Once a Dropout, Grandmother Earns a College Degree With High Honors

Curtistina Dawkins enrolled in Compton Community College in 1963, but dropped out after a few weeks to get a job to help her parents, seven sisters and three brothers.

But Dawkins never gave up her dream of returning to college. In June, she graduated with high honors, earning a 3.66 grade-point average.

“I hated school as a child. The teacher would tell me to find a quiet place at home to study, but that was unrealistic with eight girls sleeping in one room,” Dawkins said. Twenty- seven years after dropping out, Dawkins was the student keynote speaker at the college’s 1990 commencement. “You’re never too young to dream a dream, and you’re never too old to see that dream come to pass,” the 44-year-old mother and grandmother told the 250 graduates.

Dawkins received some of the loudest applause from more than 40 relatives in attendance. The group included her parents, eight of her siblings, her husband George, and the couple’s four children and two grandchildren. She is the first family member to graduate from college.

Her sister, Cynthia Scott, 40, plans to be the second family member to get a college degree. Scott actually enrolled at Compton before Dawkins, but has been on maternity leave, Dawkins said.

Dawkins has enrolled at Cal State Dominguez Hills and intends to get a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Eventually, she plans to work as a marriage, family and child counselor. Meanwhile, Dawkins will continue as associate minister at the Christian Community Foursquare Church in Compton. The pastor is her husband.

James L. Ash Jr., president of Whittier College, has been appointed chairman of a panel on postsecondary learning, teaching and assessment by the U.S. Department of Education.

Ash will direct the seven-member panel’s selection process for establishing an educational research and development center, which will conduct a five-year research project on how to improve education in the nation’s colleges and universities. A site for the center has not been selected. The center will receive a $1-million federal research grant each year.

Eight graduates of Long Beach City College have been honored as President’s scholars. All completed honors-level courses and maintained a grade-point averages of at least 3.5.

Barry Cummings plans to attend an Eastern school, major in liberal arts, then teach. Rocco Basso will major in criminology at Cal State Long Beach. Basso works as a peace officer for the U.S. Department of Justice. Bryan Churchill hopes to attend law school after receiving a degree in English from UCLA. Hazel Dulla will study sociology at UCLA. She hopes to work in public relations or business administration. Kelly Finn plans to attend UC Santa Cruz or UC Berkeley and major in environmental science. She hopes to become an environmental engineer or go into wildlife management. David Goldstein expects to attend UC Berkeley or UCLA and major in political science. He wants to study underdeveloped countries. Stephen Woods will go to UCLA and study political science with a minor in business administration. He plans to go to law school. Grant Young will attend UCLA or UC Berkeley and major in economics before pursuing a master’s degree in business administration.

Long Beach Police Sgt. Michael Woodward has been chosen the state’s outstanding police officer of the year by the American Legion.

Woodward, who has been with the Long Beach force for 21 years, was named the department’s employee of the year in 1989. He has won more than 60 medals in state, national and international Police Olympics. Woodward competes in the discus and javelin events.

Rafael Chabran, associate professor of foreign languages at Whittier College, has won the 1989 Sears, Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award. Chabran is one of 700 private college educators nationwide to receive the award. The foundation awarded $1,000 each to Chabran and the college.

* Cass Humphrey, a local arts advocate, has been appointed president of the executive board of the Public Corporation for the Arts, a nonprofit agency contracted to support the arts in Long Beach and distribute grants among artists and arts organizations.

* Andy Nelsen has been given a proclamation by the city of Pico Rivera for 12 years of service on the Community Advisory Board. Nelsen, 80, resigned this month.

* Barbara Parks has received the employee of the month award for her work as a writer and editor for University Publications at Cal State Long Beach.

* Dr. Roger Freeman has been appointed senior vice president for Memorial Women’s Hospital at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. Freeman has been medical director of Women’s Hospital since 1975.

* Long Beach resident Edmund Herlihy is the general manager of the Ramada Renaissance Hotel scheduled to open next year at Los Angeles International Airport. Herlihy was manager of the Long Beach Ramada Renaissance Hotel.