2020 Recipients
Juanita Lopez, Leslie Lopez, and Young Ko, recipients of the 2020 Dr. Lorna Carlin M.D. Scholarship
The Disability Services Center (DSC) was excited to present the Dr. Lorna Carlin M.D. Scholarship in fall of 2020. They each received $3,300 thanks to the generous donation by Dr. Lorna Carlin.
My name is Juanita Lopez. I am a transfer student from the Los Angeles Trade Technical College. This upcoming fall quarter will be my second year attending UC Irvine. When I received my letter of acceptance to UC Irvine, I was ecstatic. I have had many challenges in my life and when I read the acceptance letter, I cried out of happiness. I got accepted to one of the top universities in the nation. It made me realize through all those difficult challenges in my life, starting from childhood to adult hood that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to do. Growing up in one of the most impoverished areas in the City of Los Angeles, known as Pico-Union, I had dreams as a child but to make them a reality it was very difficult because there were no mentors that could push me to make them happen. Especially, when I was told “I would amount to nothing”, these words have pushed me, to prove myself I can make it. I took those negative words and turned them into positive ones. I have had many bumps in my pathway; however, I have managed to walk over them with the help of mentors such as professors, students, staff, faculty, and generous people such as Dr. Lorna Carlin. I am ecstatic and humbled of being one of the recipients of Dr. Lorna Carlin Scholarship in partnership with the DSC. My professional goals are to become a public servant and serve the City of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. I am a Political Science major and my goal is to help communities like the one I was raised in. My leadership skills in social justice are a strong ethical framework, which help me to advocate for the homeless, persons with disabilities, and previously incarcerated persons. I am deeply passionate about the re-entry program the Los Angeles Community College District has implemented. I feel very blessed to help my community by enrolling previous incarcerated persons at LATTC by doing seminars on campus. Helping them transition into a positive environment, through education. I believe when we support each other as a community, it makes a difference. – Juanita
My name is Leslie Lopez, and I am a Vocal Performance Major at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts. This fall, I will begin my second year here at UCI, where I am looking to challenge the world’s perspective on what a performer should like. Being a student with physical disabilities can sometimes feel like we are limited to what our bodies and health permit us to do, although this may seem frustratingly true, I hope to show my community there is no one way of becoming the person you want to be, and to remember that life is all about adapting and finding your own way of getting things done. I find it surreal when I tell people that I am a deaf singer with four fingers on each hand, who enjoys playing the ukulele during her free time. I have been studying classical music for 5 years now. As a deaf and physically disabled person, I would like to show people in and out of my community that anything is possible. I want to help and inspire everyone of all demographics that sharing your heart through your art is a privilege and should be taken seriously and respectively. Getting an education in music, historically has only been possible for the wealthy. Today, it still requires a huge financial investment, in private instruction, one’s instrument, and self-care. Being a person of color, who comes from a low income background, paying for lessons and lab fees is a challenge. And, with the novel Pandemic, virtual lessons have begun to require microphones and other electronic equipment to help facilitate our remote sessions. This scholarship will help alleviate the worries of being able to cover these new expenses. I am thankful for my DSC friends. Having a community makes the world feel a little less intimidating and leaves room for inspiration. A supportive community who can empathize and understand your experiences is important. Dr. Carlin, your contribution is helping this Latina Art singer, who happens to be differently abled, add even more diversity to the performing musician world. – Leslie
My name is Young Ku and I am an upcoming fourth year at UCI. I am currently majoring in Education Sciences, aspiring to be a bilingual primary teacher. Ever since I was in high school, I tutored elementary and junior high students and volunteered at my church’s Afterschool program. These opportunities helped me develop an interest in the education field and learn more about myself and my passions. In addition to wanting to leverage my past experiences and my passion for teaching to make education more accessible and effective, I want to immerse deeper into a culture that I strongly identify with. Growing up as a Korean American immigrant, I developed great pride in being Korean despite being away from my home country, and as I took different classes here at UCI, I was able to find the value of multicultural education. I have also learned how culture can affect disabled students and how it can be a potential impediment in having accessible education. The more I learned of how our cultures and backgrounds influence education, the more I became determined to become a bilingual teacher. After I finish my undergrad here at UCI, I plan to pursue a higher education and hope to participate in research which involves bilingual students and learning. With these experiences, I want to eventually teach English in different countries and research more about the impact and influence of culture on schools. In doing so, I want to ultimately make education more effective to students from various cultures. Thanks to Dr. Lorna Carlin and her generosity, I am able to pursue this dream with a lighter financial burden. I am honored to be a recipient of this scholarship and I truly hope to use this scholarship to continue to live out my passions and help the communities around me create an environment that grants accessible education. – Young
2019 Recipients
Hipolito Ruiz & Chloe Marbell Davidson, recipients of the 2019 Dr. Lorna Carlin M.D. Scholarship; each one of them received $3,000.
