As the end of the year approaches, many are already looking ahead to 2025.
But before putting the finishing touches on your list of New Year’s resolutions, let’s take a look back at some of the most-talked-about stories of 2024.
CSUSM Receives Two Gifts Totaling $20 Million, Largest in 35-Year History
In a historic moment, Cal State San Marcos received two philanthropic donations totaling $20 million – the largest gifts in its 35-year history. $10 million from Price Philanthropies Foundation will create a first-of-its-kind, three-year accelerated bachelor's degree and workforce pipeline for behavioral and mental health. The other $10 million came from Daniel J. Epstein – a director of the CSUSM Foundation Board – and his wife, Phyllis. Their contribution will serve as a unique dollar-for-dollar matching gift opportunity for all CSUSM donors to double their impact across campus.
Balancing Act: Master's Grad Perseveres Through Challenges
A master’s of biological sciences student, Jocelyne Dates was selected last spring as the recipient of the 2024 President's Outstanding Graduate Award, the highest honor a graduating student can receive. She also received the Dean’s Award for Graduate Studies, which recognizes the accomplishments of one master’s student. Jocelyne is continuing her education by pursuing her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt.
'I Just Want to Make Him Proud and My Life to Count'
Last spring, at 76 years old, Kathryn Cook walked across the graduation stage as the oldest graduate of Cal State San Marcos' class of 2024. Her path to this accomplishment was not one of a traditional four-year-and-done experience. In fact, it was 50 years in the making, with monumental life transitions and rocky hardships in between. The passing of Cook’s husband in 2019 led her to continue her education at CSUSM and graduate with a sociology degree.
From the Baseball Diamond to 'The Bachelorette'
Austin Ott had never watched an episode of “The Bachelorette” when he received a DM on Instagram from the show encouraging him to apply. While nervous, his communication and media studies degree from Cal State San Marcos gave him a foundation to build on. Ott’s first speech in COMM 100 gave him an idea of what being in the public eye might look like. “My time at Cal State San Marcos was probably the best years of my life,” said Ott, who graduated in 2019. “There’s nothing better than playing the game you love and being around your best friends.”
American Indian Student Follows Passion for Animals, Environment
Aiden Valverde, an American Indian Studies major from the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel, has made significant contributions through his engagement with the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center. As an intern for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Valverde was able to connect more with his culture, and his passion for animals and the environment. “Aiden exemplifies everything we strive to achieve in American Indian Studies and at the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center,” said Joely Proudfit, the department chair of American Indian Studies.
Computers a Lifelong Passion for Trustees' Award Winner
In 2009, Minh Tran’s family moved to Escondido from Vietnam, the only home that he, his parents and his two older siblings had ever known. Now, the fourth-year student who’s on track to graduate in May, was honored as CSUSM’s recipient of the 2024 CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement, the California State University’s highest recognition of student accomplishment. Students are selected based on academic achievements, financial need, excellence in community service and personal hardship. Awardees have all demonstrated inspirational resolve along the path to college success, and many are the first in their families to attend college.
Graduate Crafting Career on Helping Children
A child and adolescent development major at Cal State San Marcos, Tania Arceo spent the last year and a half working with Voices for Children, a nonprofit organization where volunteers are trained to become court-appointed special advocates. Volunteers like Arceo represent juvenile dependency cases in San Diego County. Since graduating last spring with her bachelor’s, Arceo has started her Master of Social Work program at CSUSM this fall.
Alumnus Seeks Better Mental Health Through Better Cuts
John Edwards was only 12 years old when he taught himself how to cut his own hair. By the time Edwards enrolled at Cal State San Marcos as a transfer student returning to higher education in 2021, he was close to completing barber school. Now a licensed barber and a recent CSUSM graduate, he operates a small studio in San Diego, rotating about 25 clients through his single chair. Edwards studied psychology at CSUSM, and it was at the university that he dreamed up the idea of melding his longtime practice of barbering with his fledgling research on mental health treatment.
CSUSM Earns Prestigious Seal for Serving Latinx Students
Cal State San Marcos has earned the prestigious Seal of Excelencia, a national certification for institutions that strive to go beyond enrollment and more intentionally serve Latinx students. CSUSM is one of only 17 colleges and universities to earn the Seal of Excelencia in 2024. In 2018, Excelencia introduced the seal to certify colleges and universities for their efforts to become learning environments where Latinx, and all, students thrive. This year marks the organization’s 20th year of service to accelerate Latinx student success in higher education.
