Karla Montenegro Gonzalez: Good morning everyone. If you just joined us we will be waiting for three minutes to continue people, to letting people continue getting in the closing ceremony.
In addition, we have closed captioning available in the Zoom toolbar at the bottom of your screen.
Welcome everyone. If you just joined us, we have closed captioning available at the bottom of your Zoom screen toolbar.
We will be starting in about one minute.
Welcome everyone. So we're going to go ahead and start with our closing ceremony for Undocumented Student Action Week at Moorpark College.
Can you go to the next slide please?
So first and foremost, I want to start with some housekeeping items for Zoom. This Zoom webinar has been configured to have the highest security for your protection.
You have the option to ask questions and participate with your identity or anonymously. Questions, comments on any other form of Zoom bombing will not be tolerated.
As I mentioned earlier, closed captioning can be found at the toolbar at the bottom of your Zoom.
And. Next slide?
And from our participants today, I would like to ask you, five questions before we move forward with our events. We just want to gather your feedback about
the events this week. So can you please show up the first question for our participants?
So for the first question, which describes you?
Okay, thank you for participating. We're going to go ahead and move on to the second question.
So for our next question, which events did you attend? Please select all that apply.
I see some answers coming in, so we're going to take some time.
Thank you for participating. Now we're going to move on forward to our third question.
And we have, how did you hear about these events? Select all that apply.
Okay perfect, so we're going to go ahead and move on to our next question.
So this question is to students, did you sign up to receive a care package from MC Dreamers?
Okay perfect, so we're going to go ahead and move on to the next question.
So this question is to students, would you prefer to have, and let me explain to you a little bit about both options,
a Zoom event where you have the option to show up as an attendee and turn on your camera which is similar to how it happens with your classes,
or would you prefer to have events, just like this one where you can only see the presenters and not the attendees, to keep everyone's identity private?
Okay perfect, so we're going to go ahead and close that one.
So,
if anyone has any open feedback about Undocumented Student Action Week, please send it to our email address and mcdreamers@vcccd.edu.
We understand that the questions that we asked you were not really asking you about your experience, so we definitely welcome all that feedback and future ideas as to what you would like to see moving forward with more for college and MC Dreamers.
Thank you. Next slide?
So first and foremost, before moving on to our events. I really wanted to take time to thank all the students who have been participating in Undocumented Student Action Week,
all the professionals at Moorpark College, as well as other colleges here in the district who have been participating
and having these events with our students. For instance, Oxnard College had the Undocu Hustle workshops with and one of their Business professors,
and Ventura College they also had a wellness activity for our students, and the district has helped us tremendously with the marketing and outreach for the community.
The other partner that I really want to thank in this event is the UFW Foundation. Their legal expertise in immigration has really brought a lot of clarity for our students, and as to how they can potentially move forward
in regards to their immigration status and I like to emphasize that Moorpark College doesn't know whether you will see the UFW Foundation attorneys.
Those services are confidential to you and not directly connected to your records at Moorpark College, which is really important to know.
I also wanted thank Covered California and Health Human Services Agency for bringing in their knowledge about the health insurance available for undocumented students, their families,
since they may come from mix immigration status, meaning that maybe they have a parent who's a resident, but they have a dad who's a citizen and then
the student may be undocumented. There are many complexities that our students need to navigate through to make sure that they're receiving the help they need.
The next thing you know, as for all the presenters for Undocumented Student Action Week since Monday we have been hosting events and starting from the opening ceremony where we had Dr. Julius Sokenu, give us
the opening ceremony
welcome for our students, and we also had Amanuel give us the kickoff for the week. Phoebe Ruiz-Juarez, she was our guest speaker for the morning event, and she also presented for Getting Involved. Gerald Richardson also presented with Phoebe, Getting Involved. We had
our presentations for Tuesday with the UFW Foundation,
and for...
and for Wednesday we had Cristina Garcia from the Career Transfer Center
come in and tell us more about the ways that students can get involved professionally and add on to their resume.
And then for yesterday, Thursday, where we had Covered California come in and we had the resource there for all our students.
So thank you to all those departments that participated.
The Dreamers Work Group, who makes
all this events really come together with or ideas and seeing ways in which we can help
our students and serve them better. I do want to mention that the Dreamers work group is open for students because we want to hear you, and if you are looking for a way to get involved and support Dreamers, or you're a DREAMer yourself,
you're most definitely welcome to our work group. So feel free to email me. I'll share my information later on in the slides.
And lastly, thank you for all of you for for all of those who have been working in the background to make this efforts happen.
It really means a lot to our students and especially to me. I think that navigating through technology has really
brought up to light a different set of challenges that we have been gracefully and successfully navigated through this week. So thank you for that. So for the next part. Can you go to the next slide please?
We're going to go ahead and return to this slide and we're gonna and I would like to introduce on Dr. Amanuel Gebru,
for our next piece of the event. Next slide?
He will be introducing the guest speaker for today. Welcome Dr. Gebru.
Amanuel Gebru: Thank you Karla for your leadership and all that you do to support our students. This has been a phenomenal week and I'm excited that I get to introduce our guest speaker who is committed to this work and has taken the time off from her day to
be with us because she's passionate about serving our community, especially our Dreamers students who need to see someone who is an example of someone like her, who,
you know, went through her own struggles and challenges and, you know, they need to see examples like
Jessica Gonzalez, so, tell you a little bit about her background and and what she does so that you can connect and then I'll give her the
microphone to do her her speech. So Jessica Gonzales is a Vice President Senior Branch Manager with International Bank.
She's driven by her passion for helping others, which she takes immense pride in, in educating those around her to be financially literate,
which is critical to all of our community, especially our Dreamers students. As a senior branch manager, her goal includes advancing the development of her team and giving back to the local community.
Additionally, she is a first generation undocumented Latina. She attended UCLA and studied there for her undergraduate degree.
When she's not busy with work, you can find her also trying new foods which she enjoys or writing ATVs on the sand dunes with friends and family.
So without further ado, I would like to welcome Jessica Gonzalez to the Moorpark family and our students, and thank you for being with us today, and we look forward to hearing what you have to say and share with us today, so thank you.
Jessica Gonzalez: Thank you Amanuel and hello everyone.
So first off, I want to say thank you to the Moorpark
College family for inviting me to be a speaker today, specifically during the undocumented student awareness week.
This is a topic that is very close and dear to my heart, being a DACA recipient myself,
I think it's extremely important for those who are currently DACA recipients that we help, you know, pave the way for those that are coming after us,
and the reason I say that is because the reason I am where I am today, is because somebody was there for me when I needed a hand. So again, thank you for the opportunity to be here. So what I want to do today is tell you a little bit about, you know, my story and what it was like for me
getting through college as an undocumented student. So you know a little bit before I kind of jump on to that piece,
my family, I was actually born in Michoacan, Mexico and we came to the US in 1995, I was four years old. And the reason we decided to leave Mexico is because crime was on the rise,
my family had been a victim of that at the time, and we no longer felt safe being in our own home country.
