PolyCentric University News Center

The California State University has selected 19 students, including a Cal Poly Pomona student, to receive the 2006/07 William R. Hearst/CSU Trustees Award for Outstanding Achievement. The winners will be honored Sept. 19 at 4 p.m., at the CSU Office of the Chancellor in Long Beach.

The award provides $3,000 scholarships to students who have demonstrated financial need, experienced personal hardships and have attributes of merit including superior academic performance, exemplary community service, and significant personal achievements.

The William Randolph Hearst Foundation established an endowed scholarship fund in 1984 to honor William Randolph Hearst, founder of the Hearst newspaper chain. In 1999, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation partnered with the CSU Board of Trustees to supplement the endowment with contributions from CSU Trustees and private donors.

The 2006/07 award recipients are:

Lesley Felton, Cal Poly Pomona, is a master's student in architecture. After a childhood troubled by parental illness and death, by homelessness, and by financial need that sent her to work at 14, Lesley became an honor student determined to make a difference. A volunteer home builder and designer, she hopes to earn her architect's license and create a firm focused on building environmentally friendly buildings.

Summer Wood, Cal State Bakersfield, is a nursing student working on her bachelor's degree. An energetic, athletic, and enthusiastic woman, Summer was drawn to the health care field by her aunt and uncle who helped raise her. Committed to community service, she has spent countless hours assisting the American Cancer Society as well as tutoring in local schools.

Anna Sorensen, CSU Chico, had an unquenchable thirst for education and personal betterment that survived a childhood of abuse, domestic violence, and social isolation that left her a dropout on the streets. She is currently an honor student in the field of sociology and womens studies and a hard-working mother of three with plans for continuing her education and making a difference in the world.

Tamanika Ferguson, CSU Dominguez Hills, is majoring in African studies and public administration and plans to earn a master's in social work prior to establishing a non-profit service organization. After a childhood in a gang-ridden community and a pointless, destructive life, she re-entered college where she achieved the academic and personal success that she hopes will be a model for others.

Marco Zahedi, Cal State East Bay, is completing his bachelor's degree in biochemistry on his way to a career as a medical family practitioner. A lover of the outdoors, music, and literature, he serves as a neighborhood natural disaster leader. He is co-founder of the campus Pre-Health Professional Association and a volunteer at the Crisis Support Services and at Highland Hospital.

Ben Davis, Cal State Fullerton, led an active, far-ranging life prior to turning from a focus on basketball to teaching. Starting work at age 14, he later worked at a Los Angeles Skid Row ministry, took a mission trip to Mozambique, taught English in China and elementary school in Costa Mesa, and wrote, directed, and produced a television show. He is now seeking a teaching career, possibly at the college level.

Sarah Cole, Humboldt State, is a junior majoring in international studies with a minor in German. The first in her family to attend college, Sarah works several jobs to support her education. She was Californias Youth Ambassador to Germany and plans join the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps. After a bout with skin cancer, she in turn became a volunteer helping children with cancer and their families.

Vicki Storberg, Cal State Long Beach, is studying recreation and leisure studies with a certificate in therapeutic recreation. Growing up without a mother in an abusive home, she wandered without goals until, entering her 30s, she found a focus in higher education. She plunged into college life, studying hard, mentoring, and volunteering, including work for Hope University teaching the developmentally disabled.

Ana Diaz, Cal State L.A., is a child development major specializing in administration. Raised as a child in El Salvador, she overcame language and cultural challenges after coming to the U.S. She currently assists at Bright Horizons, a child development center for Paramount Studio employees. Although she began her education career as a nursing student, she now hopes to help others as a child development director and through teaching young adults.

Adriana Pacheco, CSU Monterey Bay, is a business major with a minor in Spanish who came from Mexico as a child and spent her youth picking summer crops in the Central Coast. The first in her family to attend college, she has worked in AIDS ministry and as a tutor to young children. She hopes to give back to her community and show them the opportunities for a better life.

Anne Huddleston, Cal State Northridge, came to the academic world late. Born in London of show-business parents, she worked as a musician, as a saleswoman, and as a karate school owner. She was in her 40s when she returned to school to study history and become a teacher. Now a masters student in history, she is a top writer, researcher, teaching assistant and tutor.

Heather Matthews, Sacramento State, is a 49-year-old student in career counseling, who returned to pursue her masters degree after stopping out to raise her son and after losing her job due to injuries caused by a car accident. Heather seeks to become a counselor to help people with disabilities and other challenges entering the job market and achieving personal success.

Robert L. Goode, Cal State San Bernardino, is a native Californian and economics major. After a troubled youth that saw him repeatedly expelled from school and later incarcerated by the Youth Authority, he vigorously applied himself to education to become an honor student. Having faced tragedy himself, with the death of his wife and with personal medical problems, he hopes to make a difference in the world.

Khadija Cunningham, San Diego State, is a sociology major. Raised in a single-parent home in a high-crime area, she knows the struggle of poverty. A member of the community improvement group, ACORN, she has helped prepare income tax forms and worked to improve community schooling. Her goal is to continue her work in community development and teach in the field at the university level.

Fatima Jinnah, San Francisco State, is a master's student with a specialization in career and college counseling. Coming from a rough neighborhood and a culturally mixed background, she has worked widely with groups in her community, tutoring, mentoring and speaking for underrepresented students. An AmeriCorps volunteer and a budding professor, she hopes to work for widespread social change.

Andrea Nance, San Jose State, is a nursing student who plans to work as a community public health nurse. Growing up in a home hurt by alcohol and drugs,
she dropped out of high school and began working to support her family. Inspired by the nurses she met while young, she decided to return to school and learn to serve others as she herself had been served.

Melissa Jean ONeal, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, is master'sstudent in agriculture specializing in plant protection science. Coping with the death of her father and her mothers serious illness, Melissa supported herself while undergoing an undergraduate education burdened by injuries received in a car crash. She wants to work as a researcher in controlling crop infestations.

Katrina Hammer, Sonoma State, is pursuing her multiple-subject teaching credential. A dancer, an AmeriCorps volunteer teaching English-language learners, and an elementary school student teacher, Katrina has already earned a bachelors in communications and women and gender studies. Her strong community spirit, enthusiasm, and warmth will make her an outstanding teacher.

Texas Keo, Cal State Stanislaus, is studying to be an elementary school teacher. With her mothers death and the jailing of her father, she has had to act as parent to her four younger siblings. Bilingual in Cambodian and English, she has volunteered at community elementary schools and hopes to become an effective teacher helping children gain the knowledge needed to succeed in life.

Since its inception in 1974, the award has honored 135 students. For more information about the students, please contact the public affairs offices at the campuses.