Francisco Flores

Student

“I moved here after one semester in Utah, because I didn’t see any different cultures there. But I love SMC. This place is like a salad bowl of people.”

In “one year and one semester,” Francisco Flores has been making a thorough exploration of SMC’s diversity. “Every day, I learn something from people from all around the world,” he says. “Sometimes it’s a little embarrassing, because words like ‘fat’ or ‘straight’ mean completely different things in different cultures. You could get into serious trouble in English!” he says with a laugh. “But I’m learning to be a Californian. I’m learning to be ‘cool!’” But ‘cool’ is not the norm in Francisco’s native country, Peru. “

The economic situation isn’t so great back home, and in school there, you choose your career—and that’s it. But here, you might start out in Education, and then just suddenly decide to change over to History. So when I started getting frustrated back home,” he continues, “my brother and sister here said, ‘Come on up to America. Everybody has dreams here, and there’s all kinds of opportunities.’” Francisco has found that—at SMC—his siblings’ advice is true.

“I’m following a major in Computer Science, which is hard to follow along with, but it’s worth it. I’m taking math and computer classes, and I need three more English classes to get to the college level,” he says in perfect English. “But I have great teachers here—like Mr. Dehkhoda in my “Intro to Programming Logic” class, who’s a very nice guy. And even when the work gets really hard,” continues Francisco, “I keep my focus, because I know this will all pay off in a few short years.” He adds that “focus is a hard thing for a lot of people here to keep in mind. But SMC can help you find what you really want to do with your life. Experiment a little! But as I said, I learn from different people every day. And learning is the best way to make friends.”

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