School of Science, Engineering & Math Student Success Stories
Taylor Mulidor
I started my college education at MJC in 2013. Throughout High School I lacked motivation
and didn’t do well academically, so my next two years were completely focused on rebuilding
my education. At MJC I tested into elementary algebra and a basic English class and
after doing well my first semester I decided that I belonged in STEM and wanted to
focus on Chemistry at a University. This seemed very unlikely to happen in the time-frame
I wanted, but I mapped out my journey with staff to visualize a plan that had no room
for error. Within two years I was able to focus on my general education, rebuild my
math skills, and begin general chemistry courses. Although a lot of my lower level
classes I tested into didn’t count for transfer, I was able to barely scrape together
enough units to apply for transfer. I was devastated to find rejections by every school
because I was unknowingly missing 5 units, but I spent my summer taking classes so
I could appeal my rejects. I reapplied and was accepted for transfer at UCSB in 2015
as a Chemistry Major. I will always look back at those two years and appreciate how
MJC’s educational structure made my goal possible. I spent the next two years completely
focused on STEM and decided to stray from my career goal of becoming a pharmacist
and just focus on my major of Chemistry. I was able to graduate in 2017 with my Bachelor’s
Degree by the end of the summer making my whole college journey only four years. Following
my graduation, I now live in Ventura and work as a quality control lab assistant and
hope to end up finding my way into the Environmental Chemistry field.
Cassandra Sisemore
I started at MJC as a 29 year old mother of three. I was not sure what I wanted my
major to be and chose to begin my college career as a psych major. I tested into
Math 70 which was an Elementary Algebra Course. I did fairly well in that course
and followed it up with Intermediate Algebra and then College Algebra. It was at
this time, than an instructor by the name of Brian Sanders asked me if I had ever
considered math as a major. The answer was definitely no, but I did decide to continue
to take another math course, Precalculus during which I did, in fact, change my major
to math. I continued to CSU, Stanislaus where I earned a Bachelors degree in Mathematics
and shortly thereafter began teaching high school math as an interen while also working
on my teaching credential. I worked several years as a high school math teacher and
then was able to attain a job in my district as a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA)
for Secondary Mathematics, where I have been fortunate to work with all levels of
mathematics teacher teams from 7th grade through Calculus. Last year, I earned my
Masters degree in Mathematics Education for Secondary Teachers from Fresno Pacific
University and started a new Job as a Mathematics Adjunct Instructor at West Hills
College in Lemoore, while I concurrenlty also stil work as a full time TOSA for Visalia
Unified School District.