Guest Commentary written by
Diego Rendon
Diego Rendon is a student at California State University, San Bernardino, where he is student body president.
The Coachella Valley and Inland Empire region are home to one of the largest Latino populations in California, yet for many high schoolers here, college still feels like a foreign country that they don’t know how to navigate.
I’m a first-generation college student who grew up in Desert Hot Springs. In high school, I didn’t talk to my parents about SAT scores, internships, or what the next step of my life would look like during college or after. I still remember at the age of 17, feeling completely overwhelmed with college financial aid applications and applying to college during my senior year, while balancing a part-time job to help save money for college…