On an overcast Saturday morning, 30 Puente students gathered before 7:00 a.m. at Skyline College to take a bus to UC Davis for the annual Puente Transfer Motivational Conference, this year held on September 20. Blas Guerrero, a Director in Admissions and Timo Rico, the Director of Outreach, welcomed students to the event. The keynote speaker, author Alex Espinoza, spoke of his tale of personal and academic transformation that began during his days as a Puente student.
Afterwards, students were able to take campus tours where they saw many of the campus amenities as well as the beautiful artwork that adorns the sprawling campus. They also attended a variety of workshops including learning how to succeed as an AB-540 student, empowering oneself as a learner, how best to pay for college, and showcase of different majors at UC Davis. During lunch they were able to check out other colleges as well as programs at UC Davis in a special college fair set up specifically for them.
As we returned to Skyline College at 5:30 that evening, the consensus was that the students not only enjoyed the trip, but made some excellent contacts and felt excited about transferring. This conference was indeed impactful in motivating them to transfer and highlighted UC Davis as a school to consider.
Article by Lucia Lachmayr
