Celebrating Student Achievement
During the last recent Board of Trustees meeting of the California State University (CSU) on September 22, I had the great pleasure to attend the Trustee dinner honoring the 2009-10 student recipients of the William Randolph Hearst/CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement. A student recipient is selected from each CSU campus and receives a scholarship award. Recipients are selected for outstanding academic performance, exemplary community service, and significant personal achievements in the face of adversity.
Cal State Northridge’s award recipient this year is Megan Saracini. This extraordinary young woman overcame serious challenges as a young child—including cancer and a home family life that provided little support and nurturing—to become a focused individual who is committed to personal success and serving the community.
As an example of her work, she is a peer counselor in the Counseling Center for Joint Advocates on Disordered Eating on campus, as well as a peer educator in the Counseling Center. She volunteers with Upward Bound, which helps give underprivileged high school students the skills and discipline to succeed in college. Through her leadership as survivorship chair of the Colleges Against Cancer Committee on campus, her club has raised more than $22,000 for the American Cancer Society. She spent spring break helping to rebuild New Orleans. This amazing young woman also identifies 9/11 as another turning point in her life, which occurred just three weeks after she moved to New York City. She spent the next several months after the tragedy volunteering to provide assistance to police, firefighters, and emergency responders.
Amazingly, even with her numerous activities and commitments, and the serious personal obstacles she has had to overcome, she has become a top student at the University! At the reception, Megan told me she loves being at Cal State Northridge—her goal is to become a psychologist specializing in art therapy and to teach on campus.
While Megan is an amazing role model for all of us, her story is also representative of many of our students, who place a value on hard work, the value of education, and the need to give back to the community.
Please join me in congratulating Megan on receiving this distinguished award and for being so exemplary of Cal State Northridge.