I am truly humbled to have been awarded the Dr. Lorna Carlin Scholarship in partnership with the DSC. Life has presented me with challenges I did not expect to face but has surprised me with doors of opportunity as well. I came from a single parent, low-income, first generation American household and studied diligently to transfer into a top university. Curious about technology from a young age, I worked on building computers before YouTube even existed and moved on to moding smartphones in my teens. Now I hope to impact the lives of many people such as myself by creating technologies to increase access to public and private spaces. This may take the form of devices that allow people to reside in their community or that empower them to venture out and explore their surroundings. I believe the way to bring people together is by reducing barriers in society, education, and employment. Imagine a future in which persons with varying abilities could go to work in a self-driving car, clean their home with a voice activated vacuum, or create stronger social bonds through the aid of smart glasses designed to inform the wearer of people around them. Receiving this scholarship has revealed a new door of opportunity for me. To pursue a graduate degree in informatics and shape the world of tomorrow. There is no doubt we can dream big and achieve the impossible with the generosity of those such as Dr. Carlin and the support of organizations such as DSC. – Hipolito
My name is Chloe Marbell Davidson and I am an upcoming 3rd-year majoring in History and Anthropology. I have known UC Irvine for all my life and to be enrolled here is a dream come true. Before entering college, I was a student at Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) under the Production and Design conservatory. I was trained to be a creative force in theatrical arts through enrolling in classes such as stage makeup, costume design, and scenic painting. I thought I was to follow the steps of my late and great tia Gina who was an instructor in the program and had a masters degree in Costume Design from CalArts. She was someone I have admired for years – to go into higher education and had the greatest taste in movies. After my tia died abruptly in 2015, it made me realize that every second of my life should be going towards my own interests. I enjoyed the theatre but I was mostly interested in historical costumes, which brought me to my silent love affair with history. The Summer of 2019, I participated in the Transforming Knowledge Transforming Libraries Research Project with local community archives and worked in the Reference department at Langson Library. These experiences have reminded me that narratives like mine are not represented in most repositories and inspired me to enter the field of library sciences by going to library school after graduation. I want to specialize in textile materials to preserve my love for historical clothing and work of local costume designers in Orange County including those like my late tia. My long term goal is to one day run my own archive that will document people of color with disabilities in history for under-represented populations to feel they have control of their past. Receiving the Dr. Lorna Carlin scholarship is truly a wonderful honor and will be very helpful for me to continue my studies without outside worries. My passion is to help marginalized communities with disabilities achieve their full potential in higher education by creating spaces that do not sacrifice their identity for their limitations to be validated. Everyone deserves the right to an accessible and accommodated education. – Chloe
2018 Recipients
Amber Harrison & Freddy Martinez, recipients of the 2018 Dr. Lorna Carlin M.D. Scholarship; each of them received $2,500.
I am truly honored to be the first recipient of the Dr. Lorna Carlin Scholarship award. As a first generation, low-income, transfer student and an adult learner with a disability, I have faced many obstacles which have proven to be difficult, yet I am absolutely blessed to have the support of Dr. Carlin and the wonderful staff at the Disability Services Center. Receiving the Dr. Carlin scholarship award validates that I am on the right path to success. The Dr. Carlin Scholarship celebrates my past accomplishments and supports my educational and career goals. I am more enthusiastic than ever to pursue my future endeavors and have the attention of so many wonderful individuals at UC Irvine who support me as my authentic self. – Amber
I am very grateful to be receiving this scholarship from Dr. Carlin and the DSC. Thanks to this scholarship, I will now be able to afford enrolling in a MCAT preparation course. This will help me immensely once I begin preparing for the MCAT and applying for admission into medical school. – Freddy