Returning Student Returns Support

Jodie Hunter enjoyed taking tennis lessons and art classes at a community college when a counselor egged her on to get serious about education and go after a university degree.

Hunter had left Stanford University to marry and have children as women of her generation were expected to do.

"Going back to school for me was such a traumatic experience," said Hunter of her first days at Cal State East Bay.

One of the things that helped her through, she said, was the ability to talk to her professors anytime she needed.

"So I had a wonderful experience, and students I talk to today say the same thing about their professors," said Hunter, who graduated from Cal State East Bay in 1988 with a degree in speech communications.

Since graduation, Hunter has continued to stay involved with university life as a supporter and active member of the Friends of the Arts organization.

"When I was a student I was interested in women who were returning to school or who had a lot of roadblocks put in the way of gaining an education," she said.

That's why she and her husband, John, support the Presidential Scholarship Fund.

"We feel very strongly about education and making it accessible to everyone," she said.

Hunter recalls getting a letter from a young man who had received an $850 scholarship. He confided that he never would have been able to stay at the university that year if it hadn't been for the money.

"That always does a donor's heart good," said Hunter. "Every time you think the world is going to you-know-where, just come up to Cal State East Bay and you'll see some wonderful kids just trying to get ahead and find a place in the world."

The Hunters have had a business in the East Bay for 47 years and live in Hayward. Everywhere she goes, Hunter said she meets CSUEB graduates, many of whom owe their careers to the education they received.

"That's another reason to support Cal State East Bay," she said. "It's another way to support your community."