Spring — 2011

Aurea Janne Pariso

Global Citizen/Liberal Arts

“I think that what will make me successful is that I’m very ambitious, and I always work hard. I’m just very outgoing, and I’m ready for anything.”

Ah, yes. The bugaboo of any student who was not born with a trust fund to rely on: money! This was a current concern for Aurea Janne Pariso, now in her second year at SMC. “Yeah, I’m kind having, like, money issues right now, so I’m looking for a transfer to an inexpensive school. Maybe San Francisco State. But I really do appreciate how economical it is to go to SMC, because the quality of what you learn here is really right up there.”

There have been other struggles for Aurea as she launched out on her path to a better life at SMC. “In my first semester here, I really had some trouble in my psychology class. But now that’s going pretty well, and I like the feeling I have that I’m becoming a better student. I mean, what I want to get involved in is environmental issues and global relations. I think that these are two of the biggest issues facing all of us. I just want to learn as much as I possibly can about other cultures and ways of life,” she continues. “And then I just want to get out there in the world and travel... find out how I can help others to learn. I guess,” she adds with a chuckle, “that I’m sort of wanting to be a student of humanity for as long as I live.”

To study other cultures, Aurea has found it quite important to get involved at SMC—beyond the classrooms. “I’m actually in the International Student Forum club, and there you get to meet people from all over the world. You may have learned something about their country from the Internet or other media,” she says. “But when you get to meet them in person and hear their stories, it really clears up what you thought you knew about their day-to-day life and culture.”

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