ACT
by charlotte west
W
WHEN CHELSEA ANORMA graduated from high school in 2009 , she enrolled at Saddleback College , a community college in Southern California . It was there that she took her first class in chemistry . “ I remember being enthralled by learning how the world worked and seeing fascinating chemistry demonstrations and experiments ,” she said . “ I immediately decided to major in chemistry .”
That set the tone for the rest of her educational
career . She completed her associate ’ s degree and transferred to the University of California , Irvine . In spring 2020 , she defended her doctoral dissertation in the chemistry program at the University of Illinois . “ Saddleback is where I fell in love with science , thanks to some awesome professors who helped me not only in class but to get internships and scholarships so that I could transfer ,” she said .
Anorma is just one of millions of students who start their education at one of the nearly 1,200
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