Photo taken at Lucca’s Restaurant in Irvine celebrating the Irvine Campus Shea Homes Scholarship winner Cathryn Tochilin. Front row (from left to right): Mr. Robert Yoder, President of Southern California Shea Homes, Cathryn Tochilin, and Susan Cooper, Dean of the Irvine campus. Members of the scholarship committee are pictured in the back row (from left to right): Van Muse, Robert Flores, Nadine Dillon, and Cory Chambers. Photographer: Kellie Padilla.
Business student Cathryn Tochilin was honored for her excellence with the Shea Homes scholarship, a scholarship fund specifically given to students who attend classes at the Irvine campus.
Australian native Tochilin, accounting ’13, transferred from Santa Ana College and is currently a senior looking forward to graduation in May. Tochilin was overjoyed when she found out she won the scholarship.
“I felt really honored and pleased to have been chosen out of so many worthy applicants.”
Students from any major are welcomed to apply, but there are specific requirements. The recipient must be either a first semester CSUF transfer student with a 3.0 cumulative GPA or be a continuing Irvine Campus student with a 2.5 cumulative GPA.
Involvement with the Irvine campus is another condition when applying for the scholarship, whether it is involvement with clubs, leadership, research, volunteering, etc.
Tochilin is involved with the Accounting Society and serves as the Irvine representative. With the assistance of her co-chair, Elizabeth Low and the Beta Alpha Psi Irvine representative, Rhonia Bayaa, they are responsible for coordinating Irvine campus meetings as well as informing and recruiting new members.
As graduation nears for Tochilin, she plans on looking for a summer full time position with hopes to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
“I am hoping to obtain a full time position however the option of interning prior to attaining this goal is also a good one,” said Tochilin. “Overall, I would just love to become a CPA and I know I would be effective in this role, once I have the requisite experience and have grown into a competent professional.”
Congratulations Cathryn! It’s great to see a quality builder, such as Shea Homes, have strong community ties and offer scholarships to students who want to pursue a dream.