My name is Norma Perez. I am an English-Literature graduate student at California State University, Northridge. I began my college education as a Biochemistry major. Lost in the periodic table and unable to completely grasp the concepts behind chemical reactions, I knew my passion was elsewhere. It was through my involvement in several programs on campus that I discovered my passion for writing and teaching. I am the graduate research assistant for the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, a position that has further developed my passion for research, teaching and multicultural education. Aside from my involvement in the McNair Program, I am also a writing consultant and supervisor for the Chicano/a Studies Tutoring Center, a Supplemental Instruction leader for the Learning Resource Center, and an English instructor for another TRIO program, Upward Bound. As a Sally Casanova Scholar, I wish to engage in research that explores writing centers and tutoring as rich resources that provide needed academic interventions for those students whose first language is not English.