Sept. 21, 2020 — Biology and Global Studies major Patricio Ruano was raised in a large Latino family in the Silverlake region of Los Angeles. As the youngest in the family, he always got a variety of viewpoints under one roof.
“One aunt would tell me one thing, a sibling would tell me another,” Ruano, 21, said. “I learned it takes a village to raise a child and the same is true for education. It takes a campus village to raise a successful student.”
Ruano credits hard work, a high school mentor and the CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) “village” with his being recently named one of 23 CSU Trustee scholars. One student from each of CSU’s 23 campuses was chosen to receive a 2020 Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement, which is the CSU’s highest recognition of student achievement.
The awards will be presented during an online ceremony from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Scholarships range from $6,000 to $15,000.
“We take such pride in students like Patricio when they are honored for their hard work. He is such a powerful example for other CSUCI students who, like Patricio, are the first in their families to attend college,” said CSUCI President Erika D. Beck, Ph.D. “The CSU Trustee scholarship is well-deserved, and there are even greater awards in store when leaders like Patricio graduate and go on to make significant contributions toward a more just and prosperous society.”
Ruano, who plans to apply to medical school, failed so many classes in middle school that he wasn’t even allowed to walk on stage with the other middle school graduates.
“I had always struggled with education,” Ruano said. “I was walking home that day and thought ‘Am I going to be that student who can’t walk the stage?’ I didn’t feel I’d done my best.”
He knew he expected more from himself, but his family couldn’t help him with his educational goals as they had not had access to a good education either.
“I was born into a family where we were really, really poor,” Ruano said. “It was hard because none of my siblings or half-siblings went to college. None even considered it. There were days in middle school where they said ‘wear the shirt of your favorite college.’ I didn’t know what college was.”
An important member of the academic “village” that would alter the trajectory of his life was Kaiser physician Dr. Neil Chawla, who worked in international medicine and was paired up with Ruano as a mentor when Ruano entered high school. Chawla saw potential in Ruano and began to encourage and teach him about higher education.
“He made me feel unique,” Ruano said. “I was no longer feeling judged and defined just by numbers. He didn’t make me feel like a 2.6 GPA.”
Ruano got excited about the field of medicine and wanted to explore the idea of becoming a physician—perhaps an endocrinologist or family physician who works in underserved areas.
Ruano’s village grew when he entered CSUCI and participated in numerous programs, including CSUCI’s Summer Bridge program through the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), which offers an orientation to college life, and reviews of basic academic skills.
Coordinator of University Outreach Jennifer Mota and numerous faculty members including Professor of Biology Nitika Parmar, Ph.D., helped him develop his extracurricular activities and career goals. Parmar, who was his research mentor and advisor, took Ruano and several other students to India to see cutting edge biotechnology firms, a self-sustaining eco-village and India’s multilayered culture.
“Patricio is my star student!” Parmar said. “He is an excellent student and an excellent person too. He’s very enthusiastic about whatever he does—not just research—and he makes others enthusiastic as well.”
In addition to being a peer mentor through CSUCI’s Peer Education and Equity Programs (PEEP), Ruano is now studying for his Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and enjoying his quarantine project: raising two roosters and eight chickens in the family’s North Hollywood home.
In addition to the 23 Trustees’ Scholars this year, several students—including Rosa Vorba of Santa Paula—were honored with a smaller $2,000 scholarship for their academic determination.
Vorba, 41, came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1995 when she was 16. She was undocumented so she worked in the fields and factories and struggled as a single mother after her daughter was born in 2002.
“Growing up as a mom who worked in the fields picking lemons and avocados, I had very little time with her,” Vorba said. “Besides that, I had two jobs so I could keep a roof over our head. I almost became homeless.”
In 2014, Vorba became a citizen and in 2016, enrolled in Ventura College and then, at CSUCI as a Spanish major and a Chicana/o Studies minor with plans to earn a teaching credential.
“Rosa would help students by sharing information about scholarships and other resources for those with DACA status or low family income,” said Professor of Chicana/o Studies Jose Alamillo. “Because she is a non-traditional student, she always reminds students that it’s never too late to complete your education because no one can take that away from you.”
Vorba has a 4.0 GPA and on March 14, three days before the quarantine, she had another baby daughter. She also tutors Spanish and English as a Second Language (ESL) at Ventura College.
“I am a full-time mom, a part-time tutor and a full-time student,” she said. “A lot of students like me, we study and put in a lot of effort getting good grades. When we get a scholarship, we are very, very, very thankful. We suddenly get all these feelings that—I can do this.”