# @ucsandiego on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DeSYimbykM_
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/71416054-ucsandiego-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/0bf7828a19.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-10-09T20:38:52.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** UC San Diego / UCSD (@ucsandiego) — https://gondola.cc/ucsandiego

## Caption

“I was born in East L.A. to parents from Mexico, and growing up, I watched family members navigate incarceration, teen pregnancy and gang violence. I wanted to be part of positive change in my community, and for a long time, I thought becoming a lawyer was how I would do that.
Coming to UC San Diego as a student was transformative, but it was also scary and lonely. I was searching for community and found it through student organizations like Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx por Activismo (MEChA). By the time I graduated, I realized law wasn’t my calling. What I had discovered was a passion for supporting students.

After graduation, a mentor connected me with a part-time high school outreach position at a community college in Los Angeles. That experience confirmed that working with young people was what I wanted to do. Education had been empowering for me, and I wanted to help other students experience that same sense of possibility.

I’ve now been at UC San Diego as a staff member for 15 years. Today, as the coordinator of the 2nd Year Experience Program at OASIS, I help students find their “why.” The second year is a pivotal time for exploration, and I encourage students to ask themselves: What am I passionate about? What are my strengths? Am I pursuing this path for myself or for someone else?

I share my own story because I know what it’s like to feel pressure to follow a path that isn’t truly yours. My family expected me to become a lawyer, and I didn’t want to disappoint them. But I had to be honest with myself. I could become a lawyer, but I didn’t love it enough to do it every day.

I tell students this is the time to explore. Try an internship. Talk to people. Ask questions. Give yourself permission to discover what makes you excited.

That’s what continues to light me up about working with students: helping someone see a possibility they didn’t think was possible for themselves, and watching them take that first step.”

-Haydee Cervantes Salazar ‘07 (she/her), coordinator of the 2nd Year Experience Program at OASIS

#TritonStories #UCSanDiego

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 715
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 9

## Tags

tritonstories, ucsandiego

---
Copyright (c) Gondola