Johannie Garcia-Chavez
Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology

The older of Garcia-Chavez’s two daughters is disabled. At age 7, the daughter isn’t toilet trained, cannot feed herself, and will not eat unless coaxed. Mealtime is a time-consuming and messy ordeal.

But for the past three years, Garcia-Chavez attended CSUN full time. During the spring 2000 semester, the Puerto Rican native took 21 units of classes so she could graduate and get a job teaching physical education to disabled students.

While attending CSUN, she dropped off her daughters at school and daycare, and then attended classes until picking up the girls in the late afternoon. After dinner, baths and chores, Garcia-Chavez would head back to CSUN until 10 p.m.

“It was a little hard doing the kids, the school and the house, but I wanted to graduate. Even if it took me a while, I knew I would,” said Garcia-Chavez, 28, of Sunland, who had sporadically taken college classes since graduating from Palmdale High School in 1990.

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