My Community College Journey

Hello everyone! Thought I would take a second to tell you a bit about myself and how I came to be your Geography instructor this semester. I’m going to go into a lot of detail about my academic journey, especially my time at Community College. These years were very formative for me. My hope is that you might be able to take a little bit of my story with you and use it on your own journey.

First off, you should know that in High School I was a total slacker. For real. It got so bad I almost didn’t graduate because I was ditching class so much. It’s tough to say what was going on with me during that point in my life. I was a really good student in Elementary School. Maintained good grades and effort in Middle School. But, man, by High School, I was just over school. None of my classes really interested me at all. I was just going through the motions and my grades reflected that. So when it came to time to think about college, I really didn’t have many options at all. Expect, of course, the local Community College.

So that’s where I ended up. And, this sounds so cliche, but, it has completely transformed my life for the better. I can’t put my finger on exactly what clicked for me that first semester at Saddleback College, but I do know that I was all in by the end of the semester. Below I’m going to talk about a few of the things I think helped me succeed. My hope is that pieces of my story might help you as you continue on your own academic journey.

I took classes that were interesting.

Compared to High School, my college classes were just so interesting and relevant- that’s what got me hooked. I was drawn to Sociology and History classes that gave me the tools to make sense of the world and my place in it. I was shocked at how much I didn’t know! What do you mean the CIA consistently intervened against democratically elected governments around the world? European colonizers did what to indigenous peoples in the Americas? Are you serious about what working conditions were/are like for immigrants in the US? Race is a social construction!?!? Damn. How did I not know this stuff? Why wasn’t I taught this? How much do I still not know!?!?!

I was so hooked on learning. By year two of my college career I was showing up to 10+ classes the first week of the semester. I had to make sure the content was interesting and relevant before I committed to a class. I had to make sure the professor showed passion, energy, and enthusiasm for the subject. I was down right picky when it came to my educational experience. It was a great strategy. I took intriguing classes with passionate professors. Dropped the boring classes with teachers that were phoning it in. I owe my love of learning today to those amazing teachers I had at Saddleback College. They kept me hooked. I cared because they cared. My advice to you is shop around. Crash a bunch of classes the first week and only take the ones that seem interesting. Are the classes in your major boring? Perhaps it’s time to change majors. Your success in a class is often tied to your interest in that class. So, find classes and topics that intrigue you. Your grades will reflect it.

I had a goal.

I wanted to go to UC Berkeley.

Why there? A couple reasons. I liked the Bay Area. A lot of my favorite punk bands were located in the East Bay. But most importantly, I remember a counselor telling me UC Berkeley was the best public school in the world (Links to an external site.). So I wanted that. Because it was the best. I wanted to prove to myself I could get there. That I was worthy of the best there was. And that little goal gave me so much motivation to get A’s in all my classes. For the classes I loved, like all of Dr. Braatz’s history courses, I needed no motivation. For some of the other classes I had to take, like Statistics, I swear it was that motivation of wanting to get into UC Berkeley that pushed me to work hard in those classes. Having legit goals and benchmarks that will push you when you need pushing are a huge asset. Find your goal. Is it UC Berkeley? Is it to be the first in your family to graduate from college? Is it to get all A’s for one semester? Find that goal and let it push you when you need it.

(Thinking I was posing for a band photo while checking out UC Berkeley for the first time while I was still in Community College)

I had a positive social network.

A lot of my buddies from High School also went with me to Saddleback College and we would take classes together. The crazy thing was, we would compete like heck against each other to get the highest grade. Seriously. Twenty years later, I still talk trash to my buddies about how I got higher grades in Statistics and Philosophy. They then send it right back to me about their higher grade in Astronomy. I get that this probably sounds crazy. But it really was so important. If you can find a peer ground that pushes you towards excellence, it is a huge gift. Find the people on the same path as you. Let them carry you when you need it. Carry them when they need it.

I joined a club.

