(Santa Ana)—Rancho Santiago Community College District has named 20-year-old Santa Ana resident Luis Correa as the student representative on its Board of Trustees for 2013-2014.
Correa, a third-year student at Santa Ana College (SAC), is majoring in political science.
With the SAC Associated Student Government (ASG), he served as chief justice pro-tempore last year and as a member of the Constitutional Revision Committee. He was also active in advocating on behalf of students. In particular, he supported a student representation fee that was under consideration at the college last year. If approved, the fee would have given students an option of selecting to pay an additional dollar to support student activities on campus. The proposal was not approved. Nevertheless, Correa remains committed to the importance of campus activities.
“If students get involved in campus activities, they get more motivated and do better in their classes,” he said. “As the student trustee, I’d like to lay the groundwork to improve the number of opportunities for campus involvement.”
For now, he is trying to grow into his new role. “I’d like to leave Santa Ana College and Santiago Canyon College a little better than how I found them,” he said.
He will also focus on how to keep students motivated so they stay in the classes they register for. He noted that at the beginning of the semester, the parking lots are full, but as time goes on, there are fewer and fewer cars. He indicated that community college students face tremendous obstacles, including the stress of working full-time while attending classes, family obligations, and other personal issues.
Correa has served as a YMCA Youth and Government intern. Through local YMCA delegations, California youth participate in the YMCA Youth and Government’s Model Legislature and Court (ML/C). The ML/C creates a six-month hands-on learning experience that teaches the values of democracy by bringing together a cross-section of the state’s high school students. As a delegation, youth create bills about relevant issues, research and practice court cases, develop public speaking and networking skills, and attend three annual ML/C conferences. As a student at Middle College High School, Correa served as a YMCA Youth and Government delegate and now he helps facilitate the program.
His future plans include transferring to a baccalaureate-granting university, preferably the University of California, Los Angeles. From there, he plans on applying to law school. He aspires to become a criminal prosecutor for the State of California and hopes to someday become a judge.
Correa lives in Santa Ana with his two brothers, one sister, mother Esther, and father, Senator Lou Correa.
About the Rancho Santiago Community College District
The mission of the Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD) is to respond to the educational needs of an ever-changing community and to provide programs and services that reflect academic excellence. Santa Ana College and Santiago Canyon College are public community colleges of RSCCD, which serve the residents of Anaheim Hills, East Garden Grove, Irvine, Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin and Villa Park. Both colleges provide education for academic transfer and careers, courses for personal and professional development, customized training for business and industry, and programs to train nurses, firefighters and law enforcement personnel.
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