Richard Flahive

With a highly unstable childhood, Richard largely missed out on elementary school. “I attended second and third grades, then didn’t consistently begin school again until the last three months of sixth grade. I lived in a motel for seven years, and while it seems minor in retrospect, the amount of courage it took to remain involved with school while dealing with personal issues took an emotional toll.” He went to San Diego City College where he made up for lost time. He made the Dean’s List for his last two years there and was named Outstanding Peer Mentor of 2014. “I'm continuing to be a Mentor here at UCSD as well. I just got hired as a Peer Mentor for the TRiO Student Support Services Program starting in fall 2015.” His experience as a mentor has shaped his desire to work in education, and he plans to study how education connects to poverty. “I’m interested in drama and music coinciding with my work in education, examining the role of performance art in schools and the impoverished.”