I am a father, partner, student, teacher, brother and son.  I am an advocate and ally.  I am an immigrant and a citizen.  I am Filipino-American and share my hyphen proudly alongside others.  I am a former outdoor professional.  I am opposed to oppression.  I am a work in progress. 

I am an empathetic and active listener.  I want all my colleagues, friends, and family to succeed and will always try to help them along the way.  I say yes to things I’m not quite qualified for but manage to pull them off.  I like to laugh, even if it’s a coping mechanism for a sad and unfair world.  I am gregarious and social but also like to spend long periods of time alone.    

I believe college is still one of the best ways to rise from poverty, but not the only way.  I want to contribute towards more equity in education and society.  I want to help make EOP Scholars a national model for retention of our most capable yet vulnerable students.  I want to bring career advising and employment pipelines to OMAD. 

I am Jon Olivera, I am EOP.