What is your personal story? What key moments led you to where you are today?
My story begins in Jersey City, NJ. I was born and raised in the New York City area, just a subway stop away from Manhattan, across the Hudson River. Out there, we’re called “bridge and tunnel” folks. My parents individually immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines and met because they lived in the same apartment complex. Every year, Jersey City is considered one of the most diverse cities in the country, according to study by WalletHub. I grew up in a neighborhood that, at the time, was labeled as the “inner city”, a term I despise for demonizing my vibrant immigrant community. Unfortunately, growing up I internalized that demonization and made it a goal to “get out of the hood” as quickly as possible. I was fortunate enough to attend college at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI), where I was part of the 2% Asian American student population there. For me, college was a culture shock. I quickly found that I didn’t know how to navigate this higher education space. I thought I knew how to study and was afraid to ask for help. As a biology and psychology double major, I was failing my introductory-level science courses. Thank goodness I had an academic advisor who advised me to drop a couple of my science classes and take them over the summer so that I could focus on the courses I remained enrolled in. Over time, I learned how to effectively learn in my science courses. I received an A in every course I took over the summer, thanks to that bit advice. This helped me persist and ultimately succeed in college.
Unsure of what was next after graduation, I applied for a post-baccalaureate research program through the National Institutes of Health. I interviewed with a researcher at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Yavin Shaham, who was a junior researcher at the time. He took me under his wing and mentored me in a way no other adult or professor ever had. Being from Israel, he was able to teach me how to navigate White academia through sharing his own experiences and by caring deeply about me and his other students. I loved working in the lab, reading research papers, coming up with hypotheses to test, and engaging in academic conferences. Yavin helped me navigate the graduate school process. He connected me to faculty at the programs I was interested in. Yavin taught me the importance of knowing my students and mentoring them. Yavin “other-parented” me and helped set me on the academic path towards a STEM Ph.D. I ultimately chose to attend an Experimental Psychology Ph.D. program at Tufts University and study under a top psychopharmacology researcher.
Fast forward to a postdoctoral research opportunity to study under one of my psychology heroes at University of Colorado Boulder. Everything was fantastic, but I still felt like something was missing. My favorite parts of my day were when I was mentoring students, teaching students in the lab, and guest lecturing for colleagues. I wanted to teach more. I started as an adjunct professor at a local university, but I quickly found that I didn’t know what I was doing. It was trial by fire, and I was learning on the fly. At the end of that academic year, I decided I wanted to keep teaching but I also wanted to learn how to teach well. I entered an urban teacher education program and received my Master’s in Teaching in Diverse Contexts. This program shaped me into the type of educator I am today. I taught high school science for several years and most recently returned to higher education to bring what I learned from my education program and my time as an urban science teacher to college classrooms.
Currently, I am an inclusive pedagogy instructional lead at Community College of Aurora, and I have the opportunity to help our instructors meet the diverse learning needs of our students. Celebrating diversity is one thing. Changing our learning environments to honor students and their diverse backgrounds and lived experiences is another. I think back to my own experience as a first-year college student. Students holding marginalized identities should not be marginalized from college success. It is important for us to recognize the barriers our students face due to systemic and institutional racism, classism, genderism, and all the other -isms, and to seek justice and equity.
What did you learn from being at the GlobalMindED conference in 2022?
This was my first time at a GlobalMindED conference. This conference reaffirmed for me the need to work towards justice, equity and inclusion in every setting - not just the education setting. I truly appreciated the opportunity to attend sessions outside of my area of higher education. This conference highlighted for me some universal or shared challenges we all face doing this work, regardless of the field we’re in. It also allowed for engagement in content specific to our fields. I left the conference validated, empowered and excited to share with my colleagues at my institution all the innovative and creative things other institutions are doing to address the same issues of inequity we are working to fix. I appreciated the opportunity to speak and brainstorm with so many people from different fields at the GlobalMindED conference, lending to rich conversations and new ideas for approaching shared issues. One of my favorite sessions was the opportunity to engage in a restorative circle in a session led by Dr. Stacie Walton. It truly was a hands-on (heart-open) learning experience that used indigenous wisdom to hold and structure brave conversations in DEI. Finally, it was great to see so many students involved and engaged, networking with DEI leaders. I wish I had this opportunity as a college student!
How does your organization align with GlobalMindED’s mission to connect First Gen and poverty-affected students to role models, mentors, internships and jobs?
Community College of Aurora (CCA) is in the most diverse city in Colorado. In the Colorado Community College System, CCA has the most diverse student population, and we are a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Our college’s vision is to be the college where every student succeeds. The Community College of Aurora serves our diverse community by providing high-quality instruction and support services to prepare students for transfer and employment. The team I am on is funded by a Title V grant for HSIs and is dedicated to transforming CCA’s student experiences by supporting and affirming our students in the navigation of the higher education landscape in three distinct areas: instructional support, direct student support and programming, and the perpetuation of a data-informed culture. We are committed to being the college where all students succeed through the advancement of equity to propel social and economic mobility. My work in particular is focused on training and supporting instructors through our Effective Instructor Development Series, courses dedicated to improving learning outcomes for all student populations, especially our students from marginalized backgrounds. I also have led the redesign of the curricula of targeted gateway courses to be more inclusive and culturally responsive, and I have coached instructors in the use of equitable teaching practices in their classes.
As many in the higher education space shared at this year’s GlobalMindED conference, student interactions with faculty and instructors can “make or break” a student. A student’s experience in the classroom is the most important factor in engendering a student’s sense of belonging. It directly impacts student persistence and success, as well as our ability to retain them as students at our institution. If students feel like they have no business being in our educational spaces, they’ll leave. And we as an institution have failed them. A common story shared by various panel members at GlobalMindED was the experience of micro- or macro-aggressions, feeling exclusion rather than belonging, wanting to quit, and then luckily one professor changed everything for them. That professor mentored, cared for and supported the student. That professor opened the student’s eyes to possibilities previously unimagined. But what about the students who didn’t have that one professor, who were allowed (or in some cases, encouraged) to step away from their classes or their field? I do the work I do to help prevent students from feeling like they don’t belong in college and to empower instructors to create communities of learners in their classes.
What advice do you have for the next generation of inclusive, inspiring leaders?
Try to learn from everyone you encounter. Listen to and value their stories. Find peers who support you and your successes but are also unafraid to give you constructive feedback. Seek out mentors. Share your experiences with others. Know that your voice matters and deserves to be heard. You have the power to create change.
