As a first-generation college student, Karla Alriche, is graduating Broward College with a degree in Material Science and Engineering. Alriche credits the support she received from her professors as one of her greatest resources.

“I know my teachers care about me and my success because they do not create communication barriers. They are supportive, responsive to communication outside of class hours, and are available to provide additional guidance during office hours,” she said.

Alriche, 30, was active in extracurriculars and served as the STEM Club secretary on North Campus. She also competed on the Brain Bowl team contributing mostly to the areas of culture, foreign language, geography, and religion, and was a member of the Math team and competed in the Math Olympics.

Her road to success came with some challenges coming from an immigrant family from Venezuela such as learning how to navigate resources in the U.S. and finding the right information.

In 2018, Alriche became the first person in her family to become a U.S. citizen and she started her own residential cleaning business in 2021 to help her mother and other family members find meaningful work after the COVID19 Pandemic impacted their jobs.

“Becoming self-reliant has always been important to me as well as helping my family,” she said.

As an adult learner, Alriche said the popular belief that learning as an adult is harder, simply isn’t true for her. She believes that her life experiences taught her to be diligent, which she applied to her college experience.

“Knowing that I have control over my learning has also built my confidence and has been a great motivator to me as I have needed to adapt to my classes,” she said.

After graduation, Alriche plans to continue her education in the fall to study Material Science and Engineering, and eventually work in that field.