1991Monday — An Important Letter

Today is 12/01/2023 I am uploading the words of this very special letter I wrote. I was one of the nominees, but I did not receive the award. That’s okay; I’ve received so many special awards and honors during my days as a middle-age college student and then during the three decades I was a college professor.

Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol
and Chloe & Mitzi too!
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April 29, 1991
Members of the CSUSB Selection Committee for the Outstanding Graduate Student Award:

During my lifetime I have heard of people who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, and of others who remodel train stations during lunch breaks, and, while I have not yet met them, I do believe they exist--because I am of that same breed. I have spent my life building sidewalks to places I have been told are impossible to reach. I have majored in showing my family and friends how to turn question marks into exclamation points.

Twenty-six years ago, when I was fifteen years old, I quit school at the end of my sophomore year at Corona High School to marry the man who is still my husband. No one encouraged or commended me, but rather they unanimously groaned and handed me a giant-sized question mark. Most people believed I was destined to be a failure. Today I am an alumnus of RCC and CSUSB, and I will soon graduate with my Master's Degree. I believe I am a success story.

I have been a role model for several hundred people, especially adult females, in my hometown of Corona. I have crisscrossed our nation to present a five-part marriage seminar with my husband, and together we have counseled several dozen troubled couples. On numerous occasions I have spoken before large gatherings about dealing with obstacles. My success is not because I am an extremely brilliant individual, but rather, my success can be attributed to perseverance, diligence, and a comprehension of the term commitment. I have learned to get up after I have fallen and to pursue forward motion when no one else is going my way.

Being a role model is an important contribution to my community, and it is something I enjoy. But the contributions that I am most proud of are the son and daughter I have raised and the partnership and camaraderie my husband and I have modeled to our society. Giving birth to a son on my sixteenth birthday presented me with the largest challenge I will ever face. Three years later the challenge was multiplied when our daughter was born. I have grown up with my children, and they have grown up with me. It has been a demanding, if not arduous, journey at times. We have all survived, and it is a story I enjoy telling. Both of our children are responsible, dependable, productive adults living in Corona. They are both married, and they each have two-year-old daughters. So I continue to encourage my children in their endeavors, and at the same time I have the pleasure of nurturing my granddaughters.

When I re-entered school six years ago, both of my children were teenagers living at home. My return to school was a direct result of my son's asking if I would accompany him to Riverside Community College to assist him with the rigors of registration. Neither of us had any idea of the indentation that experience would make on my life. His simple request, and my willingness, will transform into a Master's Degree this June. During the past six years I have gone to school with my son, and I have also walked the college hallways and shared classrooms with my daughter.
In the late 1970s I put my husband through school. He is a full-time associate pastor on the staff of Crossroads Christian Church in Corona; he is also the Chaplain of the Corona Police Department. So along with my collegiate obligations, I have also continued to serve in my role as a pastor's wife. This is a high calling and a privilege, and it often puts me before an audience with a microphone in my hand. As well, I have chosen to be my husband's partner on a tandem bicycle, and together during the summer we have cycled from San Francisco to Corona (1986) and from Eugene, Oregon to San Francisco (1988).

In addition to my home and community responsibilities, I have elected to be an active participant at CSUSB during my graduate studies. I realized that receiving an education would involve more than attending classes. For four quarters I have been a writing tutor in the Learning Center. This has given me the privilege of encouraging and assisting undergraduate students in their pursuit of knowledge. During the 1989/90 school year I traveled with three of my peers to Chicago to attend the Conference on College Composition and Communication. That same term I traveled to Monterey to participate at the Young Rhetorician's Conference. After these two trips I created a multimedia slide program that I presented at the first 1990-91 Graduate English Association meeting in September. My goal was to help other students recognize the opportunities for enhancement available to them and to stimulate their active membership in the association. I am currently the Student Editor of the Graduate English quarterly journal the HEAP, and I also serve my peers as their elected representative to the Graduate Committee. I function as
a liaison, between the students and the staff, in an effort to facilitate communication and foster progress in our program. Last month I traveled to Boston to again attend the Conference on College Composition and Communication. While I was there I presented information about CSUSB at a session with Dr. Axelrod. During this current academic quarter I have full responsibility for teaching one section of freshmen composition because I was selected to be one of four Teaching Assistants. And at the same time I am currently teaching two composition classes at Riverside Community College and I am an instructor at the Composition Lab at Chaffey Community College.

Regarding my academic performance, I have been on the Dean's List for the entire length of my college career. My current GPA is 4.0, and while maintaining a very demanding schedule I have earned an overall GPA of 3.83. Receiving the nomination for this award is an honor, and I would like to thank the selection committee for the time and energy that goes into making this award possible.

Turning obstacles into opportunities has been and will continue to be the trademark of my life. So while others have gotten discouraged and sat down and napped in the curvature of the question mark, I have grabbed hold of that curiously designed piece of punctuation and yanked, tugged, and pulled until it was straight as an arrow and a symbol of accomplishment!

Carol Miter