LCC’s LUCERO raised the bar
Guadalupe Gonzalez graduated second to last in his class from high school and nearly failed out of his college classes in Texas. At age 24, Gonzalez knew he wanted a career and that an education would earn him one.
In fall of 2014, Gonzalez started at Lansing Community College. He moved from San Antonio, Texas, to Lake Odessa, Michigan, to be closer to his biological family, with whom he reconnected earlier that year.
“When I started at LCC, I was focused on transferring out; I didn’t care about making friends. I just wanted to get it over with so I could transfer,” he said. Gonzalez completed his first semester successfully, but he struggled to stay focused and felt out of place in his new surroundings.
Gonzales, and many other students before him, sought connection and support in their new college surroundings. The student support program, LUCERO, which stands for Latinos Unidos Con Energia, Respecto y Orgullo, brings students together and creates a network of support. The word lucero means “bright star” in Spanish, a tribute to LCC’s Stars mascot.
LUCERO’s focus is to create a positive connection for Latino students with each other and LCC. It helps students develop exceptional academic, leadership and professional skills. Gonzalez found LUCERO was a great way to make friends with others who shared his heritage and ambition, and the LUCERO program director inspired him to develop his academic and career goals.
“My transition from Texas to Michigan was a little difficult. I had never been in a classroom where I was the only Mexican kid, even though I’m only half,” he commented. “After my first semester at LCC, I walked into the LUCERO office and met the director; it was great because I had something and someone I could identify with.”
Encouraged by his LUCERO experience, Gonzalez made the decision he wanted to be the best four-year college applicant he could be. He asked himself “What can I do to prove that I am not the student I was prior to moving to Michigan?”
His answer was to become involved. Gonzalez joined many student organizations, including LCC’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society of which he was President and LCC’s Student Academic Senate where he was able to share his views on the academic direction of the College. By February of 2016, Gonzalez was excelling in his political science program and earned an internship in Michigan Senator Curtis Hertel Jr.’s office.
“When I started the internship I had an inferiority complex—most of the interns were younger and were MSU or UM students -- but I ended up interning for more than a year,” he said. “The office staff joked and said they wouldn’t have let me stay if I wasn’t doing a good job.”
Gonzalez said everyone who worked in the office inspired him. He was impressed by their work ethic and down-to-earth attitudes, which was not what he was expecting in a political setting. It was this experience that inspired his long-term goals.
After working on a project involving user experience on a political website, Gonzalez was curious to learn how he could improve a user’s experience to help the public become politically well-informed.
With a focused academic goal, Gonzalez began visiting universities and eventually made his way to Ann Arbor, where he was impressed with the University of Michigan and its interdisciplinary programs.
Gonzalez was accepted into the University of Michigan’s School of Information in 2018, where he will apply his political science background to the study of information technology.
After UM, Gonzalez plans to go to law school and study cyber law. After law school, he hopes to practice law, and then pursue a career in the United States Marine Corps as a JAG officer, or specialize in cyber defense in the private sector. His ultimate goal is to return to Lansing to run for a local office or the LCC Board of Trustees. “It was at LCC where I had the support and encouragement to not settle and reach higher to achieve my goals,” he said. “I would like to come back and give back.”
