BE. Vasquez, who spent many of his first 30 years in juvenile hall, jail, or prison, confronted his past when he arrived at San Diego City College in 2007 determined to build a better life through higher education.
BELONG. Though often feeling out of place as an older, first-generation student, he immersed himself in programs such as the City College Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program and Extended Opportunity Programs and Services, and student government — eagerly seeking out advice from counselors, instructors, and administrators.
BECOME. After earning two associate degrees from City College, Vasquez transferred to UC
San Diego, completing both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology and later earned
a Doctor of Educationdegree from San Diego State. He launched Outreach Services at
San Diego College of Continuing Education and, for the past eight years, has served
as director of STEM Outreach and Community Engagement with UC San Diego CREATE (Center
for Research on Education, Assessment and Teaching Excellence) promoting higher education
and science, technology, engineering, and math pathways for underrepresented youth.
Vasquez is a man on a mission.
READ MORE OF OUR STORIES OF BE. BELONG. BECOME.
“We’ve had a lack of representation in the science workforce for decades,” Vasquez
said. “It hasn’t changed much, even though STEM has become one of the fastest growing
industries. We’re still essentially in the same place. So, I think we need innovation
in our approach. We need different thought partners. We need to encourage folks about
how to work together genuinely. And we can start by building small collaborations,
like we’re doing here.”
The “here” is in the community room of the Keeler Court Apartments, operated by Community
Housing Works in the southeastern San Diego neighborhood of Southcrest. The initiative,
a collaboration between Community Housing Works, UC San Diego CREATE, San Diego Unified
School District’s Level Up SD program, and San Diego Foundation, brings together resources
to fund, staff, and run STEM camps designed to spark a love of math and science in
K-12 students.
Bringing It Home
This summer, Keeler Court Apartments — a 15-minute walk from College of Continuing Education’s Educational Cultural Complex — hosted two, one-week STEM camps for 80 elementary school students who spent nearly eight hours daily exploring everything from the science of corn tortillas to volcanic eruptions without grades or pressure.
“We try to make science approachable, friendly, and fun, and getting the kids to want
to learn,” Vasquez said.
Every seat in the bustling community room is filled. Older students, graduates of
earlier CREATE outreach, serve as tutors, offering support and celebrating each child’s
accomplishments. Vasquez recently got word that a former participant and tutor had
been accepted to Princeton University.
“These kids have been doing science and math all their life, they just didn’t know
it was science and math,” Vasquez said. “So, we show them, and suddenly they’re not
intimidated anymore.”
Said Susan Yonezawa, executive director at CREATE: “Dr. Vasquez is an innovative and passionate leader in the UC San Diego STEM Education space who has single-handedly transformed UC San Diego CREATE’s footprint in K-12 STEM student- and community-facing education by crafting new inclusive programming for students in the southeastern San Diego community and, notably, blending the learning of scientific and engineering concepts with the uplifting of inclusive, indigenous, and cultural histories of those he aims to serve.”
Take the tortilla. A favorite lesson details how the corn tortilla was millennia in the making. It evolved from teosinte, a wild grass native to southern Mexico, where farmers some 9,000 years ago began selectively breeding for higher yields, eventually creating the modern maize in the production of today’s corn tortillas.
“Ultimately they’re modifying the genetics for a preferred characteristic,” Vasquez explained. “Happened with dog breeds; happens with a lot of different things.”
"There’s a need to address the disparities that exist in the STEM workforce. When I step into a room with kids, one of the first things I ask is, ‘What do you think my profession is?’ And I’ve heard it all. I’ve heard taquero, construction worker, mechanic, you name it. They don’t see that people who look like me can be anything else. And so, one of the things we do here when we start off is ask the kids to draw a scientist, to kind of get a sense of what they’re thinking. And we look at whether they’re drawing men or whether they’re drawing women, we’re looking at what kind of skin tones they’re using, we’re looking at all those things. Over time, those drawings begin to change. Now the scientists they draw look like them."
Alberto “Beto” Vasquez
Having an Impact
It’s hard to have a conversation with Vasquez and not come away impressed.
“I truly believe that Beto’s superpower is his ability to connect with people, regardless
of circumstance, and to motivate them to achieve their goals,” said Denise Whisenhunt,
a respected educator and longtime mentor now serving as president of Fresno City College,
who met Vasquez when she was working as dean of Student Affairs at San Diego City
College. “I have seen countless examples of where he brought people from the streets
to campus who have been previously incarcerated or have faced some other hardship
and supported them in their academic pursuits. He is a natural born leader, and students,
regardless of where they have come from, respect him.”
A nephew, Xavier Vasquez, 32, is one of many inspired by Beto’s support.
“I had no plans on going back to school,” he said. “I was a single father just trying
to raise my boys. While working for CREATE, I was with so many people younger than
me and older than me who were going to college. Beto encouraged me to enroll at College
of Continuing Education, where I earned a few certifications, and then I started at
City in the fall of 2023 and graduated in May with an associate degree for transfer
in business administration. I’ll be at San Diego State starting this fall.
“He’s doing life-changing work. He’s bringing science and STEM to low-income communities.
He’s showing our youth what is possible.”
Beto added of his work: “Education is open to anyone who wants to be served. As educators,
we don’t turn anyone away. No matter where you’re coming from, everyone can agree
we need to prepare our American workforce to be innovative if we are to continue to
be leaders globally and continue to thrive as a nation. We need to prepare our young
people to think bigger, to be aware of what kind of professions are out there.”
