Making a Difference in the Lives of Students
Three SDSU students received $5,000 scholarships from SDSU Alumni.
Timing is everything. Just ask Cory Erlenbach, one of three San Diego State University students receiving $5,000 scholarships from SDSU Alumni for the 2019-20 academic year.“It inspires me to pursue my goals because I know that there are many alumni who believe in me.”
Erlenbach, a third-year civil engineering major who competes with the SDSU rowing team, sustained a serious shoulder injury late last semester requiring surgery and four months of recovery including physical therapy. For Erlenbach, it was bad enough having to skip a semester of rowing, but he also had to give up a job he enjoyed working with the San Diego Padres events crew.
“It’s a lot of heavy lifting, so I can’t do that,” he explained. But his SDSU Alumni scholarship will allow Erlenbach to focus this semester on his recovery and maintaining his 3.6 GPA.
“I’m not getting a paycheck, but this $5,000 is helping with that,” he said. “I’m going to (physical) therapy and that’s expensive, but I can take my time getting back to full strength.”
Erlenbach’s award is the Legacy Scholarship for a student with at least one immediate family member who attended SDSU. His mother, Lori (’86), holds an SDSU journalism degree and is an SDSU Alumni lifetime member.
Her enthusiasm is the main reason Erlenbach chose to attend SDSU after being accepted at several universities. “I was immersed in the SDSU experience early on and I always measured (other) schools based on SDSU because that’s what I knew and I just always liked it here better,” he said.
He wants SDSU alumni who contributed to his scholarship to know how much he appreciates their support. “It means way more than $5,000 especially given my unexpected circumstances,” Erlenbach said. “It had an impact I never expected, so thank you for that.”
Change of plans
Lauren Case-McFate entered SDSU on an ROTC scholarship expecting to earn an environmental engineering degree and serve in the U.S. Navy after graduation. But a trip to Nicaragua with Engineers Without Borders after her freshman year changed her plans.Working on a water treatment project in a village where residents hiked a kilometer each way to collect water prompted a reevaluation of her career goals. “I came to understand how my degree, which is heavily based in water treatment, could actually help underserved communities,” she said.
So she gave up her ROTC full ride and got two jobs working mostly at night so she could take a full load of classes during the day. “It was scary,” recalled Case-McFate, a fifth-year Weber Honors College student maintaining a 3.64 GPA. “I had to figure out how to pay for everything on my own because my parents weren’t able to help.”
In addition to earning several engineering internships, Case-McFate is president of SDSU’s Engineers Without Borders, helped launch the American Public Works Association on campus, and serves as a captain on the environmental team for the American Society of Civil Engineers. A wide variety of campus activities is one of the things that attracted her to the university during her first campus visit for an Explore SDSU event.
“And I loved that San Diego State always has such a passion for being an Aztec,” she said. “It’s really, I feel, a family here. Everywhere you walk there is someone in an SDSU sweatshirt or t-shirt, and I love that.”
The $5,000 scholarship Case McFate received that was open to all students has already paid for a three-week study abroad experience in Panama where she was able to visit the famous canal and also observe how farmers interact with indigenous people to help preserve the rain forest.
Her message to the alumni donors who made it possible is heartfelt: “Thank you so much for donating. It is so important and has such a big impact on students, including myself.”
Making the most of a great opportunity
Alek Casillas is currently using his scholarship to study at IE University in Madrid, Spain during a study abroad experience that has allowed him “to meet many international students and interact with Spanish culture,” he wrote in a recent email. “I would not have had this opportunity to develop my educational and interpersonal skills had it not been for SDSU.”Casillas is a junior majoring in business management with an emphasis in human resources. He hopes to one day become a leader in the field.
A student in the Weber Honors College, Casillas maintained a 3.98 GPA before transferring from Grossmont College to SDSU for the 2019 fall semester where his GPA has risen to 4.0. He describes his SDSU experience thus far as “the most fulfilling and inspiring experience” of his life.
“I have made connections among students, professors, and faculty that have changed the way that I look at the world,” he said. “I have been able to attend workshops, events, and clubs that have led me to opportunities that I never knew were possible.”
Although he has received other scholarships, Casillas said he is “humbled to have been selected” to receive the SDSU Alumni Scholarship for a first-year student, expressing his thanks to donors. “It inspires me to pursue my goals because I know that there are many alumni who believe in me. It is important to me to make the most of the great opportunity that has been given to me.”
Please support the SDSU Alumni Student Scholarship/Internship Fund with a donation.
