The Student Equity Office is a place where students of Asian, Latinx, and/or Black descent can be united through their designated learning communities and lead towards a path to success.

Glendale Community College is home to a variety of students with different ethnic backgrounds. However, when it comes to higher education, underrepresented students, such as those coming from Asian, Latinx, or Black backgrounds, may feel at the bottom of the applicant pool. The Student Equity Office aims to fix that all while, “eliminating the achievement gaps for students from traditionally underrepresented groups that are identified as disproportionality impacted.” Here, diversity and inclusion for students in these learning communities are important parts of the student’s educational success. The Associated Press found that there was an increase of applications to all nine UC California campuses by 11% in 2021. Of those hundreds of applicants, “43% are students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups,” with Latinx students being the largest group in that pool of applicants. 

Diversity is an important piece of the college experience. At Student Equity, the three learning communities (APIDA, La Comunidad, and Black Scholars) bring together students from different parts of GCC to help create special bonds. “Just seeing Asian people at GCC is helpful to feel solidarity and supported,” said Natasha Nopharatana. Norpharatana is part of the APIDA learning community at Student Equity and a child development major. Many students agree that there is a wonderful support system implemented into these learning communities where students can make the most of their experience at GCC. Sosie Berg, a member of the Black Scholars learning community and an animation major, feels this way as she says, “I would not be having as great of an experience at GCC as I am right now.”

With college comes the stress of figuring out where students want to end up in the future. This may include having to change their major, learning about transferring, and figuring out what works best for them and what doesn’t. The counselors at the Student Equity Office are there to support students and answer their frantic questions. “They have helped me make sure that I stayed on track to graduate and transfer to a university,” said Sara Calderon, a member of the La Comunidad learning community and a sociology major. Same goes for Monica Marin, a member of the La Comunidad learning community and a social work major. “They have been very helpful and seem to care a lot,” said Marin.

An important part of a college student’s educational success is feeling like they’re part of a community. At Student Equity, the three learning communities unite Asian, Latinx, and/or Black students from across campus with the hope that success and empowerment will be discovered. Counselors say that they make it their duty every day to lead students on their individual paths to success.

Keilani Pak can be reached at [email protected].