Our students are our best recommendation - see what they have to say about the Cuyamaca College Paralegal Program.
Tiana Deffenderfer
The Paralegal Studies program has had a huge impact on my career and personal life
and has truly given me the jumpstart that I was seeking. After receiving my Paralegal
Studies Degree from Cuyamaca, I immediately had a job lined up as a Paralegal from
the Internship course. From there, my career has taken off to where I have been employed
as a Paralegal ever since graduating.
The classes that have been the most beneficial to me and have helped me get to where
I am now are: Legal Research and Writing, Civil Litigation, and the Internship course.
To this day, I still constantly reflect on these classes in my professional career
and cannot overstate the importance of these classes no matter what type of law you
choose to go in. By the same token, the professors teaching in the Paralegal Studies
program are some of the best professors I have had in my educational career, especially
as it pertains to their personal knowledge of the legal field. Besides the fact that
we have the supervising judge of the Downtown Superior Courthouse, Judge Eddie C.
Sturgeon as one of our professors (which I constantly get brownie points for being
able to say I was a student of his), all our other professors are also judges,
attorneys, and specialized attorneys who are extremely knowledgeable about the topics
they are teaching.
Lastly, choosing a career path as a Paralegal requires constant determination, learning, and mastering of certain skills to become successful in the field -- just like anything else in life. However, none of that would be possible to tackle without the foundation that the Paralegal Studies program at Cuyamaca provides you. There is a huge difference in the quality of work that I am able to produce over those who lack a certificate/degree in Paralegal Studies. This difference has been recognized by the attorneys I have worked for. I have only been out of school for one year.
Thanks, Cuyamaca!
Tomas Huerta, Class of 2018
The paralegal program has helped me transition from having more jobs than birthdays,
with a lot of work as a plumber (who don’t make the mountains of money unless they
own the company). Before graduation, the program helped me secure my first office
job with an insurance company who tasked me with developing a statewide resource for
administrative rules, regulations, statutes, and holdings to audit indemnity payments.
After graduation, I was promoted to a Triage Claims Examiner. Recently, I was asked
if I would be interested in a created position for a subrogation paralegal, where
I would again be able to use the skills taught to me by Professor Baker, Judge Sturgeon,
and Professor Sessom in drafting pleadings, discovery responses, and pursuing subrogation
recovery. It has been a circuitous path, however, I was a high school dropout who
never worked in an office before Cuyamaca. Finishing the Associate’s degree that
has given me the opportunity to pursue challenging, rewarding, and lucrative work.
I and my family are forever grateful.
Arthur Chavez
The Cuyamaca Paralegal Program gave me much more than the tools and knowledge needed to start a new career path. This program expanded on my critical thinking, gave me a platform to develop leadership skills, and introduced me to the San Diego paralegal community where I have met some of my closest friends. During my time in this program, I had the privilege to work with and learn from some of San Diego's most reputable legal professionals. I gained some experience working as a trial paralegal through their internship, and I even received an award from the legal community for my volunteering efforts. The Cuyamaca Paralegal Program opened the world of law to me and I owe my success to them.
Shyar Yacoub
As a prior student at Cuyamaca College, I majored in the Paralegal program, and as an ABA approved program, it was cherry on top. Fresh out of high school, I knew what truly captured my heart and what I wanted to pursue in my career. I enrolled in Introduction to Paralegal my first semester along with G.E. classes, and instantly knew that l had a strong passion for law. In other words, Paralegal proved to me that what I strived for my career was in fact what I wanted to major in. My first week as a Paralegal student was difficult and nerve-wracking. It was brand new material presented, but as my introductory professor, Professor Sessom made the class interesting and offered an easy format to follow. The faculty, all whom are attorneys, judges, and outstanding professors, taught their material with pleasing skills in an intellectual way, such as Professor Baker, Judge Sturgeon, Professor Britton, and many more wonderful professors. They really cared for their students and were always there when you needed help or had questions. The classes were night time and 3-4 hours long (at least when I was a student), but I looked forward to those late night hours.
Each class taught me something significantly different and assisted me in attaining the right skills for each intended field of law. I took an internship course and landed a position at a family law firm. I was able to utilize the skills I learned through the Paralegal program, specifically family law course. After I completed my internship, I was later hired by the same firm. The Paralegal program at Cuyamaca helped me on my professional career path in many different ways. One way is the earning of my Associate of Science in Paralegal Studies Degree as an honor student, so this should tell you how my resume is built. Another way the program has helped me is the fact that without doubt, it was the only powerful stepping stone in boosting my passion for law. As a paralegal student for two wonderful years, I knew every semester, the growing appreciation and enjoyment within me was leading me to pursue my career in law. A third reason is how eye opening is the field of paralegal. IHit teaches you and educates you on law, the judicial system, how courts operate, how bankruptcy chapters differ, the steps in filing for any forms, and how to execute your job as a paralegal. Thank you, Cuyamaca!