Surfer Makes School History With National Title
Tanner Vodraska, a Cal State San Marcos business student, became the first surfer in university history to win an individual national title. The junior competed in the college men’s division of the 2024 National Scholastic Surfing Association interscholastic national championships at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point. Vodraska dominated the field. He posted a two-wave score of 17.5 points in the final, far outdistancing his closest competitor. “I feel really proud of myself because I set a goal to win the national title before I graduate, and I accomplished it,” Vodraska said.
Incredible Mulk: Class Project Becomes Thriving Business
Melissa Finestone remembers the assignment in her business marketing class that started it all. Each student was required to develop a business plan based on a product they conceived. Finestone decided to curate a product that combined her passion for cooking with a childhood love of chocolate milk. But Finestone wanted to develop a healthy alternative to other chocolate milks on the market. When Finestone couldn’t find a product on the market that met her requirements, she chose to make her own. Using her Vitamix blender to grind almonds in her kitchen at home, Finestone crafted samples of chocolate- and strawberry-flavored, plant-based almond milk. She served it to each student in the class while presenting her product. The overwhelming support from her peers inspired Finestone to launch The Mulk Co. in June 2018, only one year after she graduated from Cal State San Marcos with a bachelor’s degree in global business management.
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- Nursing Graduate Knows All About PerformanceWhen Cal State San Marcos holds its annual fall commencement on Sunday, many nontraditional students will cross the stage in their caps and gowns. A nontraditional student, in general parlance, is one who goes or returns to college later in life rather than right after high school. Jonathan Jennings, one of those hundreds of fall 2024 graduates, likes to call himself a “nontraditional nontraditional” student. Not only is he 37 years old and pursuing his second degree, but unlike nearly all of the 50-odd students in his Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program cohort, he does not have an educational background in science. Jennings, rather, graduated from UCLA 15 years ago with a degree in world arts and cultures, which is one of the only academic programs of its type in U.S. higher education. He describes it as a unorthodox fusion of dance and anthropology. “I took everything from ballet to postmodern to African war dances to tai chi – you name it,” Jennings said. “If a culture moves in a certain way, I studied why they move that way, how it affects the way they interact with other people in their culture and how you can respectfully create your own work as an artist without disrespecting the culture.” It's how Jennings applied his first bachelor’s and the path he took toward this second one, however, that elevates his story beyond a mere curiosity. After leaving UCLA, he fulfilled his lifelong ambition of becoming a professional dancer. One of his first jobs was as a performer on a Disney cruise ship for nine months, providing on-board entertainment through a medley of shows. Jennings parlayed that opportunity into one that was significantly longer and somehow even more exotic. He worked for much of the next eight years as a dancer at Tokyo Disneyland. Assigned to the wildly popular, Tokyo-specific stage show “One Man’s Dream II: The Magic Lives On,” which featured humans performing alongside Mickey Mouse and many other classic Disney characters, Jennings danced five times a day, five days a week for a total of more than 8,000 shows. “It made for a great icebreaker in the ABSN program,” he said. “Day one of orientation, tell us something interesting about yourself: ‘I used to perform with Mickey and his friends in a show called “One Man’s Dream II.” ’ It’s a unique experience. Not many people have gotten the opportunity to do that.” During his tenure at the theme park, Jennings earned a promotion to line captain, a role that’s responsible for leading rehearsals on days when the director and production team aren’t available, as well as mitigating conflicts between cast members. Away from the job, he enjoyed the minor celebrity status that accompanied being a Disney performer in Japan, while finding time to travel to countries throughout Asia. Asked if he still misses that chapter of his life, Jennings said: “Every day, though I think it’s mostly nostalgia now. I was young. I was making good money. The world was my oyster.” Dancing is often a young person’s profession, and when Jennings reached his early 30s, he realized that he would need to discover his second act. In December 2019, he took part in the final staging ever of “One Man’s Dream,” returned to his hometown of Spring Valley and retired as a dancer. As he began to contemplate what would come next, he thought about things that brought him joy. He thought about his love of babies, shaped by a formative experience helping to care for a newborn cousin who lived with his family when he was just 10 years old. He thought about his exposure to caretaking through poor health suffered by his stepfather and grandfather. He thought, in other words, that nursing – especially pediatric nursing – might be a good fit. So early in the pandemic, he spent a year at Cuyamaca College knocking out the science prerequisites required for him to attend nursing school. Once those were complete, he applied to CSUSM and began studying in its ABSN program in spring 2023. While he battled feelings of imposter syndrome in the classroom from his lack of science training, Jennings