I transferred to ASU in Fall 2016 from Phoenix College. At the time, I had been in S-STEM for several semesters, but the current TRAIN-STEM partnership had not been developed yet. So, I took a hiatus from the program to work and study with Dr. Becky Ball @ ASU West, first as a research assistant, and then as an NCUIRE Scholar. Later on, Dr. Chapman forged a new partnership with the good folks at ASU West, including Drs. Marshall, Ferry, and Sandrin, and I rejoined the scholarship program, now called TRAIN-STEM.
When I transferred to the west campus from Phoenix College, I was immediately surprised by how available the faculty and school resources were to me. I was expecting a big, busy campus, with huge class sizes and aloof instructors, where I would just get lost in a sea of anonymous faces and possibly have a hard time with getting good grades. What I found was exactly the opposite. The west campus is an intimate, friendly, thriving community of faculty and students, where class sizes tend to be small, instructors greet you by name, and in-person help from the teachers is always available.
This sense of community, and the individual attention from staff, has really helped me thrive academically. And the smaller student body has given me the chance to network more broadly and find opportunities that may not have been available to me at a giant, anonymous campus.
In fact, being on west campus and getting such great support led directly to my current job, which is as a Soil Scientist-Trainee, with the USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service. This is a non-competitive internship, which gives me on-the-job training, a paycheck while I am in school, and a guaranteed full-time job when I graduate. It is a great opportunity that I am extremely grateful for, and one which I would never have found had I not chosen to go to ASU West.
If you are currently in TRAIN-STEM and are wondering what it's like here at ASU West, feel free to reach out to me @ PCatteli@asu.edu. I'll be glad to answer any of your questions and connect you with resources on campus.
Until next time... Live Long, and Prosper.
Image source: quotesgram.com 09/28/2018
