- My name is Garrett Carillo.
I'm from Pico Rivera, California,
and I attended at East Los Angeles College.
So I attended East Los Angeles College in 2009.
I had about a good year of break in between high school
and college where all I really wanted to do
was work and put money in my pocket.
However, I kind of missed playing football.
I had played all of high school, all Pop Warner,
and one of my buddies had told me
about East Los Angeles College, how I could make it
on their team and go back to school.
So I think that was a really good transition for me
back into school.
It was free thanks to, you know, the fee waivers they have out
in the California Junior College systems,
and also I was playing ball again.
So I was happy and I really enjoyed
my experience over there at East Los Angeles College.
I came here as a nursing major.
And actually another benefit, it being a small school,
having a good rapport with my professors
they realized off the bat that I had a very big affinity
to biology.
And I ended up actually turning into a Bio major
and a Chem minor thanks to these professors
who saw that in me.
And upon becoming a STEM major I found out
all these different scholarships and student work programs
I could apply for at Lincoln and was actually able
to obtain a working position as a research assistant
in Lincoln's Bio Energy Lab where I conducted studies
on micro algae as an alternative fuel.
And so that's one thing that's going
to really look great on my resume.
So when I came out here to Lincoln I was the first one
in my family transferring into a university.
It was difficult for me at first.
I really enjoyed where I was at now but this was my first time
away from home and I was thousands of miles
away from everyone I loved.
I had football practices all day long,
meetings at 6:00 in the morning, getting home from night meetings
at 10:00, trying to still do homework,
being able to juggle all these things.
And at the same time finding out, you know,
things weren't exactly going well back at home.
My little sister who was 19 at the time getting pregnant.
That was really hard for me to deal with so far away.
I wish I could be there for her.
I know it was a very difficult thing for her to go through
and I wish I was there to give her the advice
as her big brother and I wasn't able to do that.
Coming here was a great opportunity.
It opened so many doors for me.
It made me realize things about myself that I didn't even know.
Upon getting here everyone in the town was so hospitable.
Also on top of that I think it would just be a great experience
for anyone to almost step out of their comfort zone
and experience a different side of life.
And, you know, who knows what opportunities
can come your way just like I had here
at Lincoln University.
I would recommend not only to Hispanics but to all students
that are interested in attending HBCUs to come
to Lincoln University and have the same experience that I did.