We proudly celebrate our first cohort of Fudge Family Scholarship recipients: Bradley Bowlin, Cryssie Anne Brommer and Linda Rita Jones.
Bradley Bowlin
Bradley is a Senior, Criminology, Law and Society. As a transfer student, Bradley has maintained a stunning 3.729 GPA while working 35 plus hours each week. Bradley experienced a series of traumatic events as a child that led him down a path of self-destruction in his youth. Since high school, he has been living on his own and working full time to support himself. He has triumphed over unbelievable challenges to earn a place on the Dean’s Honor List for the past three quarters and, more recently, was inducted into the Golden Key Honor Society. Bradley now tutors other Social Ecology students and is an assistant coach for a youth football team in Garden Grove.
Cryssie Anne Brommer
Cryssie is a Senior, Social Ecology. She has always loved being outdoors and she started working at California State Parks doing maintenance in 2004. She now works with the State Park Rangers as a naturalist, while attending UCI with a 3.386 GPA. Although her mother died tragically at a young age when Cryssie was 22, Cryssie turned that experience around to become her realization that life was intended to live with purpose. Growing up in a dysfunctional family, Cryssie has learned to overcome many obstacles to be where she is today. She has found her niche studying the environment and ecology and has been able to support herself with grants and scholarships and her part-time job at San Clemente State Beach.
Linda Rita Jones
Linda is a Senior, Social Ecology. Linda is a true warrior because she has battled all that life has thrown her way, emerging yet stronger than before. A single mother with a teenage son, Linda had to leave UCI in 1997 when she underwent spinal surgery to reconstruct injuries sustained during years of spousal abuse. Linda was working hard to support herself and her son and pay medical bills when she was laid off during the recession of 2009. Rather than admit defeat, Linda rallied again, re-entered UCI in Fall 2010 and was recently accepted into the Golden Key Honor Society. Her UCI GPA is a miraculous 3.636. With financial aid and student loans, Linda is just hitting her warrior stride at 50 years old and a desire to give back to her community.