Caroline Alvarez surprises people when she tells them her major, because many don’t expect the current Associated Student Inc. (ASI) president to be an aspiring nurse. 

Even in her previous role as ASI’s executive for external affairs, people often assumed she majored in political science or something similar. Alvarez agreed that her ASI position strays away from her nursing major, but medicine has always been her first passion. 

“When I was applying for colleges, I definitely looked for ones that had a nursing program or had the bio-nursing major, because I knew that’s always what I wanted to do,” she said. 

While attending Edison High School, Alvarez was already in the biomedical pathway.

“That’s kind of when that whole health career sparked for me,” she said

While Alvarez initially thought about being a physician, she decided nursing was the route for her.   

“Nurses hold a very special role in being personable with their patients and getting to know them on an emotional level,” she said. 

Whether it be as ASI president or a future nurse in the medical field, Alvarez always wanted to be the type of person to help and guide people in their lives. Alvarez is currently serving her first term as ASI president after ASI unanimously voted to approve her. 

Moses Menchaca, her brother-in-law, said he’s always known Alvarez to be a smart and caring person since he first met her as a high-schooler. 

During that time, Menchaca was the ASI president at Fresno State before he graduated in 2015. 

Before he married Alvarez’s eldest sister, Menchaca remembered having to meet his future parents-in-law and seeing a 16-year-old Alvarez on the couch when he walked in. 

“She had this textbook — I don’t know what she was studying — but it looked like it was bigger than her, and it almost looked like she was a little kid sitting down… She was eating, I think it was apples,” Menchaca said. 

Stressing out about meeting his girlfriend’s parents, Menchaca remembered Alvarez looking up at him and offering him an apple slice. The small gesture was enough for him to regain his confidence and feel comfortable, he said.

According to Alvarez, Menchaca is the one who encouraged her to join ASI.

He said ASI needed someone like her because she’s a Fresno native and a strong Latina representative for Fresno State. 

Alvarez, a third-generation Chicana, is the youngest of three. Her grandparents were farmworkers who emigrated from Mexico, and her parents were born in the U.S. Her mother is also a Bulldog alumna, and Alvarez said they frequently talk about the university.

“She and I talk about Fresno State all the time, which is fun because some of her professors were my professors [too]. I think she really helps take off a lot of stress,” Alvarez said. 

Born and raised in Fresno herself, Alvarez said the city has a lot of “hidden gems” and that she loves the diverse cultures she grew up with. From the Pride Parade to eating at Castillos on a Sunday morning after church, she embraces the Fresnan culture and said it’s hard to think of living anywhere else.

While her ASI position was a departure from her major, Alvarez did find similiarities between ASI and the medical field.

As an executive, she helped students with resources to vote, and she noted that a lot of that deals with medical topics.  

“I loved my job last year because I really think voting and registering people to vote is so impactful in this country. Also, that deals with a lot of medical issues and a lot of health and wellness,” she said. 

Networking is another common trait, Alvarez added. ASI has helped her talk to students and people with different personalities, which she said can help her communication skills in her future job. 

“I’m gonna meet a lot of different people in the medical field, and you’re gonna have some people that really want to talk to you, [and] some people that don’t really want to talk to you,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez previously told The Collegian before that she had no interest in running for ASI president, but when a vacancy needed to be filled, she decided to leave her “comfort zone.” 

As an executive she had her specific areas to manage, but as president, she now looks over the entire campus, she said.

Menchaca said it’s refreshing to get someone who isn’t the typically motivated ASI candidate, but instead someone like Alvarez, who stepped up when needed. 

ASI isn’t the only way Alvarez has been pushing out of her comfort zone. She said she has been making efforts to try more things in her “low-key life.”

“I just try to be active where I can and try to find things that… kind of relax me and reminds me that, yes, I’m the president [and] I’m this nursing student, but also I can go out [and] I can have fun too,” she said. 

Alvarez enjoys rock climbing, going to the gym and walking her 90-pound boxer, Hercules.

Alvarez’s journey at Fresno State isn’t over, either. She was recently accepted into the Fresno State nursing program for spring 2023.

She advises incoming freshmen majoring in pre-nursing to take prerequisite courses through Fresno City College while working on another degree at Fresno State. She didn’t know this at first, but said taking half of her required courses at Fresno City saved a lot of time. 

Alvarez is working on her health administration degree as well. She said that her goal is to be a registered nurse (RN), however, and she might not move to administration.

“I really do enjoy talking to people, and I fear that the higher up I go that I might lose that personal connection,” Alvarez said.

Her long-term goal is to get a master’s degree and become a nurse practitioner, but for now, Alvarez’s message to Fresno State students is that ASI is there for them.

“I just want them to know that we do a lot of behind-the-scenes type of work, and I think it’s important to me and to my senators… I know [students] may not even know my name, but I definitely would just want them to know that, regardless, I’m here for you,” she said.