De Anza graduate Lwee wins veterans scholarship

By HUGH BIGGAR

Sandra Lwee had recently graduated from Sunnyvale's Fremont High School when she got a flier in the mail promising money for college if she joined the Navy.

At the time, her parents couldn't afford college tuition for each of their four children, so Lwee, the oldest child, enlisted--a decision that has been paying dividends since.

Most recently, Scholarship for Veterans, a local nonprofit organization, selected Lwee this spring as its third scholarship recipient. Her award is for $2,000, or $330 per quarter for six quarters, most of it funded by Scholarship for Veterans founder Gary Lamit.

"It's the best thing I have done so far," she says of her decision to enlist in 1998. "[The Navy] helped me become an adult and more independent," she says.

"My parents initially didn't like the idea of the military for a girl, but after, they were very supportive," she says, adding the money for education especially appealed to her parents.

Now out of the Navy, where she served as a corpsman or medical assistant at Camp Pendleton Naval Hospital near San Diego, Lwee will use the Scholarship for Veterans money to help her take the next step.

A student at De Anza College in Cupertino, Lwee is studying chemical engineering and would like to continue her studies at UC-Berkeley or UC-San Diego.

"I want to finish college before I hit 30," she says, "plus with the war going on, it is not so safe to be in the military."

"I would like to work as a chemical engineer or teach," Lwee says, adding that her experiences tutoring students at De Anza have sparked her interest in teaching.

Lwee has also stayed connected to the military, volunteering at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto. Her time there working with non-ambulatory and blind patients also impressed Scholarship for Veterans' judges.

"We selected Sandra Lwee this year largely due to her exceptional record of volunteer work with the VA hospital," said Cindy Castillo, De Anza's director of financial aid. "She has contributed over 140 hours, was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal ... and [also] has a 3.7 GPA while taking tough courses such as biology and chemistry."

"It will definitely be helpful," Lwee says of the scholarship. "I am also thankful for my parents," she says of the couple who emigrated from Burma due to political unrest when she was 12.

"They have worked hard for everything, and education is huge for them."