Awards surpass $1 million mark

After former Los Angeles Times photojournalist Alwin Krause died in 2002, his wife, Marian Krause, thought about how she could honor him.

She also wanted to pay tribute to her husband’s great-aunt, Florence Campbell Rathom, one of the first female journalists to work at the Providence Journal in Rhode Island.

She accomplished both by creating a scholarship fund to help students in the Division of Humanities and Communication, which houses CSUMB’s program in journalism and media studies as well as philosophy, ethnic studies, ethics, peace studies, literature, history, creative writing and English teacher preparation.

When Mrs. Krause died in 2006, she left the university $4.6 million to establish the Florence C. Rathom and Alwin R. Krause Scholarship Endowment Fund. The first awards were made for the 2009-10 school year.

To date, a total of 286 awards have been given, based primarily on need. With this year’s distribution of nearly $202,000, the fund has awarded just over $1 million in scholarships.

One of this year’s recipients is Courtney Thomas, a senior studying to be an English teacher. A former foster youth, she works on behalf of those in the foster care system. She has been involved with California Youth Connection, an organization of current and former foster youth who advocate in Sacramento, where she has made the case for sibling visitation rights. Thomas (at right) has also worked as a Youth Engagement Ambassador for Monterey County.

“My dream is to build a nonprofit organization to help children in poverty receive an adequate education,” she said.

With the help of the Krause scholarship, she’s beating the odds. Only half of foster children graduate from high school, and only 20 percent of those enroll in college, according to the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Fewer than 5 percent earn degrees.

“I am extremely grateful and honored to be among the recipients,” she said.

Thomas’ plans don’t end with a bachelor’s degree. Her goal is to attend graduate school. She’s looking at the ethnic studies program at Berkeley and also considering a program in race, inequality and language in education at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education.

Creative writing student Tyler Gidney is also involved with the community as a volunteer in the Chinatown area of Salinas. “The money from the Krause scholarship had a lot to do with that,” he said. “I certainly wouldn’t be able to volunteer if I had to work a full-time job.”

The grant has helped him maintain a near-perfect grade point average at CSUMB. “I know that would have been a much harder task without the security I gained from the scholarship,” he said.

Read more information about the Krause scholarship, including the application deadline.