Sat Nov 15, 2025: Community College to Stanford: Student Stories Panel

Sebastian Pintea is a Senior at Stanford University, studying Environmental Systems Engineering and minoring in Spanish on the premed track. He graduated from Santiago Canyon College with associate’s degree(s) in biology, chemistry, liberal arts: humanities, and liberal arts: math, and sciences. He grew up in Corona, California where he explored his intersectional interests in mental health, sustainability, and medicine. At his CC, he was involved in student government where he spearheaded numerous events related to sustainability and mental healthcare such as Earth Week. He started his school’s STEM club and was involved in PTK and the honors program where he presented research at three conferences at UCI and Stanford. His past summers included research at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, UPenn Perelman School of Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine, and Harvard University, resulting in poster presentations and ongoing manuscripts. At Stanford, he is the co-founder of project AWISH at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital which aims to reduce medical waste and promote sustainability in healthcare. He continues my environmental health activism with Students for a Sustainable Stanford, Stanford Climate and Health, and Cardinal Free Clinics alongside working as a clinical research assistant at the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine and a social behavioral science intern at the Office of Sustainability. In his free time, he enjoys engaging in hobbies related to water polo, cooking, and dancing on one of Stanford’s competition-based hip-hop teams. He looks forward to speaking with you all about his transfer journey along with his CC peers at Stanford!

Ghazal Azhdari Mamooreh is a junior Biology transfer student at Stanford. She moved to the U.S. from Iran about three years ago and started her journey at Santa Monica College. Adjusting to a new country came with challenges — she struggled with language barriers, cultural differences, and learning how the education system here worked — but SMC became a place where she grew a lot. She worked as a Chemistry SI Leader and STEM tutor, and last summer she interned at Kite Pharma, where she learned about CAR T-cell therapy and how science translates into real treatments.
Outside the classroom, she loves baking and reading, especially about bioethics and health policies.She is still exploring what direction she wants to take in the future, but she is excited to keep learning and growing along the way.