This Class of 2024 grad found redirection and a family at College of the Desert

As a child in Lipa City, Batangas in the Philippines, Derick Talay dreamed of having a “complete family.” Raised by a single mother who had to work in Singapore to provide for the family’s basic needs, Talay stayed in the Philippines with his grandmother.

He remembers a school assignment he didn’t quite understand, which required bringing a family picture to class. "I just drew a stick figure family," he said. "We had to present … and one of my classmates had an actual photo of their complete family. To this day, it still makes me emotional because that was my wish."

Talay was 15 when he and his family — now including his stepdad — immigrated to the United States. He began attending La Quinta High School in January 2020, just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to pivot to emergency remote learning. Adapting was more challenging than he had expected.

The following school year, as a junior, he enrolled in a combination of challenging courses, including honors, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes. His first rigorous course was AP U.S. History, which he took remotely. “I’m new to the U.S. with zero background on American knowledge and because it’s AP, everything’s fast-paced. My teacher would remind us that we learned this or that in middle school. I was like, ‘Sure,’” he said with a laugh.

Things began turning around when he began regularly attending the virtual office hours of his former IB English teacher, Bettyrae Easley. During these sessions, he confided his worries and concerns about his U.S. History class. In response, she recommended introducing him to the class to help him make friends. The intro proved fruitful, as the friends he connected with on Zoom remain his friends to this day. (And as one would have it, he’d later find himself assisting his classmates in their AP U.S. History class.)

“That’s when I started to realize how important these classes are for my college journey,” Talay said. “As an immigrant, you have no idea of the American system and how important it is to start early on to get into good universities.”

The self-described "ambivert" excelled in various extracurricular activities that aligned with his passions: he was awarded a few medals for his participation in his school’s mock trial team, earned recognition as the school's poet laureate and received an honorable mention as the teen poet laureate for Riverside County.

In mock trial, he discovered he enjoyed defending people — a realization that wasn't entirely unexpected, considering his childhood aspiration of becoming a lawyer. “I love giving people the benefit of the doubt,” Talay said. “I'm that person who will stick with you until the end. I love advocating for people, and I do it by protecting people.”

Over those two-and-a-half school years, he achieved the highest distinction upon graduating: summa cum laude, an esteemed honor at the high school. Despite all his efforts, it seemed as though everything he had worked for fell apart when he didn't receive acceptances from any of the four colleges he applied to.

“I cried to all my teachers, especially Ms. (Kelly) Becker, my history teacher. I felt like I wasn’t enough,” he said. “I’ve always been an overachiever and I usually excel in things, so that was a wakeup call for me — that the world is not always going to work in your way.”

The only choice he had left was to attend community college. “I was devastated,” he said.

That summer, Talay enrolled in the EDGE/plEDGE program, which allows students the opportunity to attend College of the Desert tuition-free. As he made his way to class from the bus, his main mode of transportation, he received the news of another rejection from the College Corps program, a debt-free pathway focused on community service K-12 education, food insecurity and climate action.

Feeling disheartened, he settled down near the Fountain of Knowledge, which faces the campus library. “I was telling myself, ‘It’s just going to be two years, Derick, and then you can transfer and go wherever you want,’” he said.

Choosing to remain positive, he began scrolling through COD’s website and found a student worker position at the College of the Desert Foundation. “The COD Foundation really sparked in me the joy of education because we’re helping students through scholarships by interacting with donors,” Talay said. “This opened a whole other world for me and they became my first family on campus.”

A few months later, as fate would have it, College Corps reached out and offered him a fellowship position after all. “I was happy because I now had two jobs,” he said, “and College Corps became my second family on campus.”

Through his work with College Corps, Talay helped address food insecurity on campus and in the community. “I remember my humble beginnings in the Philippines. I wish these programs were around when my mom was raising me because then probably she didn’t need to go work in another country,” he said.

More: College of the Desert unveils new College Corps-funded food bank on the Indio campus

In his second year as a College Corps Fellow, he doubled as a statewide ambassador for the program, having previously represented COD in Sacramento. He honed his administrative skills as a student worker at COD's counseling center and, as an intern with HR Advantage, has gained further insight into HR decision-making. Talay is also the youngest member of Leadership Coachella Valley's Class of 2024 cohort, a 10-month program designed to identify, motivate and develop future community leaders.

His involvement with the two organizations led him to develop a deeper appreciation for the Coachella Valley. "The foundation exposed me to one side of the Coachella Valley — the affluent, philanthropic side," he said. "With College Corps, I'm exposed to the mass and am reminded how important it is to help your community. On the other hand, if you do reach the top, don't forget to donate and support nonprofits here in the valley."

Talay credits the COD Foundation for opening those doors. "I believe in the power of relationships and cultivating them," he said. "I was once not proud to be at College of the Desert, and now I will gladly share that I'm a graduate from here. One thing I would say is that no matter where you end up going, if you're a star, you will shine wherever you go — whether you're at a community college, a four-year university, the job market or anywhere else. When you have that innate nature, you'll always shine and there's always perfect timing for you."

Despite all his accomplishments in just two years at COD, which he now wishes he had more of, his family remains the central reason behind his drive. He praises his mother for teaching him the value of hard work, his grandmother for instilling empathy, his stepdad for demonstrating generosity and selflessness by treating him as his own son, as well as his three-year-old brother for reminding him of innocence and hope.

On Tuesday, Talay will graduate with four associate degrees from COD at its 60th commencement ceremony. This fall, he will transfer to UC Berkeley to study business administration, with plans to "dabble" in accounting before pursuing law school at Stanford University.

Above all, the first-generation student is looking forward to making his parents proud as he walks across the stage at Acrisure Arena. "I want them to see why they’ve been working hard. I want them to see their 'why' in me," he said. "I'm also looking forward to seeing my fellow graduates, the million friends I've gained at COD, the relationships I’ve cultivated with the staff, faculty and my co-workers."

Ultimately, Talay found what he had been wishing for since elementary school. "I built families," he said. "I definitely built families here at College of the Desert."

Jennifer Cortez covers education in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at jennifer.cortez@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: 'A complete family': How a COD grad created his own community