And top of that, work was very limited for both of my parents. And so, you know, there, wherever whatever my parents were trying to provide
for our family, the opportunity was not there, and that's what pushed them to you know move over to the US truly in search of the American Dream.
So we have now been here for 25 years. I know the US more than I know my own home country, as I spent most of my life here, and I'm sure that a lot of other undocumented students and DACA recipients feel the same way, because we have spent the majority of our time in the US.
So that's just to tell you a little bit about, you know, why my family decided to move here, where I was born, how long we've been here.
So in terms of, you know, going to school in the US and kind of navigating, you know, the education system and, you know, being a first generation student to attend, you know, a four year university,
there were a couple things that, you know, really helped me along the way, and there were also a couple challenges. And the reason I wanted to pick up the talk about both is because
whatever helped me is also something that could help other undocumented students or DACA recipients who are currently on that journey,
and then, you know, it wasn't always a nice picture. There were times of uncertainty and there will be times of uncertainty for those who are, you know, kind of on that journey now, but despite that uncertainty, it's important for us to kind of keep our morale up and to keep pushing forward.
So, you know, I went to school here K through 12. I attended public schools in the San Fernando Valley, which is where I grew up.
And the biggest impact for me was truly in high school and, you know, I went to a public high school. They had a magnet program, but the two things that helped me the most, while I was in this magnet program is my counselors at the time
knew what the term AB 540 meant. So, you know, this, I graduated high school in 2009 and the term AB 540 was around, but it wasn't as, you know, well known as it is today.
You know 10 years ago we weren't talking about being undocumented, or being a DACA recipient the way we do now. So it wasn't something that I,
you know, shared out openly, but I felt confident enough and I trusted my counselors in seeking help as AB 540 student and even when they didn't have all the resources there, you know,
whenever I did show up to ask, they always made it a point to kind of follow up with me,
in case I had a question or there was something that they didn't know at the time they would come back to me to kind of help me out with those resources.
So that was something that really benefited me when I was in high school and kind of looking towards the next step, about, you know, "What do I want to do, where do I want to go to school, how do I apply, how much does it cost,
how do I know if I qualify for in state tuition?" So all those things you know i i had the resources at this public high school to help me. The other thing that really helped me in high school is I was able to identify a mentor,
and this mentor was actually a teacher that I had in my senior year, who, when, you know, he was younger and he first came to the US, he had experienced something very similar, and although
at that point, he was no longer undocumented, there was a point in his life where you know he had moved to the US and seek of in search of better opportunities,
and there was a time period where he was also undocumented and he was attending UCLA as an undocumented student. So for me that was really big because I had somebody that I could relate to that had been in those shoes.
Right? They knew what it felt like to be afraid. They knew what it felt like
to be surrounded by lots of them certainty and, you know, having these big dreams of attending, you know, these big schools or pursuing an education,
and you don't necessarily know how you're going to get there or if you're able to get there,
but those were the two major things that truly helped me out in high school and kind of paved the way for me for the next, you know, four years to come.
So of course after high school I, you know, apply to a couple UCs, my dream school was UC Berkeley, and I got admitted to Berkeley, and I was determined to go there. So I had visited the campus.
I knew where it was. I wanted to go away from home, but not too far away from home, and it was still a California School that offered in state tuition.
I liked the vibe of being at UC Berkeley, and so my heart was set on this school.
And of course, you know, you get your admittance letters in the mail and you're excited and you're sharing with your friends and your family about, you know, which schools that admitted you,
and then it gets to the point where you need to make a decision, you know, what school will you be attending.
And ever since I was, you know, a little girl I knew I was undocumented. My parents always, kind of, you know,
taught me, "You're undocumented. You could do this, but you cannot do that." And I was always aware of it, but when it came down to pick the school that I was going to attend
as my four year university, I kind of forgot that I was undocumented. And the reason I say that is because I was determined to go to UC Berkeley, regardless of how far was from home and regardless of cost,
and regardless of the fact that we had to pay for tuition and housing out of pocket. And so when I sat down with my parents to have this conversation,
my dad kind of broke it down to me and said, "You cannot go to UC Berkeley," and of course my natural reaction is, "Well, why not?"
And the response that I got from my dad at the time was, "You cannot go to UC Berkeley, because if we run out of money to pay for your housing, you're not going to get an education.
However, if you go to UCLA and we run out of money for housing, then at least you can commute from home and you will still have your tuition covered for and you can still get an education."
And so at that time I was on this high have been admitted to, you know, my dream school and I was going here, and, you know, I was so determined that I kind of forgot about
one of the biggest pieces or one of the biggest factors that goes into this, right, which is the cost of paying for tuition and housing,
and at the time, we didn't have the California Dream Act and we couldn't apply for student aid or student loans.
So, you know, nevertheless, I was fortunate enough to have, you know, my parents helped me pay for this major expense and, you know,
a lot of my classmates, or, you know, a lot of friends that were in the same situation at the time, didn't have that opportunity.
So for me it was truly a blessing, but it also kind of humbled me back down and say, "Hey, hold on. right? Let's think about this and really figure out
where you should go to school and why." And so, you know, that is something that if you qualify for financial aid, right, if you qualify for grants, maybe that's not something that you have to consider,
but as an undocumented student at the time that was definitely something that impacted what school I decided to go to.
And so, you know, time goes on, and I go to UCLA, but I was very bitter.
I was bitter because I felt cheated that, you know, I had worked so hard in high school and I wasn't at my dream school and, you know, I had to come to UCLA, which, at the end of day UCLA is a great school and it all worked out.
But, you know, nonetheless, I'm at UCLA and the things that helped me the most when I was at UCLA was number one finding a support group,
number two scholarships, because that truly helped you know pay for my, the time that I was there. So at UCLA there when I got there, there was a support group called Ideas and Ideas is a
a support group for undocumented students and allies. And this support group truly made a difference in my experience at UCLA.
So when I first came in as a freshman, some of the things that they were doing was, for example, they had a book bank.
And this book bank had been started by other undocumented students who had been there, prior to, you know, myself, joining as a freshman.
And what they had done is, you know, you were taking a math class at your sophomore year, they started a book bank, so that the freshman that was coming in after you and taking the same
Math class could borrow that book, and of course, we had to return the book, you know, after the quarter, but this was
something that they had started because they knew how the cost that was associated with these books and they knew that for some students, you know, buying a book that's two or $300 wasn't very feasible.
