Student Spotlight: Gonzalo Rosales
In 2008, Gonzalo Rosales had just started at Sacramento State intending to enter the nursing program. Rosales was the first person in his family to go to college and while he was a declared pre-nursing student, he was told that the opportunity to get into the nursing program without straight A’s was unlikely. The news about his chances to get into the nursing program changed Rosales' trajectory, instead of continuing in pre-nursing he changed tracks and graduated with a degree in criminal justice.
After graduation, Rosales found that the opportunities with a criminal justice degree didn’t feel like a good match for him. It was then, that he got the first nudge from his girlfriend to go back to school.
Rosales did some research and found that ARC had an automotive program and with his love for working on cars, he jumped back into school.
“I had my first exam and I did really good. I was like, okay, maybe there's something here and I like it,” Rosales said. “Maybe I should give this a try.”
Rosales’ girlfriend was also taking classes at the time and when she was getting ready to take a chemistry class that was a pre-requisite for her program, she asked him to help her study and make the most of the class. Rosales dived into studying with his girlfriend and when she received a good grade in the class, she had another question for him, why don’t you go back to school for nursing?
Rosales is now close to completing his prerequisites to apply for nursing school. He has appreciated the healthy competition with classmates for high grades and the opportunity to return to school to change his career path. After his personal experience in higher education, Rosales finds himself encouraging high school students to pursue community college.
“If you need time to think about (what you want to do) just go knock out your general education at your local community college,” Rosales said. “That gives you some time to breathe and really take in what you want to do. I wish I did that.”
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