CSUSB - Palm Desert Honors Graduates

Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus has named Elizabeth Allaire as its Outstanding Graduate Student for 2012 and Kelly Schoenfeld as its Outstanding Undergraduate Student for 2012. 

Both will speak at the campus’s Thursday, June 14, commencement ceremony at The Show at Agua Caliente Resort Spa Casino in Rancho Mirage.

Allaire, of Palm Desert, will receive her bachelor’s degree in business administration/ accounting, as well as her master’s degree in accountancy. After working as an office manager and controller for the offices of United Van Lines in Los Angeles, Allaire enrolled at College of the Desert where she received the Certificate of Achievement from the California Association of Certified Public Accountants for outstanding scholastic achievement. 

She transferred to the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus, and based on her outstanding undergraduate academic performance, she was invited to join the master of science program in accountancy, an accelerated degree program that makes it possible to complete both the B.A. and M.S.A. concurrently.  

Allaire will graduate with a 4.0 GPA in her undergraduate work and a 3.87 GPA in her graduate work.  

Schoenfeld, of Indio, will receive his bachelor’s degree in nursing with an overall GPA of 3.9. He is a former U.S. Postal Service employee who left his job to pursue his dream of becoming a registered nurse.  

He interned at Angel View Crippled Children's Foundation in Desert Hot Springs, where he conducted research and worked very closely with a group of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, with the intent of giving them a voice that he says is seldom heard. Schoenfeld will be presenting his findings next month at Karlstad University, Sweden, as part of an honors trip. He is the first in his family to attend and graduate from college.  

Schoenfeld said he returned to school to show his children the importance of a college education. As a result, his son is also graduating with a bachelor's degree and his daughter, who is in high school, is currently deciding which college she will attend.  

He currently works at Eisenhower Medical Center as a monitor technician and a nursing assistant. At Eisenhower’s recent “Nursing Congress for Nurse’s Week,” his poster and research on “The Comfort Needs of Adults with Muscular Dystrophy” took first place.