UOG scholarship awardees balance full-time jobs, college
UOG scholarship awardees balance full-time jobs, college
UOG scholarship awardees balance full-time jobs, college
9/29/2023
McEllie Garcia, Kyona Rivera and Anita Gamazon are University of Guam students at different stages of their academic journeys, but they share certain challenges besides academic.
The three students hold jobs, some of them in two to three workplaces, while also keeping up with the demands of a full-time academic load.
“It’s tough enough to be a full-time student let alone maintaining a full-time job,” said Marlena Pangelinan, UOG Vice Provost for Institutional Effectiveness. She represented the University leadership during a recent event award of $500 each in scholarships every semester to Gamazon, Garcia, and Rivera until they graduate – on condition they maintain being full-time students.
Vice Provost Pangelinan thanked the efforts of the Filipino American Presidents’ Club of Guam which has kept a tradition of providing the scholarships to UOG students with the help of certain donors.
In addition to scholarships from organizations and nonprofits, UOG offers programs to help bring a UOG education within reach for students, Vice Provost Pangelinan said.
“We are committed to helping our students succeed,” she added.
Gamazon, a first-time recipient of the scholarship, is a junior nursing student who described a hectic life that includes raising her 10-year-old child as a single mother and helping to meet the needs of her extended family.
Every little bit of help counts, Gamazon said about being able to afford college, raise her child and support her other family members. She is employed with the Guam Memorial Hospital, a job that also details her to work at the Department of Corrections.
Rivera is a recurring recipient of the scholarship. Now in her senior year, majoring in communications, she is the Student Government Association president for the second year. She works with the community outreach efforts of Americorps Ayuda Para I Komunidat, as a private English tutor, and as a UOG work-study program recipient.
Garcia also is trying to complete her senior year as an accounting student who regained her scholarship this semester. She has resumed being a full-time UOG student while working at an internally branded Tumon Bay hotel and supporting her family’s special events pop-up crafts business and flea market stall.
For more information about scholarships and student financial aid, contact:
Director Mark A. Duarte
Financial Aid and One Stop Office
(671) 735-2266
mduarte@triton.uog.edu