Searing Family Scholarship Supports Next Generation of Student Leaders

University Advancement is thrilled to announce the Searing Family Scholarship for Pomona High School graduates who wish to attend the University of La Verne. Established by Trustee Sue Searing ’71, her husband Lee ’70, and their children Christina, Richard ’06, and Katherine, the scholarship will provide qualified students with full financial support for expenses such as tuition, fees, housing, and meals for on-campus residents, in order to ensure that students’ academic success is unburdened by financial need.

The Searings created this scholarship to support the next generation of student leaders from their community. Both Lee and Sue grew up in Pomona and graduated from Pomona High School. She worked weekends as a clerk in the Pomona Valley Hospital pharmacy and volunteered at Casa Colina before going on to a career as an educator, earning both her bachelor’s degree and teaching credential from the University of La Verne. She worked for 25 years in elementary school education within the Ontario-Montclair and Arcadia Unified School Districts, where she saw firsthand the inequities faced by economically disadvantaged students. She also owned and operated a preschool from 1978 to 1990 in Arcadia.

In addition to Sue’s work on the University of La Verne Board of Trustees and as co-chair of Create the Future: The Campaign for the University of La Verne, her family also created the Searing Family Endowed Chair in honor of professor Ahmed Ispahani to support excellence in teaching economics, and they are loyal supporters of the university’s annual Scholarship Gala. It’s safe to say the university would not be where it is today without the stalwart support of this Leopard family!