Cal State Fullerton Graduate Receives William Randolph Hearst/CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement

Cal State Fullerton graduate, Tuy Thi Nguyen of Garden Grove, will be honored July 13 as a recipient of the William Randolph Hearst/Cal State University Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement.

She will receive a $3,000 cash award and recognition at this month's CSU Board of Trustees' meeting in Long Beach.

Nguyen was selected based on her experiences as a self-proclaimed middle-aged woman who has overcome many barriers to earn a degree in human services. With the scholarship money, she will now pursue her dream of earning a master of science degree in gerontology at Cal State Fullerton.

A wife and mother of two, Nguyen and her husband left Vietnam 10 years ago. Today, they are both college students, working multiple part-time jobs. Since her arrival in the United States, Nguyen has learned English and completed a bachelor's degree, earning a 3.60 GPA while playing an active role in the community and on campus.

She has worked more than 300 hours with the university's Volunteer and Service Center's Community Connection program, providing outreach assistance to a variety of community groups. She wrote and submitted the Project Read proposal to promote storytelling, tutoring and positive reinforcement to homeless children in Anaheim, and has participated in a number of food drives, volunteered at senior centers and worked with abused children.

"I want to make a difference in my community," she said. "I have a passion to work with the elderly. I want them to feel secure and increase public awareness of their concerns."

Nguyen works 20 hours a week as a case worker at the Feedback Foundation, a not-for-profit organization designed to help the elderly, 10 hours a week at the University Learning Center, and five hours a week at the University's Volunteer and Service Center as a community connections coordinator.

With a master's in gerontology, Nguyen hopes to assist elderly members of the Asian community.

Media contact: Valerie Orleans, Public Affairs, at (714) 278-4540 or vorleans@fullerton.edu