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Candidate Profile: Heywood Mansergh

Please share your qualifications and why you are interested in serving on the San Mateo County Community College District Board of Trustees.

After reading the 2021-2022 Impact Report, I am excited to be given the chance to work in a group that is doing so many fantastic things for students. I had no idea that, essentially, the students could take the opportunities to build a secure foundation for the rest of their lives! I love to work on projects and there are many opportunities for a Board member to pursue. I came from Mills High School to C.S M., when I was just 17, and have lived in Millbrae all of my life. C.S.M. gave me a second chance to succeed, academically, and to go on with my high school friends. In high school, I was a jock, who went to school to play sports, and I missed so much school that I didn't have enough credits to graduate. So I took the California High School Proficiency Exam, and luckily, passed. In high school, I didn't party, so I made up for it the first two years at C.S.M. I decided not to compete in sports, I put too much emphasis on them in high school. By 19, my G.P.A. was back over 3.0. I then transferred to San Francisco State University. That first semester, I took one business class and the rest of my courses I took at C.S.M. night school. I continued to take more classes in real estate at C.S.M., and many film and voice classes at Skyline College, after graduating from S.F.S.U. My father also went to C.S.M. before transferring to Stanford. My mother taught English, Spanish and E.S.L. at C.S.M. and Skyline College. In 2015, I joined the San Mateo Athletic Club. So I never really left C.S.M. I recently met an 18-year-old Ukranian/American kid. He was trying to decide what to do with his life. I told him to take the Proficiency Exam and go on to C.S.M. because it's free. He would also still be with his friends. My friends from C.S.M. have been life-long friends. He was also a gymnast, which I was in high school, too. He reminded me of myself at that age. My advice to him is the same as it is for me. Go back to C.S.M.