So, you know, having that support group was extremely helpful. The other thing that, you know, I was able to kind of achieve through Ideas was I was able to find
off campus housing through this support group. So, you know, at the time, the group was probably, you know, 20 students and, you know, they had different connections everybody there was a range from, you know, freshman's to seniors and through this group, I was able to find, you know, some
classmates that were undocumented and had an opening up their apartment, and so that's how I was able to, you know, kind of live on campus and don't have to commute, but at the same time I had affordable housing.
And I think, you know, when you're in this situation and you're living with other people that are in the same situation,
you can kind of lean on each other because you know what it's like to, you know, have the stress about, "This is the situation that I'm in right? We're all kind of dealing with the same type of stress. Something can happen,
you know, in legislation and now we're all impacted." So having that support group was truly a game changer for me. And so the reason I talk about them about this Ideas group so much is because
joining a support group is probably the best thing you can do, being an undocumented student. So if there is a support group, you know, at the school that you're currently attending definitely join one.
If there isn't a support group and start one, and not only will it be beneficial for you, but it'll be beneficial for those who are coming after you.
The other thing that really helped me at UCLA was actually scholarships, and so my first year in about two quarters. I didn't have to pay out of pocket tuition, because I was able to cover those expenses
through scholarships. So that was a big help for myself, for my family.
You know, it kind of took away the stress of how will I pay for the next quarter. And so my freshman year when I was able to get some type of work, you know, what I ended up doing was kind of setting that money aside
for the quarters that were to come when my scholarship money ran out. So that was a big help as well. There was no, you know, large scholarship in particular that
kind of, you know, help me pay for all these quarters at UCLA, it was mainly, you know,
multiple small scholarships that added up, and what I would do is I would just research scholarships, and if there was no requirement for you to be a you know a green card holder, I applied. And a lot of those scholarships, you know, didn't
necessarily promote that if, "Hey if you're undocumented, you know, you can apply," but I would apply anyway, and I was actually able to get some of those scholarships.
The other thing is, you know, sometimes we get help from the people we least expect it.
And so there was one specific instance where you know I had participated in an immigrant youth conference and I had called this
the organizers back to kind of ask, "Hey, do you have a scholarship available, you know, I'm on my way to a four year college and I just want to know what's available?"
So when I call them. I actually, you know, nobody answers. I left a voicemail, and I had the wrong number.
But about two days later I get a call back from an organization that says, "Hey, we give out a scholarship once a year, we heard your voicemail, and we want to give you the scholarship."
So if I would have never taken that, you know, shot to kind of call and ask is there a scholarship available, I would have never called these people who I never knew and apparently I had the wrong number,
who, you know, at the end of the day, ended up giving me a scholarship, but because of a voicemail I left. So definitely, you know, take a shot.
There, nothing for you to lose, right. So,
I think the big factor about attending, you know, any university, whether, you know, you're going to a four year college or you're starting at community college, one of the big key players at that time was, how do you pay for school, and so that was something that also really helped me.
And, you know, it wasn't always easy. So there were definitely times of uncertainty. I think the biggest uncertainty that I came across was,
you know, I had, I had started UCLA in 2009 and DACA didn't come around until 2012. So for all those years I felt like
I'm going to this school, I'm pursuing a career, and I don't even know if after I graduate I will be able to work or will I be able to use this degree.
And, you know, the Dream Act had already been defeated on the Senate floor, a couple of times. So there were definitely times where I felt a little hopeless and I questioned why, you know, I was doing what I was doing.
But I think at the end of the day, you know, I, my goal was to, you know, get an education.
There was a reason why my family had left Mexico and why, you know, they had kind of sacrificed a lot of things for me to have, you know, a better opportunity and I was not willing to give that up, regardless of, you know, DACA or no DACA.
So, you know, you may feel like there is a lot of uncertainty and there definitely is, but
I think the one thing that's important is to always be prepared, and the reason I say be prepared is because you don't know what opportunities will come on your journey to
getting to where you're trying to get, and you also don't know when legislation will change. So if there is a change that will benefit you, you want to make sure that you're prepared and I think, you know, nowadays, more than ever,
we definitely talk about the undocumented community, the DACA recipients more than we did 10 years ago or 15 years ago,
and so, you know, awareness is there and it continues to increase, and as undocumented students, as DACA recipients, you know, as allies of undocumented students, it's our job to continue to raise that awareness with those around us.
And I think the other major challenge, you know, while I was at UCLA was being a first generation
college student, and a lot of that was because I had to explain to my immediate family, you know,
why I was living on campus, why I couldn't come home every weekend, why, you know, finals were so stressful.
And you kind of don't have that person that you could turn to you know that older sibling or maybe parents that did this, you know, a few years back, and they can relate.
So that was definitely a challenge as well,
but the things that really helped there were having a mentor. You know, a lot of the times I got my mentor involved in speaking with my parents and explaining why I was doing what I was doing.
And so my, I think my parents felt more at ease hearing this from somebody who had, you know, been a part of my life since high school. And now, you know, while I was in college.
And that's kind of how, you know, my journey went as an undocumented student, you know, first generation trying to navigate the school system.
And so, you know, there were a handful of us, definitely I wouldn't say the majority, you know, we were definitely a minority,
but having that support group, you know, the scholarships were definitely helpful and, you know, when uncertainty hit, you have to stay strong and you have to stay resilient.
And the one thing I always thought about is if I have come this far up until now, I can go anywhere. This is not the time for me to give up.
And so that's kind of what, you know, I want you all to take away from my experience, so I'll turn it back over to either Karla, or Amanuel and I know you guys have planned for a Q&A so it's all here.
Amanuel: I just want to say thank you so much Jessica, for joining us today and sharing your story as an immigrant coming to this country,
you know, I share some of those experiences and I wish I had a role model like yourself to, you know, to be able to share their story. So it's always good for our students to have
examples, but also to really have hope, because we try to build a community that really supports our students. So,
thank you for your time, for your leadership, and for being with us, and we hope when we come back in person, we can allow you to engage with our students in person in some capacity so,
with that I also want to thank Karla for her leadership, and then hand it off to you for some of the next steps. So thank you all for for today.
Karla: Thank you Amanuel. Thank you so much, Jessica, I really I'm blown away by your story. I think that
and some of the stories that I have personally heard from our students, I have heard similar lines to what you're mentioning.
So thank you for sharing that. Now, I would like to open up the floor for questions, if you have a question for Jessica, please feel free, free to drop it in the Q&A or go ahead and raise your hand and we will be able to unmute you.
And in the meanwhile we wait for questions, I did have a follow up question for you. You mentioned in high school you had a mentor who had similar experiences to you,
what are some of the qualities that you look for when seeking a mentor or an ally?
