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第二十二届院长奖——教育：何塞·瓦斯奎兹的母亲对他很有信心，他也回报了母亲的信任
2022年5月10日
Josue Vasquez’s mom was not happy.
她几乎用她所有的退税给他买了一台电脑、显示器和打印机，而瓦斯奎兹却只用它来玩电子游戏。
“One day she tells me with tears in her eyes, ‘You know, I didn't buy this so you could just play video games. I thought you were going to use it for school,’ ” Vasquez said. “I told her, ‘I promise you, I'm going to do something with this. 我的职业将涉及计算机。’ ”
它有。 瓦斯奎兹在IT行业工作了20多年，最近的工作是在奥克斯纳德联合学区（Oxnard Unified School District）为学生和家长提供计算机培训，他们中的许多人的代表人数不足，技术素养有限。
He also is a 萨克拉门托 State student graduating in May with his bachelor’s degree in Career and Technical Studies. For his academic excellence and his commitment to his community, he is the recipient of the 2022 Dean’s Award for the College of Education.
瓦斯奎兹出生并成长在圣费尔南多谷，他的母亲是萨尔瓦多移民，父亲是墨西哥移民。 Vasquez said being a first-generation American growing up in rough neighborhoods was difficult, but “for myself, I always wanted more.”
“In high school, I struggled a bit trying to figure out what I wanted to do, but I knew that I didn't want the rest of my life to be how it had been up to that point,” he said.
Shortly after his mom chastised him for playing video games, he bought a video card for his computer – which broke the machine as soon as he installed it. 他去图书馆学习如何修理它，这是他第一次涉足it世界。
Vasquez’s first tech job was at Fry’s Electronics, and he also worked at Comp美国 and Best Buy. 他曾经有过自己的科技公司。 He enrolled in junior college after high school but didn’t stick with it.
“(Josue Vasquez) represents some of the best aspects of our diverse and dedicated undergraduate student body.” -教育学院院长Alexander "Sasha" Sidorkin
到2014年，他在奥克斯纳德学区担任个人电脑和网络技术人员，并越来越多地与学生打交道。 老师们鼓励他回到学校，拿到学位，这样他就可以和更多的人分享他的IT知识。
He earned his associate’s degree from Oxnard College in 2019, then enrolled in 囊状态’s fully online Bachelor’s of Science in Career and Technical Studies (BSCTS) program, run jointly by the College of Education and the College of Continuing Education and designed for working adults.
囊状态 gave Vasquez a “huge confidence boost.” 他欣赏那些鼓励学生跳出思维定式的老师，包括那些鼓励学生采用独特方法完成作业的老师。 首先，瓦斯奎兹在一个绿色的屏幕前录下了自己，就好像他是一名电视新闻记者一样完成了作业，并获得了他说在他的教学生涯中会派上用场的视频技能。
“If you're motivated and you’ve got a teacher like that who is putting this new thought process in your head, approaching things differently, you're going to learn more than what you bargained for,” he said.
瓦斯奎兹现在在奥克斯纳德学院担任计算机信息科学讲师，同时也是Zynga的IT专家。Zynga是一家总部位于旧金山的游戏公司，以《Farmville》和《Words with Friends》等游戏而闻名。 He also is considering pursuing a master’s degree.
In nominating Vasquez for the Dean’s Award, College of Education Dean Alexander “Sasha” Sidorkin noted Vasquez’s drive to support technology in high school classrooms after noticing only affluent, white students were taking advantage of advanced computer courses.
“From this experience, Mr. Vasquez became passionate about supporting underserved children who have very little resources, like he was growing up, to gain basic computational skills which will prepare them for more advanced skills and their future careers,” Sidorkin said. “(He) represents some of the best aspects of our diverse and dedicated undergraduate student body.”
When Vasquez formally receives the Dean’s Award at Commencement in May, his wife, kids, and yes, his mom, will be there watching.
“I really do credit my time at 囊状态 and just getting this program done,” he said. “It really opened up many doors, so I'm very grateful.”
2022年院长奖
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