Natalia Marfil Cepeda is receiving her Bachelor of Science in Biological Science from University of Houston-Clear Lake this month, but she learned much more in college about herself and her future than what was taught in her courses.
“My transition to college from high school was jarring,” she said. “In high school, I was always in advanced placement classes, but I don’t know if I ever developed study skills. I sort of cruised by in high school. I wasn’t ready for the shock of going to class at different times, and that attendance wasn’t mandatory, so I never went. I had a lot of emotional and personal problems, and it all culminated, so I don’t think I was really ready for college.”
She started as a creative writing major at another university, but only because she didn’t think she had the skills to do what she really wanted, which was to study science. “My friends took AP biology in high school and I didn’t, so I thought I was already behind and it was too late for me.”
After feeling overwhelmed with life and the pressures of school, Marfil Cepeda took a semester off college and volunteered in a veterinary clinic. “I got into therapy and I started taking antidepressants. That helped me gain the confidence to go back to college and study science,” she said. “I changed colleges and majors. That’s one important thing I learned — sometimes things feel too late, but only because other people tell you that by this age, you should have done certain things. But that’s not the case. You do things when it’s right for you. I learned I am not on someone else’s timetable.”
Her continued struggles with anxiety and depression issues were very hard, Marfil Cepeda said. “I wasn’t coping at all. I didn’t want to be ‘one of those people’ who took antidepressants because there’s a stigma around it. People will say you should just get over it. But it did help me a lot. Everyone is different. I feel like it saved my life, because I was at a point where I didn’t eat, I didn’t go to class, and I didn’t want to exist.”
While at UH-Clear Lake, Marfil Cepeda took advantage of Counseling Services. “They’re really good, and I needed to remind myself that self-care is important,” she said. “I was busy with class and extra-curricular activities, but I needed to schedule those appointments because things build up. It’s good to release everything. And I also learned that my anxiety and depression will never leave me, but I can be OK with that. With medication and therapy, it’s less of a weight and more like a balloon that’s always tied to me, but not weighing me down.”
She added that as she became more active in classes and student organizations, she had to make sure she took care of herself. “I think sometimes I made myself be busy because I was going through so much,” she said. “I asked myself, am I really OK or am I just so busy I don’t notice if I’m OK?”
When she began her first semester at UHCL, she still wasn’t sure she had chosen the right path. “I was in my first biology class and the professor said the upcoming test was the hardest of the semester,” she remembered. “I told myself that if I didn’t do well on the test, then I didn’t belong in this major. I studied really hard, and then the professor said that one person had received 100 on the test. It was me. And I learned that even if I didn’t believe in myself, if I worked really hard, I would get through.”
Additional classes with Assistant Professor of Chemistry Anton Dubrovskiy bolstered Marfil Cepeda’s self-esteem and confidence. “I appreciated that whenever he saw me, he asked me how I was doing in his class,” she said. “The way he cares about his students; he doesn’t make them feel like getting grades is the most important thing. It’s the learning and the experience that counts. Even if I didn’t get straight A’s, I still was getting skills and learning how to learn.”
As Marfil Cepeda graduates, she plans to apply to veterinary schools to fulfill her career aspiration of helping living creatures. “When I worked in the veterinary clinic, I fell in love with the process of helping animals,” she said. “Animals don’t know how to tell you they’re in pain.”
For other students who are also struggling with similar issues, Marfil Cepeda said that it might make things easier to cope with if the issues are broken down into tiny pieces. “Problems can feel very large and scary. But the first step to taking a shower is to get up and walk to the bathroom. Get out of bed, congratulate yourself. Get to class, congratulate yourself. These small things will add up,” she said. “Be an ally to others and to yourself, which can be the hardest thing.”
Find out more about UHCL’s Counseling Services online.
