September 15, 2003

Awards and Honors

Scholarship enables aspiring teacher to enroll at UCSC

Louise Hagio wants to be a teacher, and thanks to a $5,000 scholarship from the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Youth Fund, her goal is closer than ever.

Hagio, 30, is enrolling this month at the UC Santa Cruz, where she plans to major in history with a minor in education. She hopes to teach American history at the high school level.

Hagio is pursuing her goal with support from the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Youth Fund, which funds scholarships and youth-oriented charities with proceeds from the annual golf tournament. Students transferring to UCSC from Monterey Peninsula College (MPC) or Hartnell College were eligible to receive the scholarship.

A single mother of two, Hagio was inspired to become a teacher by the hours she spent volunteering in her children’s classrooms. Her own path to higher education has been challenging; she left high school at a young age to become self-supporting, and put off college to raise her children and support her family.

After enrolling at MPC, though, Hagio discovered a passion for learning and a desire to share her enthusiasm with young people. She worked as an instructional assistant in astronomy at MPC while earning an overall GPA of 3.81. An accomplished horsewoman, Hagio has been a riding instructor and horse trainer for many years.
-by Jennifer McNulty

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