Daisy Carrasco Beltran ’26, Paying It Forward Through Education

Daisy Carrasco Beltran ’26 has wanted to be an educator since she was a little girl. Although her mother never attended college, she instilled in Daisy and her sisters a deep appreciation for education and the teachers who make it possible. “Look at the teachers that you had,” she would tell them. “They played a big role in where you are now. Just imagine the role that you could play for others.”

Daisy credits her first-grade teacher, Mr. Ali, for inspiring her to be an early childhood educator. He made learning fun by incorporating things his students loved, like soccer, into his lessons, and made a point of getting to know both his students and their parents. These practices built a strong foundation of support in the classroom.

“It's also about your personal growth and emotional growth, besides academics. So, I was motivated by him,” she said.

When the time came to apply for colleges, UCLA was Daisy’s top choice because of its strong education program, its large and diverse student body, and its beautiful green campus. The environment felt very different from South Central, Los Angeles, where she grew up, and she liked that.

But the transition to UCLA was not without its challenges. She was admitted to UCLA as “pre-education” but didn’t know how to get into the education major, and she felt alone in the sea of students.

She ultimately found the support she needed through the UCLA Academic Advancement Program (AAP), the Chicana/Latina student organization Hermanas Unidas, and her on-campus job with the CARE (Community, Alumni, Reservations, Events) Team in the James West Alumni Center (JWAC).

During AAP’s drop-in academic advising sessions, advisors helped Daisy build a plan that fulfilled both the Education Major and UCLA’s graduation requirements. And she recalls the immediate relief she felt upon meeting other Latina students from South L.A. at her first Hermanas Unidas social event. “I kind of felt like I was back home,” she said.

On the CARE Team, Daisy learned that one of her colleagues, Rachelle, was an education major, too. Rachelle gave her tips on what courses to take and even told her about an education policy internship with the UC|CSU Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning, to which Daisy applied and was accepted in the winter quarter of her first year.

Daisy loved her education classes at UCLA. She recalls when one of her professors overheard a group of elementary school students from South L.A. touring the campus, and he decided to spontaneously invite the group into their classroom to learn about life at UCLA. She envisions herself doing the same thing with her own students one day, “bringing them to the space where I was once, to make them feel like it's also attainable,” she said.

This past spring, Daisy graduated from UCLA in just three years with double majors in Education and Sociology, and she will begin her Master of Education (M.Ed.) and teaching credential program in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies this fall.

“Being able to say, ‘I graduated from UCLA,’ and I still get to go here; it feels so good,” she said. “I feel so proud to be an alumna.”

Daisy knows that she wants to return to her home community in South L.A. to teach. She began volunteering at her alma mater, West Vernon Elementary School, in her first year at UCLA and experienced a full-circle moment when she returned to Mr. Ali’s classroom.

She took the opportunity to tell him how he had inspired her to become a teacher and the impact he had on her life. “It was an emotional moment,” she recalled. “It was really nice to share that with him.”

Diversity Digest

These alumni feature articles are developed by the Alumni Diversity Programs and Initiatives team to amplify the impact and reach of incredible Bruins across generations. They are published as part of the quarterly Diversity Digest newsletter, which highlights opportunities to engage with UCLA and the alumni community through a social justice lens.

Know a Bruin whose story should be told? We'd love to hear from you.

Subscribe to the Diversity Digest Nominate Someone for a Feature

Questions? Reach us at diversity@alumni.ucla.edu