Two years ago, De Anza College student, Pamela Jara-Arancibia, would have never guessed where she would end up as a student today.

Born in Chile, Jara-Arancibia and her family moved to the United States when she was seven. While in the Unites States, she and her family lived in the Bay Area and New Jersey before moving back to Chile during her freshmen year of high school.

Due to a seasonal difference between California and Chile, Jara-Arancibia returned to her home country half way through the Chilean school year. This setup her up for being academically behind, helping her to decide to return to California, which was now half way through the school year.

Back in the Bay Area, she found herself in the same situation forcing her to choose home schooling so she could try to catch up on her own. Home schooling made 

Jara-Arancibia develop an unmotivated attitude toward school.

“I was alone at home. And with the choice to read or watch TV – I chose TV,” said Jara-Arancibia.

After three years of being home schooled, Jara-Arancibia found herself taking classes at De Anza. A creative minds class with Sal Breiter changed her attitude toward school and education. The class influenced her to challenge herself and served as a “survival guide” for college and life.

“It was really eye-opening. It taught me to try and see different points of views in this world,” said Jara-Arancibia.

Breiter’s class motivated Jara-Arancibia to get involved. “It hit me that I needed to do something,” she said.

Jara-Arancibia never saw herself as a leader and didn’t think running for the Student Senate was an option for her when she was placed in lower division math and English classes at De Anza.

Currently, Jara-Arancibia is president of the Honors Club and serves as a De Anza Associated Student Body Senator.

As part of the Senate, she is on the Student Rights and Services committee, which aims to address the needs of students and help maintain service needed for students.

As part of the Honors Club, Jara-Arancibia is helping coordinate a transfer workshop with other clubs like ¡LEAD!, VSA, Red Cross, and IMASS.

The “Get Outta Here” transfer workshop will be on Monday Oct. 18 in Conference Rooms A and B from 1:30 p.m. until 3 p.m.