Stories

Santa Ana College provided a bridge to the life I wanted to live. It was 1971, and like many students today, I had to pay for my education myself. I lived on $1 a day and worked as a drive-up teller. I typed term papers, babysat for professors, and even worked the night shift at a mortuary. It was all I could do to work and study and get to classes.

Some days, when I was feeling sorry for myself, I’d go to the piano room at the college and play “The Impossible Dream.” It sounds corny now, but that’s really how it felt. My high school counselors hadn’t thought I would amount to much, but I was determined to prove them wrong. At the time, finishing college was my “impossible dream.”

Every once in a while, someone would come along and make me feel like my dream was a little less impossible. There was a custodian (whose name I wish I could remember) who would open the classroom with the baby grand pianos for me to play. It was such a little thing, but it made a big impact on me. There were a lot of little things like this along the way that gave me just the boost I needed to keep going.

It was while I was at Santa Ana College that I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I was going to teach all those little girls who were just like me that they could do anything they put their minds to.

After finishing my AA and transferring to California State University, Long Beach to get a teaching credential, I landed my dream job teaching 2nd grade at John Adams Elementary School. That job led to the creation of a bilingual educational TV show called El Mercado de los Numeros or “The Number Shop.” I wrote and hosted the show, which we eventually sold to KCET in Los Angeles. This led to more opportunities in the entertainment business and the rest, as they say, is history.

But the reason I give to Santa Ana College is not just because of the opportunities it provided me, but also because of my father.

My father was the third of five children born to a very poor, working class family. Even though he’d been forced to quit the 7th grade to work, my father recognized that education was the ticket to success in America. That’s why in 1950, at the age of 20, he and a group of friends decided to start a club that would raise funds for Santa Ana College student scholarships and promote the importance of higher education within the Hispanic community.

Over the years, the Gemini Club (the founders all had the same astrological birth sign) made it possible for hundreds of individuals to attend Santa Ana College. In 2001, to honor my father and continue his work, my husband and I started a scholarship fund for high-achieving Hispanic students majoring in Engineering, Biology, or Chemistry. Since then, we have given out over 170 scholarships totaling $470,000 to students who were accepted to a four-year institution but didn’t have the financial resources they needed to transfer and be successful.

But let me make something clear—my husband and I have not won the lottery. After starting several biotech companies, there were points where we had to remortgage the house to make ends meet. Things obviously turned around and we did okay, but it wasn’t without a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. We worked hard, and I expect the same from all of the students we support.

It’s been nice to see that there is no shortage of exceptional, hard-working students at Santa Ana College.

Today, the students we’ve supported have gone on to become doctors, engineers, scientists, and much more. Many of them still keep in touch, and seeing and sharing their success has been a real joy. It’s why I do this. I imagine it’s why my father did it, too.

Like many people, my higher education started at a community college here in Orange County. But unlike most, I was 16.

At the time, I was a student at El Toro High School and like all the amazing women in my family, I could sing. And I could sing well.

But as a high school student, I didn’t really fit in. I just had a different perspective than other kids. I wanted to get out into the real world and start working. So, one weekend I snuck out and took the GED without telling my parents.

My parents were not happy when the letter came saying I’d passed. My mother was adamant I stay in school even though I was already singing professionally and performing part-time. But my father had a completely different perspective.

My father was a machinist, a trade that would eventually lead him to becoming founder and owner of what is today R.A. Industries, one of the most trusted, high-precision manufacturing firms in Orange County. He never went to college, but he understood that with the right kind of training, I too could make a career out of my trade.

So, he made me a deal. He would sign me out of high school if I went to Saddleback College. That’s how I became the first person in my family to graduate college. I remember my dad filling out the forms. I was so grateful—it was like he had handed me the keys to my future.

Community colleges are like threads within the landscape of our communities. They give students from all backgrounds a platform for furthering their education so they can make their lives better.

Today, R.A. Industries sends its employees to SAC when they need to upgrade their skills. It’s a win-win for everybody—they receive a quality education, we get more qualified employees, and Orange County gets a more educated workforce that can afford to live here.

That’s why when I decided to go back to college, after retiring from opera to become CEO of R.A. Industries, I chose Santa Ana College. I had completed an Executive MBA at Chapman University but realized there were holes in my education that could only be filled by an engineering degree.

People often see community colleges as a second or third choice. But for me, SAC was my first choice. I feel lucky to have had that opportunity, even though the demands of being a CEO made it impossible to finish.

