PSU’s Nancy Ryles Scholarship helps women come back to college

The Nancy Ryles Scholarship at Portland State helps women whose college education has been disrupted pick their studies back up and graduate. 

Ryles — who herself attended but never graduated from college — was known for her advocacy for education and equality for women and people of color.  She served on the Beaverton School Board, the Oregon House of Representatives, the Oregon Senate, and was the first woman on Oregon’s Public Utility Commission before dying of brain cancer at age 52. PSU’s 2021 Nancy Ryles Scholars — Kara Sydnor, Claudia Ochoa Cosio and Kimberly Kinnaman — each embody Ryles’ dedication and tenacity.

“One of the characteristics that I saw in my mom, as well as in all of the recipients of the Nancy Ryles Scholarship, is courage,” says Ashley Ryles, daughter of Nancy Ryles and a member of the scholarship committee. “They all have the courage to speak up, step up, and step out into this world to achieve their goals regardless of the obstacles set before them. It is not that common and something that sets them apart.”

Third time’s the charm

Kara Sydnor always wanted to go to college and enrolled in a private university after she graduated from high school. But Sydnor, who is a first generation college student and grew up in a working poor family in Missouri, lacked support in her transition to higher education. She says her first attempt of college was “a bit of a disaster.”

“I felt like a total fish out of water. It was a private school and so there were a lot of legacy students, and they just couldn't really connect,” says Sydnor. “I also was one of just a handful of BIPOC and specifically black females.”

After two semesters she couldn’t pay for college anymore and was forced to drop out. She spent the next few years working and getting life experience.

When she was 20, Sydnor moved to Chicago and decided to give college another shot. She enrolled in a small private college, but soon history began to repeat itself as she struggled to balance college with working three jobs to pay rent. 

“I was missing a lot of class, not because I didn't want to be there, but my work had to come first,” she says. “And so it was this terrible cycle of working really hard to pay for the classes I was taking but then I could not show up in the classroom.” Eventually she couldn’t keep up and had to withdraw. 

Sydnor spent the next eight years working, eventually becoming the operations director for a chain of coffee shops. The idea of college seemed like a distant dream.

“For a really long time, I just kind of put it on the shelf in my mind—like maybe one day—but I really focused on trying to establish financial security, especially because that wasn't something that I grew up with,” she says.  

That changed when her husband got a job in Portland. “I could feel that this was a transitional period, and I needed to make a change,” says Sydnor.

She and her husband worked out a plan to save money for a year so she could attend Portland Community College (PCC). When she enrolled at PCC, she did really well. “I was so surprised,” she says. “I was able to get A’s in my first classes.”

She continued to do well in her studies and decided that she wanted to transfer to PSU after she finished her associate’s degree. 

“The bridge that’s built within the PCC to PSU transition was so, so helpful and very clear and very affirming,” she says. “I felt like this was an attainable goal, that I could actually get a degree.” 

Sydnor is now working toward a bachelor’s in public health, with a focus on community health promotions, and plans to graduate from PSU in the fall of 2022. 

Sydnor says the Nancy Ryles Scholarship, which covers tuition and other college expenses, has made this possible. 

“Without this scholarship, I don’t know that I could even have been in this position, being able to pursue my education as my first priority,” she says. “It’s been a great life preserver for me.” She says this was especially the case during the pandemic when she and her husband both lost their jobs. 

“I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to stay in school so this is literally why I'm going to be able to get my bachelor's,” she says.  

As an added bonus, Sydnor is also now a part of the supportive community of past and present Nancy Ryles Scholars. “I feel so honored to be amongst this group of really powerful women who have been able to continue on with their education,” she says. 

After she graduates, Sydnor plans to enter a master’s in public health program right away — hopefully at PSU. “I thought I disliked school, but it turns out I just wasn't in the right environment and it wasn't under the right circumstances,” she says. “Once I got to PSU, I was able to maintain a 4.0 and maintain a good balance of work and home.”

With her MPH, Sydnor wants to continue to focus on community health promotions, ideally in the public sector. 

“I'm very passionate about helping to empower marginalized populations, specifically women of color and children, and helping them get access to the things they need,” she says. “I've been on the receiving end and it completely changed my life, and I hope to be able to help facilitate some of that for others.”
 
Take two
 
When Claudia Ochoa Cosio received the call telling her she was being awarded a Nancy Ryles scholarship she was with her sister helping their mother recover from surgery. 
 
“I went into the bedroom and answered the call, and I came out screaming,” she says. “So they automatically just knew that I had gotten it.” 
 
Ochoa Cosio is a DACA recipient, first generation college student and mother of two. She graduated from high school in 2006 and attended Portland Community College for about a year, but like Sydnor she had to stop due to the cost. 
 
After taking some years off, she went back to PCC and recently finished her associate’s degree. In the fall, she’ll be transferring to Portland State.
 

Ochoa Cosio says she chose PSU after researching social work programs. “I found that PSU had a really good social work program,” she says. “And I have two kids at home and they have an online bachelor’s of social work program. That was perfect for me.” Receiving the Nancy Ryles Scholarship was icing on the cake. 
 
Ochoa Cosio has been working as a community liaison at Mountainside High School in Beaverton for the past three years. She works along​​side school counselors, social workers and teachers to connect families to resources like food, clothing and activities and to help English language learners navigate the educational system.
 
After she graduates from PSU, Ochoa Cosio hopes to enter PSU’s Master in Social Work program and eventually become a social worker in the Beaverton school district, the same district where Nancy Ryles began her political career years ago. 
 
Entering PSU as a Nancy Ryles Scholar is meaningful to Ochoa Cosio. “Not only do I get this awesome opportunity, but it gives me a chance to feel empowered as a woman — but not only as a woman — but as a first generation Latina woman. It just means so much,” says says. “And it makes me feel like many years ago when I had kind of given up on this opportunity there was hope that I didn't even know out there.” 
 
A fresh start

The Nancy Ryles Scholarship is providing a much needed fresh start for Kimberly Kinnaman, a 31-year-old parent of two.
 
Kinnaman told the Nancy Ryles Scholarship Foundation that the scholarship will give her the peace of mind to be able to move to Portland to continue her education at PSU. This fall she is transferring to PSU from Rogue Community College to pursue a bachelor’s degree in biology with a professional medicine focus. Then she plans to apply to OHSU’s School of Medicine where she hopes to prepare for a career as a general surgeon. 

“I feel inspired by the woman that Nancy Ryles was,” wrote Kinnaman in a thank you note to the Foundation. “Your foundation’s financial support will allow me to follow in her footsteps and pursue my dreams!”