Staff

Paula Silva is the Director of Professional Development for the Puente Project statewide office where she imagines, plans and implements culturally responsive professional development for community college faculty with the intent of creating more humane and equitable educational spaces for underrepresented students. Prior to joining the Puente team, she taught English in California Community Colleges for 13 years, including serving as a Puente instructor and co-coordinator. Paula is a first-generation college student, queer Chicana who found her own voice in a community college...

Reynalda Montenegro was born and raised in Oakland, CA. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and a minor in Education. During her time at Berkeley, Reynalda discovered her passion for advocating and supporting first-generation students, like herself, in accessing the resources they need to succeed. After graduating, she became a college advisor with UC Berkeley’s Destination College Advising Corps and Early Academic Outreach Program (DCAC/EAOP), continuing her commitment to serving her community. Now, as a Program Coordinator, Reynalda is...

Ruby was born in Jalisco, Mexico. When she was 10 years old, she immigrated with her family to Tulare, a town in the Central Valley of California. In 2019, she graduated valedictorian from Tulare Western High School and then began her studies at UC Berkeley, where she double majored in Psychology and Spanish Literature. She first got involved in college-access work during her undergraduate studies through an organization called Matriculate. Then, in my senior year, she learned about EBC and started working as a college advisor.

Sarah Ghannam started my college journey at the College of Marin. She was heavily involved with a peer mentoring program, MAPS, and the Summer Bridge program that supported incoming college freshmen to adapt and succeed in the new environment. She then transferred to San Francisco State University, where she earned my BA in psychology. There, she worked at TASC, the tutoring and academic support center, where she continued my passion for supporting other first-generation students like herself. Her last semester at SFSU brought along the opportunity to work with EBSCC as a college...