Faces Scholarship 2024
College: UC Merced
Career goal: Financial adviser or stockbroker
About Marshaun: Marshaun Bass’ future is bright, but he’s had to overcome the adversity of his mother passing awayfrom the passing of his mother in 2010, and of his father in 2019. Despite these losses, he kept his grades up and heads will head to UC Merced this fall to achieve his dream of working in finance—, perhaps on Wall Street. Marshaun lives with his grandparents, with hisMarshaun’s interest in stock trading cominges from his grandfather, who began talking with Marshaun when he was just 13 about “making money work for you.” Marshaun lives with his grandparents.
Marshaun became even more sure of his career choice after working on a stock trading simulation project in high school. This took place in a class at the Center for Advanced Research and Technology (CART), a half-day program for Fresno Unified and Clovis Unified students with hands-on career labs. In the digital marketing and entrepreneurship lab assignment, Marshaun doubled his $100,000 “investment” in two months of stock trading, the third- highest growth in his class. The project was in a class at the Center for Advanced Research and Technology (CART), a half-day program for Fresno Unified and Clovis Unified students with hands-on career labs.
In addition to the Fresno Unified Scholarship, Marshaun was also awarded the FFB Bank Award scholarship.
In Marshaun’s words: “At times I did find it hard to focus on school when it got challenging. With my family’s motivation and help, I eventually got back on track and started to focus on education.”
“Marshaun has had a lot on his plate as an independent student, but he always found a way to manage his time wisely and maintain a positive attitude in the midst of it all. Many students in his position would have given up but he has stood resilient through it all. I believe he will be successful at UC Merced studying business management and economics, and one day I’ll be coming to him for help with my finances.”
– Tatiana Acosta, college advisor for the UC Merced Upward Bound program
