Spring — 2005

Hooman Tavakoly

Science / Scholars Program

“SMC is a hard, hard school. So I think that the people who study here are going to have a real advantage in whatever they do in the future.”

“I’ve had some amazing teachers in science at SMC, and Dr. Arnold was one of them,” says Hooman Tavakoly, in his third year at SMC. “He’s actually the department chair, and he nominated me for an internship. And then I had Dr. Muriel Walker-Waugh for Chemistry 10, and she’s a great, great teacher too. And the material we cover in our classes here is stuff that students at other colleges don’t cover at all.”

Hooman has applied for transfer to UCLA. “But I really hope I’ll get accepted by UC Berkeley. And then I’ll go on to medical school and become a doctor. A brain surgeon, actually.” If a career in medicine has been shaping up nicely for Hooman at SMC, that certainly wasn’t possible in his native land. “I’m from Iran, and my religion is B’hai, and they exclude our religion, so I couldn’t go to school. They were telling me, ‘What do you mean about going to school? You’re living here illegally!’ I feel close with the Iranian people,” says Hooman sadly. “But from the government of the country, I got nothing. So I feel nothing for them.”

But Hooman reports that the dreams he had back home to one day practice medicine are encouraged by his SMC experiences on all levels. “The Scholars Program was really helpful for me because you get to be involved with a lot of very dedicated students. Plus, we have good counselors there who can point you in the right direction in terms of classes you need to take. And,” he continues, “it’s a very international program as well.” But it’s the sciences at SMC that Hooman keeps coming back to. “Look at that building and the facilities we have,” he says proudly. “And our teachers? They’re as good as it gets.”

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