Victoria Karalun

Victoria Karalun—Honors Student is on a roll.

Student Profile

Victoria Karalun balances a lot every day as a mother, wife, business owner and a part-time Crafton Hills College student.

While it’s not easy, Karalun is able to make her goals a reality with the support of her family, maintaining a list of priorities for the week and a whole lot of coffee.

Originally from England, Karalun moved to the U.S. after meeting her now-husband on the internet in 2002. The couple had a whirlwind courtship and within two months of meeting they were engaged. Karalun made the move a month later.

Although she had started college back home, Karalun put her higher education aspirations on the backburner and dedicated herself to her growing family, which includes a now 9-year-old son.

In-between it all, the 37-year-old began a photography business but always felt something was missing. “I saw something on the internet that said, ‘Do something that scares you,’ and I thought I should enroll in college,” she said. “I needed something to wake my brain up because my brain was stagnating. So, I enrolled in one class (at Crafton) and as soon as I started the class my brain lit up.”

Karalun soon found her stride and was later asked to join CHC’s honors program. She also discovered a long-lost passion for writing following the encouragement of Judy Cannon, coordinator of the College Honors Institute on campus, and is currently working on a book sharing her experiences as a birth photographer and gender issues.

She has taken her work on the road to speak at conferences in neighboring Redlands, Claremont and Irvine, as well as Las Vegas, Nevada, Portland, Ore., and Tempe, Ariz., and has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

“Ten years ago, I didn’t think I would be doing this. So, I am seeing where it goes,” Karalun said. “The big picture is – I have had so many struggles in my life and it’s partly why it has taken me so long to get to this point in college. I immigrated. Had fertility problems. But the one thing I’ve done is maintain the hope that it is going to get better.

“I don’t know exactly what I am going to be doing in the next year or the next year after that, but what I do know is I am going to keep working and keep doing better,” she continued. “And because of that, I know my future will be good no matter what.”