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- My name is Jordyn McCarley.

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I'm from Santa Clara,
California,

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and I attended Mission College.

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I ended up at Mission College
through the Admission Middle

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College Program,
which was a bridge program

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with my high school district
and Mission College.

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At Mission College I had
a really great experience.

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The classroom experience
was phenomenal.

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I had a lot
of really good professors

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and the career services as well
as the transfer expertise

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I found at the school
was really helpful

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in propelling me to my next step
in my education.

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Growing up with a single parent
I did see a lot of the struggles

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my mom went through
and especially those struggles

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that had to do with her
not having an education.

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So seeing all those struggles
I wanted something different

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for myself.

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That's what really motivated me
to want to go to college.

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And Mission Middle College
and Mission College

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was instrumental in helping me
do that.

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When I transferred to Fisk
I decided to major

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in Political Science.

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I've been really happy
with the results of my program

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so far.

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I really wanted
a small college environment

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and Fisk was definitely able
to provide that.

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They have that one-on-one
atmosphere

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that I was looking for.

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I also wanted to try a new city
pretty far from home,

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and Nashville seemed like
a great place to do that,

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especially because Nashville
is growing so quickly

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and it's becoming
a really diverse,

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great place
for young people

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to begin their
professional careers.

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Because Fisk is so small
I was really able

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to get the help I needed
to achieve here,

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especially my department,
Political Science,

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was very helpful.

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Both of my professors
really mentored me along the way

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and gave me connections
I needed, to people

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in my potential career field,
also people who could help me

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get connected to different
grad school paths.

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All of that was really great.

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And because I was able to get
so much one-on-one attention

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I was able to do great in my
classes and also on the LSAT.

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Upon this fall I'll be attending
Vanderbilt Law School.

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I would definitely encourage
current California

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community college students
to transfer to an HBCU.

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It's a really great experience.

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You learn so much academically,
culturally,

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just moving to a new place.

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You're able to experience things
you wouldn't get to experience

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in California.

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California is a great state
and it is my home,

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but it is a bubble.

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So it's important that we expose
ourselves to opportunities

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outside of that and,
of course,

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bring our talents back
to California.