Alum Establishes Memorial Scholarship, Five Students Named as Recipients
Rick Burgoon, BA ’83 psychology & BA ’84 political science, was in elementary school when his grandfather died. Despite their limited time together, the Irish immigrant instilled in Burgoon a strong work ethic, sense of pride and the value of higher education. So, when Burgoon decided to give back, a scholarship program seemed the right thing to do.
“More so than money, social status or place of birth,” says Burgoon, “I believe that education is the great equalizer in America."
And naming it for his grandfather allowed him the opportunity to honor a man whose journey to the United States gave him the ability to pursue anything he wanted to.
“For many people like my grandfather, higher education was simply not an option, and I often wonder what he could have accomplished had this option been there for him,” he says. “Naming the scholarship in his honor just made sense.“
Like his grandfather, recipients of the Thomas W. McGillin Memorial Scholarship, must be a US Citizen with at least one foreign-born parent. The thousand-dollar award will be renewed for a second year if the student maintains a minimum of a 3.0 GPA.
“I wanted do a very small part to help bridge the gap between the importance of education and the cost of a UC education,” says Burgoon. “I chose UCI because my career, my professional success if you will, began at UCI.“
Burgoon may have been born in America, but he has the spirit of a true immigrant and wants to help the next generation of immigrants succeed. “See, to me its like planting seeds -- you can plant them judiciously, evenly and with precision, or just scatter them wide and let the wind carry them wherever it blows,” says Burgoon. “I like to do the later because you never know where such a seed will land, where it will grow and what the resulting flowers may do."
The first five students to receive the scholarship are Samuel Yoon, Belinda Espinoza, Raul Cisneros, Nilab Rahyar and Darlene Tong.