May 14, 1998
Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
(818) 677-2130
cchandler@exec.csun.edu
"These individual stories are truly what CSUN is all about," said Ron Kopita, vice president for student affairs. "We are providing an opportunity for individuals, even under the most adverse circumstances, to see through their goals. These young people exemplify the university and its students."
Here is a short list of these extraordinary graduates:
Antunez, 40, of North Hills, originally enrolled at CSUN 10 years ago, but financial difficulties forced him to drop out. He re-enrolled in the fall of 1994, one semester after an earthquake ravaged the campus.
Coming back to school has not been easy. As the sole support of his wife and two daughters, ages 1 and 4, Antunez has held down two jobs. He works 40 hours a week as executive secretary to CSUN's Provost, and 15-20 hours a week at the Learning Tree University in student services. Somehow he managed to squeeze in a couple classes each semester.
"It was important to us that my wife be able to stay home with our girls, so some how we've made it work," he said. "It's amazing, but I do manage to get quality time with them because they are the priority of my life. I just have a lot of things on my mind all the time."
Antunez, the first in his family to get a college degree, said his family is looking forward to his commencement.
"It's really our graduation," he said. "They worked just as hard as I did for it. Hopefully we'll have more time together now."
As a teenager, Coupland saw no need for school and dropped out her sophomore year of high school. When her step-mother insisted that she re-enroll in school, Coupland refused to get out of the car.
Coupland said she's grown up since then.
Immersing herself with school work, the 26-year-old Northridge resident managed to fund her own education by working on campus. She worked closely with CSUN professors doing research in sex roles and diversity issues.
"I feel that I was given a second chance and want to help other people love learning the way I do," she said. "I appreciate how I was mentored and want to be there for others."
Coupland will begin her graduate study research on gender ethnicity and attractiveness this spring at Michigan State University. She has received the Minority Competitive Doctoral Fellowship that will fund three years of her graduate studies.
Chavira, 25, of Sun Valley, easily blended in with her college peers, but loved to see the shock on their faces when they found out that she was their psychology teacher.
She worked primarily with freshman students as an intern instructor. Chavira said that teaching psychology was one thing, but serving as a nurturing mentor and making sure students knew the fundamentals of studying was more important.
"I made sure that my students didn't become a statistic and drop out of school," she said.
She says that working as a teacher only reinforced her desire to want to become a college professor.
"Students do well when they know that someone really cares for them," she said, "It gives me a big thrill to see students learn and enjoy the class after I give a good lecture."
Chavira has accepted a fellowship that will fund her doctoral studies at the University of Santa Cruz beginning this fall. She is the second in her family to graduate from college. The first was her sister.
When Douglas enrolled at CSUN four years ago, she hardly had any hair, could not walk and one of her vocal cords was paralyzed as the result of a fight with non-Hodgkin's lymphatic cancer.
Bored during her recovery, the 40-year-old Pacific Palisades resident decided to finish a music degree she had started nearly 20 years ago. During the interim she had worked in construction and civil engineering, but had always sang on the side, sometimes with the Long Beach Opera.
"I was told I would never be able to sing again because of the tumor I had in my chest. But I didn't believe any of that," she said.
She spent much of her time at CSUN working to restore her voice, and at her senior recital this year she "really tapped into the power my original voice had," she said.
Her work at the university has inspired Douglas to continue her studies and pursue a master degree at CSUN, creating a new field of study in California that combines music classes such as voice with speech pathology. She wants to help people in situations like hers.
Schuett, 36, of Camarillo, was working as a carpenter when an on-the-job accident nearly severed his leg in 1994. Unsure how long he'd be out of work, his wife suggested he go back to school. He started out with a couple classes at Oxnard College, but soon transferred to CSUN to pursue a degree in speech communication.
Though this was his last semester, Schuett did not take it easy. In addition to his classes at Northridge, he decided to fulfill a lifelong dream to become a fire fighter and enrolled in the fire academy at Ventura College, and begin the MBA program at California Lutheran University "so I can have something to fall back on."
Throughout all this, Schuett has also been the primary care giver for his five-year-old daughter and three-year-old-son while his wife works as a teacher.
"The key has been that I don't sleep," Schuett joked. "But I wouldn't have traded the time with my kids for anything. I'm the first in my family to even go to college, same with my wife. I hope we've started a new trend as far as our children are concerned."
Every time Villanueva, 23, of Northridge, catches a glimpse of the sun rising, he instantly remembers being five and preparing to leave El Salvador with his mother after the murder of his step-father in 1980.
Villanueva said he hadn't even considered attending college after high school until a friend took it upon herself to fill out his application.
Six years later, Villanueva is graduating from CSUN with a triple major and is confident that he has found the career of his dreams: becoming an elementary school teacher.
"Elementary school children are like blank audiocassettes willing to listen to you and be molded," he said. "They hunger to be nurtured and just want somebody to listen to them."
Villanueva spent his last semester carrying 24 units and volunteering at several child-based organizations tutoring elementary- and high-school students or working with organizations like Para Los Niņos, where he and two other students brought a collection of donated books and read stories to small children in downtown Los Angeles.
Villanueva will take pre-credential courses at CSUN and then apply to UCLA for his masters degree and teaching credential.
Vuong came to the United States at age five with his family as Vietnamese refugees fleeing an oppressive government. They had no money and his parents didn't speak English. It was a struggle to make ends meet but when it came to their children's education, Vuong's parents made sure they had what they needed.
"My dad would say "Education is always an investment, never a cost," Vuong said.
Vuong, 25, of Rosemead, took his father's lessons to heart. When he enrolled at Cal State Northridge seven years ago, he was determined to get the most out of his education, so he took advantage of the university's study abroad programs. Vuong has studied in Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Vietnam. He is now fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and Vietnamese, a language he lost after coming to the United States.
"My travels are something I will take with me for the rest of my life," he said. "You travel to a country where you can't speak the language, don't know the culture. Overcoming all these barriers makes you feel very confident. It makes you open your eyes and see the world differently, and it makes you want to learn."
The one thing Vuong said he has learned from his travels is that he doesn't want to go into business, despite his degree. He wants to teach.
"To have the desire to learn is so exciting. There's nothing you can't do when you have curiosity and are eager to learn," he said. "I want to be able to pass that on to others."
Wasserman, 24, a Chatsworth resident, has mastered the art of balancing a busy schedule. She's not only a student, but president of her sorority and role model to children with special needs.
Having to finance her own education by working at a Northridge child care center, Wasserman admits that balancing school and work was hard, but definitely worth it.
"There have been a couple of children with down's syndrome that I've seen grow and develop. They have really touched my life," Wasserman said.
When she's not helping children overcome challenges, she's serving to organize events for Sigma Alpha Omega and working to get her sorority nationally recognized.
Wasserman is proud of her accomplishments.
"I'm just following in my mom's footsteps, so far she's been the only one in our family to graduate from college and succeed," she said.
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