Alma Godinez is a Senior commuter student pursuing a Social Sciences degree with an emphasis in Psychology concurrently with minors in History and English. Originally from Woodbridge, Virginia, she moved to North Bergen, New Jersey with her family when she was 9 and later graduated from North Bergen High School in 2013.
While she was first attracted to Dominican College by the offer of a generous merit scholarship, Alma fell in love with the campus upon her first visit. Her fondness for the College reinforced her desire to succeed in the classroom, and impressively she has made the Dean’s List every semester, earning the right to wear the prestigious white tassel at graduation. She also has been inducted into various honor societies including Psi Chi Honor Society in Psychology, Pi Gamma Mu Honor Society in Social Sciences, and Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society in History.
Her academic achievement is all the more impressive because Alma has accomplished all of this while working full-time as a legal assistant at a small immigration law firm and performing volunteer work, including serving as a pro bono Spanish translator on asylum interviews during summer breaks and working as a special needs assistant at the Chambers School in New Jersey. Her extracurricular passion, debating, has further enriched her collegiate experience. She was voted President of the Dominican College Debating Society for her Senior year and has earned multiple trophies in intercollegiate competition.
Alma feels humbled by what she has experienced and achieved at Dominican College and by the support and encouragement she has received from her family. Because of their devotion and her own hard work, Alma will be the first college graduate in her family. As she prepares to say a tearful farewell to Dominican College, she already is planning the next phase of her life journey. She will begin law school in the fall and one day become an attorney working in the public sector so that she can pursue her passion to help others, especially young immigrant children and other unrepresented minorities in her community.
Favorite DC Moment: Earning the praise of the toughest debate judge after two years