May 22, 2006

Appropriately timed to celebrate her 80th birthday next month, Ana Maria Armano has been selected to receive the Continuing Learning Experience Award at Cal State Fullerton.

Presented by Continuing Learning Experience (CLE), the honor, along with $250, is presented each year to an older Cal State Fullerton graduate with a high G.P.A. Armano is graduating cum laude with a B.A. in anthropology and will take part in commencement ceremonies Sunday, May 28. She is looking forward to wearing her cap and gown when she crosses the stage and is recognized for completing her bachelor’s degree — with her family and friends in attendance.

Born in Chicago, Armano was taken to Mexico by her parents at age 3 to live with her grandmother and uncles. She recalled evenings after dinner when she would sit on her grandmother’s lap and listen to the narratives by one of her uncles about books he had read. She usually fell asleep before the end of the stories and couldn’t wait until she could read the works of such literary figures as Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo for herself. Thus began her zest for learning, which continues to this day.

Years later, she moved back to the United States, where she married and had a son and daughter. She has three grandchildren and lives in the city of La Habra.

Armano worked in the business office of the Centinela Valley Union High School District for many years. Being bilingual, she received training to teach one evening adult business class each semester. After she retired, she began pursuing her college education.

Following her graduation from El Camino College, she enrolled at Cal State Fullerton in 1998. She majored in anthropology because of an interest in the origins and development of man. If she hadn’t studied anthropology, Armano says, she would have majored in astronomy.
“If I don’t work toward my master’s degree, I’d like to study speech and take gourmet cooking classes,” she says.

In addition to being active in her church and with her friends, Armano loves to read and especially enjoys the novels of American authors Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck, and those of the Scottish writer A. J. Cronin.

« back to News Front