Modesta Garcia ’78 credits her SCU experience and particularly her mentors, Professor Francisco ’66 and Laura Jimenez ’67, for providing inspiration and a foundation for her career in higher education and service leadership. On receiving her BA in Spanish at SCU, Modesta enrolled and completed a master’s in education at Harvard University. Two years later, she was hired as SCU assistant director of admissions and first minority student recruitment coordinator. This job prepared her for the next step as a Princeton University admissions officer. Subsequently, Modesta was hired in her dream job as faculty/academic counselor at her other alma mater, College of San Mateo, from which she retired after 24 years of service in May 2011. Modesta has been sought as a college admissions consultant and speaker nationally and in China, and consultant or committee member for the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars Program, Brown University, the College Board Western Region, Educational Testing Services, NACAC, and WACAC, among others. She now provides college admissions consulting and coaching for Ivy League, international, transfer and general college admissions planning. Modesta also served on the board of directors for the SCU National Alumni Association, which prepared her for such service on the local Harvard alumni chapters. She is Harvard’s (and SCU’s!) only graduate to be elected president of both Bay Area alumni chapters: the Harvard Club of San Francisco, and the Harvard Club of Silicon Valley. Modesta’s works have been recognized with awards from the College Board Western Region, Harvard Alumni Association, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Princeton University, and Santa Clara University Chicano Alumni, among others, for her support of students and alumni. Modesta’s 15 minutes of fame unfurled when she introduced Francisco Jimenez as the recipient of the award, 2002 U.S. Professor of the Year by CASE and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; the award ceremony was held at the National Press Club, Washington, D.C.