Page 4 - Golden West College Commencement Celebration 2020 Program

R. Dudley Boyce Outstanding Student
Elaine Anne E. Araneta
Elaine grew up in the Philippines where she attended a small all-girls school. When she was fourteen, her parents excitedly announced that “We are moving to America.” Although she was nervous to be surrounded by a new environment, she achieved academic success in her new home. After receiving a full scholarship to attend prestigious internships in programs like the University of California, Irvine’s Summer Healthcare Experience, Research Program, and Camp Neuro, she entered Golden West College (GWC) as a sixteen-year-old pre-nursing major.
As she started a new chapter in her life, she started volunteering and offering her service at GWC. During Spring 2019, she was elected as Alpha Gamma Sigma’s (AGS) Activities Coordinator. She organized student volunteers to participate in events such as helping English as a Second Language students to have an English-speaking coach for their class. By being an officer, she helped people to be more involved in GWC. Elaine was also the Spring 2020 AGS Treasurer where she assisted various fundraisers for the AGS scholarships. She is also part of the
sustainability committee at GWC where she aims to promote sustainable choices to students.
After receiving a 4.0 GPA in her classes, her professors encouraged her to be a GWC Tutor and Embedded Tutor for English, Statistics, Biology, and Chemistry. As a tutor, she spent over 150 hours working with the students to achieve their educational goals. Elaine applied the skills she received from GWC tutoring when she was given an opportunity to go back to her old school in the Philippines. She taught science to her previous school to inspire the future women in science.
After volunteering at GWC, Elaine started volunteering at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital. As a patient care volunteer for over 200 hours, she was inspired by the patient’s stories of life and self-discovery. Last summer, Elaine was involved in organizing a volunteer opportunity at a welfare institution for abandoned youth located in the Philippines. While she was there, she noticed that most children suffering from a traumatic experience do not receive help from a psychologist. That moment made her certain that she wants to spread more awareness about mental disorders by offering the proper help to individuals.
In addition to being involved in GWC and the community, at the age of seventeen she graduated and achieved academic success by receiving Certification of IGETC, Certificate of Achievement in CSU Breadth, Certificate of Specialization in Pre- Health Science, Associate in Arts Degree (AA) in Liberal Arts, Emphasis in Science and AA in Liberal Arts, Emphasis in Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elaine received the Tom Jackson Scholarship which is the highest state AGS scholarship in California.
Elaine will be transferring to CSULB for Fall 2020 to persue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In the future, she plans on promoting healthy mental awareness in the community by pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice specializing in Psychology. She aspires to be an individual who could help people in a period of sadness and encourage people to embrace their differences and achieve their dreams.
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