Andrea Ignacio: School of Education Peer Advisor

Andrea Ignacio one of three Peer Academic Advisors in UCI's School of Education Student Affairs Office. Peer Advisors across the UCI campus provide undergraduates with information about campus policies, procedures, and resources and offer advice on registration, course selection, and scheduling. They also serve as ambassadors for the campus, helping to build community among both current and future students at events like the New Student Convocation and Celebrate UCI.

Ignacio is a junior majoring in Education Sciences with specializations in English Language Learning and Children's Learning & Development. In addition to serving as a School of Education Peer Advisor, Ignacio is an English facilitator for the English Conversation Program, a University Studies discussion leader, and an undergraduate research assistant under the Human Abilities in Bilingual Language Acquisition (HABLA) Lab.

Below, she shares her thoughts about her educational journey.

November 2019

As a child, I remember being told by teachers that no matter what career path I decided to do, I will be successful. That the world is full of many possibilities and I have many choices to choose from. Coming into UCI I did not know what to expect. I was attracted to UCI due to the fact that it is a research university and the major in Education Sciences provides a new look into Education where it isn’t targeted to simply teaching but an exploration to other options. 

When I started at UCI, I came in with the mindset that I will find what career path I want to do within my first year. When I first started here, I worked with international students under the English Conversation Program and felt thrilled that I was making use of my time to give aid to other students who deal with this language barrier. Then I taught karate to kids with Autism and Down Syndrome at Karate For All, which is a Martial Arts program that took place in Tustin. I felt that maybe speech therapy is something I would like to pursue since I oftentimes shadowed a Speech Therapist and saw the impact they had on the child. I felt that maybe working with Special Education was my career path since I also was learning more about Special Education through a course. 

By my second year I was able to work with first and second graders through Dr. Farkas’s class in “Theory and Practice of Reading Interventions for Students At-Risk for Reading Failure” and felt this interest for being an elementary school teacher or a bilingual teacher. I felt enthusiastic that it wasn’t just I who cared for children who are at risk at failing; there were other students who wanted to help and genuinely cared about the students progress.

Now I am a Peer Academic Advisor at the School of Education and my interest for counseling has only grown more. So many students have questions.  There are some who just want to talk if they feel a little lost so being that person who can give them the answer or at least guide them to the right idea is incredible. My goal is to ultimately get comfortable with the space I have and feel that I can make a difference in a student’s academic life so they are not struggling.  I want to be that resource for students and let them know that I am here to help.

I want to give back as much as possible to my community in different ways and hope that everyone can feel cared for and therefore feel that they have the potential to do anything they set their mind to. I do not know what my future holds for me in terms of education, but I do hope it only brings me closer to finding my career path.