Helping Single Moms Study

Five Cal State Fullerton Students Receive YWCA Scholarships

July 9, 2007

By Mimi Ko Cruz

One is living in a homeless shelter with her autistic daughter. Another is physically disabled and raising a son with a learning disability. Three other single mothers also have obstacles they are overcoming. All five have financial hardships and are raising their children while completing bachelor’s degrees at Cal State Fullerton.

All five mothers recently received financial assistance from the YWCA of North Orange County, thanks to the organization’s Thurmond College Scholarships. Four of the recipients, who are attending school full time, received $2,000 scholarships and one, who is studying part time, received a $1,000 scholarship during an awards luncheon at the Wyndham Hotel in Fullerton.

The award recipients are:

Lilli Asiabanpour of Mission Viejo, business administration with a concentration in accounting
Asiabanpour, the lone part-time student, focuses on what is important in her life — her daughter and her college education.

She maintains a 3.98 grade point average and hopes to become a certified public accountant.

“I want to succeed in every aspect of my life despite all the obstacles I have,” she noted. “I have been tolerant of many disappointments and have survived frustrating challenges and experiences. I’m a dedicated and hard-working mother who wants the best for her child.”

Patricia Campbell of Yorba Linda, anthropology
Campbell became disabled after suffering a compound fracture and dislocated leg and ankle from a fall during a mountain hike. She calls her fall and resulting 13 months of recovery a “blessing in disguise” as it enabled her to think about her direction in life, including earning a couple of college degrees.

Campbell plans to become a preservationist, archivist and educator. On graduation day next spring, she —whose parents never graduated from high school — will become the first in her family to complete a bachelor’s degree. A part-time employee in the Pollak Library, Campbell plans to pursue a master’s degree in anthropology after earning her undergraduate degree.

“I consider myself a cultural anthropologist with a primary interest in ethno-musicology,” she noted. “My passion is to work in a museum or similar setting, promoting cultural preservation and tolerance through music, combining my training and love of music with cultural diversity.”

Campbell said her hard-work ethic, perseverance and good attitude help her overcome challenges and obstacles and make her an excellent role model for her son, who has a learning disability.

“Parenting is hard work, even more difficult when we face our own challenges and feel lost or broken,” Campbell wrote in her scholarship application. “However, when we strive to overcome these obstacles and succeed, it is tremendously satisfying.”

Shannon Ortiz of Tustin, English
Ortiz hopes to become a high school English teacher following completion of her bachelor’s degree in May. The mother and her two daughters — a 7-year-old and a 5-year-old who has autism — currently live in a Salvation Army-run home, but in September, will be moving into an apartment of their own.

“I left my husband of five years after a domestic violence incident,” Ortiz said. “I did not want my daughters mirroring negative behavior, such as staying in an abusive relationship…. I want to teach high school juniors and seniors because I think that adolescents at that age don’t yet feel the constraints of society and they’re able to do some really amazing work. I think it will be exciting to work with that particular age group.

“I really want to graduate, be successful and independent to set a good example for my children. I want to live in such a manner that I could be proud of them emulating,” she said.

Farhana Saima of Highland, pre-business
Saima hopes to pursue a career in brand management. After completing her bachelor’s degree, she plans to earn a master’s degree in public relations and corporate communication.

She speaks three languages — English, Bengali and Hindi — and maintains a 3.75 grade point average.

In a letter of support for Saima, Benedicta Lusk, lecturer in management, wrote: “I have had the opportunity to see Ms. Saima at work, both in independent and group projects that required her to remain flexible and embrace the challenges of working with a diverse team while meeting deadlines. Her first project was to present me with a personal assessment along with a five-year plan of action to achieve her goals. It was during this project that I discovered that Farhana had a knack for writing and that she stood out from the crowd because of her passion to succeed.”

Midori T. Tanaka of Irvine, international business with a concentration in Japanese
After Tanaka graduated from high school, she attended Arizona State University for three semesters before dropping out, getting married and having two children.

She worked on the accounting staffs of several companies, but always felt as though she lacked the skills that come with a bachelor’s degree.

“The combination of studying, working and raising my children has not been easy for me, but today, I am confident that I will receive a bachelor’s degree in international business by spring 2008,” she said in her scholarship application. “My work habits and motivation to study every day have also helped my children. Every night, they sit down with me and we study together. Whenever my children have questions for me, I am so thankful that I am capable to teach them.”

Thurmond Support
“My parents started this scholarship to help single mothers who have a need for financial assistance,” Don Thurmond said. “It’s a niche that needed to be filled.”

To qualify for the scholarship, recipients must be at least 24 years old, have a 2.0 or higher grade point average and be working toward completing an undergraduate degree, said Diane Masseth-Jones, executive director for the YWCA of North Orange County.

Masseth-Jones said there are plenty of scholarship offers for younger students fresh out of high school, but few for single mothers, who often need the most financial assistance.

“The YWCA’s Thurmond College Scholarship recipients are role models for other single parents,” said Rosamaria Gomez-Amaro, director of CSUF’s diversity and equity programs and president of the YWCA’s board of directors.

“In spite of their circumstances as single parents with very limited incomes and — in many cases — domestic abuse, they have not allowed life’s setbacks to limit their futures. With determination, each has faced the challenges of balancing multiple roles successfully — as single parents raising their children and actively participating in their lives, at work as exemplary employees or holding more than one job to support their families, as activists or leaders in their communities for women’s and children’s rights and excelling in their college classes," she said.