Juliana Abraham has a variety of head coverings that she wears when she’s outside. One day might be a head scarf, another day a Cal State San Marcos baseball cap.
But Abraham isn’t trying to make a fashion statement. After undergoing radiation therapy as a teenager, she has a 75% higher risk of skin cancer. And when she removes the head covering that she’s chosen for a particular day, she can adjust her hair to show the C-shaped scar where doctors cut open the top of her head to perform brain surgery when she was 12 years old.
It has been nearly a decade since the surgery, and, not surprisingly, the experience has completely altered the course of Abraham’s life. Before the surgery, she was a Level 9 competitive gymnast, meaning she was on a path to try out for the Elite program from which U.S. Olympic gymnasts are selected. While that dream ended because of her health issues, the experience opened Abraham’s eyes to her future career.
“I've known that I've wanted to be a nurse since I got sick,” said Abraham, a first-generation college student who is graduating from CSUSM this month with a bachelor’s in kinesiology. “After the second time I got sick, I knew that was probably my calling. Before that, I was in the gym eight hours a day training five days a week, sometimes six, and that was my career. And then everything just kind of came to a halt once I got diagnosed with a brain tumor.
“I had the light-bulb moment during proton radiation therapy in 2016 after the second surgery. My nurses in both years when I was sick always made an impact on me. It always felt like home being in the hospital for some reason. It was such a connection that I had with those nurses. I cried when I was done with therapy and I rang that bell that they have you ring. I was so happy but also upset because I wasn't going to see them anymore. It was like I was losing a part of my family in a way.”
Abraham has been laser-focused on a nursing career ever since.
Abraham was still a tween when she began suffering a variety of ailments – including headaches, double vision, and back and stomach pain. She figured it must be related to her intense gymnastics training or puberty. A visit to an eye doctor changed everything. Abraham was diagnosed with papilledema, a swelling of the optic discs in the eyes. The doctor said Abraham needed to go to the emergency room immediately because of related pressure on the brain.
An MRI revealed the brain tumor. Doctors initially thought they were dealing with a common benign tumor, but a surgery that was expected to last five hours took more than eight as they discovered it was a central neurocytoma tumor, which is rare in children. It’s so rare that Abraham’s doctors published a case report about it in BMJ, an international peer-reviewed journal.
A groggy Abraham actually woke up toward the end of the procedure as the doctor was putting stitches in her head. Abraham, whose head and upper body were mobilized to ensure that she didn’t move during the procedure, asked her doctor if he could scratch her nose, which was bothering her. The doctor politely declined, noting that he was a tad busy. So, Abraham, ever the gymnast, lifted her knee to her nose, scratched it and put her leg back down.
“He stopped what he was doing, looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘Did you really just do that?’ I’m drunk on anesthesia, groggy and don't know what's going on and said, 'I think so.' And then I was out. That was the first thing he told my parents when he came out to speak to them.”
When Abraham was fully awake following the surgery, she was paralyzed on the left side of her body. Rigorous physical therapy helped her regain use of her left side and she even returned to gymnastics.
But during one of her follow-up appointments, doctors discovered a regrowth. Abraham underwent a second surgery a year after her first. This time, doctors were unable to remove it completely due to its proximity to the hypothalamus, which controls things like heart rate and hormonal release.
Abraham underwent proton radiation therapy to eradicate the remaining tumor and tried again to return to gymnastics. But one of the lingering effects of Abraham’s paralysis after her first surgery is drop foot syndrome, which means she can’t always lift the front part of the foot. As she increasingly had accidents while performing routines, she realized she had to retire from the sport she loved.
Nurses were a consistently positive presence throughout Abraham’s medical journey, and with Olympic dreams no longer a possibility, she turned her attention to a new goal. Figuring out how to finance that goal was a challenge for someone from a low-income background, but Abraham’s medical team stepped in to help.
Abraham was referred by her neuro oncologist to Make-A-Wish San Diego, which empowers children battling critical illnesses by granting them a wish. Make-A-Wish granted Abraham’s request for a scholarship to help pay for college, providing a $10,000 grant that covered costs for Abraham’s first year at CSUSM.
