feature

Alumni Feature: Jason Castaneda

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 18:30:47 +0000

Alumni Feature: Jason Castaneda Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/09/2023 - 12:30

Jason graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degrees in Communications and Sociology.

What is your current job or profession?

Financial Advisor with Edward Jones

How did PCDP prepare you for college and your professional life?

PCDP provided me the tools to be successful and made the transition to college easier. It gave me a path to continue to stay focused and maintain a self disciplined approach to succeed in life!

What’s your favorite PCDP memory?

Making friendships with students from other high schools.

What is a fun fact about you?

I travel with my son who sings Elvis Presley, Engelbert Humperdinck and his original music.

Have you maintained connections with other PCDP alumni?

Yes, a few.

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Alumni Feature: Michelle Ramos

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 22:21:49 +0000

Alumni Feature: Michelle Ramos Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/02/2023 - 16:21

Michelle (she/her) graduated from Regis University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

What is your current job or profession?

Court Administrator

How did PCDP prepare you for college and your professional life?

The program gave me the confidence to attend college and follow through. It showed me how to succeed away from home and family with the help of friends.

What’s your favorite PCDP memory?

Making friends.

What is a fun fact about you?

I’m not as quiet as I used to be.

Have you maintained connections with other PCDP alumni?

Yes, a few.

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Alumni Feature: Ángel López

Anonymous — Fri, 26 May 2023 19:17:33 +0000

Alumni Feature: Ángel López Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/26/2023 - 13:17

Ángel (he/him) graduated from Metropolitan State University in 2015 with a Bachelor's in Communication Design with an Emphasis in Studio Art.

What graduate degrees have you received?

Transdisciplinary Design MFA

What is your current job or profession?

Design Director in the Art, Design & Technology Industry

How did PCDP prepare you for college and your professional life?

No matter where you go, it is important to establish a community. People who are mentors, leaders, visionaries, friends, and loved ones. It is also important to show up for folks. PCDP believed in me and I continue that legacy by mentoring BIPOC communities in the design and technology field.

What’s your favorite PCDP memory?

Getting a real-life college experience from 8th-11th grade. Loved coming to campus and seeing people who looked like me and shared similar values. I especially appreciated my tutors, counselors, teachers, and advisors who were all invested in my success as a student.

What is a fun fact about you?

I am working on my pilot's license. Enjoying sunny California living.

Have you maintained connections with other PCDP alumni?

Yes, many of them!

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Student Feature: Yamileth Salinas Del Val

Anonymous — Fri, 12 May 2023 19:43:03 +0000

Student Feature: Yamileth Salinas Del Val Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/12/2023 - 13:43

Yamileth (she/her) is one of our new graduates who double majored in Ethnic Studies and Leadership & Community Engagement, and minored in Sociology and Spanish.

How did PCDP influence and prepare you for the future?

PCDP was a guide towards higher education. They provided me with a community and now I've been able to help others as a peer advisor.

What’s your favorite PCDP memory?

My favorite PCDP memories come from the 5 week summer program. This was the first time I was able to picture myself at CU Boulder.

What are some of your goals after graduation?

I'll be pursuing my master's in Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice. Some of my goals are to expand Ethnic Studies in K-12 schools and empower youth to use their voices by working in education.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself:

I was a research assistant and got to travel to Canada to present in a conference

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Alumna works to bring dual language program to the forefront of Boulder education

Anonymous — Tue, 02 May 2023 16:31:37 +0000

Alumna works to bring dual language program to the forefront of Boulder education Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/02/2023 - 10:31

Alexander Servantez

Journalist turned elementary school principal credits her time at PCDP for supporting her and making her voice feel heard.

Growing up in Westminster, Colorado, Lisa Martinez, who is now a principal at Columbine Elementary school in Boulder, was one of five kids in a family of dysfunction.

She was exposed to poverty, alcoholism and abuse at a young age. At 14 years old, her stepfather kicked her out.

“I never knew where I was going to sleep or eat,” she said. “I stayed with friends until their parents started asking questions.”

Oftentimes they would ask Martinez if she needed to return home. If her parents missed her or were worried about her. She only had one solution when this situation would arise: find somewhere else to sleep.

Nights spent on a friend’s couch or in the local motel became normal and her teachers began to notice. They would extend the deadlines on her homework assignments, or offer Martinez some extra support after class.

As a high school freshman, Martinez was approached by a teacher who praised her writing ability. She was asked to join the school newspaper.

“That was the first time somebody noticed or paid attention to me,” Martinez said. “It gave me a reason to come to school, or at least, find a way to get to school.”

Martinez was soon approached by her school’s counseling department and asked to join the Precollegiate Development Program (PCDP).

An opportunity fuels motivation and purpose

At the top of the page: Lisa Martinez, PCDP alumna and principal at Columbine Elementary school smiling in front of student artwork. Above: Lisa Martinez (top) posing with fellow PCDP friends at one of their saturday sessions on the CU Boulder campus in 1995.

