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Erik Eldridge
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 9, 2007
Media Contact: George Cagala, (760) 750-4012
CSUSM Student Awarded Prestigious Hearst/CSU Trustees Award
Erik Eldridge of Encinitas, a computer science major at California State University San Marcos, was named one of 23 California State University (CSU) students to receive the 2007/08 William R. Hearst/CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement. Eldridge and the other winners, one from each campus in the system, were honored by the Trustees on Sept. 18 at the CSU Chancellor’s office in Long Beach, CA.
The award provides $3,000 scholarships to students who have demonstrated financial need, experienced personal hardships and have attributes of merit including superior academic performance, exemplary community service, and significant personal achievements.
Eldridge, 32, came from a household beset with instability and poverty. He changed schools 11 times growing up, and attended three different high schools. Survival was more important at the time than education. After spending three years in a monastery that emphasized meditation and community service and then working with a small Web design firm, Eldridge became his mother's primary caregiver during her long battle with ovarian cancer. After she passed away in 2003, he returned to school with a fierce determination to complete his education and live a full stable life.
Eldridge is president of two student organizations–the Association for Computing Machinery and the Math Club. He was also selected as a computer science research intern at the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, an interdisciplinary research laboratory at the University of California, San Diego. Eldridge’s goal is to work in commercial software development while pursuing a graduate degree in computer science.
After beginning his studies at MiraCosta College, Eldridge enrolled at Cal State San Marcos in 2005. It was his first and only choice for a university.
“I had heard about the campus, that it was still small but growing, and I felt I wanted to be part of this community.”
He has never regretted his decision.
“One of the great things about the campus is the smaller class size,” he said. “I know all my teachers. It’s been an open door to a better future,” he says. Eldridge is also a recipient of the Fenstermaker Foundation and Keith and Jean Kellogg scholarships. “Since the beginning, I’ve felt so much support,” he said, “and now with the Hearst Award, I’m getting support from the CSU system as well.”
The William Randolph Hearst Foundation originally established an endowed scholarship fund in 1984 to honor William Randolph Hearst, founder of the Hearst newspaper chain. In 1999, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation partnered with the CSU Board of Trustees to supplement the endowment with contributions from CSU Trustees and private donors.
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