With many nursing programs in the state impacted, Abraham decided to major in kinesiology. She’s working her way through nursing prerequisites with an eye on starting a program in spring 2025. That would put her on track for two milestones in 2026 – a nursing degree and being officially clear medically. Doctors wanted Abraham checked annually for 10 years following the second surgery because of the regrowth, but the hope is that she will be declared clear in December 2026 and can fully focus on the next chapter of her life – helping others the way so many nurses helped her.
“What better profession for me to go into than nursing?” she said. “I know what kids are going to be going through and I know how to prepare them for it. I know how to be there for them and hopefully make them feel better and more comfortable. I can let them know, ‘Hey, I've been through this, too.’ ”
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- Graduate Crafting Career on Helping ChildrenCraftsmanship runs in the Arceo family. While her father has been an exceptional woodcarver for decades, Tania Arceo focuses on painting. But not in the way one would expect. A childhood and adolescent development major at Cal State San Marcos, Arceo has spent the last year and a half working with Voices for Children, a nonprofit organization where volunteers are trained to become court-appointed special advocates (CASAs). Volunteers like Arceo represent juvenile dependency cases in San Diego County. “I'm basically their companion and their voice,” Arceo said, “I have the honor of getting to understand their stories and represent them in front of the judge during the various court cases and meetings that we have.” Arceo is making a strong impact on the foster youth that she represents. She focuses on displaying a unique visual element of the children, allowing the judges to understand them better. “They're typically this black and white file,” Arceo said. “The judge really wants to know who the child is at their core, what is in their best interest, so I paint their picture and it's important to paint that part of the picture for everybody so that they can understand these children and their behaviors. Sometimes they act in a certain way and we label that as negative or we label the child as struggling. But all that child really needs is somebody to invest in them a little bit of attention.” As someone who deals with imposter syndrome, it was an eye-opening experience for Areceo when she realized how much of an impact she had on the children. “I try to highlight them in court. I talk to them about all their strengths, their differing abilities, and I give recommendations on what the best placement for them is,” Arceo said. “To my surprise, every single time that I've gone to court, my suggestions are the ones chosen.” Arceo had to go through a month of training to be part of Voices for Children. The training period helped her understand different situations she may face. She also went through court report writing training. Areceo feels such a connection for these kids because of her past experiences. Born in Tijuana, Areceo and her family moved to San Diego when she was just 6 months old. Her father was offered a job at a factory, which prompted the family’s move. Arceo’s father was offered the job due his work as a woodcarver. He was orphaned by the time he was 14 and, being the oldest of six siblings, the responsibility to take care of the family was placed on him. With this new responsibility, her father looked toward the art of woodcarving to make ends meet. “He would stop by these wood shops and he would hang out and for a while before they would shoo him away,” Arceo said. “Eventually they told them, ‘If you're gonna hang out here then might as well put you to use,’ and they started teaching him carpentry. He really fell in love with it and started engaging with the art of woodcarving.” A big part of why Arceo’s father is attracted to woodcarving is because of the magic he finds in the wood and the story it tells. For Arceo’s upcoming graduation, her father used his woodcarving skills to show admiration for his daughter being the first in the family to graduate from college. This gift points out important characteristics of her journey at CSUSM. While his woodcarving talent brought the Arceo family to the United States, it continues to form a connection between Arceo and her father. “I do woodworking as a kind of side hobby, more so to spend time with my dad,” Arceo said. “I want to spend time with him and listen to his stories.” Arceo’s father is interested in mythology and Mexican culture, and Arceo loves to listen to him share his knowledge on the subjects. Since he did not have access to education or amenities such as a library, Arceo feels like she owes it to him to pursue a higher education. “That's part of the reason why I felt like I definitely needed to pursue higher education,” she said. “The fact that they were able to bring me here and allow me to open up these doors for myself, I know that it means so much to my parents. I could do something that they didn't have the opportunity to do.” Arceo will wrap up this chapter at commencement this weekend. But she’ll be back on campus in the fall as part of the Master of Social Work program as she looks toward a career with Child Protective Services. Her family will be cheering her on in the crowd while she gets her diploma, and they will continue to cheer her on no matter what she does next. Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