PCDP is designed to provide first-generation students and their families with the information and support needed to successfully complete their middle school and high school careers, and then successfully transition into college, university or other postsecondary education.

Flattered, Martinez accepted the invitation to the program from her school’s counselors despite not knowing much about it.

“Even though it wasn’t my family, people were paying attention to me,” Martinez said. “They wanted me to join. They said I had to do this. And so right away, a bus started coming to pick us up for our Saturday sessions.”

PCDP quickly became the structure and function that Martinez needed, she said. With all the chaos in her life, going from home to home and figuring things out on her own, PCDP was the calming and settling factor. It was a stable, uplifting community of people whom she was able to learn from along the way.

“They started paying attention to my grades and holding me accountable,” she said. “When we had the summer program, they made sure I was involved. And it gave me a place to live for a few weeks.”

Being on the streets with gangs and drugs all around her, “I could’ve easily just dropped out like no big deal,” Martinez added. “But people were paying attention to me and holding me accountable. It gave me a reason and a purpose.”

When Martinez was 16 years old, the program helped her apply to college. They helped her fill out her FAFSA forms and scholarship applications. They even helped her file for emancipation, declaring her independence through the courts.

She was accepted into CU Boulder and would later graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism.

“I would have never thought I was smart enough to be a college student,” Martinez said. “I thought I was going to be a dropout or whatever. PCDP gave me the belief that I can be something freaking amazing. That was the biggest thing.”

Capitalizing on the opportunity, navigating the chaos

After college, Martinez spent six years as a reporter in the Denver metro area at outlets like The Denver Post, the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Greeley Tribune.

“I covered immigration stories or the migrant trail from Mexico to the United States,” Martinez said. “I just thought it was my mission to tell their stories.”

Martinez was recognized for her work covering underserved communities, which she found fulfilling. She received multiple first place, state-wide recognition awards from the Colorado Press Association for her investigative pieces on racial profiling in the city and misconduct in the education system.

However, Martinez had a daughter while she was in college. As a single mom, it became difficult to balance work and the wellbeing of her little girl.

“Sometimes I had to take my daughter to my neighbor’s house at two o’clock in the morning so she could sleep there and I could go cover an accident, or whatever situation was going on,” she said. “After six years, I said to myself, ‘this is not what I want my life to be about.’ For my daughter, I want a quality of life.”

Her search for balance and stability led her back to school, this time for her teaching license. She spent the next 10 years as a classroom teacher, all of which at high poverty schools with high Latinx populations. It was a drastic change, but, she says, still in line with her initial goal: to champion and fight for underrepresented students and families in the field of education.

Martinez eventually received her master’s degree and principal’s license from the University of Denver. She then spent the next six years as both an assistant principal and principal at Title I schools—or schools that are designated as high poverty—until she finally became principal at Columbine Elementary.

“I’ve always had that fighter in me,” Martinez said. “I fight for my community, and I’ve had to fight for every new position I’ve gotten. It’s like a higher elevation of what power you have and what else you can contribute to the underserved community.”

The culmination and the current mission

Lisa Martinez laughing with her students in the classroom.

Martinez says she knows that she isn’t just a leader of an elementary school: She’s a leader of a community. She’s also a leader of a program that aims to completely change the landscape of schooling and bilingual education.

“Our dual-language program is in the spotlight,” Martinez said. “Being bilingual is an asset and I want to be the model for other schools and districts.”

Equity in education for administrators and educators is also important to Martinez. Martinez said that it took six years as an assistant principal to be promoted to principalship when others with the same experience and knowledge were promoted in one. She believes the dual language program and other professional development opportunities can help her mentor and bring up the next generation of diverse, bilingual educators and school leaders.

On the student front, Martinez’s main goal is navigating the wide Boulder demographic by providing an education that benefits, supplements and supports all.

More than half of the student population at Columbine is Latinx and Spanish is their first language. Martinez says it could be hard for these students to hold onto that heritage in a landscape like Boulder.

“We’re trying to reclaim their language and their culture,” she said.

The other half of the student population is primarily white, higher income students. They may be more familiar with the city’s demographic, but their families want them in the dual-language program, too.

“I have to find a way to integrate the two,” she said. “We’re constantly advocating for both of them.”

To address this matter, Columbine is planning to roll out a dual-language strand next year where English and Spanish speaking students will be in a combined classroom starting in preschool and kindergarten. Instead of navigating learning and cultures separately, the two groups will navigate them together and support each other.

Martinez is most concerned, though, with ensuring that her students feel safe, comfortable and inspired. In her time as a student, it was the leaders and community within PCDP that made her feel significant. She aspires to be that same person for her group.

“I need to show my students today that I see them,” she said. “I see them and I care about them. I love them and I’m going to fight for them. Somebody paid attention to me, so it’s important that I pay attention to them.”

