College

I was raised in a household where the girls were expected to get married and have babies, and the boys expected to go to college. Higher education was never on my radar.

Working minimum wage jobs flipping burgers in high school provided pocket money but never enough income to survive.  Since I’ve always been a fast typist, I worked for a while out of high school as a keypunch operator - a job that soon went extinct as computers evolved.

Secretarial work suited me fine, was a bit more glamorous and paid better. Then one day, my boss gave me a task to do and I quickly realized there was a better way to do it, so I respectfully explained to him my great idea. He looked at me in a very unpleasing manner and responded, “I don’t pay you to think.  I pay you to do what I tell you to do!” I was crushed.  I realized then that my career as a secretary might also be short lived.

A college education was never an option, not only because it cost money I didn’t have, but because I didn’t think I was smart enough to pull it off.  But then I heard about financial aid and thought I’d give it a try.  Jimmy Carter was in the White House and lots of money was available.  Because I’d been living independently for three years and working minimal paying jobs, I qualified for every kind of aid available.  I quickly signed up for a full load of classes at the local community college.

It was a bit nerve wracking to go back to school, but one of my first days there a professor actually asked me what I thought about something.  I was shocked.  The memory of my ex-boss telling me he didn’t want to hear what I thought was still fresh in my mind. I got hooked on the concept of “higher education” right away.

I poured myself into my studies and extra-curricular activities and completed my A.A. degree in 16 months. I then was extremely fortunate to be accepted at Pomona College in Claremont, California where more than enough scholarships and financial aid paid for everything I needed, including the gas to move there. I had no idea how hard school could be, but I was motivated and made it through in two years and graduated right on schedule.  I was the first ever in my immediate and extended family to get a college education.

After graduating debt free and making more money than I could have ever dreamed possible, I made a promise to myself to somehow pay back my free education.  As much indebtedness as I felt to Pomona for treating me so well financially, I did the math and realized that a full tuition scholarship at Clatsop Community College was equivalent, at that time, to paying for 11 days at Pomona.  I figured my money was better served at a smaller school, so it was there I set up my scholarship.

The WATEC scholarship - Waited Awhile To Enter College – was so named because that’s what I had done.  I realized when a person works for a few years out of high school, they see more clearly the value of higher education, and presumably, work harder at it.

I’ve awarded a full tuition scholarship now each year for more than 30 years, as I know all too well what a difference education can make in a person’s life - whether they choose to get married and have babies, or not.