- Program Helps Students Find Career Path in Tobacco ResearchKarissa Tran is a San Marcos native who entered Cal State San Marcos intending to study clinical psychology. Nicolas Morales is a transfer from Northern Arizona University who came to CSUSM with a goal to become a physical therapist or physician’s assistant. Both learned through faculty mentors about the existence of a new program to train students in research that would help them lessen the harmful effects of tobacco and vape use in their communities. It didn’t quite dovetail with their academic interests at the time, but both thought it sounded like a good opportunity to develop their research skills in an area that long has been vital to public health in the United States. Now, almost two years later, Tran and Morales are not only graduating from CSUSM – Tran with a degree in psychology, Morales in kinesiology – but they are standouts in the first cohort of eight students to complete the Smoke and Vape Free Scholars Initiative Program for Reducing Tobacco Disease in Diverse Communities (SVFSIP). The initiative, which involves a partnership with UC San Diego, is the result of a four-year, $1.3 million grant from a state agency named the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, or TRDRP. The training opportunity is tailored to students from racial/ethnic minoritized, low-income or LGBTQ+ groups, the same populations that studies show are disproportionately targeted by tobacco companies and affected by tobacco-related disease. Thanks in large part to their experience in SVFSIP over the last two years, Tran and Morales are headed to graduate school to continue their research in public health. This fall, Tran will begin pursuit of a Ph.D. in health psychology at UCLA, while Morales will start a Master of Public Health program at San Diego State, with a doctorate on the horizon for him as well. “It’s been absolutely wonderful,” Tran said. “I really credit the program and my mentors for getting me to where I am and pushing me to the point where I can accomplish my next steps. Without them, this wouldn’t be possible.” Said Morales: “Overall, I think the program was amazing. I got to meet remarkable people that hopefully are going to be colleagues in the future.” The faculty who shepherded the inaugural cohort through SVFSIP (seven other students just finished their first of two years) are Kim Pulvers, a psychology professor who has devoted her career to tobacco-related research, and Richard Armenta, a kinesiology professor who’s the associate director for the Center for Training, Research and Educational Excellence (CTREE). SVFSIP is one of many programs housed within CTREE, the mission of which is to enhance the educational and research experiences of students from underserved backgrounds. “Developing the resources to provide students a substantial training experience to grow as researchers and advocates reducing the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States has been very rewarding,” Pulvers said. “I am proud that the footprint for tobacco research at CSUSM has grown beyond the studies that I conduct and the students I personally mentor.” The eight students who are the initial SVFSIP graduates spent their first year working with a mentor on research project related to prevention or treatment. During the recently completed second year, they worked with a community-based tobacco control specialist on a local advocacy project. Throughout the program, they received an annual stipend and a discount of 50% on tuition. For her research year, Tran was paired with Pulvers on two studies. The first examined the relationship between the age that a person first uses cannabis and their current level of abuse, and whether anxiety or depression helps explain that relationship. The second explored behavioral economic demand for cannabis and tobacco among young adults. For her advocacy year that is wrapping up this month, Tran worked for the California Youth Advocacy Network (CYAN), investigating the legality of tobacco sales to several college campuses in the state. In between, she was selected for a competitive internship last summer with the National Cancer Institute in Maryland, a 10-week assignment that was extended into the entire academic year based on the quality of her research output. In his first year, Morales was mentored by Eric Leas, a public health professor at UCSD. His two research projects concerned the self-reporting of adverse effects from the use of delta-8 THC, a psychoactive substance found in cannabis, and searching for loopholes in the enforcement of the ban on flavored vape products in California. The latter study was published in the online journal Tobacco Control. After a summer internship in which he continued his research with Leas at UCSD, Morales for his advocacy year worked at the Institute for Public Health at SDSU. There, he collected data on the extent to which current and former tobacco users