Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler
(818) 677-2130
carmen.chandler@csun.edu

CSUN to Salute Top Graduates at Honors Convocation

• Mayra Bamaca-Gomez, 27, of Van Nuys, is the 2001 Wolfson Scholar, an honor given each year to the university's top graduating senior.

  Bamaca-Gomez immigrated to the United States from Guatemala at age 17 not speaking a word of English. Determined to get an education, Bamaca-Gomez spent a summer translating an algebra textbook into Spanish so she could take the course, eventually finishing at the top of her class and in the process mastering English so she could take other college preparatory classes in high school. She graduated from high school with honors.

  After a couple of years at Los Angeles Community College, Bamaca-Gomez transferred to CSUN to study psychology. While at the university, she has worked alongside her faculty conducting research, yet still found time to serve as a special education teaching assistant at an elementary school, teach parenting classes at several community centers and serve as a translator of parent surveys for the Northeast Valley Urban Village Initiative.

  "I have been highly motivated, and my goal has always been to get the highest degree possible," Bamaca-Gomez said. "Coming here (CSUN) has changed everything for me. It's been such a supporting environment that I know I will be able to realize my dreams."

  Bamaca-Gomez will be going to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the fall to get her doctorate in human development.

• Rebecca Espiloy Baroma, 33, of Los Angeles, is this year's recipient of the President's Associates Outstanding Graduate Student Award.

  Baroma, who is getting her master's in creative writing, has already established herself as one of Los Angeles' leading Filipina poets. She has been invited to speak at UCLA, Wesleyan College and Claremont Graduate University. The prestigious literary organization, Beyond Baroque, invited her to participate in its "The World Beyond Festival." While at CSUN, Baroma served as editor of The Northridge Review, an undergraduate magazine produced by the English Department. Her work won the American Writers and Poets' "National Program Director's Prize for Undergraduate Magazine, Design Award." She also has been invited to join the editorial board of Dis-Orient Journalzine, an international avant-garde journal.

  Baroma was a liberal studies student at CSUN as an undergraduate. After graduation, she took an extended learning writing class on a whim and ended up in the graduate program.

  "I didn't know what I wanted to do. I took a writing class, and it changed my life," Baroma said.

  She will be teaching developmental writing classes in CSUN's Asian American Studies Department this fall, and plans to continue with her outside literary work.

• Nelson Cadenas, 24, of Sun Valley, is one of two recipients of the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award from the President's Associates.

  Cadenas, who is getting his B.S. in electrical engineering, is fulfilling a dream he set for himself when he was seven. Every night his father would take him outside and point out the stars. Cadenas wanted to join them in space.

  "I wanted to be an astronaut," he said. "And when I learned that most astronauts were engineers, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up"

  He is currently working at a Camarillo engineering firm, Vitesse. Cadenas will be the first in his family to ever receive a college degree. In addition to his schoolwork, Cadenas found time to speak at local high schools to encourage young people to go to college.

• Nicholas Hamlin, 22, of San Diego, is the second recipient of the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award from the President's Associates.

  Hamlin, who is getting his B.A. in biology, has led a full life while at CSUN.

  Despite switching majors at the end of his sophomore year and cramming four years of study into two, Hamlin still found time to compete as a member of CSUN's intercollegiate cross country and track and field team. As the team's leading 5,000- and 10,000-meter runner, he became the first CSUN runner to score in a Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championship in the 10,000-meter race.

  "My classes always came first," said Hamlin. "But I decided to go out for track because I knew it would be the only time in my life that I could run college track and get a chance to compete for a (NCAA) Division I school."

  After graduation, Hamlin plans to get his Ph.D. in biology from the University of California, San Diego.

• CSUN student body president Robert Hanff, 22, of Northridge, will receive the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award from the Alumni Association.

  Hanff, who is getting his B.S. in political science, has been head of Associated Students Inc., the student government, for the past two years. In addition to his studies and leadership responsibilities, Hanff also found time to serve as a White House intern, a judicial intern with San Fernando Superior Court and the only student member of the California Postsecondary Education Commission, the state's 16-citizen planning and coordinating body for higher education.

  "I just don't like not to be busy," admitted Hanff.

  Hanff will be going to UCLA Law School in the fall.

• Brian Richard Hubinger, 23, of Arcadia, is this year's recipient of the Karen, Leon and Rita Goldstein-Saulter Memorial Award, which is given by the Alumni Association to an outstanding graduating senior.

  Hubinger, who is getting his B.S. in environmental and occupational health, also served as a member of the student government, an offensive lineman with the Matador football team, an orientation leader and a member of the inter-fraternity council.

  Hubinger, who was forced to leave school one semester because of an illness, said he never intended to be so busy while in college, "but I opened one door and it led to five others."

  Hubinger currently works at Anheuser-Busch, Inc, as an environmental health and safety specialist. He plans to return to CSUN in the fall to get his master's in environmental and occupational health and then on to UCLA for a doctorate.

• Amy London, 25, of Encino, is this year's recipient of the Robert H. Schiffman Memorial Scholarship Award, given each year to an outstanding graduate student.

  London, who is getting her master's in communication studies, also got her B.A. in communication studies at CSUN and is contemplating going on and getting her doctorate. In the meantime, she plans to teach at local community colleges and universities.

  "Communication is fundamental to the people we are and what we do in our lives," she said. "I like to focus on intercultural communication, with people who don¹t normally communicate with each other."