WEBVTT

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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VIRGINIA AGUILAR-RILEY: I
grew up, was born and raised

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in Upland, right down the hill.

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I was raised in a very
traditional Hispanic family.

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I'm the only girl.

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I have two brothers.

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And at that time,
college was not

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something that entered into
the conversation for a female,

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but I always knew I
wanted to do something.

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And I have an aunt who's--

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when I was a child, maybe
7 or eight years old,

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she was in high
school, and I used

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to see her practicing
her typing.

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I thought was fascinating.

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You know, I'd like
to work in an office.

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So when I got to
high school, that's

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what I told my counselor,
and they talked to me

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about going to Chaffey.

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And here I landed
at Chaffey College.

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Chaffey College is a
blessing to this community

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to have a school like this here.

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After I graduated
from Chaffey, I

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helped my brothers,
who were younger,

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come through Chaffey,
because I had a job by then.

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On the day I started
school here at Chaffey,

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the Ontario school
district called

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me to report for
work that afternoon.

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I started as a two
hour a day, and Chaffey

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had a work experience program,
so I linked those two things up

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and got credit.

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I had no idea that this
was going to happen,

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but I stayed at the
school district,

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and I remained
there for 47 years.

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And I retired as
Administrative Assistant

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to the Deputy Superintendent.

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In my role at the
school district,

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we dealt with a lot of
families who were in need.

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Students who were
not going to school,

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because they needed
clothing, didn't have shoes.

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I wanted to help those families.

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Then I joined
Soroptimists of Montclair,

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a women's service
organization, and that kind

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of evolved from being a
member of Soroptimists

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and I joined some
other clubs and I

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got involved in the
community, and always

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looking for projects that would
help young people especially.

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One of the themes
for Soroptimists

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is empowering women and girls
to achieve their dreams.

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It's kind of like somebody
helped me achieve my dream

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by coming to Chaffey college.

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I'm not an educator,
but I do want

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to help guide these women and
girls to achieve their dreams.

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And then maybe they'll stay
here, and they'll do the same

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and turn and help
our community grow.

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There are so many
opportunities out there

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to help other community members.

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You never want to think, oh,
I know they're selling tickets

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to that raffle that's
going to provide

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a scholarship for someone,
but somebody else will do it.

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You need to step in.

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It's always better
to get involved

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and be part of
the process rather

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than somebody else will do it.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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