Hello everyone! Happy end of Week 8!
I am so excited to share my interview experience with Miss Stephanie Vaca. She is the UCI CalTeach Student Services Advisor, and she has been a wonderful mentor and support system for me during my first year at UCI. If you are interested in a field in education or are curious about the UCI CalTeach program, then Stephanie is one of the best resources to talk to. She is positive and wants to help you out!
The first question I asked was, “How did you become interested in this field/career?”
Stephanie talked about how her older brother was an inspiration to her as she always would notice him studying psychology, and she was fascinated by his books. She continued with this curiousity by taking community college courses in psychology with a focus on the behavioral branch. She was drawn to the relationship part of psychology and the different ways people interact with one another.
The second question that I asked was, “Were you part of student organizations while at UCI?”
Another fact about Stephanie was that she is a UCI alumni. She knows a lot of the same professors that students are currently taking and understands life as a UCI undergraduate student. As an undergraduate, she was extremely invoved on campus. She was a peer academic advisor under the Education school. She was also a member of Jump Start, which was an organization that helped bridge the gap between literacy and education in underdeveloped communities. Not only was she already involved with these two activities, but she was in the fraternity, Lambda Theta Alpha, and she served as the secretary and treasurer.
The next question I asked was, “Did you overcome any obstacles or personal challenges?”
Stephanie is such a strong individual as she academically overcame the personal struggle of being the first generation student. She learned as a young adult in college about how education at a public university does not necessarily mean that you will be at an equitable opportunity as everyone else. Because she was going through this college experience alone, she had to remain strong and advocate for herself as she did not really have anyone to lean on. During her first year this affected her physical and mental health and she not only would compare herself to her classmates, but felt socially behind as well. However, she did find her community in her involvement in student organizations and they became her support system and her site managers were even first generation students they understood.
The last question that I asked was, “What do you love about UCI?”
Stephanie loves how UCI broadened her worldview as it is so diverse and is filled with students and faculty members from all different backgrounds and walks of live. She loves how there is always room for growth, even as an adult. She loves that everyday she gets to work with students and not only be an advisor and a mentor, but a learner and listener as well.
Stephanie, if you are reading this, thank you for sharing your story to our readers!
As always…
#ZOTZOTZOT