Cassia Fung, a freshman here at Mt SAC Early College Academy (MECA), is already making important plans for her future. Coming from Mesa Robles Middle School in Hacienda Heights, Fung chose to come to MECA because of the dual enrollment program and being in a close-knit community. With a clear plan in mind, Fung is taking full advantage of the opportunities MECA offers as she begins her high school journey. 

“I came to MECA because I liked how they offered the programs that you could do dual enrollment,” she explained. While she was in middle school, Fung already was taking college courses at Mt. San Antonio College after school, which took more time and effort. “I thought it would be good to get my credits during school hours,” said Fung. This was also where she learned about MECA, “My mom heard about [MECA] because she was also taking classes at Mt. SAC, and her counselor mentioned it.” 

One of Fung’s favorite parts of MECA is the school’s environment. “I like the community here,” she said. “Since the school is so small, it feels like all the teachers can give you personal attention, and I like the learning style.” This sense of closeness helped her adjust very well to her high school life. 

Outside of the classroom, Fung enjoys a wide range of hobbies. She enjoys playing volleyball at MECA, going to the beach to boogie board, and snowboarding. She also has a very artistic side to her; she enjoys photography and cinematography. These hobbies help keep her well-rounded and balance out the academic demands of MECA with her personal interests. 

For her freshman year, she chose the two college classes as her electives, NF 10 and Study 100. She especially enjoys NF 10, which stands for nutrition for health and wellness. “[NF 10] was a fun class to learn; the professor was good,” Fung shared. She also enjoys her high school biology class, liking how it’s very interesting and engaging. 

Looking ahead, Fung has clear academic and career goals. She hopes to graduate, finishing all her general education courses and majoring in food science at Cal Poly Pomona. Her dream career is being a food technologist; she found out this career path after researching different science-related fields, and her friend suggested it. “I always thought about going into a science field, like engineering,” she said, “but then it sounded really hard, and I also was thinking about being a chief and just cook, cause it sounded fun, but it can’t really make a living off of that, because I’m not that good at it. So my friend suggested Food Science, and then I looked into it.”

Fung is already involved at MECA by joining Pottery Club and Volleyball Club. She especially enjoys Pottery Club, since she doesn’t have a chance to take ceramics as an elective.  She likes how the MECA clubs are “ very student-based, the students who lead it are really good at it, and they’re informative, they have very good leadership.” 

Fung describes herself as “very calm, [doesn’t] stress, and loud easily,” and she also enjoys meeting new people. As she looks towards the next few years at MECA, she is excited to join more clubs and electives.