Jessica: So this mentor was a, you know, a teacher in for my 11th grade, but it was somebody that number one, I could truly relate to, and
this person has a lot of passion for, you know, helping out students, and so,
you know, not only in our classroom right and, you know, they're responsible for teaching you a topic, but he would kind of recognize right, that
there was a little bit of stress that I was going through because I was an AB 540 student, and he was able to recognize and kind of
pulled me aside and say, "Hey, you know, what what's going on? Do you need help?" and by him doing that it really made me feel like this is somebody that I can, you know, count on, that I can tell my story to, I felt safe,
and I truly felt like this person had the best interest in me. Usually during parent conferences,
whenever I was trying, you know, to apply for something, or go somewhere, or go visit a school,
my parents were always questioning why, right, and of course being first generation, "Who is going to take care of you? Why are you going there, etc?"
But I always felt like I could come to this mentor and say, "Hey, you know, this is what I'm trying to achieve. Can you please help me explain this to my parents?" And so not only was it a mentor for me, but it was also my ally, who, you know, wanted me to
succeed, and you know, have different experiences and move forward and he was willing to help me with that. And so, you know, this person is still my mentor today, 10 years later.
Karla: Mhmm. Mhmm. Oh my god.
It's... I feel like when students have a mentor,
based on your experience and sounds like it was really meaningful to you, it was not only someone who you can turn to for advice for academics, but just talk about real life issues, which is something that,
you know, mentors can help you with too.
Jessica: Definitely, it's somebody that you can
you know, kind of be very honest with and talk about what's really going on in life with.
Karla: Thank you. Let me see. I have a question in the chat.
"Do we have a staff to student mentor program at Moorpark College?"
I will go ahead and find out more information about that. I do know that we have a couple of mentoring programs. I don't remember the names on top of my head, but I will go ahead and provide more information towards the end of our present- of our event today.
But are there any other questions for Jessica in a specific that she can address at this time?
Please feel free to drop them in the Q&A or raise your hand. In the meantime, I did want to follow up with another question.
You mentioned making choices, right. So I think that at one point or another,
I am in my life or and everyone in their lives has encountered a situation where they do have to make a choice between something that they
thought was going to work out, and, you know, something changes and things change. So, what would be your advice for people who have to make this tough choices?
Jessica: So, you know, being
undocumented specifically, even if you know what we, I like to say DACA mented, right. So if you're DACA mented,
there's always a tough decisions that you have to make, and you need to balance them out. Sometimes you sacrifice things right, to make a specific decision,
but don't ever, you know, sell yourself short, even if it's a decision that requires you to, you know, sacrifice,
always focus on, "Well, what's the long term goal? What do I really want and if you know if this is what I want, and I have to sacrifice something for it," then go ahead and sacrifice it always focus on the end goal.
You know, there's going to be a lot of things that will kind of make you feel hopeless, or this is not going to work out, it's not fair,
but you need to learn to blur out the noise, right. And one thing that I have always, you know, kind of live my life by is
if you do good and if you have good intentions, good things will come. It may not, you may not know how, you may not know why, it may be unexpected but good things will come.
So always focus on where you're trying to go, and whatever you're doing, and why ever you are doing it, do it because that's truly what you want,
and that's where you're trying to get to, and you'll be surprised by how your journey can be impacted when you least expect it.
And again, you don't know what's going to come in the future. You don't know when there will be an opportunity, and if there is, you want to be ready for that you want to be able to jump on that opportunity, regardless of being undocumented, DACA, whatever it is.
Karla: Thank you, Jessica. So, at this time, we haven't received any other questions or hand races from the,
From participants, but I do want to point out a couple of things that you did mention
that benefited you in your journey, and I just wanted to reiterate more about those. So you mentioned at UCLA you had a support group called Ideas where they really provided you with
this support that you needed in different aspects such as this book bank program that you had, off campus housing, and leaning on each other for whatever was going on at the time.
So,
and then the other thing you mentioned was if there was,
that, excuse me, that you relied a lot on the scholarships and those opportunities even,
you know if they didn't go the first way that you intended them to they still worked out the way that you wanted them to. So I found that really, really impactful
when you mentioned that you applied even if you didn't qualify, and you never know you may get in contact with.
Jessica: And, you know, there was actually more than once when that happened, so when I was actually a junior, we had another situation where
you know, you could apply to these Ivy League
schools and kind of spend a summer there, and I have learned about the program through a counselor in high school and I applied
not knowing if, "Hey can undocumented students participate?" but of course, you know, they came back and they said "Yes, you can participate. Great."
I remember the cost of the program was $4,000 for a summer, which was a lot of money for my family, and they had a scholarship program. So I said, "Hey, I'm going to apply and see what happens," and I got the scholarship.
They never advocated for AB 540 undocumented. It wasn't even something that you know I shared with them at the time, but on the application it never said you couldn't apply.
And so, you know, don't be afraid to kind of be the first to, you know, shake the jar and see what happens. Sometimes that's what you have to do to get to where you're trying to get to.
Karla: Thank you, Jessica.
So,
this concludes our,
our session for our guest speaker with Jessica Gonzalez. Thank you so much for coming in today and sharing your experience about being undocumented, first generation Latina, and having to have some conversations with your family
that I'm sure many over students relate to, based on what I hear. So, thank you so much again for joining us, Jessica.
Jessica: Thank you all.
Karla: Alright. So for the next part Michael, can you pull up the
slide please?
Thank you. So,
now I would like to invite to the floor, Stephany Villagran, who is a former Moorpark College student, and now it's attending CSU Channel Islands.
Hi, Stephany.
Stephany Villagran Alfaro: Hi everybody.
Karla: How are you?
Stephany: I'm doing well. I'm glad to be here and follow up after Jessica's amazing story, and I do see a lot of connections already.
Karla: Oh, I'm happy, I'm happy that you already felt connected to some of her experiences. So, I want you to introduce yourself and tell us about you.
Stephany: Yeah. So my name is Stephany Villagran Alfaro. I attended Moorpark College from the fall of 2015 right after I graduated high school.
I attended Simi High, in Simi Valley where I grew up. So I grew up in Ventura County and have been here. I started. Moorpark just taking like six units, my first semester,
and actually my first semester I didn't pass like any of my classes, and then I was put on academic probation for a semester.
So just like looking back, how I started and then graduating with my AA in 2020 last spring,
it just seems like unreal that I went through all that work and put all that in, but I graduated with my Associate's in Child Development and I transfer to CSU Channel Islands this fall to complete my Bachelor's in Early Childhood Studies.
I am a first generation student like Jessica and most of us. So I'm the first in my family to attend community college and a four year and I also I identify as undocumented with DACA and I was granted the permit in 2012 when I was 15 like a freshman in high school, and
I've had that status of DACA from 2012, but before that I was an immigrant with my family since 2001, so I did grow up with that mindset when I was younger,
since my whole family and I are from Mexico. I have that like Hispanic culture and lots of those values and beliefs, and I think one big value that I take with me,
especially with school, is that like we're all hard workers and like we always, you know, work for our families, so I continue to pursue higher education,
because of my family and they motivate me a lot to continue pursuing education and then hopefully get my teaching credentials. So apply for a teaching credential program, and then the plan is to then be a teacher for elementary school kids.
