Page 13 - Work Force July-August 2018

AFSCME scholarship recipient part of larger family success story
VALHALLA — Lina Montes is headed to Yale University this fall, and her mother’s union membership is one reason why.
Montes, daughter of CSEA Westchester Medical Center Unit member Diana Sarria, was one of 10 students from across the country awarded the 2018 AFSCME Family Scholarship, a prestigious honor open to prospective college students with a parent or guardian belonging to AFSCME, our international union.
The scholarship will provide Montes $2,000 per year for up to four years. She plans to study computer science and engineering while at Yale and hopes to use those skills to further her passion for social justice.
During her time at Yonkers Middle High School, she has emerged as
an activist, spearheading a voter registration drive and helping organize a student forum following the tragic school shootings in Parkland, Fla.
“I’m very proud of her,” said Sarria, a senior ultrasound technologist at Westchester Medical Center’s outpatient imaging center. “She is a very well-rounded kid and a real leader.”
In her scholarship essay, Montes wrote about her mother’s years of hard work after immigrating from Colombia, working several years in a factory when she came to the United States, teaching herself English and
Sarria on the job at Westchester Medical Center.
eventually earning an associate’s degree.
While Sarria received an education in Colombia, she found that she
had to start from scratch once she decided to pursue a more secure future for her family in the United States.
That hard work, culminating in Sarria’s career at Westchester Medical
Center, built
a strong
foundation
that allowed
Montes to
soar.
“Her
decision to
pursue a
United States
education
despite the
plethora of
obstacles
present has changed the destiny of our lineage for generations to come,” Montes wrote.
While it is Montes’s sheer determination that resulted in an Ivy League college acceptance, she said it’s our union that has helped her family build a comfortable life in the United States, from quality health insurance that minimized out-of- pocket costs when family members
faced serious illness to the stable income that allowed Sarria to move her family from a cramped two-bedroom apartment rental in a rough Yonkers neighborhood to a home she purchased in a quieter area of the city.
“Having our union has helped give me peace of mind,” said Sarria. “On top of our contract, there are a lot
of perks you can take advantage of, including these scholarships.
It feels good knowing we have our union there for us.”
Seeing Montes and her other children’s success has made her many sacrifices worthwhile.
“My kids grew up seeing me always trying to do
more,” Sarria said. “It was rough, but I always told them we can do it, and they have. Now they’re at the top of the class.”
For more information about available scholarships through CSEA and AFSCME, visit cseany.org/education.
— Jessica Ladlee
CALL FOR ENTRIES
DNadra Floyd Award for Organizing
o you know a CSEA member, was a longtime union activist committee, local or unit who has who served as CSEA’s director of
organizing from 2000 to her untimely passing in 2001.
At the time of her death,
Floyd was working to grow our membership and transform CSEA’s Organizing program.
DMembership Achievement Award
worked to grow CSEA’s membership by helping CSEA organize a new group of workers into our union?
If so, they may be eligible for the Nadra Floyd Award for Organizing.
The award’s namesake, Floyd,
o you know a CSEA member, into members? If so, they may be group of members, committee, eligible for the CSEA Membership
unit or local that has done the hard work of signing up newly-hired employees as CSEA members or converting agency shop fee payers
Achievement Award, which honors one or more members who have strengthened our union by growing our membership.
Nominations for both awards must be submitted by Aug. 31, 2018, and mailed to:
CSEA Membership Committee
Nadra Floyd Award for Organizing
c/o CSEA Organizing Department or 143 Washington Avenue
Albany, N.Y. 12210
CSEA Membership Committee
Membership Achievement Award
c/o CSEA Organizing Department 143 Washington Avenue
Albany, N.Y. 12210
Learn more and download nomination forms at:
cseany.org/award-nominations
“Having our union has helped give me peace
of mind. On top of our contract, there are a lot
of perks you can take advantage of, including these scholarships. It feels good knowing we have our union there for us.”
July-August 2018
The Work Force 13