Stories By Cicero Estrella

Briana Zavala began her formal education in the ninth grade. Despite being nine years behind her classmates academically, Zavala achieved a 4.0 grade point average and delivered the valedictory speech at her 2023 graduation from Covina High School.

The same strong work ethic, inquisitiveness, and tenacity that propelled her in high school have also served Zavala well at Cal State LA. On Sept. 8, 2025, California State University (CSU) announced Zavala as one of the recipients of its prestigious CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Zavala was named the 2025 CSU Foundation Board Member Michael A. and Debe Lucki Scholar, which is accompanied by a $7,000 scholarship. Zavala, 21, has a 3.9 GPA as a junior in the Patricia A. Chin School of Nursing at Cal State LA.

“Briana is an exceptionally bright student, and she will do amazing things,” said Tanja Baum Low, assistant professor of nursing. “There is nothing she cannot do, and I’m 100% sure she’s not going to stop at her bachelor’s degree. She is so hungry for knowledge. She truly embodies what Cal State LA is all about.”

The West Covina resident has achieved academic excellence after overcoming a challenging childhood that included housing insecurity, abandonment, and the death of a parent from cancer.

As a child, Briana and her family experienced housing insecurity and shuttled between West Covina and the San Gabriel Valley, relocating from one budget hotel to another.

Her strict parents held her and her three older brothers out of school for religious reasons. They aimed to home-school them, but Zavala says the lessons were not nearly on par with what she would have learned at school.

Her mother left the family when Zavala was 14, and a year later her father Vincent would succumb to cancer.

Renee and Robert O’Banion, the children’s aunt and uncle on their father’s side, took in Zavala and her two underaged brothers.

“My aunt and uncle were very supportive,” Zavala said, “and they wanted us to have the same opportunities as everyone else, in terms of education. We ended up loving it.”

“These nurses, no matter what they did, were there to help him, and as a result they also helped our family. And I really want to be that person—someone who helps others as they are going through a difficult time in life.”

She set foot inside a classroom for the first time as a high school freshman. It was all foreign to her—studying from a book, taking tests, and having classmates. She might have been intimidated at first, but she accepted the challenge.

Zavala asked plenty of questions from her teachers, sought tutoring, and developed exceptional study habits as she gained confidence in herself.

“It took a lot of patience, and asking for help, and studying the information,” she said. “I asked my teachers for advice on how to navigate through all the information. It was a lot of self-discipline.”

By the time she enrolled at Cal State LA two years ago, Zavala had already mapped out her future: she endeavors to be a nurse who provides compassionate care and support to her patients, as well as their family members.

Zavala draws inspiration from the nurses who treated her father as he battled lymphoma.

“It was a very difficult time for me,” she said. “One moment he was completely healthy, and then he wasn’t. I had to process it all, and there was a lot of confusion and fear. What really helped me through it was seeing how the nurses cared about my dad and his integrity. These nurses, no matter what they did, were there to help him, and as a result they also helped our family. And I really want to be that person—someone who helps others as they are going through a difficult time in life.”

She has volunteered at an assisted living facility for the past two years. Zavala’s interactions with the seniors she serves have helped her develop bedside-manner skills that she believes will help her as a caregiver.

Baum Low sees a bright future for Zavala.

“It really takes a lot of resilience to be a nurse,” she said. “You have to adjust to everybody’s walk of life, and I think Briana will be amazing in that sense because she sees that everybody is different. She’s going to translate that into taking care of patients—work with them so their needs are met. A really important part of nursing, especially for new nurses, is to understand that it’s not what we want, but what the patient wants.”

Michael A. Lucki is a member of the CSU Foundation Board of Governors, previously serving as the treasurer, chair of the Finance and Investment Committee, and chair of the Audit Committee. He and his wife, Debe Lucki, have been longtime supporters of the CSU Foundation’s CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an option in Accounting from Cal State LA.