The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation selected Golden West College Psychology major Alex Cisneros as a semifinalist for the prestigious Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. This award provides students with as much as $55,000 per year for two to three years to complete a bachelor’s degree at any accredited four-year undergraduate institution in the United States.
Cisneros applied to GWC in 2022 after seeing a commercial for the College on television. Having attended a continuation high school where he received little guidance, Cisneros found support and mentorship at GWC through programs like Puente and EOPS. He is set to graduate this spring and will transfer to University of California, Berkeley, where he plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
“The Puente Program at Golden West empowered me with university tours, transfer resources, supplies, and so much more,” he says. “The EOPS program provided me with specialized academic and personal counseling, food, grants, textbooks, and the cap and gown I will wear for commencement. They are the reason why I got accepted to CSULB, CSUF, SDSU, UCI, UCB, and UCD. I have chosen to commit to Berkeley.”
Cisneros also has been selected as this year’s commencement speaker, where he plans to share his story of resilience and academic success after having endured a childhood marked by abuse, poverty and run-ins with law enforcement. Ultimately, he hopes to return to the continuation high school where he once felt “lost and hopeless.”
“I want to show to students that anything is possible,” Cisneros says. “I am the first in my family to attend higher education. I have become a fierce advocate for the community college system because my journey would not have been possible without the support I received at GWC.”
