Hartnell MESA students hosted a special guest this week to show off their transfer success.
University of California President Janet Napolitano met with more than 30 MESA students and other Hartnell UC-bound students Thursday.
Streamlining the transfer process and increasing the number of community college students who transfer to UC campuses is one of Napolitano’s key initiatives.
“I am thrilled that President Napolitano has made community college transfer a priority of her administration,” Hartnell President Dr. Willard Lewallen stated in a press release. “Hartnell College is committed to providing all the tools and guidance to students to transfer to a University through MESA, TRiO, and the college’s Transfer and Career Center.”
MESA has been helping educationally disadvantaged students successfully transfer to four year institutions for more than 30 years. In addition to Hartnell, MESA has centers at 35 other community colleges that serve a total of 4,700 students throughout California.
Top campuses MESA students transferred to were UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Santa Cruz.* And 97 percent of MESA community college students transfer as STEM majors.
*Taken from most recent available data