Bianca Elisa Arellano, student services technician for Equity Programs at San Diego City College, is supporting students with stories just like hers to fulfill their academic and professional goals.

“This feels full circle to be in the exact position that helped me as a student,” said Arellano, who went to City College from 2011 to 2015 and was a member of the Puente program. “Puente taught me about self-advocacy, my identity, and culture. You thrive in the environment that empowers you. I never imagined in high school that I would be in a Ph.D. program, and it is all because of City College.”

With ancestral roots from Mexico, Arellano wants to leave a legacy for the generations before her and ahead of her. She is the first doctoral candidate in her family and dreams of one day becoming a community college president.

Now she oversees equity programs inside the college’s Student Success Center including Hermanos Unidos Brothers United (HUBU), a program aimed at supporting men of color in higher education through unity; and the Puente Project and Umoja learning communities, which are taught through Latinx, Chicanx, African American, and Black perspectives to prepare underrepresented students for transfer to universities.

“Navigating college can be dark but being a part of programs like these can illuminate and light the pathway forward,” Arellano said. “I did not get to where I am by myself, it takes a community.” Equity programs at City College offer counseling, mentorship, tutoring, and scholarship opportunities.

As fall classes begin, students can look forward to connecting with their peers again on campus at the Student Success Center, an intentional space designed for studying, community, and networking. Arellano has plans to revamp the college’s social media outreach efforts to recruit more students and to bring in an opportunity for a mural design inside the hub that represents City College.

Arellano holds an associate degree in peace studies and conflict resolution from City College, a bachelor’s degree in peace studies and conflict resolution from the University of California Berkeley, a master’s degree in leadership studies from the University of San Diego (USD), and is enrolled in a doctoral program in education for social justice at USD. Arellano serves as a board member on the City College Foundation and as a Latina Success Leadership Program Fellow for MANA de San Diego.