are up to date on non-lung-related cancer screenings, since tobacco use increases the likelihood of developing more than a dozen different types of cancer. Morales says his curiosity with this line of research stems from his own history as a smoker of both cigarettes and vapes. “I felt like it was affecting my physical and mental health as well as affecting the people around me,” he said. “I wanted to get out of that, and I pulled myself out of it. So when I found out about the TRDRP scholars program, it particularly sparked my interest just from my previous use.” Pulvers credited the training and mentorship provided by CTREE, led by Armenta and biology professor Denise Garcia, the co-direction of research internships by UCSD faculty member Dennis Trinidad, and the support of community partners like CYAN, Vista Community Clinic and SAY San Diego for the success of SVFSIP thus far. “The level of student training in tobacco prevention and treatment research and advocacy and student outcomes achieved would not be possible without the time and talent of our research and advocacy mentors,” Pulvers said. Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306
- CSUSM Receives $250,000 Grant From Conrad Prebys FoundationIn a landmark moment for youth mental health, Cal State San Marcos has received a grant of $250,000 from the Prebys Foundation to advance mental health services for its diverse student population. The grant is a part of the Prebys Foundation’s recent announcement of a $6 million investment in grants to 23 local organizations during Mental Health Awareness Month. At a time when mental health challenges among young people are pervasive and most CSUSM students come from systematically disadvantaged communities where accessing mental and behavioral health services is stigmatized, the Prebys Foundation’s support for bolstering inclusivity and accessibility in mental health intervention is paramount. The grant not only enhances crisis response, mental health training and peer support initiatives on campus, but also it serves as a collective commitment toward fostering a supportive environment where all students can thrive academically and personally. Additionally, this funding will broaden resources like the Health Assistance Fund and BetterYou app, and it will provide stipends to Master of Social Work interns, promoting social mobility by empowering students to pursue their education without sacrificing employment opportunities. Student voices are echoing the significance of such investments in mental health support. “I will always be so grateful for Student Health & Counseling Services because it allowed me to receive the mental well-being help I needed,” said CSUSM student Amber Arenas, who's pursuing a double major in psychology and criminology and justice studies. “Everyone has financial burdens, and this fund helps a lot of us not have the stress of money so we can fully spend our time being a college student and becoming academically successful.” Social mobility cannot exist without breaking down these systemic barriers to provide students with access to testing, training and treatment that honors their lived experiences. CSUSM’s Community of Care initiative aims to enhance these wraparound services and address the mental health needs of students. The impact of the Prebys Foundation grant will be amplified further thanks to a recent philanthropic pledge. In March, CSUSM Foundation Board Director Dan Epstein and his wife, Phyllis, made a transformational $10 million matching gift to CSUSM, effectively doubling the foundation grant into a total of $500,000. CSUSM’s receipt of the Prebys Foundation grant, coupled with the Epstein matching gift, symbolizes the power of community partnerships in effecting transformative change. Grant Oliphant, CEO of the Prebys Foundation, emphasized the importance of empowering young individuals and building meaningful community ties. “San Diego can become a national model by consistently supporting the well-being of youth and young adults," Oliphant said. "The health and vitality of student leaders are crucial for a vibrant future.” As CSUSM continues its mission to strengthen mental health services, the university remains dedicated to ensuring that students thrive academically and personally, irrespective of background or circumstance. To get involved in mental health and wellness efforts on campus, follow the Cougar Care Network (@csusmccn) and SHCS's HOPE & Wellness Center (@csusmhope) on social media. Visit the Health Assistance Fund and Student Health & Counseling Services websites to learn about upcoming Mental Health First Aid trainings. Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
