Ep. 75 - Building Your Confidence as a Student

In Episode 75 of the CSUSB Advising Podcast, Matt Markin is joined by Veronica Ramirez Amerson, Director of the Educational Opportunity Program for this special 75th episode! Veronica shares her story as a college student, building rapport and confidence, and truly taking advantage of opportunities while in school. 

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Transcript

Welcome back to the CSUSB advising podcast if you can't believe it, we are at a monumental episode and this is episode 75. Never did I think that when this podcast started alongside my friend and former CSUSB, advisors, Star Wilds that we would get to this episode. And to celebrate we have a guest who has so much knowledge to share with you Yogi's, and that is Veronica Ramirez Amerson, the director of the Educational Opportunity Program here at CSUSB. So relax and take in all the nuggets of information and experience Veronica will be able to share with you, Veronica, welcome to the podcast.

Happy to be here, Matt. Thank you for the invitation.

Yeah, so we're gonna jump right in and use our first question we're gonna throw at you is to tell us a little bit about your background. Tell us a bit about you as a student and kind of how your path led into higher education.

You know, I've had, I've had time to reflect on this question a little bit. And I have to tell you, I didn't know quite where to start. When I think about my college journey, it seems like many, many moons ago. I'm going to be celebrating this upcoming year, my 20th year of employment at Cal State San Bernardino. So my college days, were definitely some time ago, when I think about the question though, as you phrase it as about my background, as a college student, I kept thinking about, Okay, do I do I start off by sharing how I almost didn't go to college? Or do I start off and sharing, you know, what my first year was, like in college or my latter years in college and the transitioning after college. So I'm going to try to give you a cliff notes version of all three areas, to get a picture going of what my experience was like, as a college student. I think one thing that's important to always highlight is, you know, where did where did I come from, you know, what was my household experience? Who, who were my role models, or who were my parents? And why did my almost go to college. I happen to identify with a number of different identities. And one of the things that I identify with is being a first college first generation college students, as a first generation college student that came from a mother, who majority of her academic years and her years on this earth was moving, she was very active in the farmers movement. And so it was not uncommon that her childhood experience was moving, where the wherever the farmworkers were going, and following my grandparents, and so coming from a mother who had that background, and really didn't start her education, much later, in her years, when my grandmother finally decided, I think it's time for my girls to, to go to school. And so she started later years struggled with starting her, I'm gonna say her latter part of her education, because she really didn't start until probably maybe her first year of high school, if I remember correctly. And that was a tough adjustment, if most of your time was moving and moving and working, and getting whatever little education you could get from your older siblings, or folks in the community that you happen to be a part of at the time. And then, on my father's side, my father has a sixth grade education. And, like many other folks, decided to migrate over to California to just create a better life, and to earn funds to help his family back in Mexico. And one of the things that I vividly remember, as I grew up in that household is coming from a traditional household of father sharing your, my positionality, right that in that household, which was as the eldest child of four, that I needed to make sure that I was available and accessible to my younger siblings. And so for the longest time, I never thought college was a possibility. But then on the flip side, you had a mother that was like, Nope, I want my daughter to have a different life a better life. And I'm going to encourage and motivate and push. And we're going to figure this out together. And why I almost didn't go to college is because I remember one thing vividly as it happened yesterday, when I decided to apply for colleges, after much nudging from my high school counselor, which will lead into some of the other reasons why I chose the career pathway that I'm in now. I had a choice to make I almost didn't have a choice. It was either stay home and as the eldest continue to support my parents in their journey here in California, because oftentimes it was not uncommon that I was the translator I was the I was the doer I was the advocate, in what their lived experience was in this state. And just supporting my younger siblings to go on. But my mother had other plans for me. And although my father had told me, I am not going to college, which to this day, he will deny. Even though we reminisce on occasion, I call him dearly my old man. And it's, it just rings differently when you say it in Spanish, but it's a term of endearment between us and he likes to not remember those days and act like it never happened. But one of the things that we do reminisce about is the fact that he didn't want to let me go to college, he had different plans for me. But my mother and a dear aunt of mine, that I will forever be grateful to decided to shove my belongings and as much food as possible and drive me to a college campus not too far from where I lived, and hence the beginning of my of my college career. So that's how I ended up at college, I had this bright idea as a first generation student, a young lady who came from a traditional household that was not going to have that didn't have the opportunity to do much in high school, whether it was because of affordability or access, that I was gonna spread my wings and go outside of California. And although I applied to different universities, and was accepted, I quickly lost that dream when I learned what out of state tuition was. And when I learned what that was, and I knew that it was not going to be affordable and feasible, regardless of how many scholarships I may have received, because of housing and all of that good stuff not having to relocate. Then, lo and behold, I found myself getting shoved into my mother's Plymouth Colt time, with my aunt's support and getting driven maybe less than an hour away from home and starting my college career. And I was super excited about it, although it's very scary, because you wouldn't believe it. But it would have been the first time we spending the night away from my household. 

