Interview with Francia Orozco, by Grace Boyer
Pieta de los Inmigrantes 2019
Francia Orozco
Francia is an artist and specializes in painting. Many of her inspirations come from her parents and her home country, San Pancho, Nayarit Mexico. Francia is also a first-generation college student and hopes to use her art as a platform of educational knowledge for social justice and equity within the United States. Francia is now a very close friend of mine, and I’m so happy I was able to interview her about her experiences at Whatcom Community College.
Francia started going to Whatcom three years ago, after doing one year of community college in near her hometown. Four years later, she is now wrapping up her degree at Western Washington University. She majored in Fine Arts with a minor in Educational Social Justice.
I wanted to start the interview with a general question to how her experiences went during her two years at Whatcom. Her first words were, “extremely rewarding”. If you are thinking about going to WCC, think no further. This is the place to be! Francia said that Whatcom made her feel valued and that her education was equally as important to them as it was to her. The application process? Seamless… The application can be found at Whatcom.edu.
“The application literally takes five minutes, and all you need are your official transcripts. Make sure to reach out to your high school advisors, or any other advisors if you took any college credits elsewhere before you apply. Ask for them early because sometimes they can take a bit to get to you. Other than that though, the application was the easiest one I’ve ever done.”
I asked Francia if she could share a bit about her class experiences she had at Whatcom.
“The professors at WCC really take the time to get to know you on a personal level. The class sizes are small, so you really get to know your professors as well. I had professors take time out of class to reach out to me on different projects I was working on, like my art. I felt that many of my professors really took the time to share their own personal experiences being a college student, and that was really helpful for me.”
I asked if she could share a bit about how she went through the process of enrolling in classes at WCC. “There are always open advising hours on campus. I would just go there and sign my name in and wait until someone was available to help me. I always felt that I was getting the best advice because they really sit down with you and go through all the different options you can take in order to fulfill your GURs- General University Requirements.” When I asked her if she had any tips to future students who are thinking about applying to WCC, or any other colleges, apprentices, or work study programs, this is what she said, “Don’t feel afraid to reach out and ask questions. This is your future, and you are paying for this! There are people there who are getting paid to help you… Might as well take advantage of the resources that are made available to you.”
Relating 2020
Francia Orozco
Next question: How did applying for Financial Aid go?
“This one was a little bit more tricky. Like I said, reach out to people who are there to help you with it! That would have been nice if I did that, hah. The application process is confusing if you have never done anything like that before. Which I think a lot of us haven’t. I wish I would have used the resources made available for me then because it would have made it less stressful. Always just call the Financial Aid office at the college you are applying to and see if there is anyone there that can help you right then, and if not, make an appointment! Again, they are there to help YOU.”
If you are considering applying to Whatcom Community College, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Futures Northwest Team. Different resources can be found at Futuresnw.org that can be helpful for navigating through college applications and Financial Aid. I hope that this interview is helpful to some of you and encourages you to take the next steps in finding success in your future.
If you have already enrolled or plan on enrolling for Fall 2020 and have had a change in Financial Circumstance, this PowerPoint Presentation guides you through how to make that adjustment at Whatcom Community College.