2025 Scholarship Winner Gabriel Banaag Writes About His College Experience

My First Semester at Las Positas College

By Gabriel Banaag

Transition To College

This past fall, I began my college journey at Las Positas College! The transition wasn’t what I originally anticipated, as I spent so much of my senior year prepping to attend a four-year university. Adjusting to a community college environment felt challenging at first, especially socially, since I’m surrounded by students from a wide range of ages, however over time, I adjusted really well and learned how to make the most of my experience here. I really pushed myself to connect with more people, stay open minded, and fully engage with the opportunities around me, which made the entire semester feel both meaningful and rewarding. I was really scared coming into a community college, especially because of the stereotypes that come with the environment of community college, but one thing I learned is that the experience is only what you make of it, so I learned how to have fun.

Academics

Academically, I challenged myself a lot during my first semester, especially because I wanted to build up my academic resume before I transferred. I joined the Honors Program at LPC and enrolled in two honors courses, along with a full course load. Through one of these classes, I was able to produce a research paper that’s currently pending publication in the Columbia Journal of Global Health, which was not only a fun experience, but also one that made me fall in love with academic research. I’m proud to have ended the semester with a 4.0, which reflects both my dedication and growth as a student. 🙂

Extracurriculars

Outside the classroom, I tried my best to be very involved in extracurriculars. One of the most meaningful activities this semester was being able to participate in Stanford’s SSG program, which is a 10 week research program where I worked with a Stanford post-doc mentor to learn and apply the scientific method. This program really let me engage in hands-on research that aligned with my interests and also offered me valuable exposure to how research works at prestigious institutions. In addition to this, I was able to get a guided tour of multiple Stanford labs, in which I saw how animal models were used in research. In addition to this, I continued working on my initiative, The Mind Bridge Project, in which I mentor high school seniors in Title I schools as they apply to top colleges and universities. Being able to support students through the college admissions process has been incredibly fulfilling. While we’re still early into this year’s admissions cycle, my past students have gotten into schools like UPenn, Vanderbilt, and NYU, and I am expecting similar results this cycle! Alongside all of this work, as a pre-med student, I’ve continued to do clinical shadowing and have started working on a public policy project that’s aimed at making shadowing more accessible to disadvantaged students. Though it’s very evident in this paragraph, one of my main goals is to advocate for underrepresented communities, and I want to continue doing so in my college journey.

Personal Growth & Looking Ahead

This semester was really a period of significant reflection and growth for me. I read Like Streams To The Ocean by Jedidiah Jenkins, and it made me rethink traditional definitions of success and also made me reflect on my own values. Navigating college as a prospective transfer student has given me multiple new perspectives on the traditional college system, and I’ve been very intentional about learning from every experience while also letting myself enjoy the journey! I’m super proud of what I was able to accomplish during my first semester, and the entire journey has been exhilarating. Looking ahead, I want to do more in academic research, continue developing my personal projects, and also advance my public policy work with the long term goal of passing a bill that makes clinical observation more equitable. I’m actively preparing my transfer applications and I’m hoping to attend a four-year university next fall. Overall, this semester has laid out a strong foundation for my academic, personal, and professional goals, and I’m super excited to see what lies ahead.

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