Cristina Aguirre was born in Ramona and moved to Fresno, CA at age six and is the 3rd eldest of seven siblings. As a child of immigrants and field workers, Cristina understood the importance of an education at an early age. She is the first one in her family to graduate high school and go to college. She is an alumna of the first cohort of the University of California San Diego’s (UCSD) TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) program, a program that provided the support for Cristina to stay in and graduate from UCSD. For the last 15 years, Cristina has been working in TRIO Upward Bound programs; 4 years at San Diego State University and 11 years at the University of San Diego. (Upward Bound works with low-income first generation to college students to prepare them to be admitted into and graduate from college just like BLCI.) Working with TRIO programs, Cristina found her passion in working with educational equity access programs.

As the first one in her family to graduate from college, she understood the need and importance of advocating for those students most underserved. She is an active member of and served a 2 term Presidency of the Western Association of Educational Opportunity Personnel (WESTOP). WESTOP is one of ten regional associations dedicated to furthering educational opportunities for low-income, first-generation and disabled students.

Favorite Quote: “Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?” – Cesar Chavez