By Mark Muckenfuss

Raised in a small village in China’s Guangdong Province, Jianshan Chen Khalsa dropped out of school at age 16 to help support her family and found herself working 16-hour days – sometimes seven days a week – in an embroidery factory. 

Now 36, she is completing her master’s degree in school psychology and plans to work with K-12 students with disabilities and behavioral challenges. She has also been named this year’s California State University Trustees' Award winner for Cal State Monterey Bay. She will receive an $11,000 scholarship funded by the John and Beverly Stauffer Foundation.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Chen Khalsa said about receiving the news. “There were so many qualified students. I didn’t think I had a chance.”

The CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement is the highest student distinction

within the university system and grants students scholarships based on academic achievements, financial need, excellence in community service and personal hardship. Since the program’s inception in 1984, more than 500 CSU students have been honored with the award.

Many of the award winners have compelling stories that often involve overcoming adversities such as mental or physical health problems, homelessness, single motherhood and working multiple jobs to support their families while going to school.

CSUMB President Vanya Quiñones said she hopes Chen Khalsa’s story will inspire others.

"Each year, we receive nominations of incredibly talented and accomplished students for the CSU Trustees Award," said President Vanya Quiñones. “Jianshan’s long climb to success is an example of tenacity and courage as well as an illustration of the kind of support our community at CSUMB offers, and so her story stood out. We are so proud of Jianshan.”

For Chen Khalsa, the long journey to higher education began with going to night school in China to earn her high school equivalency diploma. After three years of working nearly non-stop in the embroidery factory, she got an office job that allowed her time in the evening to attend classes. 

But the big change came when she was 27. She met an American man online. He flew to China to visit her and 20 days later she boarded a plane for California. Six months after that, she was married. She and her husband live in Soledad. He works as a speech-language pathologist in Salinas.

Chen Khalsa said her greatest obstacle was not knowing the language. 

“I was not even the level of a kindergartner,” she said of her English skills.

For a year, she said, “I spent 12 hours a day at home studying English.” 

She became proficient enough to take a placement exam at Hartnell College. She chose to pursue an associate degree in psychology but the rigor of the classes challenged her.

“I often felt I was not good enough,” she said. “I didn’t know too much. I cried a lot. I kept crying for two years.” 

But giving up, “never occurred to me,” she said. It helped, she added, that her husband was supportive and tried to provide some perspective.

“He would tell me, ‘A lot of people don’t have the opportunity to come here to study,’” Chen Khalsa recalled. “He’d say, ‘You’ve already won. There is so much unfairness in the world, you should appreciate what you have.’ I agreed and I started to cry less.”

Finishing her associate degree, she said, gave her confidence to go on. CSUMB seemed an obvious choice because it was close by. She came to love the school. That’s why, once she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, she chose to complete her master’s degree here. 

“I got into all the universities I applied to for my master’s but I chose CSUMB,” she said. “I had a sense of belonging here. During my undergrad, I received a lot of support from my professors and I liked the inclusive environment. People can be who they are. CSUMB makes me feel at home.”

She said she has grown as an individual.

“I feel I have become more kind, understanding and compassionate,” she said. “My experience at CSUMB has taught me the value of diversity and building a community.” 

She has involved herself in campus life, serving as a graduate studies mentor, a quantitative skills support leader with the Cooperative Learning Center, an ambassador/peer mentor with Otter Collective and vice president of the Otter Student Union. Last year, she was honored as a Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar.

“I still feel there is something more I can do,” Chen Khalsa said. “I feel I haven’t reached my limit yet.”

Still, when she looks at her journey, it seems a bit overwhelming even to her.

“When I was in China, I never thought that I could become educated,” she said. “My parents always expected I should get married early, have a family and take care of my husband. When I think of all that I have accomplished, I feel grateful and I don’t take things for granted.”

She encourages others to take advantage of what CSUMB offers.

“It's not easy in academics or the real world,” she said. “But with what CUSMB can give us, I think we have sufficient opportunity for success and to become a better version of ourselves.” 

That’s an ongoing process, she added, and one she hopes will keep her connected to the university.

“I would like to get a PhD and become a professor,” she said. “It would be a dream to work here at CSUMB.”