Chabot Spectator

Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: In Focus

Media Credit: Jack Barnwell Ernesto pauses in the halls of the counselors office

A tall, well-dressed man strides across the parking lot and into the counseling offices of Building 100. His goal is to get students involved in themselves and the importance of a higher education. His name is Ernesto Victoria; he has been a full-time counselor since 2000 but began his work here in 1992. The official position he was hired for was general counseling and crisis intervention, which he's been working in his whole life.

A graduate from Houston University, Victoria earned his master's degree in clinical social work and has worked a host of odd jobs in the social work industry. For a time he was an eligibility specialist for the Army, where he worked with low income families, and helping them through the paperwork aspect of things. When asked about what got him into his career he said, that in seeing the need for bilingual interpreters he began to realize the advocacy involved in it.

Part of what makes Victoria such a contributor to Chabot's counseling department is his understanding that each person who comes in to visit him is an individual and how important it was to have someone to really represent those in need.

Now, coming into his 15th year of being a counselor at Chabot, he's seen a lot. Asked about his experience in what holds students back from their graduating or transferring goals he replied, "There's definitely something to be said for writing it down."

Victoria could not stress enough the importance of having a goal, setting up a plan for your years spent here and adhere to that plan. Keeping your own successes in the forefront of your mind is imperative to succeeding in college he emphasized.


But one of the leading causes for a student's downfall often times is his or her newly found independence. Too often new students fresh out of high school see the ability to strike out on their own and leave behind their responsibilities, which they regret, later in their academic careers.

Mr. Victoria cannot stress enough how important it is to find that balance between work, school and a student's social life.

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