May 26, 2022
There and Back Again
By Office of Communications
Danny Dunn took ASL classes offered at Mesa during high school when his high school
did not offer them, in preparation of university application and admissions requirements.
Unfortunately, he developed a severe illness that made completing high school a struggle,
and he did not expect to graduate on time. Instead of completing 4-year university
applications, Danny decided to attend Mesa and then transfer.
During his first week of classes, Danny became very ill again and had to be hospitalized.
He dropped out of his classes and spent nearly the next decade recovering and trying
to get his life back on track. For years he desired to return to college to finish
his education, but acceded when people in his life told him it was okay if he was
never able to return, and that, “some people simply weren’t meant to go to college.”
Danny was terrified he would re-enroll in college, only to become ill and need to
drop out yet again. Danny gave up on his dream for a time.
Later on, Danny finally mustered up the courage to enroll in a class at City College
after taking some Continuing Education courses, and job prep classes. He slowly completed
the Mental Health Work Certificate Program at City College, then started working towards
an Associate’s Degree in Psychology. Danny then changed majors and began attending
Mesa, where he earned a 4.0 GPA. He is currently finishing an AS in Health Information
Technology (HIT), and has applied to Mesa’s Bachelor’s program in Health Information
Management (HIM), which he hopes to be accepted to in Fall 2022.
Danny expected to be on Disability forever after his illness, but is now proud of
his accomplishments and hopes to be gainfully employed and use the skills he learned
at Mesa towards a career in Quality Assurance in the HIT field. He discovered a passion
for Quality Assurance during his second internship and credits the support and care
of the DSPS team and his professors with making it possible for him to graduate. Danny
is appreciative of all the support he received from his partner, family, friends,
and the SDCCD Community. He also thanks his service dog, Sheldon, who recently retired,
and attended every class with him. Danny will graduate from Mesa with an AS in HIT
in the Spring Semester of 2022.
Tags: #Classof2022, #Spring2022, #SDMesaCollege, #SDMesaGrads
