Her education having been delayed by a difficult childhood, Halima remembers her feelings of elation combined with renewed determination when she graduated from adult school at the age of 21: “When I graduated, I gave a speech because I’d won a scholarship from my junior college [Grossmont College], and I remember feeling so happy and proud to have done it. I knew after that achievement that I had to continue my education. It was too important not to.”

Now 26 and attending UCSC full time, Halima is inspired by the science education here. “Every quarter, I see more and more how it all comes together: chemistry, biology, physics — I see how it’s all part of one big universe, and that has even changed my feeling about religion,” she says.

She also praises the supportive environment at UCSC: “There are so many opportunities to get help. Every class has discussion sections, sciences courses have MSI [Modified Supplemental Instruction], there’s the math lab for math courses, and all the professors and TAs have office hours. No matter how busy they are, the instructors always make time for one-on-one discussions with students. There’s no way you can not do well if you take advantage of the resources available to you.”

Halima has two messages of advice for new transfer students. First of all, the campus is not as big as it seems at first, and second, “Don’t bite off more than you can chew, because moving from a semester to a quarter system is culture shock!”