Cuesta College student Marvin Cheeks of San Miguel was recently awarded the Portraits of Student Success Scholarship. Out of 123 nominations this year, only 11 students statewide received the $500 scholarship at the California Community Colleges CalWORKs Association Training Institute held April 15-17, in Long Beach, CA. The scholarship recognizes student accomplishments in striving for financial self-sufficiency while attending college.
Photo Caption: Marvin Cheeks with Melissa Jacobs, President of the California Community Colleges CalWORKs Association at the California Community Colleges CalWORKs Association Training Institute held April 15-17, 2013, in Long Beach, CA
“This is the first time a Cuesta College student has received this award,” said CalWORKs Coordinator Karen Reyes. “This award is significant in that it exemplifies that CalWORKs students at Cuesta College are achieving the goal of financial self-sufficiency.”
CalWORKs, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids, provides financial assistance to families in need while they work to achieve financial self-sufficiency. Participants in the CalWORKs program may include higher education in their plan to achieve this goal.
Cheeks, a Construction Technology major, participated in the Institute by taking part in a student-lead panel discussion on his experiences as a CalWORKs participant. He also discussed the particular challenges faced by fathers who attend college while overcoming poverty and his own experience of becoming financially self-sufficient, even recently purchasing his first home.
Cheeks will use his scholarship to purchase the textbooks necessary for the final three classes needed to complete his AA degree.