Degree of Difficulty : Some College Grads Learned Life's Lessons as Well as Classwork

By ALICIA DI RADO

May 25, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

FULLERTON —

She’s preparing to be a lawyer and her grades have landed her on the dean’s list at Cal State Fullerton. She works 20 hours a week and spends time volunteering with youths near her South-Central Los Angeles home.

And while she studies for the six courses she is taking, she watches her 2-year-old son, Arthur, whom she supports only with the help of her mother.

Shatam Sampson, 22, will soon finish her undergraduate career and join the thousands of students who are graduating from Orange County universities and colleges in coming weeks. Sampson sees it as a bridge to her next challenge: law school.

“My life has become school,” said Sampson, who wants to eventually enter politics. “You don’t acquire knowledge overnight, so I’m committed to going on and working till I reach my dream.”

For Sampson, graduation Sunday will be particularly sweet. It not only will symbolize a reward for her persistence and sleep deprivation, but will also recognize her volunteer work. She will receive the President’s Associate Service Award, an honor given to only one of the nearly 6,000 graduating seniors at the university.

Other campuses are also honoring their own: Irvine Valley College on Wednesday recognized Charlotte Kayra, Stephanie Trich and Carey Piampiano, its three valedictorians. The college graduated 384 students, its largest class ever, spokesman George McCrory said.

Saddleback College will salute eight valedictorians at its ceremonies today, including 28-year-old Toni Adams, who was chosen to give the student commencement address.

Adams graduated from Anaheim’s Loara High School with a 4.0 grade-point average in 1984, but decided not to go to college so she could gain work experience. She became a customer service representative at a local cable television service and got married, and the prospect of going to college grew dim.

But after she divorced her husband and grew bored with her job, she entered community college in 1991.

“I decided to do what I wanted to do,” Adams said. In addition to taking classes, she volunteered as a tutor and was president of the campus’s chapter of Alpha Gamma Sigma, an honors group.

Now she wants to continue her education at a four-year college and plans to become an English professor. She is weighing acceptance letters from UC San Diego, Cal State Fullerton and Stanford.

“I have a knack for teaching,” Adams said.

Sampson, the Cal State Fullerton student, said if she could change her past, she would avoid having a child as a single mother and would try to gain entry to a University of California campus. But she looks fondly on her time at Cal State Fullerton.

“I’m so glad I came here,” Sampson said. “It taught me a lot. It confirmed that I can have confidence. People can’t hold me back.”

Sampson said she has faced questioning on occasion from people who wondered whether she was a good mother or if she was throwing her college career away by having a child. It took effort to prove she could do both, she said.

She wasn’t always so motivated, though. In 10th grade, she carried a C-minus average and school was an afterthought, she said.

“I ditched,” Sampson said. “I didn’t care.”

Then her mother moved her from Locke High School to Washington Preparatory High School for 11th grade. The move sparked her interest in learning and achievement, she said. “I had teachers who told me I could succeed in anything,” Sampson said. “I thought about it, and I applied myself, and I graduated with honors.”

During her second semester at Cal State Fullerton, in early 1992, Sampson became pregnant. At first, her boyfriend favored Sampson continuing in college, she said, but they gradually parted ways.

“He didn’t understand how important education is to me and we split up,” she said matter-of-factly.

After earning a straight-A average during her fall semester, Sampson gave birth to Arthur during winter break and returned to class two weeks later.

“But I couldn’t take it,” she said. “I’d fall asleep in class.” She dropped a few courses that semester but increased her load later to make up for the classes she missed. Unlike many CSU students, she finished her undergraduate courses in four years.

Sampson said she quickly learned to balance caring for her baby with her studies.

“I’d bring Arthur to class,” she said, laughing. “He’d be crying and I’d be rocking him. He’d be in the classroom, in the library. . . . It’s amazing what I’d do with him.”

At the same time, she helped start a student group called “Help Bridge the Gap” soon after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The group sponsored events to bring people of different ethnicities together in central Los Angeles.

Cal State Fullerton officials gave the project their 1994 campus “Saturn Award” as one of the top community service initiatives started by a student group.

When she wasn’t studying to keep her grade-point average at 3.65, or volunteering in the community, Sampson worked as the assistant coordinator of a peer tutoring service for African American students.

Sampson said she has become interested in politics because she believes more African Americans should be involved in representative politics. She has worked on several political campaigns, including Kathleen Brown’s unsuccessful gubernatorial bid and Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas’ recent successful reelection campaign.

Her activities limited time with her son, she said, but she believes that her determination to excel in college will pay off for him too.

“I’m instilling in him that education is everything,” Sampson said. “He’s not going to play the role of a victim in life. He’s going to succeed.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Commencement Calendar

CAL STATE FULLERTON: All at Titan Stadium

Friday

* Engineering, computer science, natural science and mathematics, 5 p.m.

* Arts, 8 p.m.

Saturday

* Business administration and economics, 9:30 a.m.

* Communications, 4:30 p.m.

* Human development and community service, 8 p.m.