For the first time, Fresno City College is graduating students with a bachelor\u2019s degree. The 29 all-female student body of the dental hygienist bachelor\u2019s program balanced long clinic hours, searching for patients and studying late into the night to become part of a milestone for FCC and themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels so special. It\u2019s such an honor,\u201d Vanessa Cervantes, one of the program\u2019s first graduates, said.<\/p>\n
Her fellow cohort member, Nyove Gonzalez, sees this program as something bigger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I\u2019m 30 years older and look back, I can say I was part of a historical moment,\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n
This program is the first within the Allied Health department to get a bachelor\u2019s program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was hoping that, because we\u2019re the first class, that it\u2019ll show other programs that they can do it. I know with our program, it took a long, long time. It was in the works for many years, but I think it brings more out of Fresno City College,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cI think it could offer more job opportunities, more confidence. I think it\u2019s great, and it\u2019s at an affordable cost too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students everywhere are committing to colleges and programs right now. One of the typical deciding factors is the cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked into SJVC (San Joaquin Valley College) in Visalia, which is a lot closer to me, but they\u2019re charging triple the price,\u201d Cervantes said.<\/p>\n
Students described the program as an affordable and accessible option, which makes it one of the best for them. FCC is an affordable option that does not diminish the quality of education, according to Cervantes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt opens a lot more doors and opportunities, and it\u2019s at an affordable cost,\u201d Gonzales said.<\/p>\n
Prior to going to FCC, Cervantes was a dental assistant, but she looked toward a \u201cmove up\u201d in her career. She is a mother of two children and wanted to go to a school that was both affordable and close to home.<\/p>\n
When Cervantes originally started school, she took time off to start a family. And when she came back, she was pregnant, and she realized she wasn\u2019t ready to start again.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy path was a bit longer than usual. I was pregnant. I was going to give birth in the middle of the semester. I was breastfeeding,\u201d Cervantes said. \u201cOnce I came back and was fully committed when it was the right time. Everything just clicked into place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cervantes noted that there are other moms in the program, so they all are there to support each other and understand what they are going through. They said their kids aren\u2019t a hindrance but a reminder of their priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe view our kids as extra motivation, extra push, keeps us grounded,\u201d Cervantes said. \u201cWe have something to work towards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of the program is that students must accumulate clinical hours, meaning time with patients. Both students expressed difficulty in finding patients for those hours, because they have to find them themselves. Sometimes though, the professors will help with this.<\/p>\n
Cervantes was given a previous faculty member to work on by her instructors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts like I had a celebrity in my chair. I did not feel nervous. I was so grateful that my instructor had the trust in me to see her,\u201d Cervantes said. \u201cIt made me realize all patients should feel like her. Like you\u2019re my priority right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonzalez was originally a pre-dental student at Fresno Pacific and graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree. But between burn-out and self doubt, she realized that becoming a dentist was not right for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018I can\u2019t be a dentist,\u2019\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cI felt like I was stuck in mud. Everyone was moving forward and I wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
She still wanted to work in the field and decided to apply to FCC\u2019s program. Fresno City College admits 30 students for this program per graduating class. Gonzalez applied twice before getting admitted on her third try.<\/p>\n
Despite the discouragement she felt from not getting in, she persevered partially because of her grandfather.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandpa was sick and he ended up passing away, and I had a hard time grieving,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cHis big thing was he wanted me to finish school and my career, my dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program itself came with its struggles, but the community and relationships that got built between the cohort members made it easier to survive according to Gonzalez.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not just classmates. They\u2019re people who understand exactly what you\u2019re going through,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cNo one gets left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it came to taking her board exams Gonzalez said she studied for a week straight. While her professors and cohort members were always helpful, students have to take the exam on their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never done anything this hard before,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cPassing my board exams on the first try. That was just me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both women expressed how they couldn\u2019t have done it without the cohort around them.
\u201cNo one else understands what you\u2019re going through except the people in it with you,\u201d Cervantes said.<\/p>\n
Being the first class of graduates, they paved the way for the future of the program along with the faculty. Gonzalez said that Linh Bui, Jeanice Howard, Fred Thomas and Mimi Myers were a few of the faculty members that stood out and left an impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re kind of like guinea pigs in a way. We hold ourselves to a high standard,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cThey\u2019re [professors of the program] not just like, \u2018It\u2019s hard, deal with it.\u2019 They want to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program isn\u2019t perfect, they still have to work on improvements and have asked for feedback along the way.<\/p>\n
One portion of working in the field is being able to market yourself. This bachelor\u2019s program is setting students up for working in the real world and having classes that helps you learn to do that would be a good addition according to Gonzalez.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be nice to have classes like business or marketing to expand what we can do with our degree,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cThey prepare us not just for school, but for the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonzalez and Cervantes praised the program and encouraged any person who is thinking about applying to the program to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve in yourself,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cYou can do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time, Fresno City College is graduating students with a bachelor\u2019s degree. The 29 all-female student…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-306439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}