The internship was a perfect fit for Angel, a hard-working, ambitious student with a passion for public service. Angel grew up in the city of East Los Angeles, California, where he graduated from Cathedral High School, and has a desire to help address health care disparities affecting urban, underserved communities.

"The context of that program interested me," Angel says. "It's geared for underrepresented and minority students, and it addresses public health policy in underserved and minority communities and how health care disparities affect those communities. It is relevant to the community that I come from. It will also be a good chance to network." (See www.ucsc.edu/news_events/text.asp?pid=1980 for the news story about Angel's internship.)

Another good preparation for medical school was Angel's health sciences internship. All health sciences majors at UCSC work in an internship at a local hospital, clinic, or health care organization, and Angel interned with the Santa Cruz County Health Service Agency on producing an annual program called Binational Health Week, a joint program between Mexico and the U.S.

Angel has also been active with a number of student organizations. The first group he joined was Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan (MEChA), where his work focused on outreach events that support accessibility to higher education: ORALE (a spring event for admitted students), parent/student conferences in the local community, and statewide conferences.

He has also served as co-chair of Chicanos/Latinos for Health Education (CHE). "CHE is a student organization that works to retain and support Chicano/Latino students or any students in the sciences, particularly pre-med students, and assists them by providing a support network and mentoring," says Angel. "We go to conferences, bring doctors to speak, and produce an annual conference with other student organizations called 'Inspiring Diversity in Science and Medicine.' This year we had one of our largest conferences."

Of his many co-curricular activities, Angel has been particularly inspired by his involvement with the Rainbow Theater Troupe, an on-campus theater group that focuses on the experiences of people of color. "Rainbow Theater is a very diverse, very inclusive space, and a community of safety for a lot of students," Angel says. "I was an actor in the Mission Magical Mystery Tour, which is a play about the gentrification of the Mission District in San Francisco, and one of the actors from the original play came to introduce their work. It's wonderful to be able to explore, develop, and grow with the people around you."

Looking back on his experiences at UCSC, Angel says that the best memories he'll take with him are of the people he has met and the communities on the campus. "These communities are very supportive, and they have assisted a lot in student retention for many students. They are a great support network, and a way for students of color to have a community to call their own," he says.

"It was a difficult transition to come from a big city to UCSC, but I found mentors to guide me, such as the SOAR [Student Organization Advising and Resources] advisors and the CREs [Coordinators for Residential Education in the colleges]. There are so many people who help support and mentor students on campus, but you have to let them know you need them."

Angel is grateful for the way UCSC has helped him to grow and learn: "I've learned what it really means to take advantage of your resources and how to utilize resources on campus both to my benefit and to others' benefit," he says. "I've grown consciously, providing the benefits of being in an institution of higher learning to other people, and I've been able to take on leadership roles."