COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY
Virginia Frausto’s central goal is one thing — she wants to give back to her community.
The Carpinteria High School graduate will be attending UC Berkeley in the Fall, slated to major in biology on the pre-med track, with the goal of becoming a doctor.
“I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, since I was in kindergarten,” Ms. Frausto said to the News-Press. She was further motivation when she went on a mission to Panama with her church in association with Floating Doctors where she helped with various medical tasks such as taking a patient’s blood pressure and drawing blood.
“That environment made me want to be a doctor even more,” she said.
She was also inspired to be a doctor because of the medical issues within her family and seeing members go back and forth from the hospital.
She has more than 500 hours of community service, with much of that spent volunteering at a homeless shelter, St. Joseph and the Youth Wellness Connection. Her work at the YWC centered around removing stigma from mental health. She was able to find balance through managing her time well, as she spent much of her weekends doing community service and taking community college classes.
Her involvement in the community did not stop there, as she also spent time helping with her church’s confirmation classes and volunteering at the church’s annual festival.
“I met new people. I definitely learned about giving back. It expanded my wanting to give back. It’s all about giving back to others and giving back to God and that’s really reinforces my idea of giving back to the community,” she said, speaking about her time at the church.
Her role model is her grandfather, who has been working since he was 12 and retired only two years ago.
“He’s always put family first,” she said, adding that she is inspired by his dedication to his family and the time and effort he has put into caring and spending time with them.
As for graduating, she’s nervous to leave Carpinteria.
At Carpinteria High, she knew everybody. But UC Berkeley has more students than the city of Carpinteria has residents, which is a big shift for her.
Her dream is to open a clinic for low-income people and to start a non-profit because she wants to give back to her community. But before she goes off into the brave new world, she plans on spending the summer with her family.
“I’ve never been more than a few hours away from my home,”” she said. “I want to spend some time with them before I have to go off.”
