Diana Guelespe earned her Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology from NEIU in May 2000. In December of 2003, she earned her Master's in Political Science at NEIU with an emphasis on International and Comparative Politics. Guelespe decided to go on for a Ph.D., and was the recipient of the Brommel Doctoral Scholarship. She noted, "I cannot express how thankful I am for the support I was given. I had major difficulties securing funding during the first years of the Ph.D. program, and receiving the Brommel award helped ne receive other types of funding. I was recently awarded the Advanced Doctoral Fellowship from Loyola University—one of only 16 in the entire University." Guelespe continues to make progress towards her Ph.D. and hopes to defend her dissertation in December 2012. She was invited back to NEIU this year to teach a course on "Immigration, Ethnicity and Citizenship."
Elizabeth Cervantes is a 2011 Kane Scholarship Recipient and Sociology Major at NEIU. Cervantes commutes an hour-and-a-half each way to attend classes. She works 30-40 hours a week to afford her tuition, while maintaining a 3.8 Grade Point Average. Cervantes commented, "I'm so grateful for this scholarship. I will not forget the help I was given, and this gift will not stop with me because somewhere in the future I will give back to others. The challenge of pursuing my education has made me stronger and now I feel like I can do anything—like I’m unstoppable."
Jessica Mamola, student, College of Education, was the first recipient of the Dr. Olga Kaszubowski Memorial Scholarship. "This scholarship meant so much to me and to my family. Being able to focus on my studies without worrying about financial pressures has been a great experience for me. I lost my father at a young age, and since then, finances have always been an issue for my family. I was so relieved to see some of the pressure lifted from my mom and my grandparents. I'm very proud to be the first recipient of the Kaszubowski scholarship, and to follow in Olga's footsteps by becoming an educator who will give back to my community." Mamola recently completed on her senior honor's thesis, which will explore the impact of text messaging on childhood literacy among 3rd grade Chicago Public School students.