This was out of character for me. I had never joined a club in my life. Never even thought about. But a few students from my History and Political Science classes were talking about starting a club to raise awareness about some of the social issues we were discussing in class. I decided to check out a meeting and was hooked. We invited awesome guest speakers, including Nobel Prize winning author Rigoberta Menchú to talk about indigenous rights to a packed auditorium. We protested unfair labor practices at Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine (Links to an external site.). We snuck on campus in the middle of the night and put tombstones on the campus quad to protest the war in Iraq. It was awesome. In the almost 15 years I spent in college (graduate school included), my memories from Class Action rank at the very top. The club made coming to school that much more enjoyable and I made a ton of new friends. As the advisor for the Cerritos Geography Club (Links to an external site.), I’ve seen the same sort of camaraderie, friendship, and dedication to environmental activism develop between our club members. Heck, they even got single-use plastic banned on campus (Links to an external site.)! I highly encourage you to get involved on campus in any way that fits your passions and interests. It will make your time at Cerritos College that much better.

I bagged groceries.

Yes, I worked at my local Ralphs while I was in school. Three years of bagging groceries is a long time. Most people get promoted after six months, maybe a year. They will become a checker or work in the bakery, maybe produce. Not me. I remained a bagger. They actually tried to send me to the meat department, which was a strange place to promote a vegetarian, but I declined. My goal was UC Berkeley. Not 48 hours a week cutting up animal carcasas. Not that it’s a bad job. I’m not hating on butchers. Pays well. Full benefits. Preparing food for people is an important societal function. I get it. But I had my goal. I’ll keep my 20 to 30 hours a week bagging groceries and use the rest to make sure I was getting A’s. If you have the privilege to be able to prioritize school over work, do it. It will get you where you need to be that much quicker.

My time at Ralphs was also an incredible education. My goodness did I learn so much about the inequalities of our society bagging groceries for three years. I saw parents unable to afford enough food for their young children. The unhoused, having no place to find shelter in the cold and the rain. The massive amount of perfectly fine food that was thrown away each day only to have folks pick that food out of the dumpster at the end of each day. It was heartbreaking and infuriating. The wealthiest country in the world cannot take care of the most basic human needs, food and shelter? Please. It’s one thing to learn about food insecurity and injustice in the classroom. It’s a different thing to see it everyday at work. It’s one thing to learn about the causes of homelessness from an academic perspective. It’s another to get to know the unhoused and their stories. That first hand experience was so formative for me as a student and future scholar. If you find yourself passionate about a topic in the classroom, find an internship, job, or volunteer to get some on the ground exposure.

I had an idol.

His name was Dr. Timothy Braatz. He was a Professor of History at Saddleback College. He was whip smart. Funny as hell. Authentic. Stuffed anyone that tried to challenge him intellectually into a locker. The man totally re-wired my thinking. He challenged every assumption I had about the history of this country. He challenged every story about our society I had chosen to believe, not realizing how embedded in my identity those stories had become. Pushed me to keep learning.

He was also just really cool. I definitely wanted to be just like him when I grew up. Sounds pathetic, right? But, looking back, I’m so thankful that of all the people I could have modeled my adult life after, I chose this man. He was so successful but also incredibly humble. Approachable. Seemed to sincerely care about his students. Definitely cared about the subject he taught. Heck, he even let us call him by his first name! He was also a strident anti-racist and proponent of human rights. He wanted the world to be a more just place and he walked that walk every day more so than anyone else I knew. Just an incredible role model.

So at 19 I decided I wanted to be a Community College Professor too. And here I am, quite literally living my dream. In a way I grew into my own version of Dr. Braatz. I was so lucky to have that sort of concrete vision of what I could become in life through the example of Dr. Braatz. I can’t stress enough how critical that was for me. In him, I saw the potential in myself to someday be like him. Or my own version of him. It gave me something to strive towards. I hope you can find your own Dr. Braatz. I hope that you can see yourself in someone that has reached the top of their field or achieved a level of success that you can strive for. Find those important role models that can help show you the way. They are out there.

In the end, my dream came true. I got into UC Berkeley. I still have a vivid memory of opening that acceptance letter in my bedroom. (Yes, back in the day they actually mailed you your acceptance). It was truly one of the proudest moments of my life. Throughout my life I’ve received quite a few letters that made me proud. Getting into my PhD program. Getting hired as a full-time faculty at Cerritos College. But nothing meant more than that acceptance from UC Berkeley. It was proof. I had legit transitioned from underachieving HS slacker to a student at the top public school in the United States. I can’t tell you how much confidence this gave me. This realization in my own ability to change the circumstances of my life through education. I hold tightly to this gift of seeing the potential in myself.

Below: My first visit to UC Berkeley as a Community College student.