Dreaming of a Medical Career in English and Spanish
“Class of 2025, remember to be kind, remember to love one another, and remember that you’re going to do great things . . . wherever you go. You’re already one step closer to your dreams and one step ahead because you came to a school where you learned in two languages.” — Natty Valdovinos ’27 to the Adelante Charter School class of 2025.
As a child in Santa Barbara, Natty Valdovinos ’27 often translated for her Spanish-speaking parents. Attending Adelante Charter School, a renowned dual-language immersion program, helped her hone this talent. A First Connections leader at Westmont, she served as a bilingual student ambassador at San Marcos High School and as a mentor.
“I helped students who didn’t speak English with their homework,” she says. “I translated for teachers and Spanish-speaking students and helped teachers talk to parents and parents talk back to teachers. I loved it.”
In junior high, Natty joined a county board that later established a second dual‑language immersion program, a testament to her early commitment to bilingual education. As a junior at Westmont, Adelante invited her to address the graduating sixth graders.
Natty learned about Westmont from Holly Seguine Gil ’93, who taught Kids Club at Adelante and Franklin Schools, and Kimberly Quezada Carrillo ’23, who spoke in her AVID class at San Marcos and gave them a tour at Westmont.
“I had a dream that I came to Westmont, and when I told my mom, she said, ‘You have to go,’” Natty says.
She applied Early Action and made five of her high school friends apply as well. “I told them, ‘Come on! It’ll be fun if we all end up going to Westmont.’ And all six of us came.”
During an Admitted Students Day, Araceli Espinoza, assistant director of admissions, told Natty and her mother that she’d earned the prestigious Bright Star Scholarship. “I started crying,” Natty says.
She enjoys her anatomy class, professors and academic adviser Isaac Gomez, whom she playfully teases for attending a rival high school.
“All my teachers here know me by name and want to see me succeed,” Natty says. “They always check up on me and ask about my personal life, which builds connections. I’d never get this experience anywhere else.”
A kinesiology major on the pre-med track, she dreams of becoming an emergency medicine physician. “I broke a lot of bones playing soccer and flag football as a kid and visited the ER a lot,” she says. “I also have a peanut allergy and would forget to bring my EpiPen with me. It amazed me how the doctors always knew what to do.”
Natty shares her love of sports by coaching a peewee flag football team at Cleveland Elementary School, where she works as a program leader for A-OK, an afterschool enrichment program.
Raised Catholic, she and her friends meet regularly for nondenominational Bible study, fostering meaningful conversations. “I love attending chapel and seeing how professors weave faith into our classes,” she says. “Even my organic chemistry professor ties biblical references such as water and chemical reactions into the curriculum.”
Natty comes from a family of six children, including a brother who lives with Down syndrome, leukemia and a heart murmur. Currently in remission, he often pretends to be a doctor, wearing gloves and checking ears. Natty often accompanies her parents to his medical appointments, translating for them and the healthcare team, deepening her commitment to serving others through medicine.