bachelor\u2019s degree in communication sciences and disorders<\/a> at UCF as a Burnett Honors College student and graduated with a 3.99 GPA. As an honors student, she completed a thesis on the role of adolescent mothers in their child\u2019s development of language and literacy under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Jacqueline Towson. Abarca went on to volunteer in Towson\u2019s lab, serve as her lab coordinator \u2015 a position she still holds, and coauthor three manuscripts, one already published in a peer-reviewed journal.<\/p>\n\u201cDiana is an exemplary student and person,\u201d Towson said. \u201cThrough her research and writing experiences at the university level, she has shown her impeccable scholarship at UCF.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an undergraduate, Abarca made a service-learning trip to Nicaragua to help implement health and engineering projects in two rural communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer proficiency in Spanish and English allowed her to interact first-hand with families in rural Nicaragua,\u201d said Associate Professor Linda I. Rosa-Lugo, also interim assistant dean of faculty excellence, graduate and global affairs for the College of Health Professions and Sciences. \u201cThe experience awakened a deep sense of service in Diana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abarca developed a passion for helping others as a high-school student and founded her own nonprofit, Charisma\u2019s Crayons, to empower at-risk students. Today she is passionate about extending speech-language pathology services to underserved populations, particularly those in developing countries, and to adolescent parents and their families, she said.<\/p>\n
After completing her master\u2019s degree at UCF\u00a0\u2015 with support from her newly earned scholarship\u00a0\u2015 Abarca plans to pursue a doctorate and conduct research focused on families of underserved populations.<\/p>\n
UCF Faculty and Student Presentations at the Convention<\/strong><\/p>\nUCF’s School of Communication Sciences and Disorders will be well represented at the 2018 ASHA convention, with 13 faculty members and six graduate students presenting their research: http:\/\/bit.ly\/2DEv5Wn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UCF graduate student Diana Abarca is one of three students nationwide selected to receive a $5,000 Minority Student Scholarship at the 2018 American Speech-Language-Hearing-Association convention Nov. 15-17 in Boston. The ASHFoundation chose the communication sciences and disorders master\u2019s degree student for the scholarship based on her academic achievement and promise, and the foundation will make the award. Abarca earned her…","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":92161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[16873],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-92160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","tag-college-of-health-professions-and-sciences"],"yoast_head":"\n
UCF Student to Receive $5000 Scholarship at National Convention | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UCF graduate student Diana Abarca is one of three students nationwide selected to receive a $5,000 Minority Student Scholarship at the 2018 American\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCF Student to Receive $5000 Scholarship at National Convention\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UCF graduate student Diana Abarca is one of three students nationwide selected to receive a $5,000 Minority Student Scholarship at the 2018 American\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-14T19:25:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T18:40:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/11\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"213\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"258\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Karen Guin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Karen Guin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Karen Guin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cad82da5c4294dbee6d1aee62bfb9b81\"},\"headline\":\"UCF Student to Receive $5000 Scholarship at National Convention\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-14T19:25:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T18:40:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":366,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Health Professions and Sciences\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Colleges & Campus\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/\",\"name\":\"UCF Student to Receive $5000 Scholarship at National Convention | University of Central Florida News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-14T19:25:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T18:40:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cad82da5c4294dbee6d1aee62bfb9b81\"},\"description\":\"UCF graduate student Diana Abarca is one of three students nationwide selected to receive a $5,000 Minority Student Scholarship at the 2018 American\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg\",\"width\":213,\"height\":258,\"caption\":\"Diana Abarca\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UCF Student to Receive $5000 Scholarship at National Convention\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\",\"description\":\"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cad82da5c4294dbee6d1aee62bfb9b81\",\"name\":\"Karen Guin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/25691f31cceafcacf84dbd5a53359931c45fd3f3f27a207a0541a1fa2c5153a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/25691f31cceafcacf84dbd5a53359931c45fd3f3f27a207a0541a1fa2c5153a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/25691f31cceafcacf84dbd5a53359931c45fd3f3f27a207a0541a1fa2c5153a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Karen Guin\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/kguin\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\\\/#local-main-organization-logo\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"University of Central Florida\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UCF Student to Receive $5000 Scholarship at National Convention | University of Central Florida News","description":"UCF graduate student Diana Abarca is one of three students nationwide selected to receive a $5,000 Minority Student Scholarship at the 2018 American","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UCF Student to Receive $5000 Scholarship at National Convention","og_description":"UCF graduate student Diana Abarca is one of three students nationwide selected to receive a $5,000 Minority Student Scholarship at the 2018 American","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/","og_site_name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF","article_published_time":"2018-11-14T19:25:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-17T18:40:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":213,"height":258,"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/11\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Karen Guin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UCF","twitter_site":"@UCF","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Karen Guin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/"},"author":{"name":"Karen Guin","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cad82da5c4294dbee6d1aee62bfb9b81"},"headline":"UCF Student to Receive $5000 Scholarship at National Convention","datePublished":"2018-11-14T19:25:04+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-17T18:40:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/"},"wordCount":366,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/11\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg","keywords":["College of Health Professions and Sciences"],"articleSection":["Colleges & Campus"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2018","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/","name":"UCF Student to Receive $5000 Scholarship at National Convention | University of Central Florida News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/11\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-14T19:25:04+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-17T18:40:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cad82da5c4294dbee6d1aee62bfb9b81"},"description":"UCF graduate student Diana Abarca is one of three students nationwide selected to receive a $5,000 Minority Student Scholarship at the 2018 American","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/11\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/11\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg","width":213,"height":258,"caption":"Diana Abarca"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UCF Student to Receive $5000 Scholarship at National Convention"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","description":"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cad82da5c4294dbee6d1aee62bfb9b81","name":"Karen Guin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25691f31cceafcacf84dbd5a53359931c45fd3f3f27a207a0541a1fa2c5153a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25691f31cceafcacf84dbd5a53359931c45fd3f3f27a207a0541a1fa2c5153a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25691f31cceafcacf84dbd5a53359931c45fd3f3f27a207a0541a1fa2c5153a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Karen Guin"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/kguin\/"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-student-receive-5000-scholarship-national-convention\/#local-main-organization-logo","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"University of Central Florida"}]}},"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/11\/Diana-Abaraca-CSD-Grad-Student.jpg","primary_category":5,"primary_tag":16873,"author_byline":"Karen Guin","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92160"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147462,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92160\/revisions\/147462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92160"},{"taxonomy":"tu_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tu_author?post=92160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}