Rise over Run

Name: James K. Alcala

Major: B.S. in Mathematics

Class of 2018

I’m happy to say I’m a part of the class of 2018, with a B.S. in Mathematics.

However, my disposition wasn’t always this way. When I arrived to UCR in the Fall of 2014, I was depressed, lonely, and confused. I was mentally and emotionally ill-equipped to deal with some things that happened earlier that year back home, and the state of mind I was in was the farthest possible place that I wanted to start my college life in. UCR was not the place I expected to be, so I initially had trouble fitting myself into a niche here. On top of all of this, I discovered pretty quickly that the career options for my major at the time weren’t interesting to me.

I spent plenty of time moping around and being sad, but I knew that I needed to get out of that place. Slowly but surely, I sought out help. My initial grades were lackluster, so I began attending office hours and going to the Academic Resource Center. I went to counseling on campus for the first time to begin working through my issues. I got involved in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, my first group of friends, and became an officer by the end of the year. I applied for several internships to give myself something productive to do over the summer, and landed one that aligned with my interests and career goals. I switched my major from Environmental Engineering to English, which was both more enjoyable and closer to my career goals. I applied to be a Resident Advisor for my sophomore year, because I wanted to share my experiences with other first years, hoping that they’d do better.

Thankfully I landed the job, and working as an RA for three years turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my undergrad. In addition to working with and being there through the years, I was able to indirectly grow and learn a lot about myself. Some of my self-confidence began to organically reappear.

As I moved further along, my persistence as well as the care and guidance of many others led me to study abroad in Costa Rica for a summer, and pursue passions in poetry, mathematics, and music. I changed my major one last time to mathematics at the end of my sophomore year, took piano lessons at UCR, and began to look for places to publish my poems.

A lot has happened since those first two years: I’ve been able to publish two poems, perform in the Arts building, give a talk in a graduate level mathematics seminar, and have been accepted to several graduate programs in mathematics. I’m happy to say that I’ll be coming back to UCR this fall to pursue my PhD.

There’s a lot that I want to share, but if I can condense it down it would be these: healing, personal growth, and achieving major goals take time. Don’t compare yourself to others, as your lives are different. Seek help, often. Be gentle, but be firm. Take your mental health as seriously as your physical health. It’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to be different from the people around you, and even those you look up to. In college, develop your previous passions while pursuing new ones. Reflect on who you are, who you want to be, where you’re from, where you are, and where you want to go often. Work hard. Listen more than you talk. Fear is natural, but let your actions be in spite of your fear. Remember those who got you to where you are, and thank them. Don’t let your learning only happen inside the classroom. Do the things you’ve always wanted to do. Finally, understand that the plans and expectations you have for your future will likely not be what you expect. Instead, let the future be better than you thought it could’ve been.

#classof2018 #mathematics #PhD #whotellsyourstory