ESS 603: First-generation experiences, part I

Laura Vogt:

Hello, thank you for joining us on this week’s The Not So Secret Guide to Being a Berkeley Engineer. My name is Laura Vogt. I’m the associate director for marketing and communications for the College of Engineering. And this week, and next week, we’re hearing from three current Berkeley engineering students Paige, Sohaib and Elham. They told us about their experiences as first generation college students. So our first episode, we’re going to learn about some of their challenges and opportunities, how they’ve learned a new family dynamic and discuss some of their goals. We started off with introductions, which included their major, year and college activities. Plus one thing about Berkeley or the Bay Area that they enjoy.

 

Paige Lyles:

Thank you so much for having me first of all. So yes, my name is Paige Lyles, and I am a rising senior major in civil engineering. I’m also a transfer student. So shout out to all the transfers out there that are listening. And yeah, things I’m involved in on campus include undergraduate research. I’m also in the construction competition club. Before that, I used to tutor at CAEE, which is in ESS. And I’m also a globe ambassador with the Dado and Maria Banatao center. Something that I really love about Berkeley is just the abundance of food, and the different kinds of restaurants, [inaudible 00:01:14] shops, everything like that. I’m definitely a foodie, so love that atmosphere here.

 

Muhammed Sohaib:

So, Hey Laura. My name is Muhammed Sohaib. I go with Sohaib because that’s my given name and I have so many like [inaudible 00:01:27] and my cousins who have a first name Muhammed because Muslim used to have first name Muhammed, that’s why I go with Sohaib. And my major is civil environmental engineering in UC Berkeley. And I’m a third year junior student. I came as a transfer student from American River College in Sacramento. So I came down to California in 2016 from Pakistan. So I did not born here. I did not finish my high school here. So that’s absolutely like a transition from like one culture to another one.

 

Elham Zakeri:

So my name is Elham Zakeri, and I’m currently an undergrad. I’m graduating next semester. I’m studying electrical engineering and computer science. Which the short of it is ECS. I’m currently part of three clubs. I’m part of a Supermileage Vehicle, which we are making a net battery driven car highly efficient in energy. And I’m part of a battery team. And also I’m part of SWE, which is Society of Women Engineering. And I’m part of a program called Shadow an Engineer. And that program just helps new engineering students to have an externship with the different companies that… Depending on who’s signing it for. And I’m also part of ESW club that’s Engineering for Sustainable World, and we work on different projects around the campus or Bay Area that concerns sustainability. And so at the moment, I’m the director of the communication for that club.

 

Elham Zakeri:

And as of what I enjoy about Bay Area, I really liked that Bay Area has a lot of hiking trails, and I like to go and try those. And also there’s a lot of restaurants with different backgrounds. So I like to also try new foods.

 

Laura Vogt:

So I was really excited to have all three students join us for this discussion, and for the purpose of our discussion over the next two weeks, first generation college students is referring to students that their parents are not four year college graduates. And what were some of the challenges or opportunities that each of you had as a first generation college student?

 

Paige Lyles:

Definitely. I think it was mostly in high school. I was experiencing those challenges. Yeah. So I come from an affluent area, but I didn’t have all the resources that my peers did. So just growing up in that environment, I always felt like, Oh gosh, they’re having private tutors, and they’re having all of these resources to be able to be successful in school. Whereas I was a student actually offering tutoring services and having to independent study and learn on my own. And I think that being in that environment was a lot of learning and I definitely took away from that. But then when it came to graduation and before that applying to colleges, I think I definitely did not have an understanding of the full college application system and how that worked. Simple things as like the PSAT lets you get set up for scholarships and not knowing that. I think it didn’t matter that I was on the honor role and like vice president of the club or involved in extracurriculars or did all these great things.

 

Paige Lyles:

When it came to at the end of the day to apply to schools, I was at a disadvantage. And I really valued the community college experience, because it allowed me to have those two years to really just refocus and reevaluate how I wanted to approach applying to a four year school.

 

Paige Lyles:

And then also just give me the time to really hone in on what I really wanted to do with my skillset and with my life. And deciding civil engineering, and how I wanted to just like impact infrastructure, make it more sustainable.

 

Laura Vogt:

While I have you here. I wanted to ask what is… did you find the biggest challenge between going from community college to UC Berkeley?

 

Paige Lyles:

I definitely think it was my tendency to say, yes to all the opportunities, and then the abundance of opportunities here on campus. And I think it’s also tied in with being like in the middle of the pandemic during community college, and having so much free time, because you’re at your computer all day long, to coming to campus, and having to trek 15 minutes between classes or between your co-op or apartment or wherever you live and the campus. And then also trying to balance, like I said, the amount of opportunities, whether that’s having work experience. Like I worked as a tutor before my research. So doing that and then balancing clubs and schoolwork. And then also just trying to have a social life, and realize that we’re all human, and we need some time to wind down and relax. So I think that was the biggest adjustment, was not only the rigor, but also the adjustment because of COVID.

