Transfer101

William Dawson earned his bachelor’s degree to fulfill a promise. Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, William and his sister were raised by a single mom who sometimes worked three jobs to support them. After serving three years in the ROTC, joining the military after high school seemed a natural way to help the family. After serving 21 years in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps, William retiring as a Senior Warrant Officer and returned to Texas and enrolled at The University of Texas San Antonio.

“I promised my mother I would complete my degree,” he says. “It was the only way to convince her to sign me into the Army when I was 17.”

William received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and is currently perusing a Master of Arts degree in Public Administration. But, he admits, the path to success is not always easy. “I was way behind in math and science,” he says. “UTSA has exceedingly gifted and patient tutors that helped me make the transition academically.”

After seeing other ex-military transfer students struggle with everything from transition between military/civilian lives to GI Bill payment delays or credit acceptance issues, William offers this advice: “You need to have a plan of attack from day one,” he says. “Contact the Student Veterans Association on your campus and ask for a mentor or sponsor.”

But the most important thing he says is to relax, enjoy your studies and participate in campus activities, especially the ones involving public service.  “We veterans tend to be very good at public service,” he says. “It’s how we were raised.”

For David Longoria, transferring to The University of Texas San Antonio was about finding a new career. A San Antonio native, David attended a number of community colleges, including San Antonio Community College, during his 20 years of service in the United States Air Force.  “I took courses that related to my job with the USAF as a firefighter,” he says. But after retiring from the Air Force he was told that he was too old to pursue that career – so he needed to find a new one.

“The educational benefits I received from the Veterans Benefits Administration and the State of Texas made it feasible for me to return to school,” he says. “I was not going to let that opportunity go to waste.”  In 2007, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Mexican American Studies from UT San Antonio, then went on to receive a Masters of Arts in Bicultural-Bilingual Studies in 2011.

“It’s important to create a mentoring relationship with your instructors,” he says. “With the assistance of my professor, Dr. Josephina Mendez-Negrete, I knew I had selected the right university and the right field of study.”

The last piece of advice David has for future transfer students?  “Take your time. Research the colleges and universities you are interested in. Visit the campus when possible.  And talk to your academic advisor; they are there for you.”

Had she not worked in the admissions office of the downtown campus of the University of Texas at San Antonio, Debbie De La Cerda might still be trying to navigate the complexities of transferring from a community college. De La Cerda’s experience ended well, but could serve as a cautionary tale for potential transfer students. Though she always intended to get her degree from UTSA, she first attended Palo Alto Community College and San Antonio Community College in the 2+2 program to “get her feet wet.” But when she got to UTSA she forgot to tell her advisor she’d been in that program; the advisor put her in the current catalog, needlessly lengthening her degree plan.

When she landed her job in the admissions office, co-workers set Debbie straight, and she got the advisor to correct her degree plan before she took any unnecessary courses. She urges transfer students to check and double-check with their advisors to ascertain exactly what courses and associates degrees transfer. And she believes anyone entering community college should choose classes as if he or she intends to go on to a four-year school, whether that’s the case or not. “Even if you’re not sure you want to further your education try to plan ahead and make sure your coursework is transferable and credited to any university where you might want to seek your BA or BS,” Debbie cautions. “Don’t assume your education stops once you’ve received your associate degree.”

For Jesse Trevino, community college meant a second chance. The San Antonio painter and muralist had just completed his first year at the Art Student League in New York City in mid-1966, and was about to leave for one of the school’s summer programs in Paris, when he was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Vietnam. Fighting off snipers in the Mekong Delta, he was booby-trapped and severely wounded all over his body.

Trevino spent more than two years in military hospitals and ultimately lost his right hand. Back in civilian life, he registered at San Antonio College hoping to become an art teacher. But with the encouragement of his professors, he instead learned how to draw and paint with his left hand, graduating from SAC and going on to refine his skills while earning a bachelor’s degree from Our Lady of the Lake University and then a master’s from The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Trevino began photographing scenes from everyday life on the West Side — a snow-cone vendor, kids lined up in front of an old car, a nightclub, bakery, drugstore or church — and then painting them in a throbbing, hyper-realist style. Two of them, “Mis Hermanos” (My Brothers) and “Tienda de Elizondo” (Elizondo’s Shop), now belong to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Then he started assembling massive, colorful murals. Trevino’s “The Spirit of Healing,” done with 150,000 pieces of hand-cut ceramic tile on the side of Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital, is nine stories high and 40 feet wide, and has become a San Antonio landmark.

Three years ago, Sophia Berry was wandering around the University of North Texas campus in Denton, map in hand, trying to find her next class. After spending a semester at a one-building community college, she found the university impossibly spread out. And the social pressures she felt there, among 28,000 undergraduates and 7,000 graduate students, were daunting.

Now she is so much at home that she serves as a counselor for incoming freshmen and transfer students, teaching them the university’s fight song and helping them make the transition to a large public college.

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