South Stockton native accepted into Yale University Ph.D. program
STOCKTON — A south Stockton native and Edison High School graduate is preparing to become a doctor in American Studies with a Ph.D. from Yale University.
Saeeda Islam's reality once seemed only possible in a dream.
"I feel like I'm still kind of in shock like is this really happening," Islam said.
After growing up in Stockton and attending Edison High School, her new home is Yale's 300-year-old campus.
"Setting foot at an Ivy League institution on the first day of school felt very surreal for me; I was sitting in class and still couldn't believe it," Islam said.
Islam, whose first language was not English growing up, spoke to us from her family home in Stockton.
She graduated from Sacramento State with bachelor's and master's degrees in history.
The daughter of immigrants — her father was born in Pakistan, and her mother in Mexico; she learned English from friends and neighbors.
Islam says her south Stockton roots helped propel her to Yale once she determined she wanted to go all in — in academia.
"There were folks who told me that a master's was good enough, for a person like me, you know 'you're a child of immigrants, you're parents aren't very educated, this should be an accomplishment for you you're good right where you are,'" Islam said.
This Stockton community organizer and student of American history is undaunted in her pursuit of a Ph.D. from Yale University.
Her goal is to study her own identity as a Mexican American and Pakistani American.