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<\/figure>he transferred to UC Berkeley in 2017, after having been accepted to multiple universities including Ivy Leagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his first year at Cal, he quickly noticed the challenges some students had in understanding how the college system worked. This was especially so for students who needed additional money for college and academic counseling and services for their unique needs, and further resources to help them succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He realized he had been able to access these services and resources for himself and knew he could help others by sharing his system road map. In 2018, through the UC Berkeley Public Service Center Peter E. Haas Leadership Fellowship, he developed the NavCal<\/a> program to help underrepresented, first-generation college students learn how to navigate the UC system\u2019s services and resources with the guidance of near-peer mentors. As stated in the NavCal program overview page<\/a>, this incredible program \u201cempowers students to advocate for their community, address challenges, and ultimately ensure that more students are educated on how to access and maximize available resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Mac Hoang at UC Berkeley<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to Mac\u2019s insight and desire to break down the \u201chidden curriculum\u201d within the UC system, NavCal and Nav2Cal<\/a> \u2013 which specifically helps high school students going into Cal \u2013 have helped over 400 students thus far. He has created the first formerly incarcerated scholars\u2019 research cohort, and helped to create the first undocumented scholars\u2019, women of color scholars\u2019, and foster scholars\u2019 research cohorts which have generated thousands in funding to impact students\u2019 experience. Mac has won many awards for his work developing these programs, most recently winning UC Berkeley\u2019s highest honor, the Chancellor Mather Good Citizen Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n San Jos\u00e9 City College celebrates its 100-year anniversary in 2021, talking with former and current City College students, faculty, staff, and administrators. We had a chance to talk with Mac about how City College influenced him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When did you start at City College and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I started at San Jos\u00e9 City College in 2014. I decided I wanted to go back to school and increase my job options. I thought I would major in drug counseling, but as I took more classes, I started setting my goals pretty high and thought, “let\u2019s see what happens!” I got a transfer associate degree in Communication Studies<\/a> at San Jos\u00e9 City, but in transferring, since Cal didn\u2019t have a Communications program, I switched and got a bachelor\u2019s in Sociology. I\u2019m really interested in the \u2018haves and the have-nots\u2019 in society, so it was a good fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I began at San Jos\u00e9 City, I was in double remedial English and double remedial math. During that year, my life changed because of English professor Noe Torres, Communications professor Shelley Giacalone, and EOPS counselor Julio Flores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I took almost every class Noe Torres taught, and because of him I was able to sharpen my skills and become decent at writing. He\u2019s really shy, but he also gives it to you like it is. I remember the first remedial English course I took. It’s the bottom of the bucket. He said, “look, we all know the data. You’re starting in double remedial. 7% of you will end up transferring somewhere. 3% will get a degree. That’s just the honest truth.” Then, he started with simple sentences. They hire the right people at City College, because you could pick his brain about sentence structure and there’s almost nothing that’s going to throw him off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I’ll always cherish the community atmosphere that San Jos\u00e9 City comes with.”<\/p>Mac Hoang<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Julio Flores, who runs the Guardian Scholars<\/a> Program was my Guardian Scholars counselor. He taught me how to coach others. When you’re a foster, you feel like a Martian. For someone like me that aged out of the foster system to meet Julio and Accreditation Specialist Julinda LeDee who are both former foster youth, words can’t express that connection. That will tell you what San Jos\u00e9 City is about, because college administrators said, “these people have lived experience, so let’s go out of our way to help and make sure they are here for our students.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember when Julio got hired. They went out of their way to hire him, and he was the best choice they’ve ever made. I can’t relate to someone who doesn\u2019t have a sense of my foster identity. But I can tell Julio anything, because he would say, \u2018dude, I was there, too, bro.\u2019 They’re like steppingstones. They could have gone on to bigger, brighter things, but they stood there, and they captured us. I was able to win all those Berkeley awards because they escorted me right up the rocket ship to take off. Without those people, none of this is doable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why Julio and EOPS Guardian Scholars were so important in my life. I didn’t have money. Financial aid doesn’t give you enough. Julio would always see me hungry, and he would buy me some stuff. It was hard, because I was the first older foster to be a part of Guardian Scholars there. I got meal vouchers. And it’s because of Julio\u2019s connections I got linked up with Pivotal Scholars<\/a> in Santa Clara County. I was a Pivotal Scholar for five years until I graduated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shelley Giacalone was an incredible instructor who put me on stage as a San Jos\u00e9 City student at the Adobe Let Your Life Speak<\/a> event. She, Julio and Noe are what make San Jos\u00e9 City San Jos\u00e9 City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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