Unlocking Potential Through Honest Conversations: The Coach-Student Relationship
by Making Waves Education Foundation
Voices of Making Waves: Meet Jacqueline Salguera and Ashley Allston
College coaching is a cornerstone of Making Waves’ college and career success program, which supports underrepresented students throughout their college journey with academic, career, financial, community, and wellness resources.
From navigating the first week of college to negotiating a first job offer, conversations between students and coaches cover many topics. A coach becomes a student’s trusted advocate, their cheerleader, the person they turn to for both wins and failures, and a person they trust to help plan their future.
The following is an edited Q&A between UC Berkeley graduate, Jacqueline Salguera (she/her), and her Making Waves college coach, Ashley Allston (she/her), from a recent Making Waves event. Jacqueline shared some of the hurdles she faced attending college as a first-generation college student from a low-income background – and highlighted the strong bond with her college coach.
Since the event, Jacqueline started the Short Term Educational Experience for Research, or STEER program, with the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at UC Berkeley.
Jackie: My name is Jackie Salguera. I’m a senior at UC Berkeley studying public health. I grew up in San Pablo, Richmond and I attended DeAnza High School. And I’m here representing Wave-Makers.
Ashley: Jackie will be graduating this December with a degree in public health. Part of the reason why I love coaching her is she goes to my alma mater, Cal.
But not only that, we’ve been able to connect on a different level and have these organic conversations. Jackie is one of our Making Waves scholarship recipients from the Bay Area. Jackie, how did you find out about our scholarship and what made you apply?
Jackie: I come from a first-generation, low-income background and my parents are Nicaraguan refugees. Luckily, I went to DeAnza High School and had supportive college counselors. Both are Latina, so I saw myself in higher education through representation.
They motivated me to apply for a scholarship. Since the Making Waves scholarship is aimed at students from low-income backgrounds, I knew it was for students like me. I wanted to apply, and I knew I could, so my college counselors really helped me.
Ashley: What is your favorite part of the scholarship? And what’s the difference between the Making Waves program and other programs?
Jackie: One thing that I like is that the scholarship is renewable, so all four years, I received support. Most of my other scholarships are one time and offer no additional support other than financial.
Making Waves also provided me with a college coach. I didn’t receive a coach from anywhere else. I had Ms. Flea Tripp as a coach and now I have Coach Ashley. It’s nice to have experienced different coaches as I know I can still call Ms. Tripp if I need to.
Ashley: Each Making Waves student meets with their coach one to two times a month. As time creeps closer to graduation, there’s always more I want to check in about. We met in early October and talked about connecting you with our Making Waves early career department.
Jackie, you said you were starting to apply for jobs. Can you share more about our conversation?
Jackie: I asked Miss Ashley, ‘What can I expect? What salary should I expect as a recent college grad, because I genuinely don’t know.’
My parents didn’t go to college, so I couldn’t ask my parents. I was asking for guidance around what to expect with my degree, in this economy.
Ms. Ashley was open with me about her salary post-graduation. It was helpful and informative, because salary is a topic most people don’t like to talk about, but I feel like it’s necessary, especially living in the Bay Area. So, I really appreciate you being open and honest.
Ashley: I had a similar experience. I could not ask my mom. After I graduated from Cal, I moved back home because I did not have a program like Making Waves. I was applying for jobs, and I didn’t have anybody to share job opportunities with me.
It was 2013 and I worked at a middle school making $12 an hour. Less than a year later, I landed a job at a college access nonprofit making $20 an hour but working full time. Within the next year I became a director, and my first salary was $62,000. Now, I make almost double that.
I realized, ‘Oh my god, nobody ever talks about what they make. Why are we hiding this? That’s no way to help students really attain wealth.’
I connected Jackie with Paola and Kaitlyn, who work on our early career and alumni team at Making Waves. They are so helpful as they’ll look at your offer and tell you if it’s not at market price. Jackie was like, ‘Oh my god, they do that?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, they’ll tell you if you should ask for more. Also, you don’t know this, but every single year, you should be getting a raise.’ She was like, ‘Really?’
I had that conversation with Jackie, and I continue to have them as I wish somebody else would have told me.
What is the one thing you’re going to take away from being a part of the Making Waves program?
Jackie: Giving back. I would love to give back to my high school and encourage those seniors to apply to this program, so that they can know what’s available to them, and that there is support out there.
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This Voices of Making Waves storytelling series spotlights the voices and journeys of the students and alumni in our Making Waves Education Foundation and Making Waves Academy communities.
ABOUT MAKING WAVES Education FOUNDATION
At Making Waves, we are committed to educational equity. Making Waves Education Foundation is a Bay Area nonprofit that supports Making Waves Academy – a public charter school with more than 1,100 5th through 12th grade students – and leads college and career programming with more than 430 college students.
Knowing the opportunities that come with a college degree, we partner with historically underrepresented and underserved students to help make college affordable and graduation attainable. Centering the journeys of our students, our personalized approach includes college and career coaching, scholarships, and financial planning.
Our alumni network includes more than 730 college graduates, who earn their degrees and land jobs at more than twice the rate of their first-generation, low-income peers, with 85% graduating debt-free.
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