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Knighten One of 12 Hearst Scholars in California Senior Deidre Knighten, public administration, received the Best and the Brightest Millennium Momentum Award last year and has followed it up this year with three awards including the prestigious California State University Hearst Trustee Scholarship, given to only 12 students in the entire CSU System. [Full story] The Hearst award is given annually to the handful of CSU students who demonstrate financial need, superior academic achievement, and a commitment to community service. She has also recently received the Midway Credit Union Scholarship and the Black Caucus Spouses Scholarship. In addition to her academic record, Knighten has drawn the attention of the scholarship awards committees because of her commitment to others. For the past 10 months, she has worked as an unpaid Americorps intern at the U.S. Vet, where she helps those military veterans who have found themselves on the streets get back on their feet. After facing her own struggles with alcohol and struggling with her own life’s downward spiral for 10 years, the call to service is why she returned to school in the first place after a 20-year hiatus. She enrolled at CSUDH intent on gleaning the skills needed to found a recovery home for women with drug addictions. Upon graduation, her plan is to build the home to help women recover from their addiction, give birth to sober children, and nurture them back into society. Reporting by Russell Hudson |
