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My College Journey

By Andrea, 12th Grader at Alpha: Cindy Avitia High School

March 25, 2019

I’ve been a student with Alpha since its founding back when there was just a single middle school that was sharing a campus. Over the past 7 years, I’ve had many opportunities to grow and develop as a student leader thanks to my teachers.

My Computer Science teachers emphasized that I would need to have the mental fortitude to not only pass but ace my AP tests, projects, and exams. My AP Spanish Lang and Lit teachers showed such sincere passion for teaching and creating a learning culture that fostered connections. My Calculus teacher has had the most impact in the development of my personality. I’m grateful for his never-wavering high expectations and personalized teaching style that I’ve been humbled and have grown to appreciate math more as subject with every class I take.

As college is just a few months away, I am both excited and nervous as this is something I have been looking forward to for a very long time. I’ve been preparing by taking the tips we’ve received in Senior College Prep and have been doing a lot of research on my own that will benefit me not only in college but afterwards as well.

As a first generation college student, I know there are many challenges ahead of me. For one, college is not cheap. Even with financial aid, I may need to juggle work and school at the same time so I will need to learn to prioritize my time and resources. Secondly, I’ve grown up in an area where most of the kids I went to school with look like me. That will be different in college and I’m excited to meet people of all backgrounds and from all walks of life. This is also the first time that I am away from home for months at a time. My family and I are very close and I know that we will miss each other dearly. I’m still not sure where I would like to attend school just yet, but over the next few months through my research and continuing to get support from my teachers, I know that I will make the best decision.

As of right now, I have been accepted to Regis University, University of Colorado Boulder, San Jose State University, San Diego State, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Throughout my time at Alpha, I’ve enjoyed friendly competitions against other classes and being challenged in different ways. I loved that we focused on SAT prep and we got the opportunity to take the test at school, in classrooms that were familiar and comfortable.

As I wrap up the last few months of my senior year, I just want to say thank you to all my teachers for supporting me and the students of Alpha. It’s been a great journey and I look forward to this next chapter of my life.