San Diego Mesa College student Sajjad Naseri will be graduating this year with an
Associate of Arts in English. He plans to transfer to the University of California,
San Diego, where he will earn a Bachelor Degree in English.
Naseri chose English as a major because he had a hard time learning and many times
told himself that he couldn’t do this because of his lack of knowledge in English.
But he said “I did not give up, because of all my motivation and wonderful professors
I had at Mesa College.” In addition, Naseri wants to help other students like him,
because he knows how people feel in this type of situation.
In September 2010, Naseri immigrated from his home country of Iran to the United States,
where he had no relatives or friends. It was an amazing life changing decision. He
wanted to learn about American culture, customs and language. Since he had a lack
of knowledge in English he felt he couldn’t communicate with people, which made him
angry.
He decided to look for a school that taught English so that he could learn the language.
He said that he will never forget how painful his situation was. He enrolled in Continuing
Education where he took English for Speakers of Other Languages classes. A year later
his teacher encouraged him to enroll at Mesa College, and Naseri decided to work toward
obtaining a degree.
Naseri spent five years at Mesa College taking all the English classes that he could,
which was more than 25 classes, plus other classes to obtain a degree.
“Now, its been 5 years that I have been at Mesa College and I would like to say, that
I’m humble and honored to be part of this institution,” Naseri said.
He considers Mesa College his second home, and spends 40 hours a week here, 20 hours
in his classes and 20 hours studying at the library or tutoring center.
He enjoys office hours because he likes to get to know his professors and the requirements
for their classes. He thinks that this is great for communication because he makes
friendships and wonderful relationships with his classmates and professors.
Tags: 2017, Commencement, Graduating Olympians
