{"id":629,"date":"2017-09-26T09:53:56","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T16:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/?p=629"},"modified":"2024-04-02T15:02:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T22:02:53","slug":"veronica-garcia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/veronica-garcia\/","title":{"rendered":"Veronica Garcia was told college wasn\u2019t for her. Four degrees later, she\u2019s the president of one."},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Gregg Kleiner
\nSept. 26, 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

That message \u2014 college isn\u2019t for you \u2014 came from a high school career counselor in Arizona who told Veronica Garcia that going to college was expensive and not for kids like her. The counselor suggested Veronica\u00a0learn a skill set, like 10-key data entry, and get a job. So Veronica\u00a0did.<\/p>\n

\"Veronica

As the president of Northeast Lakeview College, a community college in San Antonio, Texas, Veronica Garcia is on a mission to help as many people as possible find a path to a college education. She doesn\u2019t want anyone to believe they can\u2019t.<\/p><\/div>\n

But as she watched layoffs unfold from positions she held in three different industries due to buyouts or downsizing, she started to see a pattern.<\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed that people who had college degrees fared better during layoffs \u2014 they landed on their feet,\u201d Veronica says. \u201cBut that old message persisted, so I didn\u2019t consider college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had she not accidentally bumped into another counselor while wandering across the campus of Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona, Veronica might never have pursued a college degree. After all, nobody else in her family ever had.<\/p>\n

A new start<\/h3>\n

The second counselor convinced her to start by taking a sociology class. This was the beginning of a new educational path. Today Veronica holds four degrees, including a doctorate in Adult and Higher Education \u2014 community college leadership<\/a> from Oregon State Ecampus.<\/p>\n

As the president of Northeast Lakeview College<\/a>, a community college in San Antonio, Texas, Veronica is on a mission to help as many people as possible find a path to a college education. She doesn\u2019t want anyone to believe they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

“<\/span>College not only changed my life, but it impacted my entire family. My little brother, my nephew and all three of my children now have college degrees.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a first-generation student like I was, you don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know,\u201d she says. \u201cCollege not only changed my life, but it impacted my entire family. My little brother, my nephew and all three of my children now have college degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veronica selected Oregon State because of its cohort-based, hybrid model that allows doctoral candidates to continue working while earning their degrees. For two years,\u00a0Veronica\u2019s cohort met one weekend a month in a cabin at Silver Falls State Park for lectures, coursework and connection. The rest was conducted online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat OSU program is a well-kept secret,\u201d says Veronica, who earned her Ph.D. in 2015. \u201cThe faculty are amazing, and it\u2019s flexible, collaborative and perfect for working people. Our cohort of 11 bonded immediately, and I made lifelong friends.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span> 2<\/span> minute read<\/span><\/span>As the newly hired president of Northeast Lakeview College, a community college in San Antonio, Texas, Veronica is on a mission to help as many people as possible find a path to a college education. She doesn\u2019t want anyone to believe they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[673],"tags":[289,180,642],"class_list":["post-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-adult-and-higher-education","tag-college-of-education","tag-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Veronica-Garcia.jpg?fit=265%2C265&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7BNSE-a9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":685,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/gene-eakin\/","url_meta":{"origin":629,"position":0},"title":"Thick skin and soft heart earn OSU counseling program coordinator prestigious award","author":"Heather Doherty","date":"December 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A counselor known for his own empathy toward others, Gene Eakin was honored as the recipient of the 2017 Leona Tyler award.","rel":"","context":"In "Archives"","block_context":{"text":"Archives","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/category\/archives\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"OSU College of Education counseling program coordinator Gene Eakin is presented the 2017 Leona Tyler award.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Gene-Eakin-award.jpg?fit=638%2C410&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Gene-Eakin-award.jpg?fit=638%2C410&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Gene-Eakin-award.jpg?fit=638%2C410&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":674,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/100-years-of-counselor-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":629,"position":1},"title":"100 years of making an impact","author":"Heather Doherty","date":"December 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"One hundred years. A full century. 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