"I just saw a student with 87 transferable units, close to 100 overall," far more than the 60 required. "He never spoke to a counselor at all" before, Esparza said.
Omari Trice, 30, transferred from Trade-Tech to UCLA. Now, he counsels Trade-Tech students about how to follow a similar path. Even more than information, they need support, he said.
"Students who come to two-year colleges generally don't think they can make it," Trice said. "I dispel certain myths about transferring: 'UCLA is made for white people.' 'I'll never make it there.' 'I can't possibly pay for it.' It's a social ceiling."
Trice almost got lost in the eddies of his own transfer journey. He received a photography certificate from Trade-Tech but was disappointed by how little it helped in the job market, he said. After visiting Africa with Habitat for Humanity, he returned to the community college and then transferred to UCLA, where he is majoring in black history.
"The sky's the limit," he said.
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gale.holland@latimes.com