When you were once you got to college. You know, I can imagine how nerve racking that probably was, can you talk about maybe some of those initial like first year how things went for you? And ultimately, like, what led into you choosing the major that you did? 

Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the things that I really yearned when I first started there, although I had mixed feelings, there was this feeling of whether I made the right choice. Should I have listened, you know, to my traditional father? There was always this also this excitement of this mixed feeling of this freedom all of a sudden that I felt, okay, I'm spending the night away from home, I get to stay up as late as I want. I don't have this structured directive of chores that I need to do. So what do I do with my time? And I think one of the things that I quickly yearn for was making sure that I found a community that was really important for me, I needed to find a sense of community. So I started trying to seek out and I was fortunate because one of the things that I quickly learned the summer months prior to starting was the sports and the activities and athletic program that they had available. And unbeknownst to me, and I don't know how this was missed, but unbeknownst to me, apparently, there was reached out and when I was in college, you know, e mail was in a really big thing. I remember typing my college application on a typewriter if any folks out there know what that know what that is, and being super excited when wiped out was a part of a typewriter, electronic typewriter, typewriter experience. And what I quickly learned is that there was a opportunity for open calls. And lo and behold, next thing I know it one of the things that I love doing the most in high school that brought great memories because it was part of my father's life, as young as I can remember, was every Sunday being if it wasn't church, it was being on the soccer field. And so one of the things that I immediately took advantage of was the women's soccer program at the University that I attended. And I was fortunate to have a group of individuals that had similar interests and hobbies and drive and found joy, right of the sport. And it was reminiscent of my growing up days of spending my weekends at the soccer Park. And so that was my experience. My first year is being actively involved in I went Other things that I vividly remember that was really neat for me, is one of the very first games that we did. And the pre-league season was out in Chicago. So you can imagine my excitement. And I say that because it was my first time ever getting on an airplane. So when I had the chance, for the first time ever to get on an airplane and visit this other area that I've never visited before, I was like baby in the candy store, I was super excited about the fact that not only was I going to get to spend the night somewhere different, but I was gonna have the chance to have this experience with the people who have I built a community with which were my teammates, and get to see another part of this grand world that we live in, outside of the community that I was familiar with. And it was just exciting. It was it was a neat experience. And although I was nervous, if they don't mind, okay, I just had this confidence of like, alright, this plane thing is not so bad. I'm seeing and how this all works. And I think I could possibly do this again. And I remember sharing the experience and being so excited. And if you've ever visited Chicago, I can confirm some of the best pizza in town.

And let's say we fast forward to now you are at CSUSB. You're the director of EOP. What does that all entail over your responsibilities to CSUSB as the director of EOP?

