Tatiana Juarez ✧ ’20 B.S. Health Science
By Pamela Dean
As CSUCI’s STEM Transfer Outreach Coordinator, Tatiana Juarez enjoys connecting with
K-12 and community college students across Ventura County. She strives to inspire
them to attend the University and hopefully major in a field related to science, technology,
engineering, or math (STEM).
“I love talking with students in our communities and promoting higher education,”
said Juarez, who graduated from CSUCI in 2020 with a Health Science degree. “I especially
want to show first-generation, Latinx students that going to college and working in
STEM is possible. I try to make it exciting rather than daunting.”
In addition to making presentations at schools, Juarez also helps her department –
Student Academic Success and Equity Initiatives – organize science-related events
and family activities, like CSUCI’s annual STEAM Carnival, which offers hands-on activities
that demonstrate how science and the arts can be fun.
A significant number of the students Juarez meets have parents who did not attend
college and often lack guidance on how to pursue a degree. She likes to share her
own life experience as a way to inspire and show them what is possible.
Juarez grew up in Oxnard and graduated from St. Bonaventure High School. Her parents,
who are Mexican immigrants, strongly encouraged their children to attend college.
“My parents always had a vision that we all would go to college, and encouraged and
supported us,” Juarez said. “Both my older sister and I graduated from CSUCI. I love
sharing my experience and showing students what they are capable of. I hope they see
that the time and money they invest in attending college is worth it.”
In addition to her full-time job at CSUCI, Juarez is an aspiring actor. In 2024, she
appeared in the film “Jenni” about Jenni Rivera, a Mexican-American music icon who
died in a 2012 plane crash. Juarez played the 12- to 16-year-old version of Rivera.
“Jenni” is available on the bilingual streaming service ViX.
Juarez enjoys the mix of acting and working in higher education. “I love working with
students and their families,” she said. “And I love acting as well. I’m looking for
the perfect mix of both.”