SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Nomad Pallek, a community college student with an almost perfect GPA, has defied the odds by securing acceptance to UC Berkeley, while living in a car with his family.
“Is it painful to think back of what that was like?”
“To say the least yes, it is painful," Pallek said. "I still think about it to this day. Even right now when I got into UC Berkeley. I thought about ‘Oh I didn’t get a financial aid package, am I going to live out of my car again?’ it breaks you down as a person.”
Pallek was the student government president at San Diego Miramar College. His family of nine moved from Sri Lanka to Poway in 2016. They didn't speak English and struggled to find jobs.
“We would get one meal from outside and break it down to three meals, and just eat that throughout the day,” Pallek said.
Pallek had to rely on Miramar College's food pantry to feed himself. His personal struggles mirror a larger trend among students in the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), where 44% face food insecurity and 23% experience homelessness, according to a 2023 survey.
Homelessness among SDCCD students has increased significantly over the years.
“I'm sorry my family had to go through this. I'm sorry my sisters had to go through this," Pallek said. "It broke me in a good way that it allowed me to advocate for changes that can help students struggling just like me.”
During his time in the student government, Pallek advocated for these causes and was able to secure emergency grants from a nonprofit to support students in need. Now, he works at the college’s career center full-time.
“Many people in need, they turn to offices owned by the public government, and then there are a lot of resources that are missing. I feel like if I can get employed at a public office, I have the opportunity to provide the resources they need.”
Looking ahead, Pallek hopes to study political science at UC Berkeley, with aspirations to become a prosecutor at the District Attorney's office.
