ADD, Dyslexia Haven't Stopped This Student From Making the Grades

By Erika Maldonado

Choosing a career for many can be nerve racking. Some figure it out through trial and error. Others require a few semesters in college. For Kristina Alcocer, 22, a field trip to California Pizza Kitchen in the third grade was all it took. 

Now, the Mira Costa High School graduate is working toward a degree in hospitality management and finance at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

But if her degree and career path were fairly evident at a young age, so too were two diagnoses Alcocer would have to deal with from the age of 5 on: Attention Deficit Disorder and dyslexia. 

But she's conquered those diagnoses, making the Cal Poly Pomona president’s list three times and the dean’s list every quarter.

“I realized how much harder I had to work than most people to achieve the same grades,” said Alcocer. “It may take me longer to answer questions in class or to finish a test, but it doesn’t make me less smart.”

Alcocer learned during her time at Mira Costa not only how to be a successful student, but how to give back to her community. Working with Manhattan Beach’s humanitarian organization, Sandpipers, inspired her to be involved in various organizations at Cal Poly, she said, where she is a student ambassador for the college of hospitality management and vice president of the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s student chapter.

“When I started college, I saw a lot of freshmen struggle,” she said. “I learned a lot of self-discipline in high school so I knew what I needed to do.”

She uses a computer program that assists her by reading aloud all of the required texts required for classes.

To keep up with her college coursework, she said she does what every student should do anyway: She shows up to every class, does the assigned readings and reaches out to her professors whenever she needs help.

Alcocer graduates this spring and plans to study abroad in Italy next summer. Though she loves traveling, she hopes to one day settle back into Manhattan Beach. 

Because her education has had such an impact on her life, she wants to give back and eventually teach.