MESA Newsletter Spring 2026

SOLANO MESA

News Letter

Solano Community College

SPRING 2026

January STEM CAREER FAIR The MESA Center kicks off the spring semester with their annual STEM Career Fair. With nearly 120 attendees, students were given the chance to explore different career, internship, and transfer opportunities with various industry partners.

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January

STEM CAREER FAIR CONT

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February SUMMA CONFERENCE MESA students Deseree, Dung, Maye, and Sahar attended the 35th annual SUMMA Conference at Stanford School of Medicine alongside Director Ariana Martinez and Administrative Assistant Eliza Aguilar.

These students had the opportunity to attend professional workshops and network among medical schools and organizations from around the country.

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February PROFESSIONAL HEADSHOT DAY The MESA Program teamed up with the SCC Cosmetology Program to bring Professional Headshot Day! Students had the opportunity to get professional photos taken to use towards resumes, LinkedIn profiles, portfolios, and more.

The Cosmetology students helped out with touch-ups prior to students taking their photos as well.

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February PROFESSIONAL HEADSHOT DAY MESA TUTOR HEADSHOTS

Maye

RJ

Jordan

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March HS COUNSELOR CONFERENCE MESA Students Steven and Kaitlin participated in a panel alongside other students to discuss their experience as students at Solano Community College with local high school counselors. They shared their experiences as MESA students and their involvement with on campus activities through the program.

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March SONOMA STATE INFO SESSION

Sonoma State University Pre-Admissions Counselor, Emily Uhrich, stopped by the MESA Center to talk to students about the newly reinstated SSU Physics program and what the different concentrations have to offer.

SCC STEM Club and the MESA Program banded together to bring exciting Pi Day festivities.

The day featured a pie smashing event where students Jordan, Steven, Nick, and Rogelio got “pied” with whipped cream. A Pi Digit Contest also took place, with the winner reaching 103 digits of pi!

STEM CLUB PI DAY 8

March MESA Students Javon, Jasmin, Nicole, Anh-Dao, Julie, Stacy, and Rubi were accompanied by MESA Director Ariana Martinez to San Jose State University for the Silicon Valley Women In Engineering Conference.

WOMEN IN ENGINEERING CONFERENCE

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April MESA STUDENT LEADERSHIP RETREAT

Sahar, Dung, and Ricardo were joined by MESA Counselor Amy Dauffenbach on the MESA Student Leadership Retreat in Santa Cruz. Students had the opportunity to connect and build community with students from other MESA programs throughout California on this exciting retreat.

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April MESA partnered with the SACNAS Chapter at UC Davis to bring to SCC the Café y Pan Dulce panel with UC Davis graduate students. Students gathered for an informal discussion with current STEM graduate students to discuss application processes, costs, and program structure of various graduate school pathways.

CAFÉ Y PAN DULCE

MESA TRANSFER CONFEREFENCE

The MESA Transfer Conference took place at Santa Rosa Junior College where students were given the opportunity to discuss with various universities, alumni, and other MESA programs about the transfer process, internships, and the transition from community college to four year institutions.

MESA Director Ariana Martinez was joined by Taryn, Jordan, Dung, and Sahar for this exciting experience.

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May STEM CLUB END OF SEMESTER CELEBRATION The SCC STEM Club hosted their end of semester celebration in the MESA Center. Students gathered to celebrate as finals week approaches and welcome the newly appointed STEM Club officers.

COOKIES & CRAM The MESA Program partnered with the SCC Pre-Med Club to present the semesterly Cookies & Cram event.

Students had the opportunity to study for their upcoming exams while enjoying some delicious treats.

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May MESA GRADUATION SPRING 2026 The MESA Program hosted their second annual graduation ceremony, celebrating 18 total graduates. Everyone joined together for a night of celebration between students, family, friends, and faculty.

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SOLANO MESA GRADUATES 14

Kaitlin Ahrens

Biomedical Sciences University of Central Florida

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Marylle Maye Bautista Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Design University of California, Davis

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Arvin Brar

Mechanical Engineering California State University, Sacramento

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Steven Cavalli

Mechanical Engineering University of California, Davis

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Angel Centina Chel

Computer Science California State University, Sacramento

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Taryn Coles

Global Disease Biology University of California, Davis

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Douglas Dunning Computer Science Sonoma State University

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Simon Lukban Mechanical Engineering University of California, Davis

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Khurt Marquinez Psychology University of California, Davis

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Isaac Milliken Mechanical Engineering San Diego State University

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Anh-Dao Phan Civil Engineering California State University, Sacramento

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Uen So (DeDe) Pharmaceutical Science University of California, Irvine

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Michael Sullivan Mechanical Engineering California State University, Sacramento

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Robert Tanimoto

Electrical Engineering & Computer Science University of California, Berkeley

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Sebastian Tiberos Cruz Aerospace Engineering San Jose State University

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Julie Tolentino

Chemistry University of California, Davis

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Brian Tran Computer Science San Jose State University

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Jordan Vasquez

Chemistry University of California, Davis

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