CSUF Was a Critical Choice
Correa also grew up in Anaheim and attended public school, graduating from Anaheim High. His mother worked as a maid in a hotel near Disneyland, and for many years was the family’s primary breadwinner. “If it wasn’t for Fullerton, I think it would have been a little bit difficult to make it,” he says. “It was the choice that was optimal given my circumstances.”

Although he had been accepted by both UCLA and USC, and had received an Educational Opportunity Program grant, Correa says he chose Fullerton because he would be able to live at home, and he needed some remedial classes. “Fullerton was there to fit the bill. I chose the school with the highest probability of success. I was striving for the American Dream, and that’s where the Cal State system came in handy.”

After graduating from Fullerton, Correa went on to UCLA to earn degrees in law and business. Correa was an investment banker before successfully running for the Assembly in 1998. He lives in Santa Ana with his wife, Esther Reynoso-Correa, and their four children.

Jack O’Connell grew up in Ventura County. His father was a security guard and his mother a nurse. While attending Oxnard High, he decided to enroll at Fullerton on the recommendation of a friend. O’Connell, who majored in history and geography, was one of those rare students who lived in a campus dormitory. He was, as he puts it, “a serious student,” devoting himself more to studies than building a social life.

O’Connell later earned a secondary teaching credential at Cal State Long Beach and taught high school for several years in Ventura County before winning election to the state Assembly in 1982. In 1994 he won election to the state Senate. O’Connell and his wife, Doree, live in San Luis Obispo.

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