Scholars' Honors Program Recognizes Graduates

Forty-eight Students Complete Honors Courses beyond Grad Requirements

Scholars' Honors Program (SHP) honored its 48 graduates Tuesday, May 1, during its 15th annual graduation ceremony.

The graduates received bronze medallions for completing the full SHP curriculum of five honors courses while maintaining a 3.0 grade point average in transferable courses.

Honoring the SHP students at the ceremony were the Cerritos College Board Members Dr. Ted Edmiston, Dr. Bob Hughlett, Tom Jackson and Jean McHatton.

From the administration President Dr. Linda Lacy, Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Marilyn Brock, Vice President of Student Services Dr. Stephen Johnson, Dean of Counseling Dr. Renée De Long Chomiak, Dean of Liberal Arts David Fabish and Dean of Fine Arts Connie Mayfield joined in celebrating the SHP students' accomplishment.

SHP Director Timothy Juntilla was master of ceremonies. "Students have received acceptances to four-year schools including CSUs, UCs, USC, Columbia University, MIT, Mills College, and Azusa Pacific University" said Juntilla.

Following Juntilla's greetings, medallions were presented to the graduates.

As the ceremony concluded, Juntilla announced the three winners of the sixth annual Juntilla SHP Scholarship. Three outstanding students Tanya Edmilao, Danielle Horsman and Jang Kim each received a $500 check and a certificate.

"The transfer success of our students is a testament to the quality and rigor of our honors program," said Juntilla. "SHP students continue to have the highest admissions rates to UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, and UCLA. Moreover, our 2012 Transfer Class received acceptance letters from every UC campus, Cornell University, West Point, USC, Mills College, Loyola Marymount, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Mt. Holyoke, Arizona St., Cal Poly Pomona, CSULB, CSUF, and various other universities."

Those graduating from the program were:
Nery Alcivar-Estrella
Raza Ali
Katherine Ampaw
Jessica Barboza
Aman Batra
Gloria Basulto
Adam Bavarsad
Sukhmani Bedi
Eric Brown
Bertha Calderon
Erika Castillo
Anum Choudry
Usman Chowdhry
Mariana Covarrubias
Mignonne D'Cruz
Maria Dano
Hugo Diaz
Wen Du
Tanya Edmilao
Nicole Gonzalez
Danielle Horsman
Hsiao Hsu
Westley Huynh
Merna Ibrahim
Samuel Kang
David Kerr
Aaron Kim
Jang Mee Kim
Sungjin Kim
Liya Kunnathuparambil
Jennie Lee
Paul Lee
Magdalen Mendoza
Jessica Mo
Catalina Monteon
Oralia Ojeda
Melanie Otico
Anahi Padilla
Tania Perez
Melina Plaza
Deepa Puthran
Elda Rosales
Nathan Serafin
Roxanne Sosa
Jodi Stecher
Nancy Trujillo
Jason Uyan
Yidegar Zuniga

The SHP program is the academic and social home that Cerritos College provides for talented and motivated students who plan to transfer to four-year institutions. Through the SHP program, many students have the opportunity to apply and receive prestigious scholarships. Benefits offered to students by SHP include opportunities for independent research with leading faculty members through the Honors Contract program, small-enrollment honors sections of courses needed for transfer, workshops to help in transferring to four-year schools, and scholarships to selected transfer colleges and universities. For more information on the SHP, visit the program's web page at www.cerritos.edu/shp or contact the SHP office at (562) 860-2451, ext. 2728.