Alumni in Action: Georgina Cendejas
Georgina Cendejas is proud to not only be a CCA alumna, but to have two current and eventually three generations of the Cendejas family represented at CCA. Georgina reflects on her experience at CCA.
Video by Dept. of Strategic Communications
Georgina Cendejas had a knack for studying Criminal Justice—that’s what her advisers told her when she second-guessed herself while in college.
“I remember in my first semester, you had to take all these levels of ESL classes and math, and I remember at times thinking, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this,’” Cendejas said.
Her advisors were right. Cendejas graduated from the Community College of Aurora (CCA) in 2016 with honors and a 4.0 GPA. When she started, she wasn’t even sure what she wanted to study. But Criminal Justice, it turned out, would become her passion.
“I took an Introduction to Criminal Justice, and I fell in love with that class.”
Cendejas shares a sentiment about her time at CCA with many others who enroll in the school. She says the support she found there made her feel “seen.”
“Due to the support I received from everyone—from my academic advisor, my teachers, and everybody that I interacted with—I was just like, ‘you can do this,’” she said.
Now, she’s passing that support on to other students at the school, working as an Academic Advisor.
She says she keeps in touch with her own advisor from more than a decade ago, and now she hopes to help others find their own passion the way she did.
“I want to be that for my students—that motivation, that person who believes in them the way CCA believed in me. I think it is a very rewarding thing.”
Despite going on to Metro State and CU Denver and earning two master’s degrees, Cendejas has always considered CCA her home. She even made CCA her study space. She says she was comforted by doing her homework in the library and spending time on campus.
Attending CCA is a family affair. Her mother, a teacher in Mexico, and her sister both attend CCA to further their education, and now she is encouraging her niece to enroll as well.
“I want her to go here. I want her to have the same experiences I had as a student, because CCA helped me become who I am today. I know they’ll help my niece get where she needs to be in the future.”
And that sentiment goes for all prospective students. She offers this advice to anyone wondering where they should begin their educational journey: “This is an institution where your dreams can happen. I think they have an incredible passion and mission for students, and this is an institution that will help you achieve your goals.”