Like I have mentioned in my previous blog posts, I had the amazing opportunity to intern at the office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) at UCSD and shadow Dr. Frances Contreras, the Vice Chancellor of this office. The reason why I chose this internship was because of my interest in being an educator and working with students in higher education. I wanted my mentor to be a person that could show me that I am capable of achieving what they have done in their career, and that is exactly what Dr. Contreras provided for me. The work that Dr. Contreras does for UCSD is inspiring, and of such great importance. I hope to one day make as much of a difference as she does. She showed me what it means to be a highly educated leader, and as a young Latina I saw evidence of why I must be true to myself. She is an incredible role model.
My experience at UCSD was incredibly successful! I learned about what steps are being taken to work toward making UCSD a more diverse and equitable campus, and what the UC system does to support the existing population of students from underrepresented backgrounds. I found that I thrive in spaces like this one, where professional people seek answers to questions related diversity and are passionate about education. For the first time I really saw myself one day being a part of an institution like this one. Realizing this was not hard to do, considering I had such an amazing mentor to look up to.