Sierra College Scholarships
2023 Recipients
On Friday, March 31st, the Scholarship Committee had the pleasure of interviewing Sierra College students for our 3 available AAUW Roseville-South Placer 2023-24 scholarships. So, I’d like to introduce you to the 3 outstanding students we had the pleasure of offering our scholarships to! We’re sure you’ll agree that these 3 students will be successful in the future and it’s a pleasure to help them attain their educational goals while at Sierra College.
Samar is a new single mom and domestic abuse survivor. She attended college in Florida as a business major but found it didn’t “fulfill” her. She changed her major to “pursue her dream of becoming a nurse” but found she was pregnant and her abuse began after the baby was born. Her husband insisted they move to California, away from everyone she knew and physically and emotionally abused her, so that she lived in constant fear and hopelessness. She is now trying to rebuild her life without any family support and fighting for child and spousal support. She ended her application with “The main thing that contributes to my healing has been my return to school. While I was not a good student in the past, my motivation, desire and need to succeed has drastically changed. An education is something that no one can take away from you and I never comprehended that until recently. I am doing this for my daughter and for myself.” Both of her letters of recommendation were glowing, and one ended with “Samar is very deserving of this scholarship opportunity, as she has not just put in a great amount of work to better herself and fight to get the life she wants, but is a kind and generous person. She has goals of becoming a nurse one day and I have no doubt that she will accomplish this and much more."
Xuan moved to the U.S. from China in 2016 and is a single parent. She has a bachelor’s degree from China and was a pharmacist for 6 years but would have to repeat all her training to work as a pharmacist in the United States. Her focus is very much on her son but also on her education and decision to become a teacher, which is one of her childhood dreams. She says she loves working with children and in China, she went to the education center to teach children after finishing her work in the hospital every day. Last year, her professor recommended that she become a peer tutor and she went through the extensive CRLA (College Reading and Learning Association) Tutor Training Program. After weeks of training and tutoring for ESL (English as a Second Language) classes, Xuan created and presented a project on Essay Writing Tips for ESL students struggling to come up with English phrases when writing essays. She currently works closely with faculty and students in the Tutor Center as an office assistant in addition to attending classes. A 2nd reference said that she has the passion, hard work ethic and skills needed in a career working in the field of early education. The final sentences in the reference say “Xuan truly deserves any assistance that is given to her in support of her educational and professional goals and allows her to work less and have more time for her family and studies. She handles everything that comes up effectively and with grace.”
Lin is married and has a 7 year old son. She says that when she first moved to the U.S. from China, she was lost because learning English was a problem. She couldn’t understand and speak English even though she had studied English for almost 20 years before she arrived! After she started taking the ESL courses at Sierra College, she became more fluent and is now able to tutor ESL students. She found her interest and strength in the ESL education field and chose English Literature as her major. Her ultimate goal is to transfer to CSUS, obtain her BA and hopefully work in
the ESL education field professionally in the future. Her husband works as a commercial driver, but they are still struggling financially. She is working part time as an ESL tutor and mentoring 3 new ESL tutors. Lin’s references stress how committed she is to not only her studies but also to supporting her peers. One of them wrote that she has been very successful in both her ESL classes and her English classes. “In fact, she is working toward an English degree and is probably more likely to succeed than most first language speakers of English!”