sought out any and all chances he could uncover to gain nursing-adjacent seasoning. One such opportunity came through CSUSM’s Mobile Wellness Initiative, which engages students from the seven disciplines of the College of Education, Health and Human Services (including nursing) in community-based health education and promotion events. Starting in February, Jennings volunteered for about seven events in the community, doing things like blood pressure screenings for adults and healthy eating activities for kids. “Recognizing my own ignorance, the fact that I don't have health care experience, I wanted to expose myself to as many scenarios where health care is provided and communities to which is provided as possible,” he said. “It put a very human face on health care for me, in a way that's not in a hospital room where everything's beeping.” Matt Mincey, a nursing lecturer who established the Mobile Wellness Initiative, has witnessed Jennings in action at several community health events and seen how the outsized personality and stage presence that Jennings brought to his dancing career translate to the field of nursing. “One of the things that nursing students struggle with is confidence, especially when it comes to speaking with others,” Mincey said. “Most students find a way to break through that barrier, but it comes at different times for everyone. Jonathan just had this ability from the get-go. He is humble, but he is also confident in what he knows and he is eager to share with anyone who will listen. “I am excited to see where he goes after graduation but already feel the loss in our operations that will be hard to replace.” For his final semester this fall, Jennings worked an externship in the cardiothoracic ICU at Rady Children’s Hospital (one of the top such units in the country) and also did clinical rotations in telehealth at UC San Diego and as a school nurse. He has interviewed for a full-time job at Rady and hopes to have received a job offer by early next year. If he gets the position, he won’t be dressing up in costumes and dancing for patients. But he perceives almost daily the ways in which his previous life benefits him in his new life. “Other than actual textbook content, I don't think there's a corner of nursing that my old career doesn't apply to, which was surprising to me,” he said. “It's being versed in a lot of soft skills that I didn't recognize were skills until I had to apply them in a field where that's not the dominant thing that we're using to create value. If something's going wrong and the doctor has to run out and get a new piece of equipment, I can stand in that room and hold the audience and distract them from pain or whatever they're feeling, as opposed to freezing and standing there awkwardly or leaving the room. I didn't see that as a marketable skill in nursing, but now I do.” Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306
- ACE, Son Inspire Sociology Student on Path to Graduation“Once in ACE, always in ACE.” Those were the words said by Leigh Quijada, director of ACE Scholars Services, that helped welcome Deborah Hawkins back to Cal State San Marcos. A sociology major, Hawkins began her college journey at Mt. San Jacinto College before transferring to CSUSM where she was part of ACE, which supports former foster youth. However, Hawkins withdrew from CSUSM in 2017 feeling like she wasn’t ready and it was too much to handle. But in 2022, she was inspired to return by her 3-year-old son, Zion. “When I had my son, I was like, ‘No, I have to go back to where I started,’ ” Hawkins said. “I have to go back to my goals and I need my son to see that I can graduate. I need to have a career that I know I want, so I decided to buckle down and bear through the hardships.” Hawkins was born into foster care and remained in the system until she was 18. Much about her past remained unknown to her. For example, she recently found her biological mom and nine siblings. Being in foster care put Hawkins through plenty of ups and downs. “I actually got a placement when I was 7 that was pretty stable so I was in that home for a long time,” Hawkins said. “However, there were a lot of things that went on inside that home that no one knew about, not even the social workers that came in. It was hidden. Social workers have a lot on their plate, and so growing up, I just knew that I wanted somebody to pay attention.” Hawkins plans to be the person who pays attention toward people with stories like hers. She understood from a young age that school was the way out of the system, and the way to open a better future for herself and others. “I didn't know what the next steps looked like for me when I turned 18,” said Hawkins, “but I knew I wanted somewhere stable to live. My goal was to finish high school and then go live at college. It didn't work out that way, but I think that one of my main motives to go to college was stable housing, because that was the only thing I knew would make me stable.” Hawkins had almost no choice to attend school, and no choice to do so on her own timeline. “On graduation day in high school, I went home and my bags were packed outside of the house,” Hawkins said. “So it was ‘go time.’ I had no choice but to sink or swim. I was just trying to go to school and be stable. I didn't know I would graduate.” When Hawkins, a first-generation student, reapplied to CSUSM after her son was born, Quijada was the first person to reach out to her, leaving Hawkins in shock. “Leigh has been following me since day one, just walking with me. So I'm so grateful for that.” Hawkins said. “I didn't even know I still qualified. I'm older, so I didn't know I still qualified for the services. They were like, ‘No, once in ACE, always in ACE.’ ” This support from Quijada and Laurie Orr, an ACE counselor, helped give Hawkins the extra support and push to graduate this fall. Hawkins works as a social worker assistant in Riverside County, and her graduation this fall will open the opportunity for her to become a full-time social worker. Eventually, Hawkins’ goal is to open her own nonprofit helping foster youth. Specifically, she wants to help those who are about to age out of the system. “I remember that when I turned 16 in foster care it's when your wheels start spinning and you realize you’re going to be 18 in two years,” Hawkins said. “You don’t know where you’re gonna go. You don't have solid advice or people to help you. “So I would want to start with helping kids who are about to be former foster youth, and then help transitioning and former foster youth as well.” Although Hawkins has gone through challenges, she is determined to make her son proud. “He was the main motivator, because it seemed daunting, especially having to withdraw and the weight of it all just felt bad,” Hawkins said. “But I knew I had to go back, so I reapplied.” Zion will be attending commencement on Dec. 15 and will grow up to recognize how big of an accomplishment graduation is for his mom. “I'm still in shock,” she said. “I'm graduating. It sounds crazy to me, I still haven't processed it all yet, but I know it's gonna mean a lot. “I am so grateful for my village that has become family that have helped me along the way. I couldn't have done this with out their support as well as the support of ACE.” Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
- University Shatters Giving Day Record, Raises Nearly $750KCal State San Marcos celebrated its 10th anniversary of Giving Day with a record-shattering day that saw the university raise $748,362 from 2,143 donors in just 24 hours. “This record-breaking achievement will empower our students to excel in their academics and beyond,” said Jessica Berger, vice president of University Advancement. “From hundreds of social media posts to ambassadors advocating for their programs and gifts of all sizes, your collective support is a testament to the strength of our dedicated community.” Giving Day is part of Giving Tuesday, an international day focused on philanthropy. The Giving Day highlights included: · A number of matches were met, including $200,000 from the Epstein Family, $15,000 from SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, and over $100,000 in individual area frontline matches that impacted the results for 132 campus programs. 79 ambassadors spread the word, bringing in a collective 238 gifts. 258 students donated. Nearly one in five gifts were made by alumni. “Even more impressive than the total amount raised was the number of people who made it possible,” Berger said. “From students and employees to friends, parents, alumni, and community members, everyone came together to make this day a phenomenal success. “Your support will have an immediate and lasting effect on our campus community. We couldn't do this important work without you. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!” Did you miss your chance to donate on Giving Day? You can still make a meaningful impact on the program you love. Give today! Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
- Communication Student, Alumnus Team Up On TVEvery fall on high school campuses across the country, football becomes the thing to do on Friday nights. Local TV station KUSI News for the past 26 years has broadcast a highlights and interview show called “Prep Pigskin Report," also known as “PPR,” that canvases San Diego County every Friday night to bring high school football stories to tens of thousands of homes. Cal State San Marcos may not have a football team, but a couple of communication students — one an alumnus and one about to be one — are heavily involved in the game locally as they comprise the “PPR” team that covers North County’s biggest game each week. Matt Candelario is set to graduate from CSUSM this month. He handles the camera, interviews athletes and posts to social media before and after games. The on-air talent Candelario films is Nick James, a Chula Vista native and former communication student from the class of 2001. “Just being out there with Nick and it's like we got our own little locker room feel where we're prepping for the interview, we're prepping for the game,” said Candelario, who played high school football in the Bay Area. “Who do we got on this team? Who do we got on that team? That kind of thing. So just being out there on Fridays kind of gives you the nostalgia of being out there on Friday night as a player.” When they’re not scrambling to put together segments on tight deadlines every Friday in the fall, the duo work together in various formats. In addition to creating content, a lot of their collaboration is focused on giving Candelario high-level sports broadcast industry experience. After answering an email from KUSI that was forwarded from the CSUSM communication department, Candelario immediately jumped in with editing training. He eased into the position with a veteran mentor but one who didn’t do much beyond camera work and posting to social media. Candelario was eventually paired with James, who was losing his student producer at the time to graduate school. According to James, Candelario was lacking solely in hands-on experience. What he clearly wasn’t missing was passion, an inquisitive attitude and a natural excitement for telling stories about local sports. That eager spirit helped him quickly close the gaps in experience. “Before he was just with the photographer and doing social media so he wasn't doing a lot of editing,” said James, who did an internship for ESPN after college. “He wasn't doing a lot of the hands-on gritty stuff that we do. Now with me, he has to do social, he has to shoot, he has to shoot