You know, there's this running tagline that a lot of the EOP directors that folks don't know, there's an EOP program at every California State University. We have 23 campuses and one of our last campuses implemented an EOP program not too long ago, which was super exciting. So we have an EOP program at all CSU campuses. And one of the taglines that we say is that opportunity is our middle name. EOP does stand for Educational Opportunity Program. And I really think that that really underscores a lot of a lot of what we do, and is reminiscent of what our what our mission is and what our goals are, and what we're hoping to accomplish. It has a lot of history. And so if folks haven't had the chance to learn about the history of EOP, I urge you, for any students, staff, faculty that are listening or other community members urge you to take a look at it, Google it, visit our EOP history website. It's also listed on the calstate.edu website. Every campus has a unique history. But overall the theme is the same. And there's a lot of connection that folks don't realize regarding the implementation of EOP. And what was going on in our society at the time and a lot of things that are still going on in our in our local community and some of the challenges that many populations have to deal with. But one of the responsibilities as the director of EOP, or any director of EOP is to focus on access. And so we really have these different pillars that we focus on. One is providing access to higher education, to underserved communities and populations. The other thing that we focus on is making sure that we have a comprehensive student support services program. And so it's not only about giving access to students and doing outreach in the community and recruiting students, so they're aware of the opportunities that are available in higher education. But once they are here, because majority of our students, almost over 90% of them are first generation students is helping them navigate the application process, exposing them to what's available. As far as resources are concerned, providing transitional experiences for them, orienting them to the university, and once they're orienting them, is once we get on here is really staying true and committed to building a rapport with the student from coin of entry, all the way through graduation. And I think that's one thing that is unique about our program is that once you're a part of our program, we work with you from your first year and every year thereafter. Granted, we do a lot of intervention, because our focus then at that point is once you have access is to retain you. So that's what we focus on is our is our retention efforts. And of course the ultimate goal is that the students that we serve, meet our graduation thresholds, and then move on to whatever they find to be what they identify as their success, right because success could mean so many different things to different individuals. Whether that's going going on to graduate post baccalaureate program directly to career field, a paid internship, whatever that may be. And so we really focus on providing a space where we have trained professionals, that the focus on the whole student. So if we're not out in the community, sharing what we do, then you find us here in our office, supporting students through a number of things. It could be academic advising, it could be personal counseling, dealing with crisis, providing basic needs, financial aid literacy. pretty comprehensive. There's a list of services. But I think ultimately, if you ask me, What is my responsibility? I think it it's like there's layers to it, right? It's not only being constant visionary, because I think there's always a shift in who is our most vulnerable population, right, that is underserved. And that changes sometimes. If you were to ask DLP folks 50 years ago, who those subpopulations were, there would be some, some mirroring, right, because some of those same populations still need comprehensive support. And I think that's why it's important to have programs like ours in place at higher ed institutions, but also their shifts and that things change. I think, in the 20 years that I've been here at this institution, what I've seen an immense increase on is making sure that we are formalizing direct services for students that are unhoused students that are undocumented students who have foster care experience, there's such a variation. And I think as time goes on, and there's more practices and interventions that are put in place, and resources, and people share those best practices, we may find 10 years from now that there's another underserved community of folks. And so I think our job as directors is to be at the forefront and identifying what populations those are, and using innovative practices to ensure that they also have access to university environments and get the support that they need. And get assistance to make it to whatever personal or career goals that they may have.

And I can attest to a lot of what you said as both as a former EOP student, and also I say former but I always know like you always tell everyone once EOP always EOP. Yes, yeah. So yes, I mean, I feel like I really got served in terms of every need that that I had, and even things I didn't think I needed. And I'm like, wow, okay, I'm glad that this was brought up. And I really felt supported by the EOP counselors by the whole EOP. Office, and then also getting to work in EOP, after I graduated, and you were my boss, and a great boss, by the way. So thank you.

Thank you, Matt, you are wonderful employee. And you know what I have to say, it really warms my heart to hear you say that, because I always tease alumni when I talk to them, or even students now. They're always saying like you always do, or your team always does so much like what can I do, and I always tell them, I said you could do three things. One is we want to see you walk that graduation stage, because we get just as much joy seeing you then then you get giving, getting that diploma. The second thing I always say is be proud of the community that you you came from. Right, be proud and don't forget the community you came from. And then the third thing is always, you know, paying it forward is what I share. Oftentimes, too, even when years go on, many of us, you know, become successful with the hard work. And the time that we've put in. And success, like I mentioned before, can mean so many different things to individuals. And I think one thing that's always important is that we have to remember that we started off from some and the most important thing that we can do is just help others because when we help others that come from similar experiences, lived experiences and communities in really does make an instrumental impact and imprint on generations sometimes. And so, you know, I do say if I had a nickel or a dime for every time a student says if it wasn't for EOP I'd make a zillionaire for it by now. But I love hearing it. I heard it after two years of employment after five years after I'm here now 20 years later, and I just had the pleasure even right before this to meet up off campus with one of our alumni who graduated, gosh, maybe six, seven years ago. He finished his master's degree and he wanted a meet up. And we were talking about an upcoming speaking engagement and pursuing his doctoral degree. And it just brought me such joy. And honestly tears to my eyes, because I'm like, wow, this really is full circle. I remember this young man starting off as a 17 year old student from the community in our Summer Bridge Program, and then seeing everything that he's accomplished and what he's up to now and him sitting across from me now as a, as a grown man about to be a father and now pursuing his doctoral degree to say, you know, what can I do for you? And I don't think that happens all the time. And it just warms my heart. Because when people are so willing to give, I think it really is, as human beings we're willing to give with no questions asked when, when we feel like we've received so much right. And it's not monetary. It's really just love and support. 