- Social Sciences Student Connects With American Indian HeritageCheyenne Smith never felt like she fully belonged. As a biracial woman, she was trapped within an agonizing dilemma of feeling too white-passing to be entitled to her American Indian heritage. This paradox made navigating life as a college student, especially during a global pandemic, challenging. As a transfer student from MiraCosta College, Smith’s arrival at Cal State San Marcos was a frightening one. She worried that she again would feel isolated in a new environment. But Smith not only found a place where she felt fully accepted, she found a new place to call home. "Cheyenne exemplifies the spirit of community engagement and scholarly excellence that we hold dear at the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center (CICSC)," said Joely Proudfit, one of Smith's mentors and the director of the CICSC. "Throughout her time at CSUSM, she has profoundly impacted her peers, the campus and the broader community through her unwavering kindness, empathy and dedication to service.” While much of Smith’s family identifies as white, her father is American Indian, having been adopted into a white family. It was with her father’s help that Smith learned to embrace her Lakota heritage and its traditions. But she always craved more. After her parents divorced, Smith lived with her mother in Oceanside, losing some of the closeness she had with her father. Neither of her parents had earned a college degree – her father was in the military and her mother became pregnant with Smith while enrolled in college. However, this fueled Smith’s desire to become the first in her family to graduate from college and follow her passions. “I think I just want to be an inspiration to them,” Smith said. Smith spent most of her first two years of college quarantined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, giving her few opportunities to connect with her peers or other students like herself. “I was trapped inside, there was nothing happening,” she said. “I felt like I was not progressing.” That began to change after she transferred to CSUSM in 2022. During her first year, Smith joined the American Indian Student Alliance (AISA), which turned into a life-changing experience as she discovered a sense of community, pride in her heritage and mentors like Proudfit, American Indian studies professor Eric Tippeconnic and CICSC program specialist Monica Zavala. For the first time, Smith felt like she belonged and was encouraged to embrace her identity. “Through AISA, I saw not only people who presented strongly as Indigenous, but also people who looked similar to me and didn’t see themselves as less Indigenous,” Smith said. Even with this new community, college life still proved to be challenging. Struggling with severe anxiety and depression during her second semester at CSUSM, Smith began to seclude herself and stopped attending classes. She spent most of that time tucked away in her bed, ignoring worried messages from professors, friends and mentors. She dreaded facing pressure from school and her personal life. “I feel like I did have a lot of support during that time that I just wasn't willing to take,” she said. “I do regret not taking advantage of the support my friends and professors offered me. They were doing the best they could. They knew something was wrong with me because it was not like me to just disappear like that.” Smith failed most of her classes that semester, but it was also a turning point that changed the course of her academic journey. Once more, Smith turned toward AISA and her support system. Smith started attending classes again, elevated her academic standing and searched for opportunities to advance in her career path. During her search, a friend from AISA encouraged Smith to apply for a position in psychology professor Kim Pulvers’ research lab for a Tobacco, E-Cigarette and Cannabis Waste Randomized Control Trial (TECW RCT). Smith is grateful to Pulvers for looking past her grades from the previous semester and recognizing her potential. The TECW RCT became a great opportunity for Smith to garner more experience working as a counselor and preparing to become a social worker. Smith also became involved in the CICSC, through which she has helped spread awareness of the benefits of American Indian student centers on college campuses. Even though there were some bumps in the road, Smith came back more determined than ever, inspired to help people like her in the same way that CSUSM, AISA and CICSC had helped her. “I'm probably the most at peace I've ever been,” Smith said. Smith is motivated by the words of Tippeconnic, one of her mentors, who told her, “A win for you is a win for the community.” For the next year, she will further her research at CSUSM, this time as a faculty member, before attending graduate school. She has her sights on eventually becoming a social worker for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women organization, helping American Indian women feel supported in their efforts to combat violence against Native people. “As she transitions from our halls to the broader stages of professional life and graduate studies, we are filled with pride and anticipation,” Proudfit said. “Cheyenne's commitment to serving both the American Indian community and society at large promises to forge paths of positive change and enduring impact. We are excited to see the remarkable contributions she will undoubtedly make in her future endeavors.” At commencement, Smith will walk across the stage to accept her bachelor’s degree in social sciences, proudly representing her Indigenous heritage by donning a hand-beaded hummingbird on her cap. “Hummingbirds represent healing and transformation,” she said. “I feel like I really resonate with that.” At CSUSM, Smith has gained much more than just a degree. She found a home that helped her heal and transform into a proud biracial woman who’s ready to spread her wings. Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
