Natalie Wilberts
Natalie Wilberts
Natalie Wilberts was born in Indio and has grown up in the Coachella Valley. Currently, Natalie is a Junior at Shadow Hills High School in Indio and is in the process of searching for a college to attend. Natalie hopes to be the first in her family to graduate from college and attend a four-year institution.
Natalie is incredibly driven to achieve higher education and is in large part driven from seeing first-hand many lower income families in the Coachella Valley either not actively wanting to pursue higher education or feeling as though they did not have the ability to attend college. Natalie has realized how fortunate she is to be able to take advantage of the opportunity to attend college and have a family that supports and motivates her along the way.
As the Coachella Valley only has two-year colleges, Natalie has never considered staying local for college. While Natalie is aware of the Cal State San Bernardino Palm Desert Campus located in the Coachella Valley, Natalie’s teachers and counselors rarely speak about it and she knows many people ultimately commute to the Cal State San Bernardino main campus. Natalie would definitely consider staying local if there was a four-year Cal State University in the Coachella Valley because it would erase the distance between her and her family, as well as possibly help her save on housing costs.