The Center for Community College Partnerships (CCCP) helped me develop the confidence I needed to see myself as a transfer student at an institution like UCLA. It gave me the social and cultural capital I needed to become transfer-eligible, apply, transfer and once at UCLA, complete my bachelor’s degree.
I have four most memorable moments during my time at UCLA. First, I met my college sweetheart and the love of my life, Celina Lopez. Second, after receiving my Ph.D., I was able to return and teach “Mexican Americans and Schools” for the Summer Intensive Transfer Experience Plus (SITE+). As an alumnus, this was a full-circle moment for me. Third, during the year I taught for SITE+, I was also able to participate in RAZA Grad, now called the Latinx Celebration. That same year, my brother Moises, who was also a community college transfer student and a SITE+ alumnus, graduated and I had the honor of giving him his diploma on stage. Finally, for my co-edited book on the Latino community college transfer experience, ten of my students from “Mexican Americans and Schools,” who also participated in SITE+, wrote a chapter using their testimonials about the impact the class and SITE+ had on their community college experience. We later presented the book and their chapter at a book talk hosted by CCCP.
As a first-generation, immigrant, working-class kid from Jerez, Zacatecas, Mexico who spent eight years on and off at four community colleges, graduating from UCLA meant that the knowledge, skills, abilities and relationships I developed outside of UCLA, including my lived experiences, were valid and valuable. It also affirmed that my parents’ lived experiences and the education they gave me at home were valid and valued.
Today, I am a proud assistant professor in the Higher Education Administration and Policy program in the School of Education at the University of California, Riverside.
CCCP is transformational. Not only are they actively working to eliminate or limit the institutional, systemic and cultural barriers that community college students face, but they have also developed a program that empowers students to transfer to a UC campus, succeed and go on to pursue graduate and professional degrees that create opportunities for them to achieve their academic and professional goals.