- Criminology Student Helps Children Needing Dental CareAmanda Escobar is a fourth-year, first-generation criminology and justice studies major at Cal State San Marcos with an aspiration to be a dentist. She is finishing her major requirements this week while also taking classes to meet the requirements to get into dental school. Although this seems simple, her story is not. Neither is her naturally altruistic outlook on life. Escobar devotes most of her free time to a nonprofit mobile dental clinic hosted by USC. The clinic mainly serves children but also migrant workers, unhoused people and the underprivileged in need of dental care. Escobar said many people served by the clinic have never received dental care. “I was talking to these two mothers who came to the clinic, and they said they had just come from Guatemala two months ago,” Escobar said. “They explained to me that their two children have never received dental work. I’m glad we were able to help these kids with something that is so important yet taken for granted by some.” Escobar was shocked that the family had just moved to America, and she already was able to help them. A career in criminology and justice studies is quite different from being a dentist. But Escobar has found that the major helps her better understand situations at the clinic. Recently, two boys ages 16 and 17 were brought to the clinic from juvenile detention. One of them was hesitant to receive dental work because of his past. Because she is familiar with this topic from her coursework, Escobar incorporated prior knowledge to assess the situation in a different light than most people. She approached the boy's care with a greater understanding of his needs. “I totally understand,” she said. “I took a class on juvenile delinquency, and I thought, it’s not them, it's the system that breaks their trust. We had to reassure him that the clinic is trying to help him, not hurt him.” Escobar had to overcome a lot to be where she is today. For starters, she had to learn how to get through college without her parents understanding her struggles. While her parents had to focus on working and making a home in a strange country, she had to navigate her academic journey largely by herself. “My college journey has been hard being a first-generation student and my parents coming from El Salvador,” Escobar said. She entered CSUSM on a good note, passing all of her classes in her first year. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, however, Escobar’s mental health took a turn for the worse. Receiving below a 2.0 GPA in her second year of college, she knew something had to be wrong beyond just the struggles of the pandemic. She had no motivation. She fell into a dark place, feeling like her parents didn’t understand the hard work required to receiving an education. She felt isolated. Battling feelings of depression and suicidal thoughts, Escobar realized she needed help. She reached out to a doctor on campus to express her concerns. The medical team drove her to a local hospital for critical support. She was diagnosed with depression and ADHD, which she said made her feel understood. “Society has such high expectations of women that women feel they have to mask their true identity from the people around them,” Escobar said. Escobar felt like she had to disguise herself for the purpose of fitting into society, which caused her depression to skyrocket. The diagnosis of ADHD and depression was a huge relief. It reminded her that she's capable of success and that it wasn’t her fault she was being held back from it. Escobar began working at the mobile dental clinic, started to gain a support system and became inspired. “The people I worked with at the clinic were the ones checking up on me because my parents don’t know anything about the application cycle with dental school,” she said. “The faculty at the clinic would ask me about certain classes I was taking or provide recommendations to different study materials or applications." This support motivated Escobar to work toward a goal of becoming a dentist. She made the dean’s list last fall and will graduate this week. She plans to use the next year to study for the Dental Admission Test (DAT) as part of the application process. USC is her dream dental school. Perhaps the only thing clearer than her goal is her motivation – to have a positive effect on her community. “Every single time I go to the USC mobile clinic and I come back, I feel that confirmation that this is what I want to do, and I need to get certain things done so I can get to that point,” she said. Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
