Talon Marks Online News

Three students received a check of $500, each including scholarship awards Tuesday May 1 at the Cerritos College Student Center.

They were among 45 students, who through the assistance of the Scholar’s Honors Program, were able to transfer to universities of their choice.

The SHP was established in 1997 and roughly 20 students joined the SHP in its first year. Currently, there are over 250 enrolled students in the SHP, and 40-50 students on average complete the program and transfer to their respective universities each year.

Timothy Juntilla English instructor and director of the SHP said, “This is our honors annual celebration. We are celebrating all our honors students, who have completed the program and are transferring to a four year university and to be eligible, you need to have 12 transferable units if you are already at Cerritos College with 3.0 or higher and we need to have you place in English 100 and Math 80 at least.”

Those who join SHP get what is called priority admission consideration, it facilitates the smooth transfer to universities, which means, amongst stiff competition for admission, SHP students would get preferential treatment.

The program also includes transfer to a few redbrick colleges out of state, this option is not that popular among SHP members who prefer instate transfer.

“I am a sociology major and part of the SHP program, I have been here at Cerritos College for about two and a half years, pursuing a major in sociology. I am now transferring to the University of Irvine, trying to see if I can pursue a higher career in sociology doing research in social work because they really have a great research center in its Sociology Department,” sociology major Magdalen Mendoza said.

Choosing a university closer to home seemed popular, Mignonne D’Cruz, psychology major said, “I decided on joining the SHP program specifically because of the benefit of priority registration. So it is really good on your college application and I plan to transfer to UC Irvine and major in psychology and get involved with research to eventually become a psychiatrist.”

Besides the students who plan to study first and then build a career, there are students who already have many years of working experience and wanted a change through further education. Such a person is David Kerr who is transferring to pursue his career as a chemical engineer.

Among the three who received a check was Danielle Horsman, a business administration major. She said the scholarship was not too hard; she just had to include how active she in the campus and her future goals in perspective.

Biology major Jan Mee Kim who too received a check, also attributed her easy transfer to SHP courses she followed.