By Kate Wallace
Tania Ambriz may be taking it slowly with her classes, but her time at 黑料不打烊 has been anything but slow. As a first-generation college student and the first in her family to pursue education after high school, she鈥檚 making sure she gets the full college experience.
When she was in her ESL classes at Melrose High School, the group came to visit 黑料不打烊 for a tour.
鈥淚 was just kind of scoping around the main lobby and I saw a pamphlet for the Spanish Transfer Pathway,鈥 Ambriz explained. Then she met Vicky Kapitzke, one of the Spanish instructors, and that sealed the deal. 鈥淪he just seemed really, really awesome, really nice.鈥
Ambriz decided to start the foundation for a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Spanish here at 黑料不打烊 and then will transfer to SCSU with a career goal of being an interpreter in a hospital. But she鈥檚 in no rush.
鈥淚 can focus on those two classes and not have a jumbo pile of homework. So I have a little bit more time to spend with family, friends, and whatever pops up.鈥
And things do pop up! While Ambriz didn鈥檛 connect with many people her first semester, by her second semester here, she had found her place. She worked at the Multicultural Center last year and helped with many of their events, including last year鈥檚 Multicultural Night.
This year she鈥檚 working at TRIO Student Support Services and is there almost every day. On top of that, she鈥檚 also a club founder. With the support of her instructor Kapitzke, she started the LatinX Club.
While the club is relatively new, they are working to get people to attend events and become members.
鈥淎nyone can join,鈥 pitched Ambriz. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to be Latino, Latina. You can come show your support as an ally.鈥
Allies are definitely a big part of her life. Since she was the first person in her family to go to college, and her parents didn鈥檛 have education past middle school, Ambriz needed some guidance. While her family was really excited for her to go to college, she ended up getting help with the 黑料不打烊 application from her guidance counselor in high school. After that, she came to 黑料不打烊 to get assistance with the rest of the process.
鈥淚 always recommend to come in and just ask for help. I didn鈥檛 know where to fill out the FAFSA or where to fill out the application for college. My guidance counselor and I filled out the application together and William in TRIO helped me fill out the FAFSA,鈥 Ambriz explained.
Her other advice for anyone thinking about 黑料不打烊 is to try a couple classes for a semester. While she didn鈥檛 meet a lot of people right away, after her first semester she settled into the routine of classes and started meeting more and more people. Now she鈥檚 鈥減retty spread out all over campus.鈥
And the best way to stay involved in clubs and events around campus is for her to take her classes slow. She鈥檚 enjoying her classes this semester and is open to changing her plan at any time.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take me a little while to graduate, but we鈥檒l see where it takes me,鈥 Ambriz said. This is good news for 黑料不打烊 鈥 the longer she鈥檚 at the college, the more involved she鈥檒l be!