Stella S
When Stella was a junior at Soquel High School she learned about the dual enrollment opportunity in biotech at Cabrillo. Cabrillo instructor Nehal Pfeiffer promoted it to students as a fun opportunity for those interested in the medical field.
“I wanted to jump on the boat as quickly as I could when I learned about it,” says Stella.
Stella loved the first class and wanted to take it again.
“It was such a fun class. Ms. Pfeiffer made it a point to know each student’s goals and supported us to get the knowledge we were looking for to reach that goal.”
She took the second class as a senior and found it opened her eyes to so many opportunities and helped her understand what classes to take at Cabrillo to meet her goals.
“I absolutely recommend dual enrollment. It was a game changer. Taking a college course in high school is challenging, but it made me very prepared for college and communicating well with my professors.”
Stella is now at Cabrillo, about to finish her associate in science degrees in biology and chemistry. She was pleased to learn that these classes also helped her earn the biotech certificates.
“The classes have all been great, and I love my relationship with all of my professors.”
She plans on transferring to UC Santa Cruz to study global and community health. From there she plans to become a dentist to specialize as an orthodontist.
“I used to play dentist when I was a kid, and I want to make my younger self happy and proud of where she is today.”
Lisa Uribe
Lisa Uribe is on her path toward applying to the medical lab technician program at Folsom College. She credits the Biotech program for "helping me narrow down my educational goal by providing real world experience and expertise from the professors."
Lisa says the Biotech program offered great hands-on experience in the lab. This challenged her to learn more about this field that she had no experience in.
The possibilities are endless and the professors are immensely helpful and encouraging. My advice to anyone thinking about working in the field is to enroll in this program. It provides you with job opportunities and many tools needed in the workforce.
Lisa appreciated the program's help preparing her for a job in the biotech industry through resume and interview training, and internship opportunities. Her internship at Startup Sandbox provided her with necessary work experience.
It was a great experience working with remarkable people who also helped me succeed!
Kendelle Gallagher
Kendelle Gallagher appreciated being introduced to many different aspects of biotech, some of which she had never considered.
One of my favorite topics was fermentation because of how many ways it can be applied. It's remarkable that fermentation is used not only in foods but also pharmaceuticals!
Kendelle is currently working at Thermofisher as part of design transfer. She helps the COVID controls team create part numbers and documents for the COVID products.
Being a part of Cabrillo's Biotech program helped prepare me for what working in the science industry would be like. Professor Petersen did an amazing job of sharing local job opportunities and encouraging students to pursue careers in science. Having someone so knowledgeable about the industry willing to answer questions was amazing.
Akosua Acheampomaa
Currently employed as a Tissue Culture Expert in a local agricultural research company, Akosua Acheampomaa valued the practical training in the Biotech program. The interactivity and training occurred even during Shelter in Place through the use of virtual labs as well as home labs for hands-on experience. Akosua says,
The Biotech program prepared me with applicable coursework in tissue culture, plant biotechnology, and other laboratory techniques. The professor went above and beyond to assist students in finding work.
Also helpful to Akosua was networking, which she says effectively assists students in job hunting and finding internships to build work experience.