San Diego Mesa College and San Diego City College and have earned Gold and Silver status respectively as Military Friendly schools for 2023-2024. Mesa College maintained its Gold status from the previous year and City College was awarded its inaugural Silver status. “The San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) and our colleges are honored to serve active-duty military, veterans, and their families with accessible higher education programs which recognize and value their military experience,” said SDCCD Acting Chancellor Gregory Smith. “The prestigious Military Friendly school recognition is the result of the extraordinary work our faculty, classified professionals, and administrators at San Diego City College and San Diego Mesa College do each day to serve our military communities successfully.”

Student Veteran at San Diego Mesa College have been finding a new sense of community on campus this semester through free social dancing classes on campus.

After nine years in the U.S. Army, Karina Miranda returned to her hometown to attend San Diego Mesa College, which she said she chose in part because of aesthetic beauty as well as its treatment of veterans.

“There is so much support for the veteran community here – there’s just so much here for veterans to be involved with,” Miranda said. “They offer a lot of opportunities here, there are a lot of programs and it’s very flexible with the courses and hours.”

After being in the U.S. Army for just over four years, veteran Jordan Agricula – President of Mesa’s Student Veteran Organization – is now a student at San Diego Mesa College applying to transfer next fall.

Agricula – who has attended classes at Mesa for the past three years – was born in Hawaii, but grew up in California. After initially beginning college at Santa Rosa Junior College, Agricula dropped out of college and moved back to Hawaii, later joining the military to gain job experience.

Following in the footsteps of her father and cousins, San Diego Mesa College student Janet Langrehr joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1985, 29 years before stepping onto campus as a student.

After having first received a degree from ITT and a paralegal certificate from University of San Diego, Langrehr signed up for classes at Mesa two years ago to pursue a degree in accounting with minors in business and computer information systems. She plans on transferring to a four-year school once she has completed her time at Mesa.

After four years of service in the United States Marine Corps, Bakersfield native Freddy Cervantes began to pursue his college degree at San Diego Mesa College in 2014.

Studying as an electrical engineering major, he currently holds a GPA of 3.86 and is the President of Mesa’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. In addition to PTK, he is a member of the Student Veterans Organization, Math Club, MATLAB Club and sits in with the Math Research Group. He tutors at Mesa in math up to linear algebra, Calculus III, German and Chemistry up to CHEM 200.

With Veterans Day on the horizon, student veterans and their support staff on campus are gearing up for a week of activities to honor their service.

“We know that it’s not just ‘a’ day that we need to honor our veterans, it’s something that we need to honor every day,” said Ramiro Hernandez, Mesa College Counseling Department Professor. “Thankfully, here at Mesa, we’ve been able to make it into a weeklong celebration.”

U.S. Marine Corps veteran Calvin Dixon retired from the military in July 2014, and stepped into life as a college student at San Diego Mesa College.