Student Speaker

GRADUATING STUDENT SPEAKER: Victoria Salazar

AA-T Psychology, AA-T Sociology, AA Liberal Arts - Social & Behavioral Science
CA IGETC General Education, CA CSU General Education

All You Need is Here

“‘No’ doesn’t always mean ‘no,’ ” according to Victoria Salazar. “Sometimes it means ‘maybe later.’”

SMC’s 2025 graduation speaker is referring to a rejection letter she received in 2017 from her dream school, UC San Diego. Looking back, she sees that rebuff simply as an invitation to try again. “Sometimes setbacks and detours are just the way you get where you need to be,” she says.

After graduating today, Victoria will transfer to — you guessed it — UC San Diego, where she’ll pursue her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Sociology. Her career goal is crystal clear: “I want to be a criminal investigative analyst for the LAPD, working with the nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.”

Victoria is passionate about children, calling them “the little stars in our society who need the most care and attention to shine.”

At 26, Victoria is a mother herself.

Her own childhood was difficult. Born in San Dimas, she grew up feeling abandoned by her incarcerated dad. Her struggling teenage mom sent the young Victoria to Santa Monica, where she was raised by her paternal grandparents, Francisca and Daniel.

Despite these hurdles, Victoria was a good student and a three-sport athlete at SaMo High. She tutored classmates in math and writing. She volunteered at Emerson Elementary. Graduating with a 3.8 GPA, she was crushed to be denied admission at UC San Diego.

Victoria enrolled in the nursing program at SMC. She completed two years of coursework before the pandemic derailed her education. She spent the next four years working many different jobs: boxing gym coach, Bloomingdale’s sales rep, professional makeup artist, applied behavior analysis tech.

In 2022, Victoria met and married Nathan Rodriguez, a fellow Corsair now studying computer science with a focus on cybersecurity. After giving birth to their daughter, Victoria resolved to finish her education. She returned to SMC, switching from nursing to psychology, and decided to give UC San Diego another try. This time she received the thick envelope.

Victoria’s message to fellow graduates: “All you need is here,” she says, palms pressed to her chest. “If you know who you are and know who you want to be, then truly, no one can tell you otherwise.

See other graduating student profiles in Grad Stories