- 'I Just Want to Make Him Proud and My Life to Count'This spring, at 76 years old, Kathryn Cook will be walking across the graduation stage as the oldest graduate of Cal State San Marcos' class of 2024. Her path to this upcoming accomplishment was not one of a traditional four-year-and-done experience. In fact, it was 50 years in the making, with monumental life transitions and rocky hardships in between. Her education journey kickstarted in 1965 at Grossmont College where she was part of the dental assisting program. It was here that she discovered the two loves of her life: her devotion to helping others in the healthcare industry and Ed. Cook had met Ed at a group Bible study session. “It was love at first sight,” Cook said. “I looked across the room and saw his beautiful blue eyes and a smile that lit up everything around him. I told my parents that I had met the man I was going to marry, and they were like, ‘Who is he? Where does he live?’ I said, ‘I don’t know a thing about him.’ We were married 13 months later at 21 and 23.” For the next 20 years, Cook continued her career in the dental field with Ed by her side. It wasn’t until they found themselves welcoming their daughter and son into the family after years of struggling with infertility that Cook decided to leave the industry. As she pivoted her focus to raising her children, she found little jobs for additional income. Ed was working for Navy housing as a carpenter at the time, and together, they would team up to work on projects with Ed building houses and Cook painting them. As her children got older, Cook explored teaching opportunities and took on work as a special education and health aide. She was eventually introduced to Sharp HealthCare where she worked her way up to educator trainer, spending night shifts in the emergency room and training new hires for four hospitals. Enjoying her time helping people learn, Cook decided she was ready to take the next step in her education journey and enrolled at MiraCosta College. “I love teaching,” Cook said. “I’ve done it all, and it’s just so exciting to share your knowledge with another person. In 2008, I had finished up my classes for my associate degree, and Ed was so proud of me. I remember him saying, ‘You have to walk,’ and I said, ‘No, I can't, I'll be the oldest person there.’ And he just said, ‘Well, that’s OK.’ So, I walked, and I felt like a little kid. It was very special. He gave me such confidence in myself.” Unfortunately, it was around this time that Ed started facing serious health issues. He underwent heart surgery and suffered a stroke, in addition to his diabetes that left him blind in one eye. Cook remained by his side, taking care of him each day, and supporting him through his falls that left him with fractures and the loss of appetite that caused him to lose his stature. “It was a hard time,” Cook said. “It was just one thing after another. But what a joy to be able to care for the one that you love, you know, your best friend in the whole entire world.” In November 2019, Ed passed away peacefully in his sleep. “He had been in the hospital for the last week of his life,” Cook said. “He was not fully conscious, but he knew I was there. The last thing he said to me was how much he loved me, our life and our children. But he said, ‘I’m tired. I don’t want to do this anymore.’ I just grabbed his hand and said, ‘That’s OK.’ The next day he was gone.” After Ed’s passing, Cook was left to upend her idea of the future that she had envisioned for the past 51 years and begin anew. Feeling the need to give back to her community and mend her heart in the process, Cook threw herself into volunteer work at the San Diego Rescue Mission, winning an award for reaching 100 hours of service work. As she started piecing together what the next chapter of her life was going to look like, she thought about her volunteer work and the stories the people at the homeless shelter shared with her. Wanting to learn more about social structures and matters of social justice, Cook looked into sociology programs at four-year universities. She had lost two-thirds of her income due to Ed’s retirement stopping after his death, so Cook was unsure of how to navigate the financial aspect. Her good friend encouraged her to fill out the FAFSA form to see if there were any grants available, and luckily, Cook was able to get most of her schooling covered. In 2023, Cook enrolled in fully online courses at Cal State San Marcos as a sociology major. “This education has given me such a better understanding of why things happen,” Cook said. “It makes you aware and encourages you to go out and do something that will make a difference. "And being mature or older, whichever phrase you want, can be good or bad. Just the thought of doing this made me so scared and excited at the same time. You know, people can make fun of you or think you’re too old to learn. They may even think, ‘Why are you bothering?' But for the most part, people in my life have just been so supportive and helpful. It’s really encouraging.” As she is walking across the graduation stage and reminiscing about the trials and tribulations that she experienced along her education journey, she will be thinking of Ed. “I just want to make him proud and my life to count,” Cook said. “I know when I walk, he’ll be watching over me and saying, ‘Honey, I’m so proud of you.’ He rarely called me by my name, it was really just 'Honey.' So, you know, I’ve done this for me and what I hope to do down the road, but also part of me did it for Ed, my greatest supporter.” Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
