>> ziani paiz: ah, like a pony ride once or twice. ( laughs ) >> wertheim: when we visited, ziani paiz up there a little bit ziani. >> paiz: up? >> gipson: there you go. >> wertheim: you could have gone to a school with-- with concerts, and parties, and football games. do you ever feel like you're missing out? >> paiz: no. ( laughs ) not at all. i feel like never again in my life am i going to have an opportunity to live in a place like this. >> wertheim: like everybody here, ziani was an academic all-star in high school. people back home in east l.a. found her choice of college mystifying. what'd your friends say when you told them where you were going to school? >> paiz: oh, they thought i was so stupid. >> wertheim: what do they think you should have done? >> paiz: taken a four-year scholarship to a real school. >> wertheim: was that-- was that an option? >> paiz: yeah. >> wertheim: can i ask what school? >> paiz: berkeley. ( laughter ) >> wertheim: you had a four-year scholarship lined up to berkeley? >> paiz: yeah. >> wertheim: you said, "nah. i'm-- i'm going to come to the desert