the previous year were still here.
It was just a welcoming moment when I felt
like I never actually left,
when really I had been away for a good while.
And it was just good to know that again I had a place at PCC
and the TLC where I could come and it was like I never left.
They welcomed me.
They treated me no differently
and it was just a good place to be.
And I remember that distinctly.
>> For me, it was commencement.
It was-- I still-- it was the best commencement
that I've had being an MA.
Still, that's the one that kind of stays
in my mind the way parents felt afterwards,
the way I felt afterwards.
I spent four years here, so it was really my BA in the sense
that I spent the most education.
So, after working so hard just having that ceremony
and being able to share that ceremony with my family,
I still-- I think that's the most memorable day.
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>> I think that one was the easiest for me in the sense
that the TLC in particular where I work at had given me so much,
which is where I-- I studied there my entire time here.
And that's where I felt
as though it was my home away from home.
So, I just felt that TLC had given me so much
that it was just an obvious place for me to try to give back
to the newer students that would be coming in
and being able to help them.
So, when I was given the opportunity to in January
of 2006, I immediately came on board.
I said yes and I began coordinating the lab ever since.
>> I think for me it was-- PCC was the stepping stone for me
to get me to where I wanted to get
and just the endless opportunities that PCC was able
to provide to me as a student here encouraged me not only
to come back to PCC and to give back to PCC as a staff member,
but also to give back to the community around this area.
I feel like even though I didn't grow up in Pasadena,
I feel like I you know lived in Pasadena the majority
of my life or most of my life.
I currently reside in Pasadena, so I find ways of being able
to give back to-- to the community as a whole.
>> I came from the community and being an alumni here,
once I was offered a position then it was really much
like I wanted to be able to help out my community.
I want to be able to help out the students that come
from the community and I saw the need
for just helping a new student just get through the process
of getting an education and finding their own way.
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>> For me it's making the registration
and application process easier for students,
just allowing the students to apply to PCC and being able
to not fall through the cracks;
to process the application extremely easily and being able
to have everything at their hands and the help
if they need to ask any questions.
I would like to leave that behind.
>> For me is to definitely give back to the students and,
and utilize myself as a mentor, as a role model,
as someone that can you know show them that it is possible
to get your goals accomplished.
And I just want to make sure
that students have every opportunity that is available
for them and be able to take advantage of it
in a way that's going to help them to get
to where they want to.
So, using myself as a role model;
being a positive role model to the students here.
>> And I see it as a, as a mission for myself as being
in charge of one of our tutoring programs to encourage all
of our students to become what we call interdependent,
where they're not completely dependent on our tutors
but they can do work by themselves by being able to--
not afraid to ask for help.
I see myself as a support staff and I used that a lot,
those services when I was a student here.
So, I wanted to keep that going and just make it more available
to all of our students, the tutoring services who don't see
that as an available source
that any student can really take advantage of and they should.
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>> Coming from a single parent household, during the time
when I was a student there my mom lost her job
and she got-- she got ill.
And I just want to give you know props and thanks
to Professor Bonea for being supportive,
for being a supportive not only an instructor
but also giving me employment, giving me the opportunity
to work ten hours or so of my week.
I'm really thankful for, for those people that were there
to guide me to where I am today, because if it wasn't for them,
I would not be here at this point.
And just being able to feel like--
you know what I feel like family, somebody supportive,
and in comparison to going to UCLA, a much bigger school
and being more on your own
and not really having that family feeling.
>> Yea, it's something that the faculty and staff here at PCC,
most of them allow students to think on their own
and allow them-- to also give them the help
that they need in order to succeed.
I can remember a couple of professors,
if they wouldn't have been there,
I would have chosen another path and I don't know
if I would be here right now.
Because those professors allowed me to either get additional help
to pass their classes or just provided the additional
help themselves.
And if it wasn't for them
than I definitely wouldn't have been here.
>> That's-- I can definitely relate to that in the sense
that there's definitely staff and faculty here at PCC
that do go that extra mile in order to support their students.
I personally had experiences that were,
whether it be just extra hours as far as getting--
I needed a lot of help as a student here with tutoring
and there were instructors who stayed beyond their hours
to actually help me with my papers and my math.
And not only that, but my current boss,
again I had a great experience with Professor Steels,
where I myself brought a client.
He actually gave me one of my first jobs here as a tutor
in the TLC and again he's been a definite mentor as far as how
to be an innovative person on campus
and not just accepting the status quo,
but again testing the limits and doing what we can do,
our best in order to help our students succeed.
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