JESSIE PEREZ

After having an unusually bad experience in high school, with bullying and prejudice, and extremely bad decisions, I dropped out. I enrolled in an Independent study program where I did my school work, taught a 5 grade craft and sewing class, and worked at my brother’s school library. While still enrolled in continuing education, I enrolled at Columbia College in Spring 2008. I simultaneously started a Certified Nursing Assistant program. I did well in both and continued my prerequisites for the Nursing Program. I took History 17 in spring of 2010 and was not ready to hear Ted and Paula’s messages or ready to be an active student. I dropped the class.

After getting married and starting a family I took a couple years off. During this time, I lost sight of the person I was, and wanted to be. I became a great mom, and a good wife. I enjoyed my new responsibilities but I no longer had an active role in my future. I was drifting through life. I was challenged to go back to school by my mother who asked if I wanted to tell my daughter, when she grew up, that I gave up all my dreams when I got married. Fueled by this, I went back to school.

I enrolled back at Columbia Fall 2013. I took Paula’s Cultural Anthropology class and it changed my life. Her teaching strategies and the course content makes you look at yourself differently, more selflessly. The world seemed like a much bigger place than I ever knew. People lived in different cultures that I had never heard of. I was hooked. I took Sociology 2, History 17, Anthropology 1, and Geography 12. These classes not only are interesting but teach you how develop a cognitive brain; someone who wants to learn, and new studying strategies. I was floored by these professors’ compassion towards students. They literally want what is best for students and know how to teach them to achieve this.

I graduated from Columbia in Spring 2015 and received Ted and Paula Future Promise Award. I applied for Modesto Junior College Associates Degree Nursing Program. I recently have been notified that I got in. I will be using my scholarship money for my first semester's tuition. I am very thankful for the experiences I have learned for these individuals and I tell everyone I encounter at Columbia to take their courses. I feel like a more rounded person. Someone capable of understanding that people come from a wide variety of cultures that include different feelings, values and behaviors. I feel like I am a more compassionate person towards people who are less fortunate and do what I can to help. These attitudes I learned in Ted and Paula’s classes will help me to be a great nurse and I am excited to see what the future holds.