MJC & Student Team UP to Go From GED to Mechanical Engineer

I received my GED then enrolled in MJC for remedial work to earn enough credits so I could transfer to a four-year institution. That was a challenge starting from Pre-Algebra until I completed differential equations. I want to thank all of my professors, especially Daniel Alcantra, Darrell Top, Ken Miedl and Gretchen Webb for their encouragement and advice. Thanks to Lucy Casale for believing in me and helping me through the MESA program. I was fortunate that they still had it while I was attending MJC.

I transferred to San Jose State and majored in Mechanical Engineering and minored in Physics. I stayed in the Bay Area where I worked on real cutting edge technology projects, mostly in the thin film sector. My jobs have been related in the fields of memory storage and Solar Cells.

I take great pride in my accomplishments since I’m the first in my family to go to college and coming from a family that wasn’t academically oriented, this was a challenge in itself. Once again, thank you so much MJC. Together with your Science and Math departments, WE achieved!

- Teodoro Gallardo, Class of 1999