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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

IPhone Fixer Rings Up Scholarship

Typical juniors in college do not endow scholarships at the university they attend. Then again, Alan Campos is far from typical. The 22-year-old junior at California State University Northridge is not only majoring in business management but also runs an iPhone screen repair shop. He donated $1,000 of his revenue for the first Alan Campos Dream Big Scholarship of $500 that will be awarded this fall. The criteria for the scholarship was established by Campos and requires a student to earn a 3.0 grade point average and answer a series of essay questions he has written. Campos plans to present another $500 award in the spring. “There’s more to business than making a profit,” said Campos, who operates SCViRepair in Valencia. Campos began his business out of his Santa Clarita garage in late 2010. He invested $300 and by the middle of last year was making enough to sign a lease for his first office, a tiny 350-square-foot space in a local business park. Since 2010, Campos figures he has replaced more than 1,000 broken screens. He charges between $45 for an older model iPhone 3 to $85 for the iPhone 4S, which he estimates is about half the price at an Apple store. He also fixes tablets. Campos buys the screens wholesale and said he earned $35,000 last year. Today, Campos is in the process of opening his second location, a 450-square-foot space on Reseda Boulevard in Northridge. He has pledged to donate $5 to his scholarship fund for every iPhone screen he repairs at the location. An interest in business began early for Campos. His father, Sergio Mendez, said his son would ask questions about business from a young age. “None of this is surprising. He’s a real go-getter,” he said. Campos also gives $5 to the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry for every screen he repairs at his Valencia shop. Carmen Chandler, director of media relations at CSUN, said she knows of no other enrolled students who have endowed a scholarship. “When I heard about it, I just sort of did a happy dance,” she said. “He’s a very generous and bright young man. It’s amazing generosity.” – Elliot Golan

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