Cañada Graduate Achieves Dream of Becoming an Engineer

Following high school, Claudia Espino wanted to attend a four-year college to achieve her dream of becoming an engineer but she quickly learned that she couldn’t afford it. “I decided to attend Cañada College for a period of four years as I needed to help sustain my family, and it was the best decision I ever made,” said Espino.

Espino spent four years studying engineering at Cañada and was accepted to UC Berkeley where she earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. At Cañada she was a member of the Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement program. Now she’s a staff engineer at TRC Engineers, Inc., in Mountain View where she tests soil to make sure building foundations are solid. She even tested the soil for the college’s new Library & Learning Center, where the MESA program is located.

“Cañada really helped prepare me to earn my engineering degree,” she said. “I would have been lost at a four-year college straight out of high school. The professors at Cañada really care about students and they would help us outside of their office hours or when they saw us in the library. Also, Cañada professors are very well-prepared and gave me challenging assignments and tests.  They helped me think ‘outside of the box,’ and this way of thinking definitely helped me succeed at UC Berkeley, as Cal is known for its rigorous and challenging curriculum. I would recommend Cañada for any student who wants to earn an engineering degree.”