I think you did well, very well.

You also made me sentimental as I remembered the counselors at my junior college guiding me along. Only in hindsight do I truly know, how much they did for me.

Back then, I was working full time to support myself and my baby niece, going to college full time and taking the bus everywhere, cause I did not have a car. Those counselors helped me plan my class schedules to make sure I took the courses I needed to transfer to university.

By completing all my lower level courses at junior college, I was able to save enough money to pay my university tuition. I also earned my machinist certification, my mechanical and architectural drafting certifications and learned welding (all skills not taught in universities). Thanks to those skills, I had tons of job offers right out of university.

When my daughter finished junior college, her counselor heard she'd been accepted to UCDavis and asked her to have me come in to meet with her. Thanks to that good woman, my daughter graduated UC Davis debt free (and now holds five degrees).

As I look back, I see people who knew enough about our particular circumstances, to help us successfully navigate a system we knew nothing about. And now, here you are, providing me with an understanding of their unique, and all too rare, expertise. Those counselors were DEI practitioners, weren't they?