Student Spotlight: Harnessing the power of belief

As a high school student in Temecula, California, Elysabeth Emalani Buncab never truly believed that her best was good enough. No matter how hard she worked or how much she succeeded, she was always a receptive audience for that pesky voice in her head peddling negativity.

“I was really hard on myself,” Buncab recalls. “I was the type of student where my parents had to tell me to go to bed because I was studying so late. I was always worried about ‘I'm not gonna get into college,’ or ‘I'm not gonna be able to do this and that.’”

Fortunately, she found someone whom she could lean on — a teacher in her Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program who believed in Buncab when she didn’t.

“I got my first acceptance letter, she was like ‘I told you you were gonna get into college, I told you!’” she recalls, smiling. “She was always that person."

Now a graduate student at San Diego State University, Buncab is eagerly preparing to be “that person” for future generations. She is starting her final semester of a two-year M.S. in School Counseling program, which she hopes will set her on a path to become a high school, college and career counselor.

"I want to be a safe place for students,” she explains. “Growing up, it was hard for me to build relationships with adults. Usually, adults were authoritative figures. But in a counseling space, I want students to feel comfortable talking to me about anything.”

Connecting with students

Buncab is already building those connections during a field work internship at Eastlake High in Chula Vista. The work includes practical matters like helping students apply to college and secure financial aid — something she herself needed a hand with as a first-generation university hopeful from a military family.

As she’s spent time around her students, she’s recognized familiar challenges — particularly around mental health, which she says the younger generation is much more inclined to talk about than their parents. Buncab has also relished the lighter moments of getting to know her students as individuals, navigating the awkwardness of adolescence.

"I have silly conversations, too,” she says. “It doesn't have to be like, OK well, your grades aren't where they should be.’ It's also, ‘How are you doing. How are you actually? Hearing them talk about their own worlds and getting to be part of that a little bit is really fun."

Coming from a Filipino family — a background many of her students at Eastlake share — has also allowed her to connect over culture. When she tells them, “I know where you’re coming from” and offers advice, the words hold weight. 

"When Filipino families come in, they're able to recognize me, and we're able to connect a little bit more,” she said. “That's always fun because it feels like more of a familial relationship. It's like, I know you even if we don't really know each other. It's heartwarming.”

Enjoying the moment

Buncab has also found great enjoyment and self-discovery from studies at SDSU. The school counseling program, she said, encourages students to “do the work” of knowing themselves on a deeper level — an imperative that has inspired her to explore her Filipino culture. 

She’s also found support within a tight-knit 17-person cohort. Bonding with her classmates is part of what gave her the confidence to take on the role of co-president for SDSU’s School Counseling Graduate Student Association.

"In some of the toughest times, they've really held me up,” Buncab said. “That's what I really enjoy about this program. I've never been in a community like this, where everyone is truly rooting for you, wants you to do your best and wants to see you succeed in every way.”

Another lesson the program has taught her is to “enjoy where your feet are at.” In other words: Slow down and take it all in. For someone so driven that she earned a bachelor’s degree in cognitive psychology from UC San Diego in just three years, it was something Buncab admits she needed to hear. 

“Overworking is not going to increase my output,” she said. “It's just going to burn me out.”

It’s a mental shift that shows Buncab might finally believe what her AVID teacher in Temecula used to constantly tell her so many years ago.

Her best is good enough.