After 55 years, the Downey branch of the American Association of University Women has held its final meeting—and handed out its last scholarships.

The chapter, which began in 1957 by providing scholarship to female graduates of Cerritos College who continued their higher education at four-year institutions, decided to decommission itself because membership had declined to 20, making the scholarship fund difficult to fill. The chapter had attempted several membership drives without success.
“In 1957 the AAUW Downey branch was organized to promote equity for women and girls, and life-long education and positive societal change,” the chapter said in a statement. “It is very disappointing to report that after 55 years the awarding of the scholarships and goals cannot continue due to the lack of new membership. No young ones seem to want to get enrolled.”

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As the final act at its last meeting, the Downey’s AAUW branch awarded seven scholarships to the following local women, whose names are followed by the universities they will be attending: Phung Duong (Cal State Long Beach), Oralia Ojeda (UCLA), Sun Kim (UCLA), Nicole Gonzalez (UCLA), Danielle Horseman (UC Riverside), Anne Kelemen (Cal State Long Beach) and Elizabeth Azubuike (UC Riverside).