So that's me in a nutshell.
Karla: Thank you, and thank you for sharing about your journey here out Moorpark and
just throughout, you know, obtaining your Child Development degree from here and then now pursuing your goals at Channel Islands, despite the initial challenges that you've experienced. So can you tell me a little bit more about your academic journey and dig deeper into that?
Stephany: Yeah, so, my experiences from like kindergarten through 12th grade were all at public schools.
So navigating through the system as a child and as an adult has all been a learning process about like, who I am as a person, and what I need to succeed in my goals for myself.
I also knew that I was undocumented since I was really young. My family came to the US, when I was just four years old. So I knew I had limitations to what I could
go for. I definitely remember growing up and attending like elementary school and high school, and feeling like there wasn't a place for me to fit in really with my culture of like being an immigrant and
just like my Hispanic culture. So I found myself receiving a message from society that
I couldn't stand out or like a couldn't overachieve, and it kind of kept me from making relationships with people and like hiding myself and hiding that my legal status, so
it taught me to like hide that part of my identity and it led to other things like me not being able to ask for things I needed.
Like, I didn't have good relationships with my teachers at all. So I wasn't able to ask for, like,
extra study time and just recognize that I needed extensions on tests, or talking to like advisors about attending college, so, or universities after high school, so I didn't have that foundation growing up in school.
And definitely like being undocumented to me now with DACA, like in high school I learned that it's something that I had to advocate for myself.
When I started at the community college, I knew that because I have DACA, there's the Dream Act application, so I needed to go in and ask about that which I later found out is the AB 540.
I didn't really start navigating the system for myself until I started at the community college.
That was when the, the community college had information about like grants and I received the BOG Waiver, which I believe is called something different now,
but I received that for most of the time that I was at Moorpark. I also received two small scholarships on that I had help from the Scholarship Office at Moorpark to fill out,
and attending like webinars like this and being a part of services to inform myself on like legal services, health services, job opportunities, and educational opportunities that have helped me out with my process of navigating into the CSU system as well.
Karla: Thank you, Stephany. So my next question for you. Did you, you already mentioned some of the challenges, but did you experience any other challenges navigating your academics?
Stephany: Navigating my academics at Moorpark,
with mainly around getting the prerequisites to transfer for my Bachelor's, I didn't
have a cohesive ed plan or a two year plan.
Sometimes I would just try and take like one class that was that was interested in the one class that I knew would count for like a general ed, like speech.
So try and find a balance between like heavy workload classes and then classes I was interested, sorry interested in.
And then later I began to going into the counselor's office and setting up my classes that way.
As in, like my transfer, my transfer process, which was the other part of my academic journey, it definitely started between the Transfer Center and the Financial Aid Office,
and being able to fill out the Dream Act application with the people at Financial Aid and talking to those of the Transfer Center about the CSU Apply application and making sure that my Dream ID is input,
along with my financial, for with my Dream Act application so that I was able to receive financial aid at the CSU system.
One of my largest struggles was the Cal Grant. Unfortunately, the semester I was now granted the Cal Grant, so it didn't cover my entire tuition at the CS at the CSU and I had to pay
some money out of pocket to fulfill the rest of my tuition. And that was because I was not informed on my GPA not corresponding to my Cal Grant application, so it wasn't considered, and now I know that, I had to inform myself through like going to webinars and such, but
now I know that my GPA may have not been found because of my Dream ID number, or if my name didn't correlate, like if I use my second last name or my first name in one application, but I didn't use it at the school,
and also, like if I filled out the FAFSA application instead of the Dream ID that there could be two applications out there. So I am in the process of figuring that out for myself next semester.
Those would be two of my bigger struggles and then another was more simple, but it did hit me hard was not knowing that I had to pay the non resident tuition fees.
Although I don't have to pay him but I received an email when I was transferring this summer and like in June,
that I had to pay non resident non resident tuition fees that were like $300 per unit, which is like $4,000 for a full time student, which I am now,
and when I received that message like I felt super nervous and became really anxious that my plan was not going to go forward, either I couldn't take classes,
or I was going to have to like dip into my credit card and then being some kind of debt. So I became like very weary of that and
the way that I was notified was through like a generic automated email,
and I really had to look through the email and dig for what it was they were asking me for. So I realized that they were just requesting for me to turn in proof that I live in the state, and prove that I'm eligible for the exemption form. So I had to fill out those two forms,
and I'm exempt because I have DACA, which was a law passed a couple years ago so educating myself on what it is the school was requesting of me,
but once I figured out the application and sent in my a copy of my work permit with my US CIS number on there, it became really simple and like the process was fixed fairly quick.
Karla: Thank you for that. Stephany, do you happen to have some headphones and a headset. We're having some trouble hearing you, for the captioning piece.
Stephany: Oh, yes, sorry. Give me one sec.
Karla: Thank you to all participants for being flexible at this time.
Stephany: Was there anything that wasn't heard...that
I need to repeat?
Karla: I'm thinking,
I'm not quite sure how much of the audio was missed, but I'm sure that we can move forward for the next question. Hopefully our captioner is able to catch it while,
looking over the video so we will be requesting consent from all the presenters to make sure that we upload this videos and that way participants can see what your answers to the previous questions were.
Thank you, Stephany. So moving on forward to the next question is, how do you keep me informed about what services and resources are available for you?
Stephany: Yeah,
I like to stay informed by
like checking Instagram pages on like my camp- the campuses. So for Moorpark or for now that I attend Channel Islands and following specific groups,
like the PACE program or the Dreamers program. There's also an IDEAS club at the school I attend now and there's always like easy
like aesthetically pleasing information there, especially now Zoom. The link is up and it's really accessible. So it's an easy way for me to stay open to those resources.
My first step with getting informed like while I was at the community college, was simply just opening up my emails.
I think that's a great way to stay informed and it's at our fingertips already. There are
a lot of services that are available to us undocumented students, the services are out there and they're planned, much like the PACE program and the Dreamers workshops that were happening this week,
especially these programs that are going on. I see now that there are, there is a lot more outreach and there's a lot more participation
to inform the undocumented communities about the services that are out there, and that usually comes through emails. So I would say opening up your email and following up on emails.
I have had to not just read my emails, but then also follow up on my emails, and whether it's like attending a webinar, or going to a website,
I'll block out like an hour or two of time that I will dedicate to that email or to that resource.
So making sure that I schedule in time that I can attend events, and then after the event or before the event, informing myself on what resources are applicable to me.
I know that sometimes I attend like webinars for Financial Aid and or about programs for school, and because I'm undocumented, some of the information I received does not apply to me.
So I filter through that information, and if I think it does apply to me, or it could apply to me, I follow up with that next time. So,
another way I get informed and follow up is calling offices. So calling the Financial Aid Office.
