Alejandra Esquivel-Casillas was 14 and in an AVID class at a new middle school in San Bernardino when she first heard the words "Upward Bound." A Cal State San Bernardino program coordinator had stopped by to explain what the program was — and what it could do.
Normally, Alejandra wouldn't have asked questions. But something made her stay behind.
"I ended up telling my parents about it, and I applied," she said.
That decision changed everything. Upward Bound — one of CSUSB's pre-college programs — connected Alejandra to resources, mentors and a path she never knew existed. She was the first in her family to go to college, one of the thousands of first-gen students who begin their college journey at Cal State San Bernardino. In 2020 she graduated with a degree in sociology.
Today she works as the office manager for CSUSB's California Student Opportunity and Access Program, reporting to Summer Steele, the same program coordinator who walked into her AVID class that day. (Steele is now the interim assistant vice president for admissions, recruitment and pre-college programs.)
Cal State San Bernardino's pre-college programs now serve more than 10,000 students from16 school districts across the Inland Empire — and some of the students those programs reached years ago have come back as the professionals running them.
For Alejandra, the work is personal. "The greatest benefit as an administrator is being able to support students in every way possible," she said. "We have programs that help low-income students, migrant students, unhoused students, adults, middle- and high-school students."
In 2025, she earned a master's degree in public administration — still at CSUSB, still growing and still helping others grow.
Some stories don't end at graduation. They just get better.
*Cal State San Bernardino is a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) where first-generation college students find the mentorship, support and community to earn their degrees — and build careers that give back.