a little bit when we need him to shoot and stuff like that. And he edits. He edits the games. If I tell him something, he knows what I'm talking about.” James has an infectious energy fueled by working for accomplishments every step of the way. While playing football at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan., he made the decision to quit the game and transfer to CSUSM. He wanted to study communication and be closer to home to begin a career in sports media. While James learned a lot at CSUSM, he has forged a path in the field based on outworking his competition. “He knows what he's talking about because you can just tell by the way he prepares and all the stuff he does when it's live,” Candelario said. “He never bats an eye. He’s always ready, and it's so cool to work with him. Ever since I started working with him, I just learned so much.” Like most in the sports media industry, James has forged a meandering path that has included stops in small markets in Cheyenne, Wyo., Roswell, N.M., Lubbock and Lufkin, Texas, and Bakersfield before landing back in his hometown in April 2020. Among his duties as Candelario’s friend and mentor is to offer advice on the road awaiting him. “I just tell him to keep grinding,” James said. “Because he's already in a good position. He was one of the people that got hired to get extra hours each week on top of already working with me. So every Saturday he comes in and he works four or five extra hours that they allotted him to come in and do social media work. So I know he's got bigger aspirations in life. He’s already applying for jobs and whatnot, as he should be. I keep telling him to put your hat in everything because you have nothing to lose.” In addition to cutting highlights, essentially producing segments and managing social media, Candelario’s experience has also included developing a podcast. He also got the opportunity to meet one of his sports heroes this fall when he and James covered a Santa Fe Christian game. One member of the coaching staff was Super Bowl MVP quarterback Drew Brees. “You're sitting there and Drew Brees is 10 feet from you, and you're like, this is Drew Brees,” Candelario said of his YouTube video interview. “I'd never been in a situation like that. I was just thinking, let me ask these questions without messing up. And then I messed up the first try. Thankfully because it's not live, it’s on YouTube, Drew said, 'You're good, man.' And then I just got right into it. He's such a nice guy. He was really cool with us.” KUSI has several other CSUSM communication department graduates. Photojournalist Mike Millburn is from the class of 2007 and producer Nick Pollino graduated in 2018 after spending some time as the CHABSS ASI representative. The “PPR” has another communication alumna in Bri Savant from the class of 2019. In addition to her work on the show, she is on-air talent for sports segments on KUSI and Fox 5 San Diego. Another member of the CSUSM class of ’19 is Candelario’s brother Joseph, who was a criminology and justice studies major and is now working toward a career as a probation officer. Candelario was drawn to CSUSM based on his brother’s positive experiences here. He’ll soon be the third person in his family to graduate from college, following in his brother and sister’s footsteps. “He just said everybody's really welcoming at San Marcos,” said Candelario of Joseph’s experience on campus. “He never had a bad experience. He lived at the Quad just like I did. So we had a similar experience. He was telling me all that stuff before I went to San Marcos. And then once I actually got on campus, I saw everything, and I was like, ‘Yeah, this is where I want to be.’ ” Candelario has parlayed his experience off campus with play-by-play stints on the CCAA Network with CSUSM’s baseball and softball programs. Although he enjoyed the experience, he hopes his next steps in the industry will be reporting on sports such as a sideline reporter on one of the college networks like the ACC or SEC Network. He has fond memories of listening to the radio with his grandpa on the way to a game so a career in sports radio is a strong option. But like his mentor James, Candelario knows it’s an industry that usually requires baby steps before huge leaps. Just getting a foot in the door is his focus now. That door is already partially open thanks to the experience he’s gathered as a student here. “It’s really important to try and look for different internships or look for any little door that's open to work in the space if this is something you want to do, especially for sports media, sports journalism,” he said. “I've used my KUSI internship, and that's how I was able to do the play-by-play for the baseball team the past two seasons here because I sent them my clips. This is what I want to do. So as if you know what you want to do and that's what you want to do and you're serious about it, just jump into it and don't be scared. You just got to get your feet wet no matter where it is.” Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
