“My favorite moment was a student I worked hard with,” Sisson said. “I don’t know why they thought they wouldn’t get into college. They left me a handwritten note that said, ‘I got accepted into college.’”
By Lucas de Paula,
Opinion Editor
As the chatter and gossip fill the lunchtime spring air, students inside the College and Career Center eagerly take notes. With attentive eyes on the college representative delivering his presentation, hands shoot in the air inquisitively. Colorful slides flash on the projector, depicting information on university statistics and images of attractive campuses.
College visits are only one of the services College and Career Center Technician Amy Sisson provides. Originally from Arizona, Sisson attended PCC, majoring in business and later in travel agency management. Presently in her 12th year working at Temple City, she is the sole C&CC Technician.
The basis of her work at school starts with providing resources for students. The wide breadth of tasks includes bringing in career speakers and college representatives, sourcing scholarship opportunities, jobs and summer opportunities, processing work permits, helping students with financial aid, providing SAT/ACT materials and more.
“I think the first couple of years, you feel like you’re drowning,” Sisson said. “You do have to be ready to move back and forth and switch lanes quickly. It helps me serve kids knowing I won’t get bored doing one thing. Everything changes almost every year; so it keeps it fresh, but it does make your mind go numb sometimes.”
With so many students to help and not enough hours in the day, time management becomes a critical issue. Although it’s a rush sometimes, Sisson recommends students to pop in and utilize a severely underused campus resource.
“The goal is to have kids leave this institution with more knowledge,” Sisson said. “Maybe knowledge they didn’t realize they would use, because I didn’t have that as a high school student. So my goal is to give kids what I didn’t experience.”
Her current projects include working on a revamped essay workshop for current juniors. Called OhMyEssay, this resource will be streamlined compared to previous years. Taking place in late May, it will aid juniors in brainstorming and writing essays for both the UC and Common App systems.
Overall, Sisson hopes to reach more high schoolers every school year. Whether helping one-on-one or setting up informational workshops for students, imparting practical knowledge and seeing it used for students’ success is her goal.
“Success and your future is what you make of it,” Sisson said. “It’s not always going to be the path you think you are meant to travel. Everyone has a vision of what they think their path will look like after high school, and that’s great. It’s probably not going to work out that way, and that’s the beautiful part of life. If you miss the turn on the freeway and end up taking some small, quaint road, you experience life in a way you didn’t expect to.”