Name: Jasmine Herrera
College: Bakersfield College
Major: Psychology and Sociology
Class of: 2023
Scholar's Story:
"Hello, my name is Jasmine Herrera! I am a first-generation student currently attending Bakersfield College as a freshman. Currently, I am double majoring in Psychology and Sociology. My career plans consist of getting my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in School Counseling to one day become a college counselor.
"We need to realize not everyone is ready or okay with going right away and that is completely fine."
As a high school senior, deciding where to attend college is probably the most agonizing final decision of your senior year. It is probably one of the scariest moments because you have to consider literally everything once choosing your school. You need to be prepared mentally, physically, and most importantly financially on whether or not that school is for you. Mine wasn’t really a moment of anxiety. I had my mindset on attending a community college and then transferring to a four-year university. I found it to be way less expensive in general, especially for my father who is a farm worker. I am also a really big family person so I was happy to stick around with my family for a couple more years, and the idea of saving so much money was my main motive on starting off at a community college. Yes, we see our friends go out of town which is exciting, but we need to realize not everyone is ready or okay with going right away and that is completely fine.
A piece of advice I would personally give to you all is during your academic year don’t just stress yourself about your grades. Thinking only about your grades can be very stressful and you tend to isolate yourself from the outside world which is not quite healthy. I would recommend joining a student organization of your interest in your first year. Coming out of high school, not all of your friends end up going to the same college as you, and if some do you’ll most likely not be taking the same classes. Everyone’s schedule becomes busier, and when they’re not busy you’re busy doing homework or running errands. As a college student, your schedule changes so much from a student still in high school. The choices you make from now on are all up to you. You set your schedule, you choose your professors, you decide how many classes to take a semester, when you want to show up to class, and when you don’t. Everything just comes to you all at once and you’re suddenly an adult making your own decisions.
Although, I encourage you to get involved, I recommend it only if a club fits in your schedule. My first semester, I joined several clubs on campus and within each club I have gained many friendships, leadership skills, volunteer experiences, met amazing advisors/counselors, and networked with organizations within the community. I’ve also stayed surrounded with students with the same determination as me and stayed motivated throughout my journey, encouraged with all of them and their different stories and experiences. At first, I would attend my classes, go to work, and then go home. However, when I started getting involved I would look forward to the club meetings, seeing my friends, and making time for them within my regular school days, and I even caught myself coming to school on a Friday just to attend the meetings. You get to distract yourself off assignments for a while, which is very helpful to do activities throughout your week. Also, being a part of an organization makes you experience college in a way more exciting way! I can definitely say it has played an immense role in my first year, and if I could, without thinking, I'd repeat my whole first year of college all over again!"
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