 

Laura Vogt:

And now that you’re here at Berkeley, do you find that there’s opportunities that maybe you wouldn’t have known about because you weren’t a first gen student, or is there things that are more geared towards teaching you and giving you those resources?

 

Paige Lyles:

Definitely. I feel like the biggest resource that I have taken so much away from is T-PREP, The Transfer Pre-Engineering Program. It’s the summer program that you apply into, right? When you get accepted to the university and decide to continue with Berkeley. And I just really appreciate it because it gave us three weeks to just get to know students that are like you, from similar backgrounds, with similar goals and passions. And you’ll get put together in groups, have a project that you work on, pitch it to business and industry professionals. And it’s just a really great kind of accelerator program to get you involved in campus, have like a foundational support system with your peers. And then also just get connected with advisors who are super great. So shout out to Tiffany [Rudin 00:07:40]. I love her so much. She has been such a huge part of my support system here at Berkeley and yeah, really appreciate that community.

 

Laura Vogt:

That’s amazing. I’m really glad that… T-PREP is an awesome program. I’m glad you were able to take part in it. What have been some of the challenges or opportunities that you’ve had?

 

Elham Zakeri:

Yeah, sure. So as a first generation, it’s a little bit… because you don’t have that background from your family to like help you to see what’s going on, or what’s going to come up, and how can you use some resources. I think the most challenging was that understanding how important it is, the timing of when is the time to think about your next step? When is the time to submit your application, and how soon you have to start, and also how are you going to even choose where you want to go? So I think that was the most challenging part. And I think for me personally, because I’m also, especially when I started in college, I was a fresh immigrant and also I was a reentry student. So it was a little bit harder and more challenging because I had to like deal with the new environment and everything new. So it was a little bit harder.

 

Elham Zakeri:

And I think a lot of opportunities. So I think what I learned that is really important about these opportunities, the opportunity that you have always someone to ask whatever question you think you have. So no question is like not good enough or small, like you… everything comes to your mind and you think you need someone to help you with it. You always going to find it. You just have to look for it. So I think that’s the biggest opportunity here, because you can always ask. And then from there you can, you can continue and have your answers, or even maybe other opportunities that come up.

 

Elham Zakeri:

And I think another thing would be prioritizing your opportunities. Meaning after you get introduced to it, let’s say depending on what kind of opportunity you’re talking about, from educational, or you need mental health, or health, you need technology access, whatever opportunity that you have in [inaudible 00:09:51], or you’ve been introduced to, how can you actually prioritize them? Because everything has a deadline, there is a lot going on. So you need to make sure you understand which one is more important to you, and go through that based on the time and the importance to you.

 

Muhammed Sohaib:

I think I accept that as a challenge because of my parents, first of all I want to talk about my parents. My mom and my dad do attend community college back in Pakistan, home country. And they have learned English, majority of American people do not know that English is the official language of Pakistan. It is taught in school in Pakistan, but the thing is like, we do not learn how to speak and understand English. We only learn like how to read and write English.

 

Laura Vogt:

Oh, okay.

 

Muhammed Sohaib:

Yeah. That is strange, I know. So that’s why we are good in memorizing English rather than understanding what it’s all about. So that’s the mindset. So that’s my moment that like, they know how to write English, they know how to read English, but sometimes they don’t understand what we are saying and what we are talking about.

 

Laura Vogt:

How have each for you been able to balance family and education?

 

Paige Lyles:

I think the biggest component of balancing family and academics is just communication, and time management too. Because growing up in that atmosphere, you’re all very close with one another and it’s very supportive, and I really love the support that my family gives me. But it’s also understanding the demands of higher education and what that entails for how many hours of studying. And I think my family understands that, they understand that with the goal of getting that undergraduate degree. It also means a sacrifice of time and availability. I think that’s something that’s hard for me, because I am very involved and love to do that, but it’s also, I think, yeah, just communicating and saying, I’m free this time and I’m not free that time. And just being open with your family.

 

Laura Vogt:

I think that’s important for anyone who is within like a short driving distance of their family while they’re going to college.

 

Paige Lyles:

Yeah. I think the perks are just also being able to be home whenever you’re homesick and then be like, “Mom, can I have a home cooked meal please?” And it’s just really great because I think for me personally, I am very close with my family. So it’s nice to have their support, whether it’s distance or just in person to be there with me.

 

Elham Zakeri:

There is actually two aspects of it. One part is that it’s very, very helpful that I don’t have to be stressing out about that I’m not fulfilling one of the expectations that comes besides school. And to be honest, my husband has been really helpful, like making sure everything goes around my schedule basically. But at the other side of it is that I feel like there’s too much pressure. Everything is perfect right now, so I better succeed, I better get good grades and everything. So that’s another aspect of it. But I think it’s very important, because you need that free mind that your family, or understanding what you are doing and what you need, what your needs are. And from there you at least have one check mark in your list. Like, okay, I don’t have to be worried about that.

