Dear Student

I am a nineteen-year-old college student currently attending East Los Angeles College, my name is Kerin. I moved to East Los Angeles from Hacienda Heights with my family sixteen months ago. I am a middle child, with one older brother and one younger brother. I graduated from Los Altos High School in the year of 2008. This is my first semester at Elac, I am currently working on my general education that includes the basic classes to earn your degree such as Math, English, History, and Physical education. I have recently decided to major in psychology.

So far, college is not anything as I expected it to be. College has opened my mind, challenging me to think and value the importance of education. At the moment I am taking a Chicano Studies class that has enlightened my mind to the history of Chicano/as, for example I did not know that the segregation of the 1950’s through the 1960’s not only affected African Americans, but Hispanics as well. This class caught my interest because of the lack edification on my heritage. I wanted to know more about whom I am and where I come from. Which one of the greater things about college, they offer a wide verity of classes on many different subjects.

One of the most challenging obstacles as a college student is working hard to not become a minority, such as not dropping out of school, or joining a gang. There is a thing called the “educational pipline”, which is a report that shows the progress of students from elementary school to college. In the year of 2000 the educational pipline shows that out of a 100 chicano students that started elementary only 46 graduated from high school, approximately 17 of those 46 went on to enroll in community college. I do not want to be apart of that 79 that did not go on to further their education for a better career in the future. In five years, I see myself with my bachelors’ degree, majored in psychology, working as a social worker or youth counselor. Without my degree, I see myself struggling to find a job.

The advice I can give you as a student getting ready to make the transition from middle school into high school, is to focus solely on school, curricular activities, for example sports and making plans to go college. I have friends that did not graduate from high school, who are now having a hard time, they cannot find a job because of their lack of education and cannot go to college because of their finical situations. I cannot stress enough how important school is to your future. Knowledge is the key to succeeding in everything you do.

Sincerely,

Kerin Acosta