May 17, 2010
Contact: Teresa Hendrix
805-756-7236
Inspiring Grads from the College of Science and Mathematics: Erica Navarro
SAN LUIS OBISPO --
Erica Navarro will be the first person in her extended family to earn a college degree when she walks in commencement ceremonies June 11 at Cal Poly.
Financial aid, scholarships, support from her mother and grandmother, and her own work during school breaks got Navarro where she is today. Her mother is a single mother and a cashier at a casino, supporting both Navarro and her younger sister. Her grandmother works as a cook at Mendota High School.
“My grandma has been like both a dad and a grandma to me,” Navarro said. “They’ve both made a lot of sacrifices so I could go to school.”
As a teenager, Navarro got a job at Whole Foods in Fresno – where she’s returned to work and save money every summer and break away from Cal Poly.
Navarro, a kinesiology major from Fresno, is already working as a physical therapy aide at a practice in Los Osos. After graduation she’s heading to grad school in Northern California to earn a double master’s degree in physician assistant studies and public health.
She wants to return to the small town of Mendota, her childhood home about a half hour from Fresno, or Firebaugh to start her career as a physician’s assistant in a rural medical practice there.
Navarro chose Cal Poly over UCLA after touring the kinesiology department. She knew she wanted a career in medicine, but wasn’t sure exactly what. The department’s path to a physical therapy career was appealing to her before she decided to go on and become a physician’s assistant.
Among her favorite classes was the adaptive physical activity class taught by Professor Kevin Taylor. She did her honors senior project with the “Activity for All” program in kinesiology that creates physical activity devices for people with disabilities.
“I was working with clients in ‘Activity for All’ to help create physical activity devices for people with disabilities – and then I would go to work (at the physical therapy office) and work with people with physical disabilities.”
Her advice for new students at Cal Poly or students considering Cal Poly? “Be open to all the possibilities Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo have to offer – and get involved.”