Calling like administrator's office. I've also been in contact with the student, the California Student Aid Commission that handles the Cal Grant applications.
And they have their website web for grants that is very informative and kind of helps you keep track of what your Cal Grant application is like so,
calling those offices and talking to somebody in person I think has been really helpful for me, because I cannot explain my situation in just like phone menu options.
Talking to somebody in person really helps me explain the needs that I have and the services that I need. So talking to somebody in person helps,
besides that also sometimes when I talk to somebody in person or over the phone, they refer me to the website. So my last piece that I try and stay informed on is just by checking the websites,
clicking through their tabs, learning about what services they have to offer, and what forums, they have that they may refer me to, and also just understanding the terminology that they might use
throughout like the webinars, or in the forums, but those are the main ways that I like to get informed.
It has definitely been a process of just accepting that there are so many services out there for me, like scholarships and financial aid, legal services, health services.
My time at the community college and at the CSU now has been a lot of like letting go, and letting go of control, and allowing other people to know my story and be able to help me and services that they know that I might not know of. So.
Karla: The thank you for that Stephany.
The next question we have for you. And if the audience wants to start sending in their questions as well, you're more than welcome to. And so for my question for you is,
what do you want campus professionals to know about you?
Stephany: I would want campus professionals
to know that
my situation is unique. Although I am undocumented, and I have DACA. everybody's situation may vary depending on like what kind of legal status they have, what kind of legal status their family members have, and
for campus staff to know that patience goes a really long way with us. Explaining our situation is never easy and having to explain
what our situation is and what processes we've had to go through takes a lot of time and a lot of effort.
I know that with my transfer process, every office, I would call like three offices a day, I would be like, explaining the same story over and over, and I mean, it got easier, but it's still difficult so
having that compassion and the patience to really listen and consider what we're going through,
and with that I think comes being able to collaborate like different departments or different offices that may be able to help us.
I think some of the best help that I've gotten, especially at Moorpark, is when I confronted somebody with a problem that I had,
and they maybe didn't have the entire solution for me, but they were able to refer me to a different office, or somebody that may know more or different situations than they, and I was able to get help everywhere I went from there.
Karla: Thank you.
So my next question for you is, what are some of the things that you think we need to improve to better help us students like you?
Stephany: I think, to better help students, maybe specifically with the transfer process,
would be to
inform us of processes we're going to have to go through.
Like for example, the non resident exception form, I, that kind of caught me off guard, and it could be discouraging to other people that maybe wouldn't have had the patience to read through an email. So just letting us know like, "Hey, this is going to come up,
because in your CSU application you filled in resident," because we are residents of the state, and advocating for ourselves that yes, although we are non citizens, we are residents legally of the state.
So I always had a lot of confusion in that and my processes have been different than those who have Social Security numbers,
and just having to find other ways of understanding the same application.
Karla: Okay, thank you. We do have a question from the audience for you.
So the first, the question is, "Are all the resources a bit overwhelming?"
Stephany: Hmm,
with like immigration and like health insurance,
they're overwhelming in my emails,
yes, but really like participating in events and being a part of communities that are there to help you
it is not overwhelming. I think like it's just the flow that I've caught on attending webinars like this. Yes, it is like time consuming, sometimes, but
just really being pressured present and appreciative of the services that people are there and paid to see us succeed in our degrees, in our careers it's, it doesn't become too overwhelming.
Good question though.
Karla: So then we have another question for you. "How could your professors help you through your journey?"
Stephany: Hmm.
If my professors in specific could help me
with very similar to what Jessica said with
being mentors of like
financial aid opportunities,
internships, especially
job opportunities sometimes professors know of job openings that you may not need documented status for or
I've also heard from other peers that they've been offered a job and because they don't have documented status they like, they turn it down immediately, but professors could be like a really good help for that, and
also we have like, we have so many insecurities as undocumented people and laws are changing constantly and we we do have like an overload of information put on us that
I think my professor could help me with having patience with me, and if I need extensions on a test, or if I need extra clarification on something
of course, as students we might have to make that first step, but a professor would definitely be somebody to help with that.
Karla: Thank you.
So participants, feel free to continue bringing in questions for Stephany, but I do have another question for you, Stephany.
I know we've been talking a lot about academics and, you know, you're trying to keep up with the information that is out there for you, but putting all that aside, what do you do for fun?
Stephany: Yeah. Well, I like to stay active in times especially like times like this where I'm at my computer sitting all the time.
So I'll go out for walks, I like to spend lots of time with my family. We like to go to the beach. We had our pool out in the back. So we've all summer just like been hanging out in the pool. I do like to take in the sun a lot. So that's something I like to do every time and just relax.
Karla: Thank you. So from Jessica, we were able to hear that, you know, she likes to go explore food places. So, what are you, what do you like to explore in your free time? Are you a nature person? Do you like to go out for food?
Stephany: I like to explore people. [Stephany and Karla laugh]
But I mean that in like many different ways. So I think I'm somebody that if I have free time I'll
go and talk to friends.
And like join clubs and things like this. So I'm a big like service person. I like to volunteer at things. I am
at my old youth ministry, my old youth minister is still doing like social service projects. So we used to go to like marches,
attend like voter registration. So try and stay informed through other people that's really what I like to do on my free time.
Karla: Got it, got it.
Do you have any other volunteer and experience or getting involved in clubs, besides what you mentioned right now, which was, you know, through your church affiliation, and then earlier you mentioned at Channel Islands been involving the club name IDEAS?
Have you done anything else?
Stephany: At the high school, I didn't do like any clubs or anything,
and then at Moorpark I began attending like the Dreamers workshops,
but I wasn't able to, like, I wish I would have also, but like make a student organization of some kind, but just attending events and then now at the CSU, we're looking to put together an Early Childhood Studies student organization, so staying staying involved within my major.
Karla: Mhmm, mhmm. Thank you.
And my other last, my last question that I have here. Do you have any words of advice for students who are undocumented or come from mix immigration family statuses?
Stephany: Yeah,
I think some words of encouragement that have helped me
have been that of staying resistant and like picking myself up when things are really difficult.
I think, just like in our culture and because we are undocumented, or we have close family members that are undocumented, we already have that like thick skin, because we exist we're some kind of resistance to this system that we're in.
So I would encourage other students like me to use those difficult efforts and recognize that you're that much stronger than somebody else like our struggles, your struggles make you stronger every single day,
and I come from that point of view, especially like at the CSU now, and realizing that I have so many big aspirations and being an undocumented person I've always thought like anything that I do is like a dream is a goal, and we have
like, nobody can take school away from us and those like big dreams and aspirations that our parents have for us motivate us all the way through, and our culture is so rich and I don't think we given ourselves enough credit for that.
Karla: Thank you, Stephany.
So that concludes the interview that we have today with Stephany. I really want to thank you for your time and making yourself available on a Friday.
