Val Bernal went back to school to study health science, and to help pay for school she found an on-campus job at Financial Aid. She quickly found she was enjoying her side projects with social media posts and creating flyers for Financial Aid than her classes. A Financial Aid Advisor suggested that she change her major to Digital Media.

“I enjoyed all of the DM classes and tried out a lot of different things – video production, CS coding, design animation, and more. I learned I really like the design aspect of the Digital Media profession,” says Val.

Val used these new skills to expand her projects with Financial Aid and graduated from Cabrillo with certificates, an A.S. degree, and importantly, a good portfolio.

She is currently a program specialist in Financial Aid where she works with publications, flyers, handbooks, quick guides, and the website.

“I have a lot of other responsibilities, but I love this creative side. The outreach needs to be easily readable for students and design plays a huge role in this.”