Bound By a Gift: Pobjoy Scholarship Fund Connects Two Lives
Kevin Pobjoy and Megan Ramos never knew each other. Yet their lives echo each other in remarkable ways:
A devotion to service – he served in the U.S. Marine Corps and California Army National Guard, she in her high school Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. Immigrant roots – his parents are from Ireland and the Philippines, hers from Mexico. A fascination with human behavior and a compassionate heart to help others navigate challenges. A love of music – saxophone for him, drums for her.
Now they are bound together by a gift. Four years after Kevin passed, his parents, Peter and Violeta Pobjoy, established a scholarship fund in his name at the California Community Foundation, and Megan is the first recipient.
The $25,000 annual scholarship, renewable for four years, will provide Megan the financial support she needs to attend UC Santa Cruz, part of the University of California system designed to serve the top 12.5% of California high school graduates. Raised by a single mother who worked three jobs to make ends meet, Megan will be the first in her family to attend college.
“What I’m receiving today is much more than just financial aid,” Megan, 18, told the Pobjoys at a recent scholarship lunch at CCF with family, friends and mentors. “It’s a symbol that somebody believes in me. That there’s opportunities for lower-income people to be able to do something more and achieve things that are much bigger than where they came from.
“There’s really no other way for me to thank you other than educating myself, finishing school, and acting throughout my life and throughout my career in ways that would honor your son,” Megan said.
Violeta Pobjoy told her that they were simply “sharing the blessing that we got here in America,’ while her husband, Peter, added that she warmed their hearts and gave them hope in the future.
“Our main intent was to have a big impact on somebody’s life, and I hope we can do that,” he told her. “What really, for me, made you stand out was your passion for helping give back to the community through education, compassion and understanding.”
Kevin was 30 when he died of an accidental overdose of antidepressant medication in November 2022. For the first year or so after his death, Peter said, he was “numb” and could not think. The summer before Kevin died, father, mother and son had traveled to England to hike Hadrian’s Wall Path to explore the 84-mile fortification commissioned by the Roman emperor nearly 2,000 years ago. There was no sign anything was amiss, Peter said.
Kevin had been serving in the National Guard’s medical detachment, managing the health of soldiers based at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos. He also worked at a Torrance hospital, helping patients cope with depression, anxiety, substance use, suicidal ideation and other mental health challenges.
He was drawn to helping professions through varied life experiences, his parents said. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in 2010, serving in the 3rd Civil Affairs Group in the Reserve.
During his Marine Corps service, he attended USC and earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology in 2017 and a master’s degree in visual anthropology the following year. An internship with the USC Shoah Foundation, which preserves testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides, proved transformative, igniting his passion for social justice and caring for others, his parents said. After graduation he worked at Los Angeles Unified School District assisting students with learning disabilities.
After receiving a Marine Corps honorable discharge at the rank of sergeant in 2019, he went on to train and qualify as a licensed California emergency medical technician, working for PRN Ambulance.
“All he wanted to do was help people … to do good in the world,” said Army Maj.
Cassandra Meredith, Kevin’s National Guard commander.
The Pobjoys turned to CCF for its long experience in setting up scholarship funds after deciding not to pursue their original plan to create a family foundation. They said they wanted to celebrate Kevin’s life by helping a student in need with similar interests – specifically, one enrolled in an L.A. Unified JROTC program with plans to pursue studies in behavioral science.
They found those qualities in Megan.
She joined Franklin High School’s JROTC program at the invitation of Capt. Marc McDonald, senior Army instructor. She immediately distinguished herself as a leader, he said. During a recent high school orientation, Megan showed students an array of equipment JROTC members learn to use, including air rifles, and told them about opportunities for drill team competitions and performances at USC football games and other events.
“We’re not here to make you go into the military,” she told one student. “Our main goal is to help you excel in whatever you do.”
Like Kevin, Megan is fascinated by what makes people behave the way they do. Her goal is to earn a master’s degree in forensic psychology to understand the root causes of criminal behavior.
“If we can understand why people think the way that they do, I think that’s the most powerful thing that we can do to help,” she said. “It’s not about finding out who is doing wrong and putting them in jail. It’s understanding why we have the issues that we do and how we can solve them from a deeper perspective and understanding of the human mind.”
She always had a questing mind. She taught herself to read before kindergarten. She watched PBS shows and documentaries on unsolved mysteries and forensic science. After she began to binge on Instagram and TikTok, she said she realized she was wasting her time and pivoted to online searches for educational material – reading medical journals “for fun,” she said. Even when she reads about fashion, she wants to know what political and social trends shape it – how the Vietnam War influenced the dress of the time, for instance.
School came easily to her – a refuge, she said, from a tumultuous home life. Her father was deported to Mexico when she was in third grade, forcing her mother to work three jobs at a diner, market and cleaning agency. The grueling schedule took a toll on her health, and she eventually underwent surgery for a brain tumor.
Megan, then in middle school, said she was terrified for her mother and wondered if she would need to give up her college dreams and work to support her family. As she struggled with caring for her mother and a younger sibling, she experienced depression and stress. But she was able to find support through school mentors and counselors and her mother gradually regained her health.
Now, she is thrilled to move on to her next chapter at UC Santa Cruz. She’s already set a goal to revive the campus rock band and create a musical instrument lending library. She also aims to continue developing her interests in sketching, painting, theater and film.
And she is determined to honor Kevin by seeding goodness wherever she goes.
“You have to think about who you can be and what you can do,” she said. “And just try to leave a good, lasting impact on all the places you inhabit.”
– Teresa Watanabe
