OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Alexsandra Cortés, Academic Counselor
541-737-3911
Alexsandra Cortés was born in Brazil where most of her family of nine was born. Her dad a native Brazilian and her mom a descendant of Russian immigrants, made the hard decision to migrate to the United States in 1995 due to the poverty they were facing and the hopes of a better life. Already having family in Oregon, the family settled in the small town of Gervais. Alexsandra is the fifth child of nine and the first to go and graduate college. Do to her Russian orthodox upbringing; education was not a high value especially for women. Instead of getting married and having children like most, Alexsandra pushed the boundaries to pursue her dream to continue her education. Moving away from home to Oregon State University (OSU) was one of the biggest challenges and therefore, Alexsandra lost a lot of family support for a couple years. Though she faced these challenges being at OSU and in CAMP her first year, with all the support from the staff and mentors, she made it to the other side. During her time in undergrad, Alexsandra was a mentor for CAMP for two years. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Sciences, with a double minor is Psychology and Spanish. Alexsandra grew a passion for supporting students like herself, which led to a master’s program at OSU in the College Student Services Administration (CSSA), with a specialization in underrepresented students. During her time in CSSA, she got the opportunity to intern with CAMP. As Alexsandra was getting ready to graduate in June 2016 with her M.ED. She was offered a one-year position with CAMP as the retention specialist. As her one year ended, the position for the CAMP Academic Counselor opened up and she jumped right on it. Outside of CAMP, Alexsandra is married to her CAMP sweet heart Emanuel and they have a one year old son Alexsander Emanuel, as well as an Alaskan Malamute named Storm.
“I am so honored to be giving back to CAMP because they have done so much for me academically, personally and professionally. I truly love my job!”- Alexsandra