Scholarship Winners 2005

Renee Cozens

Renee Cozens Renee Cozens is working toward a Master’s Degree in nonprofit management at Regis University. Her dream is to be an executive director of a small nonprofit organization. Renee is putting herself through graduate school, currently working as the Coordinator of Survivor Service & Development for the Alisa Ann Ruch Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to enhance the quality of life for burn survivors and to educate children and the community about burn prevention. In school she has served as Freshman Senator, Mentors Assistant, Resident’s Assistant and Social Work Club President. For the last 11 years she has volunteered with Young Life’s Capernaum Project working with high school students who have physical and developmental disabilities. She serves in the Well Community Church and LARCs, a civic group that raises money for the developmental disability community of Fresno County. Renee looks forwards to helping handicapped persons throughout her life. Her personal goals include making a difference in her community.

Valerie Velasquez

Valerie Velasquez Valerie Velasquez was one of Fresno Women’s Network Scholarship winners in 2004. She grew up in the small town of Lindsay here in the Valley and just completed her junior year at Saint Mary’s College of California. While managing a high GPA and a part-time job, she has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, The Homeless Awareness Project, Campus Ministry, University of California San Francisco Women’s Health Study and the American Cancer Society. After graduation, Valerie plans to attend law school to earn her J.D. and M.B.A. in 3 ½ years with special study in Public Interest Law. Her career goal is to open her own law firm in Tulare County to give back to her community. Her personal goal is to always keep God in everything she does.

Janeva Tollison

Janeva Tollison Janeva Tollison, originally from Exeter, currently attends St. Mary’s College of California, where she plans on becoming a clinical psychologist. Prior to attending St. Mary’s, Janeva spent two years attending the College of the Sequoias in Visalia. She maintained a high G.P.A. while working at the Pro Youth/Heart program at Rocky Hill Elementary School in Exeter, an after-school program that creates lessons for Attention Deficit Disorder and depressed children. This experience fueled Janeva’s career choice in psychology as well as non-profit work. She has also volunteered for Homeless Awareness, Campus Ministry, Dorothy Day House and Rock the Vote. Janeva plans to attend California State University, Fresno, to obtain her master’s degree in Child and Family Counseling and her doctoral degree in Psychology. After completing her education, she plans to return to Tulare County to help the community where she grew up. When Janeva was asked about her greatest strength, she replied “caring.”

Meagan Jamieson

Meagan Jamieson Meagan Jamieson received her Associate of Science in Mathematics from Reedley College in May. She is moving on to California State University, Fresno, in August and plans to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics in three years. She plans to earn her Single Subject Credential and teach high school math. While she is teaching, she plans to achieve her master’s degree. Meagan has worked at various jobs since she was 14 years old. As a math tutor at Reedley College, she helped fellow students, and she worked seven hours a week as a teaching assistant at Sanger Academy in a seventh grade math classroom. She knows her career in teaching math will fulfill her personal goal of loving what she is doing and helping others along the way.

Sunny Sawyer

Sunny Sawyer Sunny Sawyer maintains a 3.67 GPA as a full-time student at Reedley College while working 20 hours per week as a cashier and photo technician for Longs Drugs and 15 hours per week in the college tutorial lab. A double major in Computer Science and Mathematics, she will complete her studies spring semester 2006 and plans to transfer in fall 2006 to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; or California Polytechnic State University, Pomona. Sunny serves as president for the honor society Alpha Gamma Sigma, donates time to a number of worthy local charities and says she “likes being able to make a difference.”