When University of Maryland Global Campus students talk to success coach Yazmine Castaneda about trying to study through medical challenges, financial instability, family upheaval and even homelessness, she knows what their struggles are like.
She has lived through far too many of them herself.
Castaneda has both a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Master of Science in Management from UMGC. She also has a graduate certificate in human resources. On the way to those credentials and a job she loves, she had to leap over one daunting obstacle after another.
Recently selected for the HyperCare Coaching Team—part of a UMGC pilot program focused on identifying at-risk students at key points in their academic journey and guiding them toward independent academic success through thought-provoking and supportive conversations, connecting them with the right resources at the right time, and celebrating successes—Castaneda started her own academic career as an adult learner. She was a working adult, headed toward her 26th birthday, and raising a child alone. Her studies had been repeatedly interrupted by postural tachycardia syndrome, an unusual heart-related ailment that causes people to faint when they stand up. It took her a long time and six doctors before she received the correct diagnosis and could begin treatment, including medial infusions.
It has now been two years since she has experienced any serious symptoms, but at the time she was studying for her undergraduate degree, she was fainting as many as 12 times a day.
“I had gotten really ill after I turned 25. I was in and out of the hospital and on disability leave and I struggled to finish my bachelor’s degree,” she recalled. “But I pushed forward and at my graduation I had just started walking again.”
She attended her UMGC graduation using a walker and was seated in a designated area near the stage, apart from other students. A member of the university’s academic advising team happened to sit next to her and they struck up a conversation. Castaneda revealed how difficult it had been to earn her degree, including the financial struggles she faced when her Virginia workplace—a company in the opticals field—said it could not accommodate her health challenges.
“The conversation led to me learning that UMGC was hiring academic advisors. Then I saw the job posting and I thought, ‘Yes, I’m going to apply,’” Castaneda said. That was May 2019. In June she was hired and in July she started working as a UMGC employee.
Later that year, she enrolled in a master’s program at UMGC, graduating in December 2021.
Castaneda acknowledged that her life trajectory makes it easier for her to relate to students facing challenges.
“I understand their struggles. I was a single parent for five years. And I hear the stories of our students who are struggling as a single parent because their spouse is on military duty, and they have all the weight on their shoulders. I am able to have those difficult conversations with them,” she said.
She recalled one military spouse, at home alone with her two children, who struggled to find the time for her studies.
“I remember spending about two hours on the phone with her. We wrote down a calendar of her entire day, week after week, and we highlighted things she had to take care of, including her kids’ bedtimes and naptimes,” Castaneda said. “I emailed it to her, and she could see that she did have time here and there and she could do it.”
Castaneda grew up in a Spanish-speaking household, the granddaughter of migrant farmworkers from Mexico. Her family encountered anti-Hispanic racism. And as can happen when a family is underpinned by financial fragility, Castaneda as a child lived through periods of homelessness and moments when there was not enough to eat.
Today she is especially passionate about helping students who, like herself, are first-generation college students. Castaneda’s mother did not complete high school, although she later went through vocational training to be a dental assistant. Her father completed high school and worked as a truck driver. Not only did Castaneda have no family member whose education pathway she could emulate, but her parents did not understand how higher education worked in the United States so they could offer her no guidance.
“First-generation students have so many things working against them. But when they achieve, they have a huge impact on their world, on their families,” Castaneda said. She saw the ripple effect when she advised her younger sister, who earned a bachelor’s degree in child development and then went on to get a master’s degree from UMGC.
There were other challenges in Castaneda’s family. One of her brothers has learning disabilities; the other has autism. She said that has shaped her ideas about human potential, something that has been especially helpful in advising military students with PTSD.
“I have a consciousness and awareness of students with disabilities. I know to some extent what the barriers look like,” she explained. “There are roadblocks but there are ways you can still get to your goals. I tell my older brother, for example, that he can’t use his disability as an excuse. I tell him that it doesn’t define who he is, that he has special skills and specials talents and he has to use those to his advantage.”
Castaneda acknowledged that she feels overwhelmed sometimes by the burdens that students may carry. She calls those “the heavy stories.”
“Heartbreaking stories of homelessness and students trying to push forward, a student telling you their mom just passed away or their child passed away,” she explained. “I heard too many stories like that during COVID.”
Castaneda made clear that sometimes a conversation between a student and a success coach carries no solution. Nevertheless, she said it is important for coaches to follow students through both celebrations and losses. As a hypercare coach, she currently has about 110 students she engages with. That is about a third of the number a traditional academic coach supports. The hypercare pilot program launched in spring 2023 with a focus on transfer students.
Next spring, Castaneda takes on yet another responsibility at UMGC. She will join the faculty in order to teach a Program and Career Exploration (PACE) course to incoming students. PACE is designed to help students define their career goals, map out their academic pathway and learn about the resources available to support them at UMGC.
“Just because you’re a student doesn’t mean you know how to be a student,” Castaneda said.”
Castaneda said her tough personal experiences have made her a philosophical 30-year-old.
“After going through so many hard experiences, I realize that I can’t prevent life from happening. But I can help students as they go through challenges,” Castaneda said. “Maybe I was meant to go through all that I did so that I could build my character and understand how to help.”
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