By Elisa Smith
Things haven’t always come easy for fifth-year senior Karla Vega Cervantes. Like when a professor told her she wasn’t a good fit for chemical engineering and may want to consider a different career path. But Karla persevered and is now thriving at UC Berkeley.
Karla, who self-identifies as a Latina and low-income student, was born in Mexico and raised in Santa Rosa, California. Having graduated from high school at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Karla began her Berkeley journey in Fall 2020 and, like many of her fellow first-year students, struggled with adapting to college life. Her semester started online, and while she successfully navigated her virtual academic experience, the transition to fully in-person classes presented new obstacles.
“I felt really lonely and isolated - like I was one of the few Latinas on campus,” Karla said. “I didn’t see a lot of students that looked like me in my classes.”
That’s when Karla began seeking resources to find her community. She began attending events, and through them, she found the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), the Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence (CE3), the Disabled Students’ Program (DSP), and the Undocumented Student Program (USP). Karla credits these support systems with helping her through some of her tougher times at Berkeley.