RA Interview: Vicente Sandoval Jr.

Interviewers: Alice Garcia & Tanesha Bravo

Interviewee: Vicente Sandoval Jr

Vicente Sandoval is a COSMOS Head RA for Whispering Wood floor 2. It is his 3rd year being a COSMOS RA.

All right, so can you tell us a little bit about yourself, it could be anything to your life, career and anything you would like to add!

Ok, so my name is Vicente. I have just graduated from UCl, majoring in mathematics with a specialization in secondary education, meaning I want to pursue a career as a math teacher in high school. So I'm currently living in Whispering Wood, floor two. I am one of two head RAs in that building. And this is my third year doing Cosmos, so I always knew I wanted to be in the education field, even in high school. That was always in the back of my head. But I was kind of always like, oh, you're so good at math, you're so good at science. You should be an engineer, an architect. I'm like, ok, maybe. And I was looking at those fields. But then I also just like, again, education, so it's just kind of been there.

Great, so what was it that made you choose UCI?

Well, I ended up choosing UCI because they had a program called the CalTeach where it's four years you get your bachelor's in any STEM field, but you also get to do your credentials alongside with it. So instead of doing four years of bachelor's and then a year and a half of your credential program, you do, 1 did it all in four years. I'm like, okay, like, I'll try it out. Let's see if I like education. I like being in the classroom. And if not, then I'll just do math only and then see if I do something else and I ended up loving it. I was placed in a middle school my second year. And then my third and fourth year, I was placed in two different high schools and I just had so much fun. Just like interacting with students, being like kind of in front of the

classroom, but also just like, you know, like being like, you know, being a teacher and like, just getting to know kids, them getting to know me, it was just like, for me, it was like, it was really fulfilling. And then, being able to get them interested and to be like, oh wait, math can be fun.

I'm like, yes, like math can be fun. And like, yeah, that's, for me, it's just been super rewarding. And like, that's why I'm still pursuing that.

 All right, talking about high school, what was your most memorable high school experience?

 I would say my most memorable high school experience would be my senior year at Winter Formal. Because that was the third time, my girlfriend and I were in the court. It was our third time being in it then we finally won and it was just like we were like shocked but not surprised but like we were still surprised it's like oh like the last two times like we like we didn't nominate ourselves and we kind of weren't one of the types like nominee ourselves people just nominate us because we lost twice to like the more popular people we're like okay like that's fine. Then we’re like all right let's see if it happens this time and it ended up happening,  we were like oh all right that's great and yeah and I've still been my girlfriend still since then and it’s just amazing.

Wow! So now, what would be the best and worst thing about college?

The best thing I would say is like the little communities you build and like it's just really nice cuz I'm like in my teaching program I have like my little community in my math classes I have my own little community there and like there was a little bit of overlap sometimes um when I would play intramural soccer like I have a little community there even like with Cosmos because my third you're doing it like the people the RA's I'm like the closest with our RA's that I like started like in my first year or last year and so like you know like it's just really nice having those little pockets of communities and like just you know like being able to like develop as a person in different spaces and like it helps like develop different parts of you.

And it's always nice when they kind of overlap. And I'm like, oh, wait, you know them, too?

Because obviously, we're all on the same campus. But I would just say the best thing about college is just the people you get to meet and just the connections and friendships you make. The worst thing about college, I would say, is very personal, more of a unique struggle to me, which I think a lot of other students can relate to, not all students can, it's commuting to school. So I never got the opportunity to actually live on campus because my first year was during COVID. So I just stayed home. And it was all virtual. And then my second through fourth year, I lived in an apartment on campus. And that played a big role in my ability to develop relationships further within my classroom so it was very easy to feel left out. But then also, I had to sacrifice a lot just to also be present in those moments. But again, it's always in the back of your head knowing that you're not that close to school.

So what's your best piece of advice for high schoolers? Sleep. That's, yeah, honestly, yeah. Sleep is so important, and I feel like for me, just being present in the moment and sometimes you're gonna lose sleep because of it, but especially in high school, if you're super involved, it's very easy to be like, okay, what's next? I need to focus on the next thing, I need to plan for the next thing. Planning ahead is obviously great, and it's gonna take you far, but also take in the moment you're in, in this current moment. Take in, when you're in class for Cosmos, or when you go back to high school, take in, make the most of those moments you have with your peers, with your teachers, especially the peers and teachers that you connect teachers, especially the peers and teachers that you connect with the most because like those are the those are things you're gonna remember in high school. You're like personally me like when I look back on high school I was super involved but I don't really remember so much the impact I had in my programs which is like what obviously when you're applying for colleges that's what they look for like what impact did you make so that it still matters obviously but the things I remember the most are those little moments I have like my friends little moments I had with my girlfriend the little moments I had with my teachers and like how those impacted me. So I'd say yeah just definitely live the moment because you don't get high school forever and now that I'm like graduated college I'm like in this weird middle area where it's like well yeah I'll be back in college in the fall which is not true but like it still feels like it but same thing even once you're in college it's like it's not gonna last forever.

I really appreciate you for being open to answer things about your personal life and giving us cosmos students advice, this is really helpful,  thank you so much!