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Kristin Ustariz

Student of Distinction (2021)

Early Childhood Education

Norco College student Kristin Ustariz was selected as the 2021 Student of Distinction in the discipline of Early Childhood Development. She was nominated by Professors Sarah Burnett and Maria Adams. Hear from Kristin about why she returned to college and her experience at Norco College.

"I wasn't like 100 like where I wanted to go what I wanted to do yet so I kind of just wanted to stay home and like, figure it out. So I came to Norco (College), and then I actually stopped coming to Norco for about seven years, and then I finally came back when I was like, "You know what, like I know what I want to do. I'm a grown up now. I got this." And so that's when I came back.""

"My major is early childhood education, so I want to work in early intervention with kids. Basically, any kids that have any developmental delays, I kind of want to get them up to where they need to do by kind of just making like fun little activities for them. Like I pretty much want to play with kids all day but help them become where they're supposed to be developmentally. So I'd like to thank Dr. Burnett, Miss Adams...they've literally changed my life in ways that I can't even describe."

"I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do when I came back to school. I knew I wanted to work with kids but I didn't know like to what aspect. And I remember one day just talking in class with Dr. Burnett, and she was talking about different careers, and one just like stuck out to me. Then, that's the path I went on and I started taking my special education classes, and it just completely like reformed my life. Also, Professor Hitch really helped me out a lot... he's been helping me figure out things for transferring, and where I want to go, and what I want to do next. He's really also, like, kind of lining me up for success so I really appreciate him as well."

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