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Math major Dalilah Valencia ’23 arrived at the Mount anticipating the benefits of small class sizes and a supportive community that would encourage each student to explore new interests as well as develop already identified talents, all while promoting women’s leadership. She eagerly joined the Student Activities Council, the ECO club, Latinas Unidas, and the Women in Science and Health club, as well as ISAE (the Institute for Student Academic Enrichment), which assists students in their academic journeys via peer advising, networking, leadership development and cultural enrichment. Valencia also joined Kappa Delta Chi, a Latina-founded sorority, and was inducted into the National Society of Leadership and Success.

Her favorite activities include the President's Invitation to Serve, confirmation classes, and research opportunities in marine ecology, computational chemistry and bioinformatics. She has also worked as an office assistant in Food Services and now works remotely for the Career and Professional Development Office. Despite the challenges of the pandemic and the Chalon fire, she says the Mount community has supported her and helped her grow.

Valencia’s path after graduation this May is still unclear, and she’s fine with that. Valencia sat at the same table as Unstoppable Donor award winner Dolores L. Schiffert ’60 during the President’s Scholarship Luncheon, and when she confided that she didn’t know what she wanted to pursue as a career, Schiffert, herself a math major, reassured her. “She definitely motivated me and told me that I will find my passion,” says Valencia. “She told me to dip my feet into different places and not settle but find something that I love.”

Valencia has already learned that supposedly set plans don’t always materialize. Valencia arrived at the Mount intending to go to medical school until the pandemic changed her path. ”Things got a lot harder for me, and it just wasn’t the ideal plan anymore,” she explains. “I’m still interested in the healthcare field, but definitely not as a doctor.”

Other avenues might include research or bioinformatics.  Valencia joined the computational chemistry research group as a sophomore. Because of the pandemic, she was unable to perform any wet labs, which involve the analysis and testing of biological matter using various liquids. “But I have a lot of computational skills,” she says. “I saw how amino acids and zeolites interact, which is really interesting, and I have done simulations in different force fields. It’s crazy to see the different results.”

Valencia has worked extensively with the research team led by Deniz Cizmeciyan, PhD, professor and department chair of physical sciences. At the urging of Adrian Jones, PhD, associate professor of biological sciences, she joined the Catalina program through the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center. “I finally got to perform some wet lab,” she says, “and different marine ecology studies with things like kelp forests and microbes.” The students compared results from data taken at various times of the day. “Seeing how that works was really interesting,” she says. “And the program wasn’t all work, either. I was able to kayak and snorkel for the first time.” From there, Valencia joined Jones’ bioinformatics research group for a semester. “I enjoyed the bioinformatics. I’ve thought about doing that for a master’s program because it’s really interesting, and data analysis is needed everywhere.”

Valencia would likely have continued in the bioinformatics research group had she not gone abroad to study in Costa Rica. Other than visits to Mexico to visit family, it was her first experience abroad, her first passport and first plane flight. She took four classes, two in English and two in advanced Spanish, and met students from all over the US as well as from Belgium, France, Germany and, of course, Costa Rica. In addition to her coursework at Universidad Veritas, she rode the longest zipline in Central America, hiked and enjoyed viewing lizards, iguanas, sloths and monkeys. Valencia has maintained friendships with students from Minnesota, Missouri and Iowa. “We set up a group chat,” she says. “We don’t talk every day, but we still check in with each other.” 

In her customary let-it-unfold-as-it-happens form, Valencia did not research anything about Costa Rica – aside from the weather so she’d pack appropriately – prior to the trip. She had to explain to her professors that she wanted to experience everything in real time and not have any preconceived notions. She wanted to ward off being disillusioned or disappointed. Her time in Costa Rica awakened a sense of wanderlust in her, and she’s added travel to every Central American country to her bucket list.

Her lasting impression: the people’s kindness. “Everybody says hello there even when I obviously didn’t know them,” she explains, her voice tinged with incredulity. “If you say hello here, some people look at you with an expression like, ‘who are you and why are you talking to me?’ People there are so kind and they make themselves available if you want to start a conversation. They might be on their way somewhere, but they’ll stop and talk to you. It felt very welcoming.”

Valencia knows that it will be hard to duplicate the welcoming and supportive environment that she has enjoyed the past four years at the Mount, thanking a long list of faculty and staff at the Scholarship Luncheon. “My professor and adviser, Dr. Lance Skidmore, has been sending me information on jobs and graduate programs,” she says. “I have no problem reaching out to admissions counselors or recruiters for information. And a few days ago, an Amazon recruiter reached out to me via LinkedIn, so maybe that’s how I’ll find something.

“I’m tailoring my resume to be broad in scope. Working in the Career and Professional Development office, I am taking advantages of all the available resources that will help me learn how to best show that I am capable of doing whatever opportunity I’m pursuing.”

Valencia feels a bit of pressure from her mother and others regarding her future plans (or lack thereof).  “I was asked to talk about my future plans during the Scholarship Luncheon, but I just omitted that part from my speech because I didn’t even know what to say. Ultimately, it’s my responsibility to discover my path. So, yes, I feel pressure but I’m not taking it to heart; I take it as encouragement.”

Valencia needs to stay in the Los Angeles area for the immediate future, and that is the only search parameter she’s using when looking at job boards. The pure breadth of such a search result would be overwhelming for many job seekers. But she’s excited by the prospect that within the multitude of options generated, there may be the key to her life’s next adventure.