Students
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Tiffany-Ellen Vo
Tiffany-Ellen Vo encountered some initial difficulties in college, but with support from the Multicultural Engineering Program she regained her footing. She went on to take advantage of every opportunity she was offered at UC Santa Cruz—and she has already secured a job as a software engineer at Cisco.
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Amanda Quirk
Amanda Quirk’s research on galaxy mergers showed evidence that the Andromeda galaxy had some kind of major galactic collision in the past 4 billion years, and survived—which has implications for our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
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Benny Mosqueira
Benny Mosqueira felt driven to make something of himself, and he arrived on campus intending to become a medical doctor. Instead, the first-generation college student was captivated by the research opportunities he found at UC Santa Cruz and decided to pursue biomedical research as a career.
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Brittany Caldwell
Brittany Caldwell, a scholar focused on the impact of early-grade math instruction, has pulled off an impressive feat: earning her Ph.D. in math education and teaching hundreds of students in seminars, all while raising three children.
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Candy Martinez
The daughter of Oaxacan migrants, Candy Martinez has found a meaningful way to reconnect with her roots, investigating the ways in which Indigenous communities process and heal grief and trauma.
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Chailen August
Chailen August’s time at UC Santa Cruz put him on a path he never expected. Not only did he embark on a study of drill rap and its interpretation in Ghana, Africa, but, as part of a study-abroad program, he also had a visceral experience of what his enslaved ancestors may have endured.
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Puzzling it out
Linguistics student David Tuffs started making crossword puzzles to stave off boredom during COVID-19 restrictions. Now he’s had his third puzzle published in the New York Times.
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An advocate for menstrual equity
Student Amanda Safi helped get a new California law passed that requires public schools to stock restrooms with free menstrual products—a move activists say is a first step toward rectifying the discrimination, stigma, and financial, educational, and health consequences faced by those who menstruate.
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Blazing a Slug trail to the Olympics
Rhythmic gymnast Izzy Connor will be the first UC Santa Cruz student to compete in the Olympics—the result of years of both personal struggle and success.
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Nabeela Ariqat
Nabeela Ariqat, a first-generation college student, hoped for a new beginning at UC Santa Cruz, which she attended in part because “I felt like I could be who I was,” she said.
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Nicholas Hidy
It’s tough being a performing arts major when all the performing arts spaces are shut down. That’s the predicament Nick Hidy, who plays the French horn and trombone, found himself in as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe. But, as they say, out of adversity comes innovation.
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Norberto Garcia
As Norberto (Norbit) Garcia interviewed 18 families about their experiences for his senior thesis, he was reminded of why he chose sociology as a major—the realization that he wanted to help communities that are underrepresented and motivate students like him to go to college.