“Being a woman in STEM is already very hard. But being someone under the age of 30 in STEM adds another layer of difficulty,” says Victoria Cellucci, biology adjunct professor at Germanna. “I want to normalize being an expert in your field at a young age.”
At just 21 years old, Ms. Cellucci is the youngest faculty at Germanna.
“Everywhere I’ve gone, my age has always come as a shock,” recalls Ms. Cellucci, who started her college career at 11. “I’ve certainly experienced forms of age discrimination in most of the spaces I found myself in, and it got to be pretty discouraging.”
But despite the odds and doubts stacked against her, Ms. Cellucci’s age never stopped her from achieving success.
As an eager student passionate about learning, Ms. Cellucci started taking college courses early. She got her start at Germanna, enrolling in classes that seemed interesting to her.
“I was fortunate enough to have a family that helped me move forward when I was ready, as opposed to adhering to the traditional schooling timeline,” she says. “And, when I was 11 years old, I was ready for the next step in my education. I brought my SAT scores to Germanna, and they told me I was eligible to take classes.”
She did just that. Ms. Cellucci began taking college-level classes for fun, exploring topics that she was curious about. A particular topic of interest was biology.
“I’ve always loved biology,” says Ms. Cellucci. “But a lot of the professors I had at Germanna gave me the encouragement to pursue biology as a career.”
And with that, she started on her journey to becoming a microbiologist.
Ms. Cellucci was accepted into the University of Iowa’s biology program at 13 and started her undergraduate journey at 14, moving to a completely new environment to attend college.
“Living so far away from home at such a young age was definitely scary,” says Ms. Cellucci. “It was a major culture shock living on a college campus in the Midwest.” But bearing in mind her age, the University of Iowa staff put precautions in place to ensure she was safe and taken care of.
By 17, Ms. Cellucci graduated with her bachelor’s degree in microbiology, finishing her degree in three years instead of the typical four.
“All of my Germanna credits transferred to the University of Iowa, so I was able to graduate early because of that. Germanna provided such a strong foundation for me.”
After receiving her master’s degree in clinical microbiology at 20, Ms. Cellucci landed a full-time job working for a neurobiology research company. One of the company’s core values is giving back to the community and educating others, so Ms. Cellucci found it a perfect opportunity to get in front of the classroom.
“I’m glad that I have the opportunity to encourage students and pass on my knowledge as a professor,” she says, as she heads into her first semester of teaching part-time at the College. “Germanna is like home to me. I figured this would be a great place to get into teaching.”
With fall classes underway, Ms. Cellucci looks forward to connecting with students and helping them succeed at whatever stage of their journey they are in—just as her professors did for her when she attended Germanna.
As one of the only representatives of the Generation Z demographic on Germanna’s faculty and staff, Ms. Cellucci is confident that her age has not stunted her professional growth or ability. She is thankful for the opportunities she’s had, and she wouldn’t change anything about the trajectory of her life.