Deadline date April 15, 2024, at 5pm
History of Scholarship & Enrique
“Kiki” Zuniga
Enrique
“KiKi” Zuniga—whose immigrant parents were from Guanajuato, Mexico—was born and
raised in the City of La Habra and is one of thirteen children: eight brothers
and four sisters. Prior to Mendez vs. Westminster, which ended segregation in
California schools, Kiki attended Wilson School, which was set up for Mexican
American children.
Kiki attended Fullerton
College before being drafted into the Army in 1961. After his service, he
worked as a barber and in construction. However, with the guidance of Joe Lopez,
professor at California State University Fullerton, Kiki enrolled in CSUF,
where in his first semester as a student, he made the Dean’s List. Motivated by
the Chicano Movement, he founded and served as the first M.E.Ch.A President at
CSUF. In this role, Kiki visited local barrios to motivate Chicano youth to
pursue higher education.
After earning his
Bachelor’s degree at CSUF, he attended UC Santa Cruz, where he earned a K-12
Bilingual Teaching Credential. He then returned to CSUF to complete his
Master’s degree in Library Science. Upon earning his Master’s degree, he was
hired as a tenure-tracked full-time counselor at Fullerton College with one condition:
he needed to earn a Master’s degree in counseling, which he would eventually
receive from Chapman University. Making Fullerton College history, he was the
college’s first full-time tenured-tracked Chicano counselor.
Kiki served as a
counselor at Fullerton College for twenty-five years. During his tenure, he
played a pivotal role in changing the campus climate relative to serving
underrepresented and low-income students. He was known as the counselor who
reached out to non-traditional students to motivate and convince them to pursue
their goals for a brighter future. He was dedicated to helping students and
believed in the power of education to change lives. He was famously known for
“walking the quad” and making sure his students were in class.
When Mr. Zuniga
retired, Fullerton lost one of its pillars. This scholarship is dedicated to
him for his significant accomplishments and his love for guiding
non-traditional students to academic success.
Scholarship Criteria: A scholarship review committee will be judging all complete
applications and will award scholarship amounts based on the essay and the
categories below. The committee will
award at least three $300 scholarships each to one Cypress student, one Fullerton Student and one NOCE Student. Students are
only eligible for one scholarship.
·
Student must have minimum
Cumulative GPA of 2.0
·
Student must have completed at
least 9 units and currently enrolled in at least 6 units (at FC and/or CC).
·
Students enrolled in Fullerton
College or Cypress College must have the goal of transferring to a 4-year University.
·
Students enrolled in the North
Orange Continuing Education must have a goal of attending Cypress College or
Fullerton College.
·
Student must clearly state
their commitment to higher education.
·
Provide example of the level
of commitment to the Latino community.
o
Amount of community/volunteer
hours served.
o
Include any information that
demonstrates your leadership roles/experience.
Award Dates
Scholarship recipients will be notified
via email by May 6, 2024, and must be available to attend the:
Scholarship Awards
Ceremony on May 17, 2024, at Cypress College
Please complete your application by the
deadline date April 15, 2024, at 5pm