Learning the Lessons of Life : Diplomas: Some grads are leaving CSUN knowing the personal challenges they have overcome will give them the confidence to face the future.

In a series of graduation ceremonies beginning today, an estimated 6,537 students will receive their diplomas from Cal State Northridge.

But the diplomas will tell only part of the story.

Aside from their academic accomplishments, many of these students will leave the university armed with something more: the wisdom that comes from facing a challenge and triumphing.

“I would say [have] perseverance and faith in your own abilities to do it,” said 23-year-old Sean Benison of Valencia. “It may seem intimidating, but don’t let it get the best of you. Keep on working, and that’s how you’ll succeed.”

Benison should know.

He is graduating this week with all A’s in geography and a 3.97 grade-point average overall, just shy of a 4.0 straight-A record. Among his many awards, the university recently named him a Wolfson Scholar, a prestigious honor given each year to an outstanding senior.

Benison, who has muscular dystrophy, has been in a wheelchair for 10 years. During his three years at CSUN, Benison said, people such as William Bowen, a professor in the geography department, made sure Benison “could get the most out of the department, despite my disability.” They made sure he had access to classes and computer rooms.

And while others reached out to him, Benison did the same, tutoring students in statistics and computers. Next fall, he will begin work on a master’s degree at UC Santa Barbara.

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For computer science major Romesh Prakashpalan, his next step lies in the corporate realm.

“Ideally, I’d like to be the head of a [computer] game programming corporation,” Romesh said, maybe even his own.

Wherever he ends up, Romesh is likely to be the youngest person in the boardroom. At 17, he is the class of 1995’s youngest graduate.

Romesh started college at age 12 when he enrolled in the early-entrance program at Cal State Los Angeles. After three years, he transferred to CSUN to study computer science, a longtime love. His parents never pushed him into computers, he said, but they did introduce him to technology at an early age.

“I think I got a Commodore 64 when I was in kindergarten, so I started a little basic programming, very rudimentary,” he said.

He was only 15 when he enrolled at CSUN, but his age didn’t seem to matter, Romesh said.

“By that time I looked old enough to be a freshman or a sophomore,” he said. “I don’t realize that I’m young unless it’s pointed out to me. I’m doing the same thing that everybody around me is doing at school.”

And doing it well.

Outside of class, Romesh, who lives with his parents in Granada Hills, spent his time conducting research at the library and through the Internet.

His most memorable experience at CSUN came during a presentation in a software engineering design course. For their final project, he and other students designed a program to teach arithmetic to children. Using a computer connected to an overhead projector, Prakashpalan presented the program to an awe-struck class and received much praise afterward.

“That made me feel pretty good,” he said.

That experience might be useful to other students, he said.

“I would say . . . if possible, do research on your own because that really helps,” he said. “There’s no way I could have created that application without having that outside experience you often can’t get from a professor or textbook.”

The most poignant lessons Joyce Bastoli learned during her five years at CSUN did come from a professor--Johnnie Scott, of the Pan-African studies department.

“He taught all of us a lot about life,” she said. “He motivated us and taught us about devotion and enduring skills I think anybody needs to function in the real world.”

This semester, Bastoli worked 40 hours a week and carried 22 units. She is finishing degrees in sociology and Pan-African studies and has maintained an impressive grade-point average--about a 3.9, before finals.

Although she lives with her parents in Westchester, Bastoli “didn’t want to take mom and dad’s money,” she said.

So she decided she would help support herself, weaving a life centered on school and work and work and school. This semester she scheduled all her classes at 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m., allowing her to spend the rest of the day working at her job in Calabasas as an administrator in a communications firm.

“It was a very hard journey,” the 23-year-old said.

Taya Amerson made the journey for herself and her family. Neither of her parents graduated from college, but Amerson’s mother, Karen, encouraged her, and Amerson was propelled by her own desire.

“I wanted something better out of life,” she said.

Still there were moments when Amerson thought there had to be a better way.

“You just get tired of going to school,” the radio-TV-film major said. “You want to make that money and stop being broke all the time.”

And for Amerson, who grew up in Charleston, W. Va., the quake left her thinking about leaving Los Angeles.

“From our balcony, we could see where the 16 people died,” she said, referring to the collapsed Northridge Meadows Apartments complex.

Her own apartment building, on Citronia Street in Northridge, also collapsed, forcing Amerson and her roommate to move in first with Amerson’s mother in Los Angeles and then to Panorama City.

Like Bastoli, Amerson credited Scott with providing her with the encouragement and support that made the rough spots bearable.

“I made it,” she said in a voice mixed with weariness and joy. “I don’t have a job yet, but I made it.”

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Michael A. Scott made it too, but for many years making it was the last thing he ever thought he would do.

Found to have dyslexia at age 6, school was never easy for Scott. As a child, the learning disability even made it hard for him to speak.

“It was very difficult to focus my thoughts enough to communicate,” he said.

For years he held on to the belief--drilled into his head by the taunts of classmates--that he was stupid and would never be able to learn.

As a teen-ager, he dropped out of school and for a time was homeless, living on the streets of Sacramento and other towns in Northern California.

The turning point in his life came in 1986 when he was involved in a motorcycle accident. While recovering, he visited College of the Redwoods in Eureka, Calif. Supportive staff members at the school’s disabled students services program encouraged him to pursue his education and provided him with academic support. He earned an associate of arts degree, and in 1992 he enrolled at CSUN.

Throughout his college years, the biggest lesson for Scott was learning to accept himself.

“I really had to let go of the negative thoughts and feelings and allow myself to be who I was,” he said. “The fact of the matter is, we are all different. Some are more different than others. That’s how I see myself now.”

CSUN also provided Scott with the academic support he needed. Because his dyslexia often caused him to mark the wrong box, even though he knew the right answer, he was given a proctor during exams who would mark his answers. Because Scott absorbs information better through hearing it rather than reading it, the proctor also would read exam questions aloud to him. Tutors helped him study--and before this semester’s finals he had a 3.35 grade-point average.

Outside class, Scott counseled disabled students and was an active member in the Disabled Student Organization. A radio-TV-film major, Scott was also president of the school’s Action Film and Video Club. Over the years he has received numerous awards for his work, including certificates of recognition from the House of Representatives and the Senate.

“I’ve found that the most successful way to survive is to be active in school,” he said. “Just going to school isn’t going to cut it.”

Scott hopes to produce a film about the lives of disabled people, making one point perfectly clear:

“You can realize your dreams,” he said.