Past CLFSA Scholarship Recipients
2016 - 2017 Alexis Alegria Master of Arts in Spanish
Mr. Alexis Alegria received her undergraduate degree in Spanish from CSUF.
2015 - 2016 Hilda Aboytia Higher Education
Ms. Aboytia received her undergraduate degree in Human Services from CSUF, and is presently pursuing her Masters in Higher Education at Cal State Fullerton. She is the first in her family to complete a Bachelor’s degree and a graduate program. Growing up in a single parent household, her mother always encouraged her to continue school and pursue a career. Currently a full time student, Hilda works in the Theatre and Dance Department at CSUF and assists with New Student Orientation, High School Festival, and the Theatre and Dance Annual Scholarship Reception. As an undergraduate student, she knew she wanted to work with college students as she interned with the Educational Opportunity Program and the Intensive Learning Experience Program. Hilda hopes to use her graduate degree to give back to the Latino community. She wants to support students by providing resources that can make their college journey a successful one. Not only has she been able to help students on campus, but also off campus by tutoring students in her neighborhood. Her goal is to become a coordinator of a TRIO Program to continue to support students.
2014 - 2015 Claudia Iztel Marquez Fine Arts Major
Claudia Itzel Marquez was born and raised in Boyle Heights, California, a community composed of mostly working class immigrant families. As the first in her family to attend college, completing an undergraduate degree is important for her and her family. Claudia’s parents' courage and resiliency to overcome economic, cultural, and language barriers has motivated her to persevere and pursue a college education.
As an undergraduate student at California State University, Fullerton, Claudia is completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting. Growing up in an urban community with few opportunities, Claudia was constantly challenged to seek alternative forms of learning, healing, expression, and empowerment. Thus far, art has been an invaluable tool of promoting her well-being and personal development.
Claudia is currently studying abroad in Florence, Italy, where she is attending the Accademia di Belle Arti for the fall and spring semesters. While there, she is interested in strengthening her painting skills and in developing a series of portraits exploring her identity, family genealogy, and borderlands. By expanding her horizons as an artist through this study abroad program, Claudia will gain a wider spectrum of tools and knowledge with which to better contribute to the wellness of her community back home. Claudia feels blessed to have the opportunity to immerse herself in a culturally rich experience that will ultimately nourish her personal growth.
Claudia states, “I feel very humbled to have been this year's Chicano/Latino Faculty and Staff Association scholarship recipient. The CLFSA scholarship will contribute to my personal and professional development while in Florence.”
2013 - 2014 Sergio Ivan Soledad Criminal Justice Major
Ever since Sergio can remember, his parents have instilled in him the need for the best education possible. Although they lacked a formal education, they always told him that the best inheritance they could leave him - was an education- far better than money. While being admitted to the G.AT.E program during his early schooling, Sergio realized that he was what many would call “a diamond in the rough.”
Living in predominantly Latino and lower-income communities where drugs, gangs, and violence are prevalent, Sergio has been able to overcome his environment, with the help of his parents, and is now proud to say that he is the first, on both sides of the family, to be in the process of completing a higher education. Although life can be rough, he always remembers the first “big word” he learned in elementary school. It was “perseverance.” He also recalls one teacher in high school telling him, “Don’t let anyone box you in, and prove them wrong.” Although he did not know anyone who had gone to college, Sergio knew that life could get better. That is why as a first-generation college student he tries to do his best to not only access as many resources possible, but also to give back in any manner he can.
Sergio is currently working three jobs; two on campus and one off campus. And with all three, he feels he is able to give back. As a Titan Ambassador at Cal State Fullerton – he provides tours to prospective students. Many are first-generation students such as he, and therefore feels a connection with them. He also hopes that his Hermanos Unidos organization, of which he is co-chair, will choose to become tour guides or leaders in their own right.
Being a student assistant at the Chicano/a Resource Center on campus has been the first step toward the development who Sergio is now. Although he was very shy before becoming part of the CRC, he now feels that he have grown as a person and can excite prospective students to come to CSUF and hopefully help them lose the same fears he had when he first started college. Sergio now feels like he can make a difference. Through his off-campus job at the library, Sergio continues to provide a helping hand. He provides his community with presentations on college life as well as shares his personal journey. Basically, Sergio tries to show everyone that if they think they cannot make it, to think again - because he is a real example of one who has, and is someone who lives just a few doorsteps away.
Sergio’s dad once told him, “I had to fall in love with what I do (construction) because I had no other choice.” He also told him that now Sergio has all the opportunities to do what he truly loves. Sergio will never forget who he is. He is now in his third year as a criminal justice major. Sergio states: “I am building my life just like a wall is built, one block at a time. I hope to attend law school once I graduate and one day will pursue a career in law in which I can help my family, while making my community a better place.”
