MESA

Jonathan Quiroz

Computer Science Major

Future Plans

Transfer as a junior to a 4-year university in fall 2024

Advice for Students

Push through; you can achieve your end goal. “Take the challenges as a good thing and not a bad thing.”
Look for resources. Go to office hours, ask counselors for transfer plans and join programs like MESA.

“You have a community that bonds together. In the MESA Center everybody helps each other out. We go through the same struggles.”

Jonathan Quiroz is a computer and information science major. He was an administration of justice major at Ohlone College, but he wanted something challenging and interactive.

He tried programming, teaching himself with help from a friend. Enjoying the Java classes at CSM, Quiroz saw a future career.

He knew it would be hard, but was excited. “There's always something new to learn and just creating something from nothing is something I found amazing. I felt like a magician.”

Quiroz says he suffers from imposter syndrome since he is a first-generation college student and didn’t do too well in high school, including failing Geometry twice. Even though he was behind in math, he was determined.

Quiroz tackled pre-calculus with Professor Angel Pilar who encouraged him and his classmates to join the MESA program. “Professor Pilar was really helpful. There were a lot of office hours that he offered, and I just took advantage of office hours.”

Attending office hours led Quiroz to study with other MESA students. “I constantly saw people putting in the same amount of effort. And it just naturally happened. I talked to them and they talked to me. We helped each other out.” They formed a study group that stayed together through calculus.

Quiroz attended an engineering conference at San Jose State University where there were companies like Lockheed Martin and Google plus other students to network with. “I'm really grateful to MESA for opening those doors for me.”

He says “the best thing about CSM is how genuine everyone is. Everyone is really helpful. From the counselors to the professors and to the MESA Director, Olivia Viveros.”

“It's really important if you're an engineering student to join MESA. You have a community that bonds together. In the MESA Center everybody helps each other out. We go through the same struggles, and it is helpful to have that extra support.”

He found out about a summer internship through the MESA Center . “I was nervous but thought it wouldn't hurt to apply because I was really interested. I was excited to get an interview and an internship offer.”

Quiroz spent last summer working as an intern at Spotlight Therapeutics, a bioinformatics company. “I learned so much, and it definitely solidified what I want to do in computer science. It just made me 100% sure that I want to pursue this major.”