Shannon Yoshikawa

Student

“Teachers didn’t know how to deal with me, and that was frustrating. I was never supposed to make it past high school.”

SMC to UCLA to enroll in Pre-Med and eventually become a physician. Volunteering for AmeriCorps—the domestic version of the Peace Corps—so she’ll be of help in inner city schools. Shannon Yoshikawa should have a T-shirt with ‘Success!’ written all over it. But if she did, she’d doubtless want to order some for a whole team of people.

“I was diagnosed with dyslexia, at UCLA, about 20 years ago. It simply slows down my reading, spelling, and mathematical processes,” says Shannon, who “fell into” Women’s Studies at SMC. “But I’m getting my Bachelor’s at UCLA this June and for that, I owe a lot of people who were involved in my education: my father, my uncle, my husband, my doctor, and the Center for Students with Disabilities at SMC. All of them were on my side, helping me to succeed.” When last seen, Shannon was breezing through the Center to pick up a letter of recommendation that she hopes will bolster her approach to becoming an internist for women.

“I’ve applied to AmeriCorps because I’d like to work somewhere like the Venice Family Clinic, so I’ll know what to expect when I become a doctor. I want to see more strong women doctors,” says Shannon, “because they’re much more able to understand women’s needs and problems. My own doctor is an assistant professor at UCLA’s School of Medicine, and she’s volunteered to tutor me,” says Shannon. On her way to realizing her dream, Shannon says that she’ll “always keep up my contacts and friendships with SMC. It’s a place where so much of what I’m doing now really began.”

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