From Taiwan to Bakersfield

50th anniversary alumni spotlight: Isabel Bramer

By California State University, Bakersfield

September 8^th, 2020

It might have been a chance encounter at a farm that brought Isabel Bramer’s family to Bakersfield from Taiwan, but the community she found here – especially at California State University, Bakersfield – has been sweeter than any piece of fruit that could be picked.

Bramer, now a high school math teacher, graduated from CSUB with her mathematics degree in 1996, just six years after moving to the United States at 14 years old with her parents. On a trip to Bakersfield to visit his brother, Bramer’s father went to a pick-it-yourself farm and quickly became smitten with the sunshine and the fresh produce the region had to offer. On that same trip, he decided to buy a house in the developing neighborhood where his brother lived and bring the family over from Taiwan.

It wasn’t an easy transition for the teenaged Bramer, whose first language is Mandarin Chinese. Though she struggled through English classes, mathematics and science were a lifeline for Bramer, who attended South High School her first year before moving to Stockdale High School when it opened.

“Because of coming from a different country with a different background with different language skills, I think I just grabbed math as a rope,” Bramer, 45, said. “It made me feel like, ‘OK, I can breathe a little bit. I know something here.’”

Though she worked hard in school, college was not a sure thing for Bramer. Her father was a businessman, but times were hard. She had to work to help her family, so leaving town was not an option.

“My parents said, ‘There’s no money for you. We know you’re a good student and you like to study, but there’s no way we can support you,’” Bramer recalled.

Fortunately, she received a scholarship from the National Science Foundation. “They basically paid for everything. My parents could not say no, because I’m not asking them for money to go off to school.”

Bramer said she and her family were essentially lost when it came to applying for college, but she decided to look into CSUB because that’s where friends of hers were going.

Feeling motivated to make the most of her time and finish her degree in case her scholarship ran out, Bramer graduated in just two-and-a-half years. With an overload of classes and three jobs, Bramer’s days often went from early morning to late night.

“I’m very thankful that Cal State was there for me because it gave me a place where I could actually manage all these things, and still get my education done and still help my family as well,” she said. “I think that’s the biggest advantage of attending Cal State, I could stay close to family and help my family. I think with a lot of students, it’s the same thing probably.”

Bramer continued to work different jobs after graduating. She knew teaching was an option for her but worried her English might hold her back. But substitute teaching and a fortuitous, if temporary, job at Centennial helped her gain confidence.

Jan. 25, 1999, a rare snow day in Bakersfield, was Bramer’s first day teaching mathematics at Centennial, before she’d even earned her credential because the school had added more math classes and needed more teachers. School had been canceled, she remembered, and the next day she had to hunt all over the campus for her four different classrooms, where she taught five classes.

“After I started working, that was it,” she said. “It’s like I found my calling. It was like ‘Oh this is not bad, even though the first day was snowed in!’”

Though there wasn’t a position at Centennial for her that fall, she was encouraged to apply at East High School. Since then, she has also worked at Stockdale High School, Centennial again, and Independence High School, where she is currently. Each move gave her a different subject to teach, she said, and she was eager to try new things in her career.

Bramer later returned to CSUB to get her master’s degree in mathematics teaching, which she obtained in 2010. It was there that she really became a part of the CSUB family. She especially enjoyed classes taught by Dr. Joseph Fiedler and Dr. David Gove.

For the last 10 years, Bramer has also taught off and on at CSUB as her schedule has allowed. She mostly teaches the “teacher wannabes,” as she calls them, the pre-service teachers who need to pass an algebra and geometry class before their credential program. Now, she’s a member of the Mathematics Department (part of CSUB’s School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering) not just as an alumna but as an educator herself.

“I think that after working so hard herself, she has great empathy for the various hardships that some of her students encounter and have to go through,” said Dr. Gove, chair of the department. “While there is a wide variety of our classes that she could teach, we usually ask her to teach the classes for students who want to become teachers themselves. She is a great role model and inspiration for these cohorts of students.”

The professors in the department have seen her along every part of her professional and personal journey, Bramer said. They saw her go from a student to a teacher, from a teenager to a wife and mother of two sons. They even know her husband, Richard, well too. Overall, her experience at CSUB has been a great one, she said.

“I met lots of good friends over there, and that Math Department is something else,” she said. “It’s like a little family to me. There are not a lot of places with professors where you can just knock on the door and just go in and rant. Cal State definitely