{"id":306691,"date":"2026-05-08T22:26:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T22:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/306691\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T22:26:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T22:26:25","slug":"re-entry-student-climbs-from-addiction-and-homelessness-to-aspiring-doctor-fresno-state-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/306691\/","title":{"rendered":"Re-entry student climbs from addiction and homelessness to aspiring doctor \u2013 Fresno State Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Felicia Sandoval, a mother of three grown children, returned to college after a 15-year break. She is a survivor of domestic violence, addiction and homelessness. And now she is graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biology and is applying to medical school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s one word that can describe me, I think it would be resilient,\u201d Sandoval said. \u201cI have been knocked down many times, gone through things that were very traumatic. Life has brought me a lot of trials and tribulations, but I feel like I\u2019ve been able to manage them quite well. You\u2019ve got to use all the negative stuff you\u2019ve gone through to make an impact on your future or someone else\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandoval first attended Fresno State right after graduating high school, but she said her abusive relationship made it difficult to concentrate on her studies. She failed classes and had to withdraw from the university. Trauma led to substance abuse, homelessness and time in a mental hospital, she said.<\/p>\n

Sandoval found within herself the strength to find help and rebuild her life. She got clean. She successfully raised her children. She worked hard, taking over her father\u2019s farm labor contracting business and then building her own trucking logistics business.<\/p>\n

After creating stability for herself and her family, Sandoval decided it was time to complete her education. She enrolled at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, where she excelled before transferring to Fresno State.<\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different when you come back to school a second time,\u201d Sandoval said. \u201cIt\u2019s like you\u2019re back, but with a vengeance. If I\u2019m not getting an A, then what am I here for? I\u2019m living my dream right now, pursuing my path to medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since her return to Fresno State, Sandoval has earned a 3.91 GPA. She served as vice president of the Chemistry Club and has volunteered for science outreach to elementary school students. Sandoval has been active in the Health Careers Opportunity Program and Health Professions Pathways\u00a0 Program, and she has worked in a research internship studying traumatic brain injuries in domestic violence survivors.<\/p>\n

Now Sandoval is finishing a surgical internship with UCSF Fresno, is about to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and is applying to medical school. She is considering specializing in either surgery or addiction medicine. Either way, she knows she wants to stay in the Central Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely want to work here in my community,\u201d Sandoval said. \u201cI feel like we have a huge lack of doctors here, and there\u2019s no better place for me. I could gain all this experience and all this knowledge and feel great about myself, but what does that do if I\u2019m not giving back to the community I came from?\u201d<\/p>\n

Helping others is a driving passion for Sandoval. On top of her job and studies, she volunteers to help domestic violence survivors and people with drug addictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went through addiction, and I lost everything, including myself,\u201d Sandoval said. \u201cI ended up in a mental hospital, I was homeless. Seeing people like that today, I feel that if there is anything I can do to help them get out of that, I do it. There is nothing better than being able to relate to people who need help. And who better to relate to them than me? I\u2019ve already been there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/p>\n

At age 38, having overcome serious challenges, Sandoval is a mentor to fellow students.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people know my story. That makes it easy for younger students to ask my advice, because I genuinely care,\u201d Sandoval said. \u201cThey come to me with problems that they think are big, and I tell them to just keep going. Don\u2019t ever stop going to school. One thing that nobody can ever take away from you is your education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandoval\u2019s experience of recommitting to her education made her determined to set an example for her children. Sandoval\u2019s oldest daughter is completing her studies at California State University, Sacramento, and plans to pursue a master\u2019s degree, and her youngest attends College of the Sequoias.<\/p>\n

\u201cI raised my kids with the message, \u2018After high school, you go to college. No if, ands or buts,\u2019\u201d Sandoval said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been an inspiration to them, and they\u2019re my biggest supporters. I just showed my graduation pictures to my daughters, and my oldest daughter started crying, and it made me cry. She told me, \u2018If you hadn\u2019t pushed school on us so hard, I wouldn\u2019t be where I am.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Felicia Sandoval, a mother of three grown children, returned to college after a 15-year break. She is a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-306691","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\/306691","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=306691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}