Service to CSUN, Community Recognized

NORTHRIDGE — Lynn Amate volunteered her scarce spare time to battle domestic violence. Patricia Suenaga dedicated her days to working with teenage probationers. And Yvonne Gilon recruited doctors and others for a student counseling program after the Northridge earthquake.

Honorable accomplishments by any measure, but what sets the three women apart from the 6,300 students expected to graduate from Cal State Northridge over the next two weeks is that they managed to help others while maintaining outstanding grades and juggling a laundry list of other activities, including jobs, internships and research work. For their endeavors, Amate, Suenaga, Gilon and four other CSUN graduates received special recognition Tuesday at the school’s 14th annual Honors Convocation.

“This event marks the largest honoring of students in this university’s history,” said CSUN President Blenda Wilson. “It has become an important tradition in the life of the university.”

The ceremony, under the theme “Heritage of Excellence,” honored the students for academic excellence and service to the university and the community. It also recognized the achievements of roughly 600 of their outstanding peers, each of whom received a medallion.

Most of the students who won spots in CSUN’s best and brightest club participated in many extracurricular activities while still managing to excel in their studies.

Suenaga, for example, is graduating with a 4.0 grade point average and a bachelor’s degree in sociology. The 34-year-old Valencia resident said her plans for college originally were delayed by the birth of her daughter soon after Suenaga graduated from high school.

As a result, it wasn’t until 1988 that she enrolled as a part-time student at CSUN, at the same time juggling a job at a Hughes Market. Suenaga said she hopes her degree will help her become a deputy with the county Probation Department, a job she believes she is well suited for, given the personal struggles she endured as a teen.

“I had troubled times, too, through school,” she said. “So the kids I’ve worked with while volunteering with the Probation Department remind me of me.”

But not all of the recipients were wedded solely to their school work.

Honors recipient Thomas MacNeil, a 23-year-old mathematics major from Winnetka, said he made a point of pursuing a social life while attending CSUN in addition to maintaining good grades.

“Mostly I liked ditching class and hanging out on campus,” said MacNeil, who will graduate with a 3.3 grade point average. “I enjoyed people-watching and socializing, but I do regret not spending more time on my grades.”.

Though his grades may not be as high as those of some of his peers, MacNeil managed to compile an impressive list of accomplishments, including serving as president of his fraternity and vice president of a CSUN leadership society. He also helped form a multicultural program that oriented new students on such topics as homophobia, date rape and campus crime.

The other students singled out for the special recognition included Sean Allen, who received the President’s Associates Award for research into the problems of disabled children, Jimmy Doi, who received the Alumni Assn.’s Award, and Alaric Kim Foong Chong, who received an Outstanding Graduating Senior Award.