Seven years ago, Ryan Bellon woke up late on his graduation day. When he showed up on the De Anza College campus, the ceremony had already begun.
“I was a last minute kind of guy,” Bellon says.
As a former De Anza student, Bellon empathizes with students in his work as a financial aid outreach assistant. It says it makes it easier for him to assist students in a personal and efficient way when they are learning about or applying for financial aid.
Instructors at De Anza are able to give students personal attention, he says. De Anza is unlike other schools with larger classes, and one of the reasons he likes his job. He also appreciates the myriad of activities available to De Anza students. When he was a student, he played on the football team and participated in campus performance groups. He was the Inter-Club Council chair of programs, which included perks of staff parking and office space.
After graduating De Anza with an associate’s degree in music, Bellon transferred to San Diego State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After working in San Diego, he was offered a job at De Anza and was delighted to move back to the bay area.
“It was like coming home.” he says.
As financial outreach assistant, Bellon does public and classroom presentations and interacts with students. He likes to run the presentations his own way and compares it to being on stage.
“It’s like any kind of performance where you gain energy from the crowd,” he says.
Oh yeah, speaking of performances, he plays a Fender P-bass and a Stratocaster guitar and is taking a song writing class at Foothill College. He’s planning on starting a band and is looking for collaborators. Got music?
Check out his tunes and lyrics on his MySpace Web page: http://myspace.com/ryanbellon.