06/04/91

CONTACT: Stanford University News Service (650) 723-2558

Undergraduates directly benefit from Centennial Campaign

STANFORD--Ask Michael Almodova what he thinks of his Emory C. Singletary Scholarship and he says quite simply, "It provides me with a key to my future."

A sophomore from California City, Calif., Almodova is studying product design and hopes to go into automotive or computer design. He works for Academic Information Resources, occasionally teaches swimming as a volunteer at the Mountain View YMCA and has been the publicity officer for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, a Mexican-American student group.

Almodova is just one of many students benefiting from the Centennial Campaign directly through undergraduate scholarships. As of May 31, more than $35 million has been raised for endowed undergraduate scholarships, 118 percent of the campaign goal. An additional $34 million has been raised for graduate fellowships.

Stanford's policy is to admit students on the basis of academic and personal merit, irrespective of financial need. Financial aid is not merit based, but is designed to meet the computed need of students who might otherwise lack the resources to attend. Students are expected to contribute up to 25 percent of the cost of attending through loans and jobs.

Susan Yang, a junior from Baton Rouge, La., said that her Donna Goodheart Krupp Scholarship has taken a lot of stress out of her undergraduate experience. A psychology and biological sciences major, Yang knows a lot about stress firsthand: She does research on stress hormones and their effects on neurons and glia, the support cells in the brain. In addition, she takes a courseload of 20 units and is head advising associate for two dorms, head tutor at the Center for Teaching and Learning and a peer counselor at the Bridge.

An enthusiastic student, Yang credits her centennial scholarship with allowing her to come to Stanford "and have the most fulfilling and best time of my life. I simply love it here and would not trade my position with anyone in the world," she said.

Paul Valdez, a junior from Houston, Texas, majoring in civil engineering, could not have stayed at Stanford without the Abigail H. and Richard L. Asquith Scholarship.

Valdez lives in a co-operative house on campus, where students "try to foster a community that is a little more cohesive and open to communication than dormitories." In the future, he'd like to work as an environmental engineer with hazardous/toxic waste, alternative forms of energy or water resources.

But the main thing he'd like to do is make sure he can do for someone else what was done for him.

"If I ever have the chance to help someone in the future reach their goals, I will understand how important and valuable that aid can be," he said.

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