Lisa Martinez, a journalist turned elementary school principal, credits her time at PCDP for supporting her and making her voice feel heard.

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Alumni Feature: Priscilla Woodward

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 17:01:13 +0000

Alumni Feature: Priscilla Woodward Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/21/2023 - 11:01

Priscilla graduated from CU Denver in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in Psychology.

What is your current job or profession?

Executive Assistant.

What is a fun fact about you?

I still play soccer at least two days a week!

What was your favorite PCDP memory?

Learning independence with new and lifelong friends.

How did PCDP prepare you for college and professional life?

Efficient testing preparation and expectations, networking and learning how to have confidence and meet new people, as well as exposure to a college campus and classroom anxiety further reducing my anxiety going forward.

Have you maintained connections with other PCDP alumni?

Yes, a few.

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Alumni Feature: Marybell Trujillo

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 20:38:08 +0000

Alumni Feature: Marybell Trujillo Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/20/2023 - 14:38

Marybell graduated from CU Boulder in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

What graduate degrees have you received?

A master's degree in Finance and a master's degree in Accounting.

What is your current job or profession?

Auditor, CPA and Real Estate Agent.

What is a fun fact about you?

I studied abroad in London during my junior year of college!

What was your favorite PCDP memory?

I was a very serious student and I worked two jobs in high school, so friendships were hard to come by. Since the Precollegiate Development Program was all I focused on during my time on campus, I was able to take time to establish friendships that have lasted a lifetime.

How did PCDP prepare you for college and professional life?

The college courses prepared me for the rigors of college. It was also great to be familiar with the campus as an incoming freshman.

Have you maintained connections with other PCDP alumni?

Yes, many of them!

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Alumni Feature: Ida Sandoval

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 17:20:24 +0000

Alumni Feature: Ida Sandoval Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/06/2023 - 11:20

Ida (she/her) graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in Computer Applications.

What is your current job or profession?

Client Partner at Oracle.

What is a fun fact about you?

I teach yoga on the side!

What was your favorite PCDP memory?

My favorite memories mostly come from the summers up on campus. I loved living in the dorms, going to the classes, the fun activities and who could forget the pranks that went on? I know that is why I have such love for the program and tremendous respect for Ron and Chris and what they offered to me - you had a tremendous impact on my life. Thank you so so much!

How did PCDP prepare you for college and professional life?

PCDP helped me prepare to go out of state to a college I never visited and be very, very successful. The summer program, the ACT prep, the monthly field trips all helped me develop skills to be successful at a great college. We couldn't afford to visit Notre Dame before I applied. The first time I saw campus was the day I flew out alone, took a cab to my dorm and moved in. It seems crazy to me now but I don't think I would have been so courageous and so well prepared to venture out so independently without the myriad of supportive experiences that PCDP gave me first. I knew what college life would be like because of the program and I had an amazing college experience at Notre Dame.

Have you maintained connections with other PCDP alumni?

Yes, a few.

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Alumni Feature: Michael Diaz

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 17:13:19 +0000

Alumni Feature: Michael Diaz Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/06/2023 - 11:13

Michael (he/him) graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences at CU Boulder in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in Spanish.

What graduate degrees have you received?

MBA - Operations Management.

What is your current job or profession?

Senior Project and Process Improvement Consultant at Kaiser Permanente.

What is a fun fact about you?

I am the youngest PCDP grandpa alumni (40) passing along the CU Boulder legacy!

What was your favorite PCDP memory?

It's too hard to select one memory when I made a TON of lifelong memories with students, faculty, staff, friends and family that I will never, ever forget! PCDP is the reason I am here and thriving. #PCDP4LIFE #PCDPPORVIDA

How did PCDP prepare you for college and professional life?

PCDP gave me an opportunity at new experiences, increased educational and career preparation, and a heightened awareness of life. It reinforced and enhanced my skills, abilities and attributes to tackle the challenges and adversities of higher education, career hurdles and family life development.

Have you maintained connections with other PCDP alumni?

Yes, many of them!

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Student Feature: Janeth Villalobos

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 23:15:23 +0000

Student Feature: Janeth Villalobos Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/28/2023 - 17:15

Janeth (she/her/hers) is in her 4th year at CU Boulder studying Integrative Physiology and Business, while also striving for her public health certification.

Majors and Minors:

Integrative Physiology, Business Minor, and a Public Health Certificate.

How did PCDP influence and prepare you for the future?

PCDP was my first introduction to the opportunities that came with pursuing a higher education. The resources were very helpful!

What’s your favorite PCDP memory?

The five-week Summer Program was my favorite memory because I made many great connections, and it was when I decided I would attend CU.

What are some of your goals after graduation?

I plan to attend graduate school (Masters and/or Dental School), and continue working in positions that serve the community.

Tell us a fun fact or something about yourself that you’d like to share:

I have three sisters and two of them attend CU Boulder with me (one is my twin).

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