Graduate Spotlight: Valeria M. '13

Each De Marillac Academy graduate has a unique path and with great pride, we celebrate and honor our graduates and their accomplishments. In celebration of our 20th Anniversary, DMA will feature a graduate spotlight each month on our blog, in our e-news and on social media. Check out how our alumni are making a difference in their fields and communities.

What have you been up to since you’ve graduated from DMA?
After DMA, I went to Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, and now I am at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where I am majoring in biological sciences and minoring in ethnic studies. I have moved almost full time to San Luis Obispo at a house with  a group of my friends.   

What are you involved in that is bringing you joy or connecting you to your sense of purpose?
I joined a multicultural sorority, Lambda Sigma Gamma Sorority Inc. that has given me purpose. I love that we give back to the community. So far my chapter has done more than 500 hours of community service in 2020 alone. Being around womxn like my sorority sisters has made me a home away from home, especially because we are multicultural and Cal Poly is a predominately white institution (PWI). 

I am also currently in my second year as  a learning assistant/mentor for the Educational Opportunity Program’s Summer Institute, which is a five week residential summer bridge program for first generation freshmen. It is nice to work for this program because I participated in it in 2017 and got so much out of it. I am also doing two research internships through The Frost Institute at Cal Poly focused on the Genome Constraint Hypothesis, and this  work with my professor will eventually be published in a scientific journal. The other is on Global Climate Change responses and consists of me helping my professor on writing/publishing a textbook. I am going to continue working with him until the end of the year. This fall quarter, I am doing marine biology research with another professor. I also work at the Recreation Center at Cal Poly. 

Getting to spend time with my family is really special to me since I am rarely home now, so I try to make the most of every moment. I also have taken up educating myself in how to live a more healthy lifestyle through my diet, and have taken up running.

What are your personal goals for the future?
I hope to continue to be able to give back to my community. I also hope to continue to grow as a person, so I can see life more positively, and continue to learn about myself and others. I want to get into meditating and just doing things that make me healthier in general. I feel like I've started that in 2020 but I hope to continue it so keep working towards the results I wanna see mentally and physically.

What are your professional goals for the near future?
I have 2 potential life plans: 1. I hope to eventually go to medical school and focus on Pediatric Genetics or 2. Go into the biotechnology industry with a focus on the medical field, and eventually earn a doctorate degree. Perhaps, one day I will patent  something or publish my own research on genetic diseases. 

Can you share how your time at DMA shaped you as a person and shaped your career aspirations? 
I had a personal event happened to me when I was about eight years old, and it wasn't until taking Mr. Yee's biology class in seventh grade at DMA that I was able to put the dots together and realize biology and the medical field was what I wanted to do. Mr. Yee was always supportive of my interest in math and science, and pushed me to become a better student and fulfill my potential. Thanks to him I grew in my confidence and grew to love biology. 

The Graduate Support Program has connected  me to resources such as scholarships and tutors. GSP has always been “someone” I can talk to about college in general. I am a first gen college student. The first ever in my entire extended family to attend college in the U.S. Having GSP to guide and teach me about things such as financial aid and scholarships, college applications was super helpful. 

I like to go back to DMA and share  how I am doing because DMA was the first step in getting on the right path. It was a chain event from DMA to SHC to Cal Poly. Going back to DMA is sort of like going back "home" and hoping you're making your extended family proud!