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Honoring Top Student Achievements

Annual Program Highlights Graduates and Candidates
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Cal State Fullerton will be honoring its top graduating scholars and recent graduates, Friday, May 15, during the 2015 Honors and Scholars Awards Program.

The annual program is held on the eve of the University’s commencement ceremonies, which are scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday, May 16, and Sunday, May 17.

Among the honorees:
Biological science major David Eng of Buena Park is receiving the Alumni Association’s Outstanding Senior Award and the Goodhue-McWilliams Award. Eng works in the molecular microbiology lab of Esther Chen, associate professor of biological science, and previous has been honored for his academic accomplishment and service both at school and in his community, such as volunteering for a medical facility and nursing homes and serving on medical missions to Honduras and Mexico. He will attend the Loma Linda School of Medicine in the fall.

Vanessa Rojo of Indio, is completing her master’s degree in kinesiology and is the 2015 recipient of the Alumni Association’s Outstanding Graduate Award. In addition to her scholarly efforts — which have earned her membership in the Golden Key International Honour Society, Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society and Phi Kappa Phi — Rojo is the Kinesiology Department’s undergraduate adviser, an exercise physiology tutor and a member of the University’s Wind Symphony, Horn and Brass Ensemble.

Susan Mitchell of San Diego is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Betty Robertson Award winner. Mitchell returned to college to earn a degree in American studies nearly 42 years after she completed her bachelor’s degree. “I’ve always been a student at heart,” said Mitchell, who has won Fulbright-Hays fellowships for travel and study, a White House Historical Association Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities Teacher-Scholar fellowship — all while raising four children and teaching eighth grade full time. Her goal is to now share her knowledge and experiences on the community college level and serve as a mentor to other older adults.

Veronica Scott of Temecula is this year’s Miles D. McCarthy Post Baccalaureate Award recipient. The scholar, who earned a B.A. in business economics at UC Riverside, attended Cal State Fullerton’s Pre-Health Professions Certificate program while working as an emergency medical scribe in three local community hospitals. She has worked with special needs children and volunteered at a local animal shelter. She has been accepted to Tufts, Texas A&M and UC Riverside schools of medicine.

Matthew Schroeder of Yorba Linda is a 2014 biological science graduate and recipient of the Miles D. McCarthy Undergraduate Award in recognition of his scholastic achievements. During his studies, he was a supplemental instruction leader in cell biology and a volunteer with the Flying Samaritans and Illumination Foundation. As a member of the University’s Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program, he studied use of stem cell transplantation for tissue regeneration at Stanford University and has continued that research since graduation. He begins medical school this fall.

Amelia Kremer of Fullerton, who earned an M.A. in American studies in 2014, is one of two recipients of the Giles T. Brown Outstanding Thesis Award. Kremer, now an educator at Mt. San Antonio College and a member of the Community College Advisory Board for Cal State Fullerton’s American Studies Department, is being recognized for her exploration of children’s author Jean Craighead George (1919-2012) in “Woods, Wolves and Falcons: The Children’s Nature-Writing of Jean Craighead George.”

David Lin, who earned an M.S. in biology last year, is the other recipient of the Brown Outstanding Thesis Award for study of the public health problem of antibiotic-resistant infections. The scholar is now pursuing a doctorate in microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

The Honors and Scholars Awards Program will be held at 7 p.m. in the Meng Concert Hall of the Clayes Performing Arts Center.