Isabella Caldejon

“A promise I made to myself is that I’m going to build the life that I dreamed of no matter what it takes.”

Seattle Promise Alumna
Associate in Business and Facebook Digital Marketing Certificate graduate, Seattle Central College
Cleveland High School graduate

ABOUT ISABELLA

Utilizing Seattle Promise took a weight off Isabella Caldejon’s shoulders. Like many first-generation students, pursuing college and funding it was a goal that came with many uncertainties. Thanks to Seattle Promise’s advising and support, she was given the blueprint she didn’t already have for a successful college life, and she took full advantage of the opportunity.

The way Isabella received her associate degree is not the traditional route through college. She began her coursework at Seattle Central College during high school using Washington State’s Running Start program, and once she graduated, Seattle Promise took her existing college credits and ushered her to the finish line for an associate degree in just a few more quarters. Her elective coursework also perfectly overlapped to receive her Facebook Digital Marketing Certificate as an added bonus.

Along with ardent praise to Seattle Promise for reducing barriers to college entry, Caldejon is also grateful for the strong general education at Seattle Central College. One of her favorite parts about college was learning how subjects like history and business intersect with one another to give a fuller picture of society and how to work with others well—an invaluable skill in her current line of work. Since earning her degree, Isabella has worked in a variety of settings from planning events with Gian Events to coordinating art exhibits at places like the Wing Luke Museum.

IN THEIR WORDS

On uncertainty before Seattle Promise:

“When I was a junior in high school, it was the pandemic. So I’m at home and that was the peak of transitioning everything to hybrid or virtual. It feels like I graduated my junior year because I never ended up going back to my high school. I just finished and dove deep into what Seattle Central had to offer. This is when people were posting online so much more and the age of social media changed whereas it was more focused on education. I was literally diving into everything that I was interested in because part of me was scared like, ‘I don’t know anything about the workforce. I don’t know anything about what corporate life was like.’ I never grew up around people that worked in those spaces.

On what Seattle Promise means to them:

“My family had my sister and I when they were young and we’re twins. There was a lot of learning curves and growing up with split families. You don’t necessarily have the same foundation or structure as a typical two-parent household. A lot of the responsibility for my future was kind of in my own hands. Of course I had support from my parents and my family, but not to the capacity everyone had. So being aware of what debt was really young, it’s super intimidating.

“Seattle Promise is a great resource and opportunity. It’s a great place to get the support that you don’t know that you need at the time. Having my tuition covered was super helpful. It kind of just takes a huge weight off your shoulder, especially [since] a lot of the people in my communities help take care of their families and especially me because I had younger siblings and I’m the oldest. I felt like it gave me that extra confidence and reassurance that I could build a future moving forward that I can support myself and my family with.”

On the community Seattle Promise fosters:

“The community aspect of being a part of the Seattle Promise program is that you see so many other young, ambitious people coming from the same community or really similar environments going after their dreams and taking a bet on themselves. A lot of the people that was in my class I went to middle school with. I was like, ‘Whoa, we’re all in high school now, we’re taking college classes and it’s so fun to see how everyone’s developed.’

“It also was like another adventure that I took because I did it with my friends. That’s a fun way to jump into the next chapter of your life that is so pivotal and foundational for your adulthood. Just for me personally, I got to build and create my life and create my own guardrails through that.”

On what she enjoyed most about college:

“How challenging it was and looking back now like, ‘Whoa, I actually did that.’ For me, I was taking the bus from high school to Central and in between that time I was reading all my research papers and staying up late. Looking back, I don’t know how I did that, but I’m glad I did. And seeing your grades – personally, I like getting good grades – so when you get a good grade you’re like, ‘Wow I feel good about myself and my work.’”