Roxanna Rivera

“I didn’t know how to study. I also came from a low income school district so like academics were a lot easier. I didn’t have the proper materials to get myself through college in a sense, taking the hardest classes. I just switched from psychology to sociology because I couldn’t do it. Like I did the math classes and chemistry classes, and I didn’t even enjoy it. I also didn’t have many friends; I had two. So when they were busy I didn’t have anyone to hang out with so I would seclude myself in my room in a way. I still didn’t know how to study, so failing my first quiz in chem I just thought, “so this is how my first quarter’s gonna go huh.” I tried so hard to study for my midterms and I still didn’t do so hot on them and that was definitely an emotional thing too because it felt like a lot of people were smarter than me. I was hesitant, almost like “why did I come here?” I thought I was ready but I’m not. And then APO came and I made friends here; I think that kind of helped because felt more comfortable being here, so I have more people I can talk to all the time versus when I first came to UCSB. APO has definitely taught me responsibility. I had to get my stuff done for pledging, but also was getting on top of my stuff for school. And also I was surrounded by a lot of people who were very smart too, so it was almost like I want to be like that. I think I did okay last spring, and then this fall quarter was like ten times better. So I feel like that growth is coming in. Working at Target shaped me. I’ve never worked 8 hours a day before. But then at Target, I’m around all these grown people and I’ve definitely developed more interactions skills and gave me a stronger work ethic. So when I came back from working there over the summer, all of a sudden, balancing school and work became so much easier.” - Roxanna Rivera, Omicron Class | Humans of Psi