 

Muhammed Sohaib:

I’m in university. And sometime my father did not understand, he make a phone call in the middle of my class and I could not accept it. And then I have to call back and tell him, now he just send me a message and tell him, if you need anything or he wants to ask me anything, I just text him back. And that’s how it works out. He even texts in Urdu language too.

 

Laura Vogt:

And so how do you find the support that you get from your parents? Are they excited for you? Are they worried for you? What is that [inaudible 00:13:41] like?

 

Muhammed Sohaib:

I think my parents is like, I think its not, it’s not only about Pakistan. My parents… It’s about Pakistani parents. In general, I think they are very protective about their children as compared to American ones, because they are like… they do not want us to take so many risks. I know that American people, American children, they like to take a lot of risk when… with their children. They take risk with [inaudible 00:14:07] their children. [inaudible 00:14:06]. Okay, I’m doing business. I don’t like let’s go to [inaudible 00:14:09] I don’t like, let’s go to the [inaudible 00:14:11] premed. But for me, like my parents, because they’re not like… education is the only way, like in order to change the [inaudible 00:14:18] the financial status of the family. So I have to go to STEM and don’t get me wrong.

 

Muhammed Sohaib:

I like STEM. I like [inaudible 00:14:25] like a math classes, physics, chemistry. That’s so cool and amazing. Sometimes it’s like a magic I would say. If you don’t understand the logic, then like, all of a sudden something magic is happening. But if you understand the logic, then you understand the whole world. So I have to explain to them that is the process, I cannot explain to them everything that’s happening with me in the university. So I feel like I do not, I’m not giving enough time to them, but they… now they understand it. After since I came to Berkeley, they understand like the process and the education is harder, because now…

 

Muhammed Sohaib:

In community college, my life was only like… I was commuting and I was just attending lectures and coming back home. There was not so much clubs and so much social activities. Now I’m staying in a dorm in UC Berkeley. This is now like 24/7 life. So I’m interacting with students not only in the class, but also outside the class and doing activities with them, taking part in competition teams, and going to competitions, like representing Berkeley engineering.

 

Laura Vogt:

Have you found it difficult to explain that balancing act between your education and what your family wants from you?

 

Muhammed Sohaib:

I think now… in community college, I was more active with my family activities, helping them with all the other process, like I was having with the bills, I was helping with you with like a health insurance, I was helping my father with his job and stuff. I was more involved with my family, but ever since I came to Berkeley, I’m not giving, to be honest, I’m not giving enough time to them.

 

Laura Vogt:

What has each of you learned about yourself or your goals? What have you learned about yourself and your goals?

 

Paige Lyles:

Definitely. I say yes to a lot of things. And I’m not sure if that’s like a personality trait, or if that is just out of my environment. I do think that because being a transfer student, I’m only here for five semesters and it’s such a short time. And so I definitely want to get involved in as many things as possible. The upside is you do get to learn more about yourself and see what you like and what you don’t like. The downside is definitely trying to balance academics, and social life, and extracurriculars, and professional development. I think I definitely learned through that. I came in first wanting to do construction project management and I still love that. And I’m still involved in the construction club and I love that so much, but I also realize that I do want to explore research more.

 

Paige Lyles:

And that’s part of the reason why I’m, I’m doing research this summer is to really dive deep into that, because coming from community college is not really that opportunity research. You had a two year school where it’s mostly just getting your foundational skill set and courses finished. So yeah, I definitely learned that about myself, a different trajectory I’d like to take. And yeah, I think that just having the opportunity to be in multiple clubs, or try out different clubs, there’s different competition clubs on campus for civil engineering specifically. It just helps you to figure out like, within your major, what emphasis you want to take, because there’s so many different ways to go into civil engineering, whether it’s Geotech or it’s…

 

Laura Vogt:

Water reclamation or…

 

Paige Lyles:

Yeah, water or structures or anything like that.

 

Elham Zakeri:

I think the most important thing is that I learned that I can handle more than I think I can, especially after transferring. I didn’t know I can work good in pressure and short time crunch. And also I learned that I can multitask. And also I think being… I really wanted… My goal was to be better at time management, and also learn how to be resourceful because these two things come hand to hand very often in every… all the time you need to use them. So I think I could achieve them more or less. And also besides educational goals. I think my other goal was to expand my social network. And I think that was very successful. So I could achieve that really as successfully.

 

Laura Vogt:

Thank you for listening to this week’s episode of The Not So Secret Guide to Being a Berkeley Engineer. We’ll be back next week with Paige, Sohaib, and Elham to learn more about how they created a community, got involved, and their tips on how to be successful.