Oh, yeah. 100%. And maybe I'll combine this question. A lot of times, it's always we get asked like, what are tips that you have for students? What are tips that you know, for success? And as you mentioned, success is different for everyone. But are there any general tips that you have for students? Or even if it's like, exploring interests early on? What What advice can you give to students?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think, you know, even when I if I reflect back to my days, there's things that I was courageous enough, you know, to do. There's things that I observed, and then there's things that I just stumbled across. And I think that's usually the experience, right, as a as a brand new college students, sometimes even first generation student, when you set foot on campus, you know, what you know, and you don't know what you don't know. And sometimes it's a, it's a interaction that you have with a faculty member, or a peer, a neighbor in the residence halls, maybe a super supervisor, if you're student assistant, or work or work city student. Or maybe it's something that you notice around campus, I think one tip that I would always share with students is, it's is to is to be courageous, be courageous, to explore and try something new. One of the beautiful things I think about a college journey, is you get to flourish as a student, and I think that's one of the things that brings me a lot of joy, is when I see some of these young folks that we work with start off some of them transfer students, some of them as first time freshmen. And you see, you see, slowly but surely some of their interests changing or the interest that they already had, or the passion they already have flourishing, because they found a community that really nurtures that. And so one tip absolutely, that I would give to a college student is to be courageous. Another tip that I would give is to not be afraid to ask for help. Often what I find with first gen students is that we, if you're so accustomed, oftentimes to being a giver, or hanging on to things or doing things on your own right, a survivor to some extent, it's easy just to continue to navigate that way. And what I always often find myself telling students when I'm meeting with them, and they're at the end of their rope, where they're thinking, okay, maybe this is not for me. And I feel like I don't have any other option, but to potentially stop. It's, it's really honing in and exploring with the student and asking them, you know, what have you engaged in, you know, what steps have you taken, because sometimes it's just about awareness. And so why I say in addition to being courageous, and also not being afraid to ask for help, is I think it's important for students to know that you don't have to do this alone. There's many CSUSB employees, and it's, it could be faculty, it could be staff, it could be someone you know, from down the hall or someone you bump into that you see every day as requesting certain buildings, connecting with individuals. Asking for help, is one of the best tips that I can I can give to a student because having those interactions with individuals sometimes will lead to some beautiful things or some knowledge that is attainable and assessable that will open up a new world for you because whether that could be getting academic support, right? Familiarizing yourself with academic support services, whether that is connecting with organizations and clubs that you and partake in. So you can continue to spread your support network or your peer network and explore different interest and things that you may be passionate about. But if I think of those things, it would be to be courageous not be afraid to ask for help. And to enter, enter getting get get engaged. It's so easy, especially as a student who may be lives close by, to just come to campus, go to your class and go home, or am I get it, many of our students are balancing work life school. But if there's opportunity for you to be engaged, it doesn't have to be every week, but maybe make sure you make time to go to an event and get exposed to all the wonderful things that CSUSB has to offer. Because there's such a diversity amongst the opportunities and the events and workshops that take place here.

Yeah, love all those tips. And I think connected to that actually segues right into the next question that I have for you is campus resources, other departments. And I'm sure when you're when you're up counselors, or meeting students, when you're meeting with students, you're sharing a lot of the different resources that CSUSB can offer. So I guess you can take it any number of ways, if you wanted to, are there any departments or resources? You know, aside from, like you were mentioning academic resources that you would want to share with students or resources that you often inform students about when you're meeting with them? 