Good luck with your studies at Channel Islands. We really appreciate you have, all that you had to say for students here and we'll look forward that to that other students who are watching this
Zoom webinar are encouraged to also share their stories with us, if they feel comfortable with. We're here to hear you, Moorpark College is here to support you.
So you feel free to reach out.
Alright, so Michael, can you please pull up the slide?
So I would like to take a three minute break. I know that we're going to be finishing the session at 1:00 pm but we do have the time for a break. So please join us back at 12:31. Thank you.
Okay, thank you everyone for coming back from the break. So now I would like to move forward to a couple slides, Michael.
I would like to introduce everyone to the how community colleges support undocumented students. So if you can play that video for us, please?
When you're undocumented you feel that you just don't belong anywhere, making sure that
you know they belong at a college, university is really important for them to stay here.
The undocumented research program is designed to support undocumented students from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds.
They might be looking for financial aid, any support with their DACA renewal or any other legal advice or information they might be seeking.
It's really important to have these kind of programs and centers on different campuses like two year colleges or universities, because these students are everywhere. These students are just, you know, trying to go to school.
I realized, wow, I could benefit from this and that's exactly what other students and other people need to see as well.
I ran into some problems with my personal DACA renewal. I was getting stressed out, and I thought, "I have to drop out of school work two jobs just cover this," I dropped in and then everything was taken care of within a week and a half and
I was still enrolled in school and I thought that was phenomenal. My family really wants me to get a degree in be able to walk the stage and be next to my cousins and say, that we all have a career.
And not having the DACA, it's closing out those doors for me. At the Student Center they'll help whoever comes in and they'll other doors open for you.
They explained to me that it was for people like me,
who are considered AB 540 students, or undocumented, or Dreamers. I couldn't find any scholarship or anything that they offered I would of not known anything about that and I would have just been kind of on my own, hoping that something will come my way.
It's actually finding the help and resources that's the frustrating hard part. The biggest concerns with students is lack of help and how to find it.
Give me someone that I can trust and be able to just communicate with them and if any questions come up, be able to have a conversation with them about it.
The political climate too it's kind of hard, who is really out there for you and who can you really trust.
It's a safe support having the program there for you. Walking in anytime and be able to talk to someone and immediately have that relationship with them. As
a former undocumented student myself, I needed people to come to me and let me know that you know it's safe for me to actually speak out and say that I'm undocumented and I need help. It's a way for them to finish their studies, what they came her for.
This center is very very important not to just, to me, or people that work in it, but knowing that there's lot of students out there that don't know about it.
We want our undocumented student populations to know that we would never report their information to any authority. We do care for safety first that's our main priority.
When you have that degree no one can take that from you.
If people willing to work hard for the education and then really have that drive for it there should be nothing stop it.
They are not alone. We're going to go above and beyond to help them. If we stop caring, then we lose everything. It takes a campus, it takes the whole village to be able to meet the needs of the undocumented student population.
Karla: Thank you for playing that video. So I just wanted to make a couple comments as to how we are mirroring the services at Moorpark College so everyone who is attending is informed.
So we have the legal immigration services that are free for our students, faculty, staff, and administrators. These legal services are not directly connected to any Moorpark College records, so your information in regards to immigration continues to be confidential with them.
We have at the, in our office of Financial Aid, we do have a Financial Aid Specialist who focuses on helping all our Dreamers. His name is Greg Balam, and you can find more information about him in our website, which I will go over in a little bit with you all in the slide.
If any student needs any type of support or has questions I am readily available for them. I'm going to go ahead and share my information as well.
Once we return to campus, my office is located in the Administration building office room 123, so it's super easy to remember, and the letter is A, so.
Administration building 123A, that is my office.
And just like they mentioned in the video, it really takes a village to support all our undocumented students here at Moorpark College, and that's why we have designated liaisons, every single program here around campus to make sure that
if you have any questions they're able to help you on the spot, if not refer you to me immediately and then we can figure out figure things out, then. For instance, we have partners with EOPS, we have partnerships with the FYE, SYE, CHESS,
Financial aid, like I mentioned earlier, and so on and so forth. We have an allies list available on our website. So if you wanted to reach out to a particular person,
they have provided you with their information on our website. So feel free to contact them. So I would like to move on forward now to a slide where we have a message from Kelvin Hau.
Kelvin Hau: Hey everyone my name is Kelvin Hau and I just finished Moorpark College last spring, and I wanted to talk to you guys about how Moorpark College services are really important to me.
I think first off we need knowledge how difficult school is. It's hard to be ahead, it's, it's hard to stay on top of everything all the time when everything in your life is just
fighting for your attention, and I think it's, I think anyone that tells you it's really easy has it too good.
You know, but one of the most important things about doing while in college is taking initiative, especially, you know, when, you know, you need help and
I mean, you've already shown it by watching this video, right? So at Moorpark College I think there's so much support for us, you know if your first gen, or undocumented, or food insecure, whatever
really you struggle with, or whatever, you know, was in your life that you know has become, made it harder. And I remember when it would hit October,
around then I'd get really worried about the Dream Act, about, you know, "How would I fill it out, you know which grant is which, I can't remember, you know, what should I put for this question?"
But Greg from Financial Aid was always there to help me and it meant a lot because you know I didn't completely understand
the paperwork and he was always happy to help me and always there for me. Thanks, Greg, by the way.
And you know, I think, again, reaching out to anyone takes initiative and if there's anything, you know, you remember about the short video it's that
those small acts of initiative can change your entire life. And I, I'd really hate to see so many opportunities, not be taking at Moorpark College, especially because they do offer a lot, you know, but
it really sucks when you reach your last semester and Moorpark and, you know, you're in the last day, and you're just thinking about, you know what, you could have done, you know, the amazing things that you could have been part of, you know, potentially something greater than yourself.
I just want to leave you with that guys, I wish you the best and stay safe out there.
Karla: So as many of us know, Kelvin was a former Moorpark College student, and he recently
transferred out to a university. So for our next item. I will. Next slide?
So what's next? What, where do we go from here? Particularly where our undocumented students here on campus, our Dreamers, or those who, you know, do not have their DACA or whether they do have it.
So getting involved on and off campus was mentioned this Monday as students have many opportunities to get involved in something that it's already established on campus or create their own club,
like our student leaders mentioned. There are internships, volunteering opportunities available.
Volunteering always available for our own undocumented students. So feel free to
reach out to the Career Transfer Center, and schedule an appointment with Cristina Garcia and she will be happy to help you identify any volunteer opportunities that you may be interested in that are good fit for you.
Another way in which you can get involved is by joining the Dreamers work group.
Our mission really is to help our undocumented students, our students who come from mixed families, and we help them identify the best support for them and seeing if we need to work on something to make sure that they're being successful here on campus.
