Local scholarships help USF graduate finish master’s degree
When Jaclyn O’Connor applied for 25 scholarships during her
senior year at San Benito High School, she wasn’t a typical high
school student. Her mother died of breast cancer when she was 17
and O’Connor was living with her grandmother.
”
I knew my grandma could help me here and there, but overall I
was trying to support myself,
”
she said.
Local scholarships help USF graduate finish master’s degree
When Jaclyn O’Connor applied for 25 scholarships during her senior year at San Benito High School, she wasn’t a typical high school student. Her mother died of breast cancer when she was 17 and O’Connor was living with her grandmother.
“I knew my grandma could help me here and there, but overall I was trying to support myself,” she said.
She didn’t know what kind of financial aid she would qualify for as she headed to Santa Barbara City College.
“I was looking to plan how I was going to support myself,” she said.
Since then, O’Connor has completed a bachelor of science degree in community health science at California State University, Long Beach and a master of science degree in nursing at the University of San Francisco. She received the Hope for a Cure Memorial Educational Scholarship to help with her graduate education as well as the Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital Auxiliary scholarship.
Since completing her degree, O’Connor has accepted a graduate registered nurse position at Stanford Hospital, which she will start in mid-March. She will be working in a neurosurgery/trauma rotation.
“Going into college I was on a liberal arts program and was going to school to be a teacher,” she said. “After a couple of years I felt like I wanted to experience life in another field first so I had something more to bring to the classroom for my students.”
Nursing seemed like a perfect fit, O’Connor said, because her family had often relied on the care of nurses while her mother was ill. O’Connor’s mother, Juli-An Rowe, was diagnosed when O’Connor was young.
“She struggled with cancer since I was 5,” O’Connor said. “That was a significant time that she had to have medical care in her life. Nurses played a huge part in her recovery and towards the end.”
With the help of staff and the support of family members, O’Connor completed applications for more than a dozen scholarships when she was in high school and was eventually awarded eight scholarships from local agencies for her first year of school.
“My grandmother always talked about the stories you hear about organizations that have all this money to give and not being able to give it out because no one applies,” she said. “I really focused on the local ones. In the Career Center [at SBHS] there were folders that they had set aside with all the different local scholarships, and I would go in and check.”
O’Connor put together a binder to organize herself that had all the requirements for each scholarship and deadline information.
“I remember not knowing where to start,” she said. “It took a long time because everyone is so specific and you need letters of recommendation. It’s a long process.”