Yeah, because we always take the approach of making sure that we want to be able to touch the whole student, I think it's really important if we think about, okay, students are here to be students, right, there's a goal in mind. And that goal is to earn the Baccalaureate degree. So one of the things that we often underscore is those academic support services program. So, you know, just because me to start off with that, I think it's really critical for students to make sure that they are aware that these resources are free. I always love to underscore that it's free. It's free, take advantage of it. So one of the things that I often regularly encourage and nudge students to do is seek out the free tutoring support that's available, understand what supplemental instruction is embedded tutoring, and partake in that the more and more exposure that we get, I think, in really grasping and understanding this subject matter content that we're taking, I think that builds a student's competence. And like, Okay, I think I got this and let me try again, and let me figure this out and feel comfortable asking for help in those spaces. So I can't stress enough for students to make sure they familiarize themselves with these academic support services that are available throughout the campus community, get involved, if there's an opportunity for you to receive mentoring, that's a fantastic thing. You have upper division and other peers that have gone through experiences that may be similar to some of the scenarios that students are experiencing now. So being a part of those peer networks, I think is critical and important. And then there's so much to be involved in. I think also students understanding that when there's a need that arises, being familiar that we have a basic needs department on campus, being familiar with that we have mental health services, here on campus, which is critical also for students success if they're experiencing any matters, that they want to, you know, understand more about whether it's learning techniques. Coping, our caps department does such a wonderful job. If students have not familiarized themselves with the individual and group sessions that they have available in workshops, I urge you to take a look at those. And I think that's critical for our own self care and well being. Because in order for a student I believe to be successful in the classroom, they need to be okay in a good space. And being okay to be in a good space means, you know, stable housing, food resources, mindset, right. The other critical resource that I think is important for students to be aware of is our services for students with disabilities. If their students in need of accommodations, they do a wonderful job two of connecting students with the support that they need, so they can be academically successful, so they are aware of what their rights are here on campus and employers to accommodations. And then of course, there's a plethora of ways to get just have some fun, be involved in clubs and organizations be involved with campus events, with community engagement, service learning opportunities with research, so much opportunity for students to do research. And the best thing I think a student can do in building confidence and getting exposure and experience is partaking in those research opportunities as well. Because when you're in it, and you're actually becoming a practitioner in the work, there's just something that happens to your spirit and your confidence level, right. And so I really would encourage students to take full advantage of that, and also explore what opportunities the university has for engagement outside of the CSUSB community. And take advantage I don't hear as often sometimes students taking advantage of our study abroad program, or exchange program, and there's so many things that students can be exposed to when it comes to that, too, hey, could be one of the students first time, like my experience, you know, getting on a plane to go somewhere for the first time. And that's a beautiful thing, because your eyes just open up to how much more there is out there.

And then with the time remaining, our last question I have for you is, you know, you talked about kind of growing up going into college a little bit about your experience. Can you talk about, you know, have you had any mentors that for you that you had throughout your college journey?

I'm gonna say if I could identify my very first one mentor that started right before college, and that's what actually led me into the career that I'm in. I had a high school counselor that wouldn't give up on me. He just wouldn't. And we still have a relationship to this day. The man has been to every pivotal moment in my life, he was at our wedding, at our had him and his wife at our baby shower, it continues to be an integral part of my network. And he just went, he wouldn't give up on me. He checked in on me regularly, when I had tough days, he empowered me to have confidence that I can do, you know, AP work. And it was the it was something I've never heard of, and challenged me in my critical thinking skills that helped me navigate things. And so he started off as my very first mentor. I think one thing that I really admired about him, that was a takeaway for me, is the fact that he was forever inclusive of my family, to these decisions, and sometimes that sounds that approach that most folks takes, right, they just work with the student. But I think he understood that it ultimately was going to be a family decision. And that's what sometimes folks don't realize, when you're working with students that do have involve families. That's one thing to consider. But oftentimes, we have to also realize that sometimes there's different lived experiences. And some students don't have families to land softly on. And so I think he was forever inclusive in the type of ways that he approached things. So I remember watching him and observing this and thinking, finally, one day, I had the courage to ask him, How do I do your job? How do I do your job? What did what do I need to do to do what you do? And sure enough, he took full advantage of that entire started talking about college, right, and all the credentials and degrees that you needed to get to start that journey, Mr. Joe DeMont, that says me, and he'll forever be a wonderful mentor. And he has been somebody who has made a huge impact in my career. And that's how I decided to pursue the counseling profession, advisor, mentor, whatever you want to call me, but I wanted to make an imprint and an impact on young people's lives in my community. And that's why I'm here and still here. 20 years later.

I think that's a perfect way to end this interview. And hopefully Yoties, you will find a mentor like Veronica had with her high school counselor, or you might find a mentor just like Veronica herself. So Veronica, thank you so much for being on the podcast today and getting to celebrate with us with episode 75. 

Thank you, Matt. always proud of our EOP alum.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai