How did you learn about Ford PAS?
I learned about Ford PAS in my computer science class in high school. Mr. Medina, my teacher, introduced the program. We did Module 9. I didn’t know [the class] was actually Ford PAS. I took the class because I was interested in computer science, and it happened to be that [the teacher] introduced Ford PAS to us.

What was memorable about your Ford PAS class?
There is an activity using Excel. We had to learn to organize information, including using the ascend/descend feature. At first, we didn’t know how. Mr. Medina challenged us to do it. But what was interesting about the activity is that the spreadsheet wasn’t just a bunch of numbers to be sorted. It was based on real things. [The spreadsheet] had names, addresses, and medical data for each person that was listed. We organized the information according to medical data, as we needed to figure out who over 40 years of age had high blood pressure. [Because the information] was medically related, that made it more interesting for me.

What is college life like?
Well, right now, I am at the University of Texas–San Antonio. I am a junior, even though it’s my first year in college. [College life] is pretty interesting; the fact that I am taking advanced courses with older people helps me more with my study habits and everything. I am able to interact with people that already have experience, and that helps me get better . . . Right now, I am taking four courses: biology, chemistry, politics, and history. I am about to finish my core, and I’ve already started taking upper-level classes for my biology degree major.

How can you be a junior in your first year of college?
In high school, I took AP [classes in] chemistry, history, Spanish, and English. With the [combination] of AP, dual credit, and concurrent enrollment [classes] that I took at the University of Texas–Pan-American and South Texas College, I was able to make enough [credits] to be a junior my first year.

What’s most interesting about college?
I guess, in a way, it’s very, very different from high school. Even though I had already taken several college classes, it’s still not what I had expected. The fact that my biggest class has over 500 people and my smallest class over 200, it’s really overwhelming. You go there and the professor doesn’t even know you exist, to be honest. You go in there, and you are a little person in a huge stadium—excuse me—auditorium. So, you just have to go. It’s almost like you are watching a movie. You know, it’s very interesting how it’s such a huge class. So many people, but yet you matter—to you only and nobody else. Every day you go to class and you sit next to someone who is different. You never see the same faces.

With the classes I have right now, I have not been able to [interact with the professors]. There’s too many people. And it’s usually presentations that they give. We don’t have to do actual presentations right now, but it’s test after test after test. That’s what makes it difficult—the fact that you have three to four tests throughout the whole course, and that’s what your grade is based on. It’s tough sometimes. In high school, you usually had your teacher, not necessarily picking on you, but they take you aside and they ask about you. They just talk to you. You get to know the teacher. If you have a problem, of course, you go to them. But now, if you have a problem, it’s like you are on your own. You figure it out or you go to the tutoring center, which is different.

How are you applying the skills you learned in Ford PAS in college?
In my computer science class, we always had to go online and research things. That’s how it was. If you don’t understand something, go look it up. And that actually helped a lot. [My teacher] would actually send us to the Ford PAS Web site to see what we could find to help [us] with what [he had] given us. And now, if you don’t understand something, you can’t really go to the professor. They are all so busy. You have to look it up. So I usually “Google” online.

What advice would you give to a student currently taking Ford PAS?
Unfortunately, [my class] only got a chance to use one module. We only did Module 9. I would really encourage others to look beyond just that module. Even though that’s the only one that may be assigned in class, you have access to the Web site. Go and just look around and see what you can find. Ford PAS did help with just that one module. I can’t imagine what you’d find and learn with the others!

Return to Main Menu