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Name: Michelle De la Cruz
Email: mdelacruz@berkeley.edu
Year: 3rd
Nickname[s]: Michi, Goober, Clubbygoober, Chelle
Majors/Minors: Mass Communications and Japanese
Double Major
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Hometown & why you love it: Family currently
resides in Oxnard, but MONROVIA! M-Town will always be my one
true love… because it’s home to me.
High school: Monrovia High School
Fun Facts
Interests/Hobbies: blogging, foodie, Asian dramas,
Japanese Culture: doramas, manga, anime, literature etc.
Pet peeves: when you are sitting with someone
and watching something like a movie and they have their leg move
up and down like Thumper the Rabbit…. Sooo distracting!
Guilty pleasure: Dark Chocolate, B-Movies and
Minesweeper
Favorite music: anything that’s in my ipod
Favorite childhood TV shows: Clarissa Explains
it All, Rugrats, Duck Tales, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, The
Muppet Babies, Dawson’s Creek and Sailor Moon!
Something random about you: When I’m alone
in an elevator I karaoke… and sometimes attempt to dance
a little
Berkeley
Other organizations/activities I’m involved with:
bridges! The other RRCs!
One thing you should do in Berkeley before you graduate
is: Study! =P… um… step out of your comfort
zone and learn from the different people here. Find something
that you can really feel passionate about and pursue it.
Favorite place to eat: organizations’ general
meetings, bc you learn a lot and you get FREE FOOD!
Favorite place to study: East Asian Library,
7th Floor Eshleman, and the Stacks
Plans after graduating/goals/hopes/dreams: working
in education policy (because No Child Left Behind is hella ridiculous)
or international policy. (I also secretly want to be a host on
the Food Network)
Who inspires you & why? : My mom for her
strength and love, and my brother because I can see all the potential
that he has and it makes me proud and makes me want to work harder.
The bridges folks because they are some freakin’ awesome
and beautiful people. You just need to sit and listen because
their stories are truly inspiring.
One piece of advice (about college, Berkeley, PASS, life
in general): Recognize your privilege and give back
to those less fortunate. Pay it forward.
PASS
Tell us about your position & why it’s important:
As AD of Recruitment, I oversee the different programs
that the recruitment component implements and provide assistance
in anyway I can. In the Fall, I organize a conference (also known
as FED) in conjunction with other colleges and universities. It’s
geared towards high school and community college students as well
as their families, with hopes to shed more light on the college
application process, and other aspects of higher education. In
the Spring I coordinate PASS’ portion of bridges annual
Senior Weekend. An event where we bring up some recently accepted
high school seniors for a 2 night stay at Berkeley.
What are some of your goals for this year?: One
of my goals for this year is to find ways to quantify the impact
of PASS’ recruitment programs for people who might not fully
understand the effects of what our organization does. One option
is to stress the importance of evals. Other projects include finding
alternate sources of funding for programs like Friends of PASS
and creating a perspective student database to keep in touch with
students that we have outreached to.
First exposure to PASS: I received a welcome
to Berkeley phone call inviting me to Senior Weekend. Getting
that call really put a face to the university and made me feel
that even before I decided to go to Berkeley there was already
a support group for me there.
Why & how did you decide to get involved?:
Interning for PASS was intense to say the least. It was fun, it
was insightful, it was crazy, and sometimes hard, but as a whole
it was an eye opening experience. Meeting people who were so passionate
about equal access really inspired me and I found that I too developed
an endless love for the work that PASS, that bridges, does and
that’s why I’m here in this space.
Why is PASS’ work important?: Everyone
should feel that higher education is their right and needs to
see that there are people, fellow students, who are there as a
support and wants to see them take ownership of their education.
The work PASS does is important because it shows that although
our education pipeline is flawed, the work that we do reminds
people that we shouldn’t throw in the towel, but instead
be the change we want to see.
Where do you see PASS in 10 years?: In a utopian
world PASS wouldn’t need to exist. The university would
outreach to all students, the undergraduate and graduate populations
would reflect the diversity in the state, the campus had enough
resources for everyone, and pilipinos would have a 100% graduation
rate in all universities… =P but until then, I see PASS
continuing the work that it does, helping our community both on
campus and throughout the state.
Anything else we should know? Shout-outs?: Pass
is not only for pilipinos, but for anyone who believes that everyone
should have access to higher education.
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