PSU Magazine Winter 1998

HILANTHROPY I N Wal-Mart for freshmen For PSU freshman Gabe West a boyhood love of tinkering and moun– tain bikes led to a four-year, $20,000 prize: the Wal-Mart Competitive Edge Scholarship. Now in its third year, the fund awards one scholarship a year to an incom– ing freshman planning to major in a technology– related area. At Oakridge High School near Eugene, West was an honor student, a popular student leader, a musician in the school band, and member of the varsity track team. But it was his fasc ination with bikes and with "taking things apart and putting them back together" that spurred his decision to become an engineer and apply for a scholarship at PSU. In an essay which helped him garner the award, he wrote: "For years I've been an avid mountain biker and recently I've been introduced to solar-, battery-, or human-powered machines for transportation. In combining these ideas, I think I could spend the rest of my life designing safe, economical and environmentally sound vehicles." West says that he got his first bike at the age of 13. "It was so much fun, I asked myself what I needed to do in school to make this my job." He became interested in designing alter– native modes of transportation when he worked as an intern at the Center for Appropriate Transport in Eugene, a company that se lls custom-made bikes for delivering goods and services. People love driving their cars, West says, but when it gets too expensive and there's too much grid lock, they need other options. West, who lives on campus, doesn't own a car, but has two mountain bikes. They're getting him where he wants to go. 20 PSU MAGAZINE WINTER I998 A study of orphans The children of Rumanian orphanages hold a special interest for scholarship winner Deborah Payne Towner. A child of foster homes herself, Towner is focusing her dissertation on clinical research with orphans in Bucharest. It is this dedication to and interest in public service that earned Towner the Frank L. Roberts Scholarship, named for the late Frank Roberts, longtime Oregon legislator and PSU professor. Towner, who has a Master of Social Work degree from PSU, is pursuing a social work doctorate with the help of this one-year, renewable $1,500 scholarship. Towner is studying human develop– ment with a focus on the attachment between infants and their primary caregivers and the effect that relation– ship has on mental health and person– ality. She expects to use what she learns in Rumania to "better under– stand the methods and policies we have available in our country to address social problems." Former Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts (left) poses with Deborah Towner, winner of a schol· arship named in honor of Robert's late husband, Frank. Towner, who spent the past six years as a social worker for the Evergreen School District in Vancouver, attrib– utes her motivation and success to extended family, caring foster parents, friends, and supportive teachers. "I really believe that individuals and the community at large can play an important role in supporting chil– dren when biological fami lies-for whatever reasons-cannot care for them," she says. A C TI From an apparel giant It didn't hurt that senior Holly Vann had a high GPA in computer science as she vied for the Jantzen Company/ Zhentbauer Foundation scholarship. She won the $3,500 prize, and now most of her senior-year tuition costs are covered. Vann, who is minoring in mathe– matics, is excited about the award. "It will really help. I wasn't sure how I was going to pay for those last three terms." In addition, the scholarship includes an internship at Jantzen Inc., an apparel manufacturer based in Portland. A proven scholar, Vann has found the academics much easier than the tuition. Vann came from a family of seven children and joined the army, serving as a military policewoman in Germany, as a way to fund her educa– tion. Once out, she found veteran's benefits weren't enough to cover the cost of school. A job at Precision Castparts helped, and an eventual mass layoff turned to Vann's advan– tage-a government program for laid-off work– ers provided her with one year's tuition at a commu– nity college. A variety of other loan, grant, and scholarship programs made it possible for Vann to transfer to PSU's School of Engineering and Applied Science. This is the first year that Jantzen has offered a scholarship at PSU. "We wanted to recognize the importance of Portland State to the community, as well as the importance of computer– based applications to the apparel industry," says Karl Malo, the company's foundation director. "This is an area that's really booming." D