When Melanie Montoya entered Santiago Canyon College in the fall of 2018, she wasn't sure where her higher education journey would take her. Coming from a high school experience that admittedly wasn't filled with much success, she hoped that community college would give her the chance to start over and rewrite that path.

Today, having earned an associate degree from SCC and bachelor's degrees in English and ethnic studies from San Francisco State, Montoya is currently completing her master's degree in English at Cal State Long Beach.

Additionally, under the guidance of a CSULB professor, Montoya is one step closer to her goal of becoming a college professor herself as she teaches a freshman composition class this semester. She has also returned to SCC as an embedded tutor for English courses— opportunities she credits to the experience she had while at SCC.

"For the first time, I really felt like I was being supported, and school became this place for me where I felt like I actually belonged," Montoya said of her time at SCC. "I wasn't just trying to get to the next goal post of finishing this class and graduating, but I really started to enjoy my time there"...READ MORE