Community College President's Award

The Community College President's Award is designed for transfer students who have leadership potential, are community-service oriented and have an excellent GPA.

Students are nominated by their community college’s president and receive a renewable full resident tuition award. (This award cannot be combined with other WSU Vancouver tuition discount programs and cannot be used with intercampus enrollment.)

We accept nominations every year from:

• Centralia College
• Clark College
• Lower Columbia College

Contact your community college President’s Office for nomination information.

2023/24 recipients

Sonia Talero

Clark College

A first-generation student from Colombia, Sonia Talero graduated from Clark College with an associate’s degree in business administration and a 3.91 GPA. She served as a peer mentor at the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “I helped students, mostly from systematically non-dominant groups, to navigate Clark College resources and to give them the chance to build community within Clark,” she said. Talero received OSWALD Awards (Outstanding Students With Academic Leadership and Development Skills) in two categories in two consecutive academic years: as outstanding student employee and outstanding student in the International Student Department. She also received the Thelma Nylund Scholarship and Jean Marie Bedecarrax Business Scholarship.

Melissa Reyes

Centralia College

Melissa Mendez Reyes is a first-generation college student who earned her associate’s degree at Centralia College—the first step toward her ultimate goal of becoming an optometrist. Uncertain what she wanted to do in life, she started researching careers in high school. When she came across optometry, she realized it suited everything she wanted to accomplish. At Centralia, she was a member of the honor society trying to build a strong community presence at school—a reflection of her wish to use her education to give back to minorities, particularly her own Hispanic community. She knew it would be important to be able to communicate with her future patients with ease and with full comprehension. She didn’t want Hispanic children to have to worry about being a translator for their parents. She wanted to show other minorities that it is possible to achieve your goals.

Eunji Lee

Lower Columbia College

Eunji Lee has worked in the health care industry (dermatology and OB/GYN) since 2013, most recently as a peri-operative nurse in a plastic surgery clinic. She earned her nursing degree at Lower Columbia College, and her goal is to obtain a B.S.N. degree that would enable her to provide more specialized care. She’s also an active volunteer serving special needs students and homeless people. A member of Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, Lee graduated with a 3.9 GPA.

Prior award recipients