Butte College Scholarship Winners
Paige was born in Great Falls MT and lived there until she was 10. Her family then moved to Eugene, Oregon. A year later, Paige’s father passed away. Three years later her mother remarried, leading to a move to Chico.
Paige is planning to transfer to Davis to study Human Development and hopes to become a Family Nurse Practitioner or Midwife. She feels pretty confident that she will succeed because of her love for science and strong desire to help people, especially mothers and children.
Lulonee is currently in her fourth semester at Butte College and working as a barista at Starbucks, saving up money to continue her education. After this semester she plans to apply to a variety of nursing programs with a goal of becoming a registered nurse.
Chico State Scholarship Winners
Aging and Gerontology Education (A.G.E ) Scholarship Winner
Salina is studying for her Masters of Social Work at Chico State, having completed her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work there. She grew up in Crescent City with her Hmong family and is the first to graduate from a four-year university.
While working on her undergraduate degree, she interned at Alta California Regional Center with individuals of all ages dealing with developmental and intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy. This experience confirmed her passion for social work, specifically in mental health and clinical areas.
Salina is currently doing her field internship, working 24 hours per week at Passages Connections,
a prevention and early intervention program designed to provide mental health outreach and short-term counseling to older adults, their families, and community members in Butte County. According to Salina, “I am learning so much, not only as a student, but also personally.”
Patrick Borel, Director of Field Education in the Social Work Department, writes that Salina “is bilingual in English and Hmong, and is a caring and compassionate social work student who truly enjoys serving the aging population. The experiences from her internship and graduate program have greatly enhanced her personal and professional growth. She is very grateful to Soroptimist International of Chico for supporting her in this process of learning with the Aging and Gerontology Education (A.G.E.) Award. As she continues her social work journey, she is excited to see what the future has in store for her and the clients she will be fortunate enough to serve.”
Soroptimist Goodwill and Understanding Scholarship Winner
Ani is an international student from Tbilisi, Georgia. She came to Chico State last year to pursue a Masters of Fine Arts after completing a BFA in design at Tbilisi State Academy of Art TSAA). Ani wants to become an art teacher and educator, having taught and represented her country in a variety of capacities. For example, she helped students at TSAA learn cloth painting and paper making and interned at the Tbilisi State Silk Museum where she developed curriculum for interactive art lessons. She has used her amazing language skills (she speaks Georgian, Russian, English, Spanish, Arabic, Turkish, and German and understands Hebrew, Farsi, Italian, and Portuguese!) to become an artist for the globe. She joined an international youth cultural exchange company and became an effective program planner to help refugees in Germany integrate with their new communities. As Ani puts it, “I have always been taking part in …events to support equality, sustainable living….”
Ani’s father has been paying for her education but is going through financial difficulties, and she is concerned that she will not be able to focus on the classes she needs to achieve her career goals. Ani wants to change the world through global projects that use art as a door to human rights and global survival.
Soroptimist Graduate Student Scholarship Winner
Anthony has worked hard to complete his B.A. in Sociology and Social Sciences with the goal of pursuing a Master’s degree in either Social Science or Business Administration. Anthony has a passion for helping students, especially those like him who are from an underrepresented group and the first in their families to go to college. Growing up in Sacramento in a family of seven, he has worked since he was 13 at his father’s restaurant. Since coming to Chico State he has held multiple jobs while taking a full load of courses and leadership positions in various Student Affairs programs. He has been a resident advisor, a Freshman Leadership Opportunity Program facilitator and coordinator, an Upward Bound supervisor, and, since 2018, the Associated Students Executive Vice President.
His career goal is to work in the field of higher education and student affairs based in large part because of the impact that student affairs professionals at Chico State have had on his life. He had strong mentor professionals, many of whom who are recent graduates from college and who provided him with relatable and meaningful advice. Because graduate school is more expensive than undergraduate studies, Anthony is worried about his finances but knows that he will be much more effective in guiding students through to degree if he gains the expertise and experience graduate study will provide. The Soroptimist Graduate Student Scholarship will enable him to focus on his education and worry less about his family’s financial situation or working at multiple jobs to pay for his education.
click here to view the slideshow our Giving Committee put together for our Zoom presentation.
