Stories

As we come back to school, we are very excited to welcome and introduce the 2022 ACE Cohort! Three students in the sophomore cohort share a bit about some of their academic and non-academic interests, along with a quick update of what they did over the summer. 

Robert Salazar, from Montebello, California, is an accounting major and philosophy minor. He is very passionate about music and has continued to pursue his interest in music through SCU’s very own radio station, KSCU, where he was a DJ last year and continues his work as a traffic director this year. Some of his other work experience includes working at a family-owned deli. As he pursues his accounting major and philosophy minor, he is also looking forward to taking an intro to astronomy class. One experience he really enjoyed in the past year was visiting Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. Over the summer, Robert worked both at a camp serving under-resourced teens in the Los Angeles area and at a golf course. He also had the time to visit the Big Island in Hawaii where he hiked to a green sand beach and snorkeled at night with manta rays. Robert is excited to engage in new challenges through ACE and meet as many people as possible, developing new friendships in the process. 

Ariana Cepulis is a double major in economics and Spanish from Boulder, Colorado and is also a part of the University Honors Program. Ariana enjoys spending time outdoors and is currently a leader for SCU’s outdoor club, Into The Wild. She is also a member of SCU’s climbing club. A good amount of her work experience revolves around the outdoors, as Ariana has worked as both a camp counselor and a trail maintenance crew member. This past summer she interned at a startup in Washington D.C. As she continues her education at Santa Clara, Ariana is hoping to take a class on gender issues in the developing world. Her favorite city in the world is Medellin, Colombia and this past spring break she had a great time traveling to Italy. This year, Ariana is looking forward to developing her professional skills and getting to know the members in her cohort.   

Another member of the 2022 cohort, Fernanda Gaete, is an undeclared business major from Portland, Oregon. Some of the organizations she’s involved with in her freetime include Women in Business, CHAARG and Younglife. She has work experience as a camp counselor and in SCU’s math department, and recently worked at the Nike Company store in Portland. Having joined Santa Clara’s Retail Management Institute at the end of her freshman year, Fernanda had an incredible time experiencing the world of customer service firsthand at Nike, while communicating with hundreds of customers on athletic topics she was passionate about. She also practices yoga and wants to become an instructor in the future. Fernanda values collaboration between unique and driven individuals and is looking forward to that in the ACE program, along with forming meaningful connections with her ACE peers in the coming year.