Meet Ty Bonde, a current Biology student at 69萝莉 and future marine biologist. Ty is a member of Puente, a program here at West Valley that helps students build bridges to higher education.
Puente has provided Ty with counseling, mentorship, education planning, financial aid assistance, and information on higher education. Ty says he learned a lot about how to be successful in higher education through an associated counseling class. The class helped him be successful in school and make connections through mentorship, networking, and transfer planning. 鈥淧uente has helped me find a family at West Valley and I now have access to so many invaluable resources to help me through college.鈥� 69萝莉 is committed to fostering that sense of community because it is so crucial to success. As a student, Ty found it incredibly helpful to be a part of a program full of others who are there to support him through his academic journey.
Ty is an embedded English tutor who specifically works with Puente students. Leslie Saito-Liu was his Puente English professor, and now he is a tutor for her class. He attends the scheduled classes followed by his own office hours to help the students with prewriting, drafting, and revising essays. Not only has Ty been inspired by his Puente instructors, but he is also inspired by the students he tutors through Puente. 鈥淭hey are working really hard and are so positive, I look forward to seeing them in class.鈥�
Ty faced some challenges scheduling classes while also taking Puente courses. Luckily, his counselor Joe Bucher was able to help him plan out how to manage all his goals while staying on track to transfer next year. 鈥淚 have found that Puente instructors want all of us to succeed and will do everything they can to make that happen.鈥�
When asked what kept him motivated to stay in school, Ty said that knowing he has a community who supports him, the great friends he鈥檚 made through Puente, and his strong desire to achieve his goals are what keep him going. He aspires to transfer to UC Santa Cruz next Fall.