Exceptional graduating students profiled
May 15 , 2009 -- One
outstanding student from each academic college, from Liberal Studies/Special
Majors and from Graduate Studies will be honored at SF State's 108th Commencement
on Saturday, May 23. They will receive the symbolic investiture of the hood on
behalf of their fellow students. In addition, Jessica Aguilar, hood recipient
for the College of Ethnic Studies, will be this year's student speaker. SF State
News is pleased to introduce these students to the campus community and friends
of SF State:
Behavioral and Social Sciences | Business | Creative
Arts | Education | Ethnic Studies | Health
and Human Services | Humanities | Science
and Engineering | Liberal Studies/Special Majors | Graduate Studies
College of Behavioral and Social Sciences: Susan Estrada
Watching
her parents work physically demanding jobs in the Los Angeles theatre scene
made Susan Estrada determined to get an education. She is the first in her
family to graduate from college and has excelled at SF State, appearing on
the Dean's List every semester. "Taking a class in Variations in
Human Sexuality changed everything for me," said Estrada, a sociology
major. "It introduced me to a sociological way of looking at the world
and made me want to pursue a career in academia." Estrada plans to apply
for doctoral programs in sociology so she can one day become a professor.
College of Business: Igor Ryvkin
Igor Ryvkin found his time at SF State to be a journey of
self-discovery. Ryvkin overcame a language barrier after
emigrating from Ukraine at age 9. At SF State, he began studying accounting
after taking a wide range of business classes. He donated his time to
the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) for two years, serving
as a volunteer shift supervisor this spring when he managed 20 volunteers.
In his two years with VITA, Ryvkin assisted in preparing nearly 1,000
tax returns for low-income taxpayers in San Francisco. This fall, Ryvkin
will pursue an MBA with a concentration in accounting at SF State. "I
was content with the finance major, but as soon as I was able to take my
first accounting class, things changed for me," Ryvkin
said.
College of Creative Arts: Jonathan Dauermann
Jonathan Dauermann hopes to make his mark with his voice. Dauermann, who
will graduate from the School of Music and Dance with an emphasis in vocal
performance, was awarded the School of Music and Dance's Presser Award, which
is bestowed annually on one exceptional student. Dauermann was also named
the winner of the 2006 SF State Concerto Competition.
During the 2007-08 school year, Dauermann studied abroad at a prestigious
music conservatory in Southwest Germany where he learned German and polished
his vocal skills. The Los Angeles native will return to Southern California
where he plans to pursue a career in vocal performance. "Opera seemed to be the neatest
synthesis -- being on stage, the languages -- it just fit for me," Dauermann
said. "Education isn't something that stops when you step on the podium.
It's lifelong. This will be the next phase of my education."
College of Education: Chikako Fujii 
Graduating with a degree in communicative disorders, Chikako Fujii's
academic achievement has been complemented by her community work, providing
childcare for three autistic children and working as a teacher's aide.
Fujii and her family moved to the U.S. from Japan when she was 5.
Her own cross-cultural experience has fueled her interest in how cultural
issues relate to communicative disorders. This fall, Fujii will begin
a master's in communicative disorders at SF State, enabling her to become
a speech-language pathologist. "I'd like to combine
Japanese language with speech-language therapy," Fujii said. "I
am also interested in how language and culture interact with how people
diagnose communicative disorders and access services."
College of Ethnic Studies: Jessica Aguilar
Presidential Scholar Jessica Aguilar carried
a double major in Raza studies and sociology while
devoting the rest of her time to her community. For
the past four years Aguilar volunteered as many as
40 hours per week for Clínica Martín Baro, a free clinic in the Mission.
She has accepted a position at the Urban Promise Academy in East Oakland
where she has tutored Spanish-speaking students during the past year.
Her plans also include advanced degrees in teaching and a career devoted
to serving new immigrants and disenfranchised communities. "My
volunteer work was my initiation to a life of struggle for social justice," Aguilar
said. "I see education as the most important tool to elevate marginalized
communities."
College of Health and Human Services: Annie Leong-Chan
Keet Yee (Annie) Leong-Chan's road to a college diploma took more than
two decades. Although the native of Malaysia excelled in school and dreamed
of going to college, all of her family's resources were devoted to her
brother's higher education. Leong-Chan worked as a tutor and gradually
built two businesses that employed disabled workers before moving to
the United States. Once Leong-Chan began her studies for a degree in
kinesiology, she tutored fellow students until she and her husband began
to provide long-term foster care for children who had been removed from
their homes. The day before graduation, Leong-Chan and her husband will
formally adopt a child they fostered. "I waited 19 years for my college
education," she said. “What I've learned is you can do whatever
you wish to -- just seek it out. And never give up."
College of Humanities: Sarah Morris
Morris, a native of Maine, held dead-end
jobs until she decided to pursue a college degree.
She has since excelled in the journalism program,
lauded by faculty for producing crisp, thoughtful
and accurate articles for the [X]press student newspaper,
where she earned a stint as the managing editor. "The
Journalism Department newsroom at SF State is possibly as close to racial and
gender parity as any news staff in existence," Morris said. "When those
human resources are coupled with pervasive editorial freedom, it creates an amazing
place to work and learn. No job or internship could replicate that experience." Morris
is also applying her passion for storytelling to a first novel.
College of Science and Engineering: Karina Roitman
A native of Argentina, Karina Roitman moved to San Francisco in 2006
and began studying physics and math at SF State. Her professors recognized
her innate intellectual talent and natural curiosity, supporting her
efforts to develop her abilities at the graduate level. While at SF State,
Roitman conducted research alongside faculty at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and has
presented her research at a professional scientific conference. Graduating
with a double major in physics and mathematics, Roitman wants to explore
the questions that continue to challenge physicists. "What
I love about physics is that you can explore theories that apply to both the
tiny and the massive scale," Roitman said. "I am interested in searching
for an underlying theory that would combine and reconcile the laws of quantum
physics with general relativity theory." This fall she will begin
a doctorate in physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Liberal Studies/Special Programs: Stephanie Miller
Stephanie Miller chose to major in Liberal Studies so she could pursue
her wide-ranging interests in art, architecture, science and the humanities.
Raised in Germany by an American father and German mother, Stephanie
moved to the U.S. in the 1990s, eager to experience life in America.
The move interrupted her education and Miller was determined to return
to studying. After attending community college, she transferred to SF
State where she has received outstanding results. "At
SF State, I gained a deeper understanding of the world from various perspectives
and I enjoyed the multidisciplinary approach of Liberal Studies," Miller
said. She plans to apply to master's programs in either museum studies
or humanities.
Graduate Studies, Humanities: Jordan Hayes
Jordan Hayes, a graduate of Oberlin College, will receive a master's
degree in literature and certificate in composition. With a passion for
teaching, Hayes was employed as a tutor for an educational consulting
company before developing his own tutoring agency devoted to young, special
needs learners. Throughout his graduate studies at SF State, he also
volunteered as a tutor at the University's English Tutoring Center. Hayes,
whose master's thesis concerned how apartheid was covered and portrayed
in South African media, has already presented his research at distinguished
humanities and literature conferences. He plans to teach English at the
college level. "I am committed to the idea that anyone who wants
a college education should have the opportunity to pursue it," Hayes said. "I
want to be in a position to help make that happen for others."
-- Michael Bruntz, Elaine Bible and Denize Springer
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