Success

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Frankie'jo Gonzalez

HONORS STUDENT FINDS SUCCESS

By Caitlin Lopez
Staff Writer

Citrus College student Frankie’jo Gonzalez has struggled with obstacles to her education these

past few years, has found helpful resources at school to help navigate to success.

Her life changed when she started school at Citrus College, not knowing the resources that were

going to help her in the long-run.

“Being involved has really made college a reality,” Frankie’jo said about the Honors program.

“Frankie' jo was a very dedicated and hardworking student in my class,” said Professor Brian

Waddington, who was her online history professor. “She turned in her work either early or on

time and it was obvious from the depth of detail and analysis that she put in an excellent effort.”

Waddington saw her potential to be in the Honors Transfer Program.

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Frankie-jo recalls at the time that she was unaware that

there was an Honors Transfer Program at Citrus and that

she felt inspired by Professor Waddington’s thoughts of her Frankie-jo studying for Honors
Philosophy
potential to apply. This inspiration came to her when

Frankie-jo talked about the area she came from in Los Angeles. She stated that there was

poverty, homelessness, and the schools were under resourced. She said that she never took any

honors classes in high school and that she did not think she was worthy enough to take them.

However, she did get accepted and eventually attended Azusa Pacific University. However, she

had to be redirected to attend Citrus College shortly afterwards because of financial struggles.

She did not know why she had to apply to Citrus in the first place and she thought she “was

going to fail”. However, she felt motivated by her professors to

succeed.

“I’ve grown so much when I didn’t believe in myself, my

professors believed in me.”

Frankie-jo felt the motivation from her professors and Professor Frankie-jo and Eddie Cejas (classmate)
discussing classwork for Honors Philosophy
Waddington being one of those professors to motivate her in her

education.

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“She is the type of student that for me affirms why I do this job and why community colleges

serve as some of the great democratic institution in our nation, So to answer the question, my

experience has been great with her,” said Professor Waddington. The Honors counselor, Natalie

Desimone says that she is always impressed with background research Frankie-jo brings to

discuss with her about her major.

Frankie-jo now has taken three honors courses at Citrus, which includes Biology 105, Political

Science 103, and is currently taking Philosophy 106 for winter session. Some of her classmates

are also very impressed by her work ethic and participation in the classroom.

“She always made an effort when it came to focusing on the task at matter, and never strayed off

a topic when work needed to be done,” said former classmate Alondra Ponce. Jasmine Gutierrez,

her philosophy classmate, also states that she has seen her read the material and she does

participate well in the discussion, making her work ethic really good. Another philosophy

classmate, Eddie Cejas, says that she puts a lot of opinion in

her answers and gets along with everybody.

Alondra also talks about how she is involved with the College

Church Club here on campus. She said that Frankie’jo with Olivia Canales

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She is very involved on campus and that she reaches out and encourages other students to

participate in the services the club provides. Natalie also mentions that Frankie’jo has a mentor

to help her throughout community college, too.

Melissa, Griffin, her mentor, says that she was assigned as her mentor through the Ascending

Lights Leadership Network. She has seen Frankie’jo have a record of earning F’s and/or

withdrawing from classes at Citrus College. However, Melissa says, “Although she had a

difficult start in college, she turned it around her course of direction and proven class after class

that she is capable of succeeding in college.” Melissa also says that she is very inspirational and

she also weekly mentors the middle school youth at the World Impact Center in downtown Los

Angeles, showing her enthusiasm to be involved.

Frankie’jo now sees that her experience at Citrus has not been a walk in the park but an uphill

climb. Her obstacles in her education has motivated her to continue being successful and to

finish her studies. With being involved with academics and on-campus/ off-campus activities,

she has learned that it has been beneficial for her in the end.

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