May 13, 2019
To: California Scholarship Federation Inc.
28241 Crown Valley Parkway, Suite F #201
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
In the middle of my freshman year, my family moved to San Lorenzo, California, where I attended Arroyo High School, graduating in 1964 with a CSF Life Membership (the larger pin dates from 1964). My Math, English, and Social Studies classes were “MA” sections (“more able”); there were no AP (advanced placement) classes at that time. I played in the school orchestra one year, was in the Future Teachers club, and was president of the Spanish Club. Outside of school, I gave private piano lessons. Each semester, I qualified for CSF membership. Upon graduating, the San Lorenzo District Teachers Association chose me as one of their scholarship recipients. They renewed the scholarship each year based on my grades, enabling me to earn a B.A. in Spanish, and then an Elementary Teaching Credential, from California State Hayward (now called California State University East Bay). Over time, I earned additional credentials, and my career included elementary school teaching, community college teaching (reading and English as a Second Language), Job Corps teaching (language arts), reading specialist, and high school librarian.
When I was awarded a CSF Lifetime pin, my mother realized that she would have qualified had her high school been participating in the program. She attended Commerce High School in San Francisco and took all the job-oriented courses, such as accounting, dictation, and typing. However, on her own, she had researched the entrance requirements for the University of California, Berkeley. She carefully made sure to include all those required academic courses as well. She maintained outstanding grades in all of her classes, both vocational and academic.
Her graduation date must have been around 1929. But it was decades later that she contacted CSF, verified her high school qualifying courses and grades, and was belatedly awarded her own CSF Lifetime pin (the smaller pin dates from as late as 2000).
My mother graduated high school at 14 years of age (skipping grades was common back then for the brightest students), with the dream of attending UC Berkeley and becoming a teacher. Unfortunately, her parents told her that she must get a fulltime job immediately in order to support herself. She was broken hearted. Looking more like a youn adult than a teenager, being the top student recommended by her school, and projecting confidence and competence in interviews, she was immediately hired despite a depressed economy and widespread unemployment. She never stopped taking night school classes, studying on her own, and reading voraciously.
Thank you, CSF, for being an important part of our stories.
Laura
CSF Member
NOTE: Chapter 536 Inception Year 1957
