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UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SYMPOSIUM:
Student Voices: Learning a New Language for Success
Juan Magana stood up in front of a roomful of bright, science-minded types and admitted that he was not the typical freshman entering the University of California, Berkeley. Although his town of Salinas, California, was the birthplace of writer John Steinbeck, it had recently gained notoriety as a capital of Latino street gang violence and for the closing of its public libraries.
Educated at a high school that sends few students to college, Magana came to Berkeley with a high school GPA and SAT scores that were below average. He realized as soon as he took—and failed—his first calculus exam that he was woefully underprepared for college.
"The first thing that I received at orientation was an invitation to come to the Biology Scholars Program (BSP)," Magana recalled. "And I thought, 'That sounds kind of fancy, I feel kind of special.'" What Magana would come to realize four years later was that the BSP was crucial for his success in overcoming that initial lack of preparation. "BSP doesn't hold our hands, but it gives us a language we never got in high school," Magana said.
The program helps level the playing field for students with diverse backgrounds, he said. Having access to the technologies that most college students take for granted can make a huge difference, he explained. For example, the BSP has a computer room that students can use at all hours. "High-speed Internet costs $60 per month. Have you guys ever tried to use low-speed Internet to download papers from PubMed?" he asked the audience. The program provides other resources such as headphones to watch web casts of classes and high-quality printers. "Ink is expensive!" Magana noted.
Magana, who has graduated from mentee to mentor, now tutors students in an introductory chemistry course, where he appreciates the fact that each student brings his or her own unique background to the group. Having had similar experiences, the students can explain concepts to each other using language and analogies to which they can all relate. Magana takes pride in the hard work his chemistry students put into studying, knowing the odds they are up against.
"There are 1200 students in the first general chemistry class, and the way it is set up, only 10 percent of the students can get A's. You look around and think, 'Who's going to get the F?'" he said. "Unfortunately, it usually lands on the students less prepared."
Magana has also participated in clinical research at San Francisco General Hospital to study communication between the intensive care staff and patients' families. After graduation, he plans to continue to work with the BSP students. Long-term, he sees himself back in Salinas, working as an ER physician in the county hospital and teaching science at the community college. That may sound awfully ambitious, but Magana—like many students in the BSP—has now surpassed many of the Berkeley students who arrived with higher GPAs and shiny new laptops. He's not just prepared for a career in science; he's passionate about it, too.
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