Walter Arevalo, Class of 2023

Is there a faculty or staff person who made a difference for you? Please name them and briefly tell us why. You can name multiple people. 

Jennifer Wood has been one of the people who have made the biggest difference for me. From helping me do an appeal for declaring my major to helping me with my 5th year extension, she has always been there for me. I also am grateful for Professors Harrison and Sorensen for making my upper division classes seem easy with their great teaching and willingness to help me even when it was a repeat question. 

We know that this journey has been long. Please tell us about anyone you’d like to thank.

My Family has always been there for me and I wouldn’t have made it this far without their support.

Getting to graduation isn’t easy. Are there any resources on campus that helped you make it this far? How so?

MESA Engineering Program and EOP have been great resources for me academically but I also appreciate all of the Basic Need support we have such as the food pantries for helping me with CalFresh/ keeping me fed. 

College has its ups and downs. Would you share with us a favorite moment?

My favorite memory has been finishing my capstone prototype and seeing all of these years of school pay off into a working device. 

Any advice for students starting in Fall 2023?

Use every single resource on campus, no matter how small you think a problem might be there’s always help for it. Make sure you make all types of friends, you can always meet cool people in project classes as well as in GEs. Don’t be afraid to ask professors or TA’s for help, they may seem scary because they know so much and have so much clout but most of them are more than happy to help you with even the smallest of issues. And most importantly, it’s not the end of the world if something goes wrong as long as you learn from your mistakes; fail a class? take it again, even if its adds a bit more time to you college degree you can be successful.