From the workshop that we had with Cristina from the Career and Transfer Center, go ahead and update your resume, she provided a bunch of great tips on how to do that and once you're ready to go, go ahead and like she said contact her so that she can look over your resume.
I invite all students to continue and all students, staff, faculty to continue participating in all the programs that we have. Moorpark College. I think that as Stephany mentioned something along the lines
you never know what events are out there until
someone else passes them along or you'll find them in your inbox. So just make sure you're paying close attention to them and participate if you can.
The next step is to follow us on Instagram. Our handle is @undocmc. We try to be very active and
when it came to this undocumented student action week we published our agenda there as well as in our website. So please know students that that is another way to engage with us.
We're happy to answer questions there, and then after moving forward to email communication, or a phone call, or Zoom. I'm always very happy to meet with you.
And like I was mentioning earlier if you're faculty, staff, students, an affiliate of Moorpark College's in general, schedule your free immigration consultation with the UFW Foundation.
You never know what items you or you can qualify force until they do that legal intake, you know, I understand that many people were looking
into applying for the DACA or renewing their DACA, but please know that there are other immigration relief options
that you can potentially qualify for like they were mentioning their workshops.
Also schedule an appointment with them if you just want to get more aware about what your rights are, how to exercise them. They're readily available through rehearse that with you and provide you with any other resources in regards to immigration law.
Like I mentioned earlier too, remember your, your legal consultation is not connected to Moorpark College we never find out whether you want to see them or not. So
know with confidence that we're not really tracking that for you. So, so then for the next item I have you all to make sure you complete your health insurance application, you know. I know that yesterday
with our partners from Covered California and Human Services Agency they went over the different types of insurance that you can apply to
potentially, and including your family. So, so go ahead and submit your application and reach out either to Catherine, or Aurora, if you need help filling those out. Their information it's readily available in the Student Health Center page of Moorpark College.
And the other thing that we have for our students is go ahead and complete your California Dream Act application for the upcoming year 2021-2022. Applications are now open and
the sooner you get it in the less you have to worry about or take care of in the future.
Tomorrow, we are having an event called Cash for College where students from Moorpark, Ventura, and Oxnard
will have their respective representatives and as soon as can drop into the Zoom link and they will receive individualize help
as to how to fill out their California Dream Act or any other form of financial application that you want to fill out.
They're going to be there for you and answer all those questions. Greg is going to be in that workshop so our students will definitely get to connect with him if you see him.
And then for all of you I wanted to share our website, which is the www.moorparkcollege.edu forward slash Dreamers.
And if you have any questions or ideas or would like to informally come into one of our Dreamers group, work group meeting to see if that's a good fit for you, please send me an email. My email address is kmontenegro@vcccd.edu.
Feel free to take a picture of those slides. So I'm going to leave it up.
Other items that I am that were just confirmed prior to me sending in this presentation was
for our Dreamers, we're going to have a workshop for you on Tuesday, November 19 at 3pm called Dreamers
Pathway to Cal Lu. So we will have a representative from Cal Lutheran University, giving us their outlook about the application process, the transfer process to Cal Lu, and the scholarships that they have available as well as the services that are available for Dreamers.
Something that they mentioned and that I really wanted to gather more information about was a housing grant that they're offering Dreamers
who are attending their school. So we'll get more details in November 19 as we attend that workshop. I do want to mention that that workshop is open to all the VCCCD students. So if you're from Oxnard or Ventura, we invite you to attend to it, too.
And
we are, I wanted to give you all a heads up, letting you know that we're going to start working on the events that
we're going to be hosting for all our undocumented students this spring. So if you have any ideas about what event, you will like to see on campus happen for you, email me and we'll see how we can make it happen and who we can partner with to make, to make sure that we've
forward along all the information that we need for that event if you have an idea.
All right, so can we move to the next slide please?
So I wanted to give a special announcement today I wanted to announce that we have nine new scholarships from MC Dreamers to all our undocumented students,
and here are the main requirements for all the scholarships. So we want you to have your California Dream Act on file for this academic year and the following.
And as you remember, we're having a workshop tomorrow, so you can get this application. done tomorrow with Greg or any of our financial aid specialists at the workshop.
You must have a 2.0 GPA to to qualify for the scholarship and participate and be continuing at Moorpark College for the spring 2021 semester.
We have three scholarships for DACA of $500 and the special requirements for that scholarship is that you must be enrolled in six or more units for this fall semester 2020,
and you must have your employment authorization card and DACA paperwork expiring between now so October 23, 23rd 2020
until February 2021 so send in your application, if that's when your employment authorization and your DACA are expiring, excuse me.
We are also awarding three scholarships to full time students and the requirement is that you must be enrolled in 12 units or more this semester.
And we have these scholarships for part time Dreamers, and you must be enrolled between nine to 11.9 units this fall semester.
So feel free to take a picture of this. I am going to go ahead and follow up with students directly and let them know that the scholarships are available for them.
They will have to fill out an application through a form and and then this scholarship will be due Monday, November 30,
and participants will be hearing back from me that same week that they have been awarded or
whether they were chosen or not for the scholarship.
So if you need to remember anything from this slide it's
if you work out more for college, remind your Dreamers to check their mailbox this is going to come to their mailbox and they're going to have the link readily accessible to the scholarship then.
If you're a student, keep an eye on your email next week I'm going to send you the scholarship details as well as what wasn't outlined here, and you will get a perspective as to how to apply for the scholarship.
So now I know that we have about eight minutes to spare for the presentation. Can you put the next slide please?
And I wanted to open up the floor for questions that you may have in general about how we're supporting our Dreamers at Moorpark College or if you're a student and you have a particular question feel free to send it too,
but I do want to mention that we have the pickup,
all students can pick up free groceries today from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm at Moorpark College. You can find the full details on our Instagram page or you can find them in our website at www.moorparkcollege.edu/USAW.
Okay, so I know that we had a question from Dina asking if we had
a staff to student peer mentor program at MC, so I wanted to look that up for you.
But in the meantime, feel free to send me any other questions.
If you feel more comfortable raising your hand to ask a question, we can unmute your mic and you can ask it out loud as well.
So we have a question, and it's "So students can work on their scholarships tomorrow?" So what is going on tomorrow is Cash for College, so students can fill out their California Dream Act application or their FAFSA.
But if students do need help filling out a scholarship applications are looking for scholarships, they're more than welcome to contact me. We have on our website as well a list of how students can search for scholarships, particularly that don't mention any immigration status.
And for your question Dina, I think I'm going to have to dig a little bit deeper and see if we have a program where a staff mentors the students, I will go ahead and make sure to send you an answer for that.
Okay, so it seems like we do not have any more questions or comments, no one is raising their hand. So this concludes our webinar today and we hope to see you picking up some free groceries until 4:00 pm thanks everyone. Have a good rest of your Friday.