Many students on campus have not chosen what they plan on doing after their time at Cerritos College. One on-campus program that may be vital to a student looking to transfer is the UCLA Center for Community College Partnerships.

The program encourages students to not only transfer to UCLA, but other Universities also.

Students in the program will get a peer mentor who will meet with the student once a month to go over the academics that the student is involved with at the time.

One student that is interested in the program is Steven Salazar who is an undecided major

“I like the idea of having someone help me. I don’t think I can do it alone,” Salazar said.

Help might be the main ingredient to a student’s success when it comes to transferring.

One peer mentor who has also gained help in order to transfer from Cerritos College is Mario Salcedo.

“I wanted to pay it forward. The help that I got, I wanted to make sure I can help other students,” Salcedo said on his involvement in the program.

He also said that the program can help students grow accustomed to life at a University and that there are opportunities to take classes at the UCLA campus during the summer.

Along with the classes, workshops are also available for students in the program.

Some of the topics that are covered at the workshops are financial aid and help with personal statements.

The program does not have a grade point average requirement and students do not need to be full-time students, according to Salcedo.  

He also said the program likes to help students who come from low-income families, which is possibly a big percentage of the students on campus.

Any students interested in joining the UCLA Center for Community College Partnerships are encouraged to meet with a peer mentor who is located in front of the school Library on Mondays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.