Los Medanos College welcomed seniors on campus for its annual Senior Saturday, April 20 where seniors and their parents were able to explore, meet current students, and figure out which pathways best suit them.

Nicole Almassey said the event took about 4 months to plan and featured campus tours and breakout rooms in different departments for future students to be able to see which classes or pathways they’d want to attend. Students could also choose to join in the welcome presentation both for students and parents that the Out-Reach Program hosted.

Almassey said the event drew more than “300 students and their parents,” “and we are expecting the same next week but even bigger.” 

The day’s schedule also included a resource fair. Representatives of Transfer Academy, UMOJA Scholars Program, the Honors Program, MESA, PUENTE, and guidance from LMC counselors. From 10:00 am to 1:00 pm seniors were encouraged to wander campus and look at different booths.

Among the booths, visitors would find information about STEM, the Math program, Honors, Student Life, Women in STEM, Journalism, Art, and Vocational and countless others. For the honors program, representatives Vania Saldana and Nina Manayon awaited enthusiastically for the future students to come their way. 

“It’s a lot of fun and it made me excited to see how these seniors will be since we were in their shoes once,” said Manayon. 

“I recommend for future seniors to try to make an effort to go to the events. You build a lot of connections,” said Saldana. 

Student Life Associate and Basic Needs aspect of student life, Ashley Villasenor voiced how student life can be great. 

“Having a spot to chill is important. College can be stressful and access to food and basic hygiene is essential,” said Villasenor. 

She also recommends seniors check out club carnival and welcome week when adjusting to the new semester in the fall. 

Current Heritage High School senior Ola Isholla, he thought the overall day was beneficial. 

“I really like the honors program and I think the classes are good,” he said. 

Alex Master, also a current Heritage senior, added, “opportunities and meeting people.” to the list of things he found to be important from the day. 

Shaynyda Soe, President of Women in STEM, provided cotton candy for participants. While waiting for seniors to approach, Soe made sure that visitors felt welcomed. 

“We do volunteering, job opportunities in the major with networking and outreach and we encourage all women to join and those who are willing to promote diversity in the STEM field,” she said.

Current Antioch High senior Daisy Gaurdado, who plans on pursuing nursing, was pleased with the day’s full schedule. 

“It’s really cool we got a lot of important information. In this school, there are a lot of programs and a lot of information and each one is different from each other,” said Gaurdado.

Michael Kean, the adjunct professor of Process Technology, found the event successful.

“I was pleased to see high school seniors interested in vocational and trades and pleased to see so many young women expressing interest since there are plenty of high-paying careers in that field for both men and women,” said Kean.

Current LMC student and music tutor, Michael Hummel represented a part of the STEAM club and was enthusiastic about all those who joined. 

“The turnouts were pretty awesome, a lot of smiling faces wanting information,” said Hummel. 

He also advised that new students take it slow in the beginning and check out Disabled Students Programs and Services.

Sepi Daroogheha statistics and calculus professor, represented the math booth and thinks seniors “get an idea of what college is like and get to see what they can do and their family sees what they want to become in the future,”

For Almassey, day one was a success and she is looking forward to day two on April 27. “Everyone seemed happy and felt that all their questions were answered,” she said, adding, “for students to discover what they are excited about in their journey into college,”

There will be a second Senior Saturday, April 27 on campus at 10:30 a.m. for those interested in exploring more about LMC and its programs.