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Christine (‘22) just completed her junior year at UCLA. Her confidence has grown during her time in college and she is proud of all that she’s accomplished.
Driven by a life-long love of learning, Christine knew she wanted to go to college and that strong academics would be important. But even though she was earning good grades and successfully navigating the Engineering Pathway at Morse High School, she hadn’t really thought about next steps. “Since I am first-generation, I didn’t know the first thing about applying to college. I hadn’t even considered what colleges I wanted to get into.“
Christine joined Reality Changers in the beginning of her senior year. She began working with a mentor, who encoraged her to apply to UCLA . “I had visited [UCLA] when I was younger, and I instantly fell in love with the campus, but I did not have my hopes up. I wasn’t sure they would let me in. I felt like an imposter. My mentor really pushed me to apply and helped me throughout the application process, even though it was super intimidating.”
Christine was accepted to her dream school, where she is currently studying civil and environmental engineering
Once at UCLA, Christine was not at all surprised that her major was difficult and more competitive than high school. She expected thermodynamics and quantum physics to be challenging. However, she wasn’t expecting the independence that college brought. “Learning to balance my course load and extracurriculars has been tough, but I just love the sense of freedom I have. Learning how to schedule my time was really big for me. Adjusting to college has been difficult, but it’s been a fun ride.”
Outside of class, Christine has used her new freedom to join three student organizations where she can network with other STEM students: the UCLA Student Chapter of American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE), Bruin Builders, and Pilipinos in Engineering and Science (PIES). The organizations have given her new opportunities for learning and growth. Last year, she got to compete in Hawaii as a member of the ASCE Build Team and she’s tackling real-world projects as part of Bruin Builders. “Bruin Builders is collaborating with the local school district to design a net zero energy apartment building, but there are real constraints. We have to make sure that rent won’t go up for the low income students who live there, so we have to make sure that our solutions are truly efficient.”
Christine has continued to find a supportive environment at Reality Changers, but now the organization helping her to realize her college goals and prepare for life after graduation. She has attended several workshops, including a resume-writing workshop and one on financial aid. This keeps her connected with the other first-generation friends she made in high school and also provides an opportunity to talk with mentors about strategies for balancing her workload.
Based on her experience with Reality Changers, Christine has some parting advice for other first-generation students: “Always have confidence in yourself, because you never know where that will take you. I had low self esteem and I wasn’t sure that UCLA would let me in, but I manifested it.”