It is for these reasons and more that my father, brother, and I choose to support veterans and the machining and engineering programs at Santa Ana College.

When a family friend told us about a program at SAC that helped veterans who didn’t have the resources to pay for college, my father and I looked at each other and said that’s something we can personally fix. The scholarships we support bridge the gap for veterans who, after giving of themselves, can return home, go to school and get the education they need to transition back into civilian life.

Orange County is my home. It’s where I’m from, where I was raised, and the source of so many opportunities that changed my life. I’ve been so very fortunate because people here gave me a helping hand when I needed it. That’s what I hope our scholarships do. When the opportunity comes, I want the students we’ve supported to have the confidence that they’ve gained from their education to be able to seize it and be successful. Sometimes something little, just the right support at just the right time, can make the greatest impact on a person’s life.

That is what is so amazing about working with the Santa Ana College Foundation. It’s realizing that some of the biggest obstacles for students are easy to overcome with the right kind of support. We give to the SAC Foundation because we know our gifts are going directly to those who not only need it most, but those who will benefit from it most, too.

When I was a child, my father worked as a typeset for one of the biggest newspapers in Guatemala. He loved reading and could speak eloquently about any subject even though neither he nor my mother had gone to college. He knew what it was like to work hard for little pay, but he also knew that with education came choices and a path to a more successful life. He believed education was the great equalizer and made sure his children knew that too.

That’s why when I was 19, after completing my secondary education in Guatemala, I came to the United States in order to perfect my English. My initial plan had been to stay with my extended family for about 6 months but after enrolling at Los Angeles Community College, I decided to stay longer. I saw the possibilities and benefits that community colleges offered to students like me who came from diverse backgrounds.

I, of course, made all the mistakes a new student can make. Since I was the first person in my family to go to college, I didn’t have anyone to tell me how to be successful. But I wanted to be able to provide for my new family and my young children, and I knew a college degree would help make that possible. I worked hard to pay for school and to make ends meet and at age 24, I graduated summa cum laude with a degree in accounting.

Soon after, I took a job in the banking industry. As a woman and a minority in what was a very male-dominated industry forty years ago, I quickly learned that giving 100% was not enough. I had to do more, work harder, and constantly be raising my game. So, I took every class offered by the Bank of California (which later became Union Bank and then MUFG Union Bank) where I worked, I accepted jobs that I didn’t know how to do, and I refused to let fear keep me from succeeding. Today, I am honored to manage nearly 6 million dollars in philanthropic funds as Union Bank’s Director and Corporate Social Responsibility Officer.

From a business standpoint, the MUFG Union Bank Foundation supports non-profits with strong governance and a credible history of fiscal 22 responsibility. We partner with organizations that can share their results and produce the impact we’re looking for. This is one of the reasons we started supporting Santa Ana College through the Santa Ana College Foundation. We trusted them to be effective and efficient stewards of our investment.

Additionally, the MUFG Union Bank Foundation’s mission is to make philanthropic investments that expand access to economic opportunity in low- and moderate-income communities specifically in the areas of affordable housing, economic development, education, human services, and the environment. It is in the areas of economic development and education that supporting SAC fits with MUFG Union Bank’s philanthropic mission.

The role that community colleges play in the economic development of a region is extremely important. Small businesses are the engine of any regional economy, but they need educated and skilled workers to grow and they need customers who can afford their services. Community colleges support all of this and more.

The MUFG Union Bank Foundation started supporting Santa Ana College’s Summer Scholars Transfer Institute (SSTI) in 2011. For 25 years, SSTI had been providing a means for high-achieving but economically challenged community college students to take an intensive, 10-day class at University of California, Irvine, live on campus, and learn what going to a university is like. Since many of these students are the first in their families to go to college, this experience allows students to learn the ins-and-outs of what university life is like while boosting their transfer awareness and academic confidence.

This is a critical program that gives students the real experience they need to make smart decisions about their futures. At the time, even though it had a proven track record of success, it was vulnerable due to lack of funding. Union Bank decided to do something about that. Today, the program continues to be an important and effective gateway program for high-achieving students who are eager to raise their games but might not know how. Even better, SSTI students are 20% more likely than other students to transfer to and succeed at a four-year institution.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” To me, this means if we want the world to be a better place, we must give of ourselves in ways that benefit others. Not only because it brings happiness to our souls and makes us feel good, but because philanthropy connects us to our humanity.