Scholar Spotlight
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Scholar Performance
Tessa was featured with her chamber group on the national radio program 'From the Top'.
Erin D. McDonald
“I want to go into teaching so that I can instill a love for learning in students in the same way that my teachers did for me.”
- Program: 2008 Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship Recipient
- Resides: Osceola, WI
- Hometown: March Air Force Base, California
- Age: 28
- Community College: Century Community College
- Four-year College or University: College of St. Catherine
- Academic/Career Pursuits: Liberal Arts, History, Anthropology
Biography
PROFILE: Erin McDonald loves to study so much that she considers research a hobby. She especially enjoys community college because of all the opportunities available to non-traditional students. She hopes to become a professor at just such an institution to “share the excitement I feel about history with the next generation of students.”
Erin’s own history is “so scary that it seems surreal, as if it happened to somebody else.” A survivor of an abusive relationship and lengthy custody battle, she now retains sole custody of her seven year old son. She was told by doctors that her son would never speak due to his autism yet he now speaks and reads at a 1st grade level.
INSPIRATION: Erin credits her mother with having had a major influence. “No matter how many times I chose the wrong path, she never stopped believing in my abilities.”
ASPIRATION: Erin hopes to become a historian and history professor. “I was watching a history professor speak on the History Channel and thought to myself, ‘He has the most interesting job ever, I wish I could do that.’ And then it occurred to me that I could.”
MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Erin has been active in multiple community service projects with Phi Theta Kappa and served as a note-taker for students with disabilities.
ACCOLADES: A two-time recipient of the Adult Students in Scholastic Transition Scholarship Award, Erin has served as President of the Scholars Club and held two chapter officer positions with Phi Theta Kappa. She was on the Dean’s List and National Dean’s List.
INTERESTING FACT: After spending much of her childhood in England, California-born Erin says she had to learn to speak “American English.”
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MyLien Nguyen
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Marissa Courey
Graduate Scholar
London School of Economics and Political Science