Karina Barajas

I am a full-time student at California State University, Los Angeles. I have always loved school and studying. I dreamed of attending La Verne right after high school but my dreams were crushed after understanding that I was not eligible for federal financial aid. I come from a low income family so I had no financial plan set in place for my future.
My priority was to work for my education. I attended community college and I took honor courses in order to get more substance out of the classes. I also assisted with various programs on campus and joined the anthropology club. I assisted in blood drives and in performance art. I auditioned for the dance performance among 100 other students and I was able to be placed in three dance performances. I was proud of this accomplishment because I was extremely shy and my audition performance consisted of a solo audition to several dance routines. In 2014, I successfully applied to be a Dreamer which allowed me to become eligible for state grants. I immediately transferred to CSULA and I place the dean’s list in my first quarter there. I still had to work in order to pay for transportation, books, and part of my tuition. I work full-time at a high school in La Puente, California. I leave work at 4pm and have to drive sometime to Los Angeles to make it to the 4:30 pm class. Although I have a hectic schedule, I strive to dedicate myself completely at each task that I was given. The joy that I am completing my dream fuels me to work non-stop.
During the first three months of employment, I was given the Outstanding Olympian Award. During the same time, I was nominated to become a member of The National Society of Leadership and Success Chapter at CSULA and completed a rigorous leadership training program through the organization. In order to achieve membership in the Society, I attended many hours of training focused on teamwork, goal setting, high achievement, leadership skills and styles, self-motivation, and accountability. I have also been awarded a Certificate of Leadership Training. I also received an Olympian of the Year Award from my job during the same time that I was taking very intense finals. Some people comment that being a full-time student and a full-time employee is not beneficial, but in my case these two go hand in hand. I have continued to excel in my academics while earning the income necessary to continue my studies. In order to prepare for the school year, I am enrolled in EdX courses supplemented by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and the University of Texas. These classes do not give me transfer credit to my institution but do supply me with a better understanding of subjects presented by prestigious universities.
During the Spring semester I worked at a high school helping students sign up for the SATs. There, I helped students create accounts online and helped them with the registration process. Whenever there was an issue with a student account, I called College Board using the information provided on the student’s account I was able to resolve her promptly and effectively. The shift in technology has improved student’s access to academic information as well as allow individuals to retrieve information faster. The students that I helped, before this shift, would have had to wait weeks to receive their SAT or AP scores in standard mail.
The effect that technology has on society has inspired me to pursue a career in the healthcare industry because I feel that my contributions will help impact society in a positive way. For a school project, I developed a universal mobile application that provided both emergency and non-emergency transportation services to patients for their appointments and therapy sessions. As the project manager, I had to merge technology and healthcare systems in order to provide the best transportation services at a low cost that fit each unique patient’s needs. My career goal is to use computer science to integrate technology with everyday healthcare systems to provide the best resources at hand.