![]() “This latest investment in our students by Marathon Petroleum will provide our current and future students with technical training opportunities for years to come,” said Susan Lamb, President of Diablo Valley College. The school calls it a “game-changer” for students. In continuing its support of area workforce development programs in the Bay Area of California, employees from Marathon Petroleum’s Martinez Renewable Fuels facility recently made a $100,000 investment in the Advanced Manufacturing/Engineering Technology program at Diablo Valley College (DVC) with the purchase of a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine.Ĭonsidered the future standard in the manufacturing industry, the CNC machine will allow students at DVC to run an advanced 5-axis computer numerical control program, which drills and cuts metal for a variety of parts. Marathon Petroleum donates CNC machine to California’s Diablo Valley College.Their recent video received an honorable mention from the American Kinesiology Association (AKA) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Student Award. “ works diligently and with passion to complete tasks, is thoughtful to consider all aspects of the movements and the physical abilities of the participants each week before recording, but also incorporates fun that is infectious!” said Jennifer Sherwood, assistant professor of kinesiology and one of the LLAMA Project advisors. “There are so many people suffering from aches and pains and things like a simple movement that can make a difference really excites me! It’s a good way to give back,” Ferrao said.Īnd she’s getting practice in paying it forward by leading a student group that creates videos with adaptive exercise and dance for participants through the LLAMA Project, or Life-Long Activity and Movement for Aphasia. She went on to say that she hopes to use kinesiology to become a physical therapist to help people feel better and become more independent. “This really solidified the direction that I wanted to go and that I made the right choice for my future.” “All my professors are supportive and inspiring,” Ferrao said. Her change to kinesiology proved to be a good move. I found a lot of support here and got the accommodations I needed from Accessibility Services ,” said Ferrao. Carving out a futureįerrao transferred from Laney College to Cal State East Bay in Spring 2021 to continue her education. That’s when she decided to change her major to kinesiology, especially since many of the classes overlapped with the nursing courses she already took. She wanted to continue to pursue a professional career in healthcare but one with consistent hours. Plus, I knew I wanted a 9-5-type job, which nursing wasn’t going to provide,” said Ferrao. “I loved working at Whole Foods, but I wanted more. But when the pandemic hit - and she had time to really think about what path she wanted to take - she realized that it wasn’t a good fit for her. Embarking on a new pathĪfter 15 years at Whole Foods, Ferrao knew that she wanted a career that was more in line with her passions and obtaining her degree was a way to get there.īased on her longstanding interest in healthcare, she initially thought she wanted to go into nursing and took many of the prerequisites at Laney for the program. ![]() “I had a hard time learning, but I now had the tricks and tools to thrive in school,” Ferrao said. My wife saw that I was struggling and encouraged me to get a learning assessment and that’s where I found I had accessibility needs,” said Ferrao.Īrmed with this knowledge and at a more mature stage in her life at Laney, she felt empowered. ![]() “I was working at Whole Foods at the time and taking classes at Laney College in Oakland. She was interested in healthcare but this path didn’t come into focus until she met her now wife, a learning disabilities specialist. But I didn’t really know what I wanted and sort of goofed around,” said Ferrao. “I took some classes here and there at Diablo Valley College while I worked. A long and winding roadįerrao, a longtime Bay Area resident, didn’t always know what she wanted to do after graduating from high school in Martinez, California. It’s hard to believe that Ferrao ever felt this way because this May she will be walking across the stage at commencement and earning a degree in kinesiology. I was so negative about it,” said Tara Ferrao when reflecting back on her earlier academic experiences. “Growing up, I was the student that said that school just isn’t for me. ![]()
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