Two years ago, she found herself homeless, unemployed and plagued by alcohol and substance abuse. Today, Juanita Allison has earned three scholarships and pursued a paid internship.
She has become a member of the Center for Science Excellence and an inspiration to her fellow students in the biology department.
Allison has won almost $3,000 in scholarships from Women in Science, Rubicon and the Contra Costa College Foundation, but just a short time ago the picture was not so bright.
"I had fallen into bad habits and endured a couple of stints in jail. I realized I needed to get back on my feet so I got into a rehabilitation program and then found the Rubicon Program," Allison said. "It was a place to go and try to get some new ideas, starting with a week-long training on how to overcome my past."
Rubicon is a non-profit service that helps its clients with life challenges, housing and employment. Its Career Center staff encouraged Allison to enroll in an introductory level biotechnology class.
"I didn't know I'd be going to college," Allison said. "I figured I'd be learning how to clean glassware or learn packaging or equipment monitoring, something to get my feet wet."
Biological sciences professor Kate Levine said Rubicon wrote the grant proposal that funds the Introduction to Biotechnology class where she first met Allison.
"It's not about history, it's about what's happening now," Levine said. "Juanita was a very aggressive, motivated and determined student. Because of the high quality of her work, I told her she should think about applying to CSE."
Allison did join CSE and jumped into college life with both feet. By the spring semester of 2007, she was taking 20.5 units.
"Dr. Levine gave me the Women in Science Scholarship application and that was something that I could do, write about such a turning point in my life," Allison said. "I felt that I was qualified for it because of my ambition and I could use the (financial) help. Once I got that first packet together, then I saw that I could do it again."
Levine soon asked Allison to be her instructional assistant and although originally a volunteer position, she is now being financially compensated for her work through a Rubicon grant.
"It's absolutely appropriate. She has done a fabulous job," Levine said. "She helps individual students with experiments and tutors students in a really positive way. She is a great role model and a mentor."
As part of the CSE program, Allison was assigned a mentor of her own, part-time professor Nancy Thorn. Thorn was impressed by Allison's intellectual abilities and bright outlook.
"She really loves what she's doing and she's inspiring to other students," Dr. Thorn said. "She knows how to get herself organized, seek out new opportunities and network with professionals."
Thorn soon recommended her for an eight-week summer internship with Dr. Pierre Desprez at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.
"We worked so well together that he wants me to continue on and succeed," Allison said. "He's found it useful to have me in the lab and has invited me to work throughout the rest of my college years."
Along with her academic aspirations, Allison plays both softball and basketball for CCC.
"I want to offer the same inspiration that I have received to the students I tutor and my teammates," Allison said. "I point out on campus where the tutoring locations are and the scholarship office."
Allison would like to transfer on to UC Berkeley and eventually get her doctorate in biological sciences and continue with the cancer research she is doing now. She credits people at CCC for encouraging her on the journey.
"The staff here at CCC are kind and motivating. They've been really active at leading me through my education and getting involved in my life," Allison said. "They've carried me through this thing because I didn't realize that I could do it, but I believed them when they told me I could."
Contact Cyndy Patrick at cpatrick.advocate@gmail.com.
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