- A Decade of Giving From Economics GraduateGiving back seems to be part of Dawn Myers’ DNA. As a teenager, Myers started a small nonprofit to raise money for cancer treatment and research in honor of a friend who had leukemia. Years later, as an incoming freshman at Cal State San Marcos, Myers secured a job with Associated Students, Inc., as a student receptionist. The role helped her meet a network of students involved on campus, which led to her involvement in CSUSM’s Student Philanthropy Council and, eventually, to participating in the inaugural CSUSM Giving Day in 2015. “I think my exposure to the student philanthropy world and the CSUSM Foundation Board came from different student connections through ASI,” Myers said. “But giving was always part of what I did as a student, including as an adolescent.” On Dec. 3, when CSUSM hosts its 10th annual Giving Day, Myers will do what she’s done every year since that first one – give. Myers is one of 15 people – and one of just three alumni – who have donated on CSUSM Giving Day every year since its inception. CSUSM Giving Day is part of Giving Tuesday, an international day focused on philanthropy. For 24 hours, donors have an opportunity to choose from dozens of programs to support. Last year, CSUSM Giving Day raised nearly $460,000 with contributions made by 2,410 donors. A variety of giving challenges are planned this year, including a dollar-for-dollar match from the Epstein family on the first $200,000 given up to $10,000 per gift. In addition to donations, people can support CSUSM Giving Day by: Becoming an ambassador and helping to promote the program they love by reaching out to their personal networks on CSUSM Giving Day using their own custom link. Re-posting and commenting on their favorite CSUSM Giving Day social media posts to increase engagement and inspire others to give. Learning more about the causes that can be supported and the immediate impact that can be made by giving on Dec. 3. Myers has supported many programs over the years, including the student philanthropy endowment fund, a variety of scholarships and the economics department from which she graduated in 2017. “I give because I believe in philanthropy,” said Myers, who leads sales operations for Carlsmed, a commercial stage medical technology company and leader of the personalized spine surgery market that is based in Carlsbad. “I believe also that education and access to education is the crux of societal and personal change. I think that it is the solution to bringing awareness to societal issues. “And in responsible hands and minds, money is really quite a renewable resource. So philanthropy and giving back is really like giving blood – it will come back, and the impact it will make is bigger than the impact you'll feel. And that’s something I appreciate.” Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
- American Indian Student Follows Passion for Animals, EnvironmentIt was a visit to Cal State San Marcos in the fourth grade that taught Aiden Valverde, a fourth-year American Indian Studies major, how to spread his wings. And it was an internship with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that really helped him take flight. “My love for animals and conservation happened when I was really young,” Valverde said. “My mom and I would always go to the San Diego Zoo or Safari Park and ever since then, I've loved animals. When I got older I learned about them, and how they're in danger and being illegally poached and harmed.” Because of Valverde’s passion for animals and the environment, he enrolled at CSUSM as an environmental studies major. But Valverde found a way to combine his passion for the outdoors with his heritage after being connected to American Indian Studies Chair Joely Proudfit. “After taking one class, I was like, ‘This is it,’ ” Valverde said. The class was American Indian Studies 101, an introduction to the California tribes. As a descendant of Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel, Valverde was happy for the opportunity to appreciate his culture and learn more about it, and he officially changed his major to American Indian Studies. Valverde was exposed to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife internship from an email sent to multiple California universities. The Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office was searching for a Native student who was interested in conservation. Valverde jumped on the opportunity, aced his interview and began his job as an intern. “There are three listed species of butterfly that I was assigned to research,” Valverde said. “With the Quino checkerspot butterfly, the Hermes copper butterfly and the Laguna Mountains skipper, my job was to research these butterflies, their biology, their habitat, populations, everything about them.” All of these species of butterflies are federally endangered. In order to go out in the areas where they are located, permits are needed. One of Valverde’s internship responsibilities was to help expedite the permit process for tribes and their traditional practices. He talked to the community, and then wrote a report explaining the effects on the habitat. “It would take six months to a year to get a permit for our tribe to go out in these areas,” Valverde said. “Our traditions are really seasonal and we just have to go out when we see it, get our hands dirty. By that time it's too late to get the permit. The report would help expedite the process of getting that permit. When land managers have to issue the permits, they can just read my report and issue the permits right away. That was the main goal.” Throughout the year at his internship, Valverde went on several field visits to places like Palomar Mountain and San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. “I was able to go out with park rangers, entomologists and biologists,” Valvderde said. “I would research these plants and actually see them. It was amazing.” While he was a part of several projects during his internship, most notable was the Pond Turtle Restoration. Valverde helped lay a rock foundation and put out logs for the turtles to sunbathe. This effect was positive and direct; a week later, the turtles were spotted using the newly implemented resources, making it clear how much the environment has benefited from Valverde’s time in the internship. “Aiden exemplifies everything we strive to achieve in American Indian Studies and at the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center,” Proudfit said. “As a Kumeyaay scholar, he has masterfully woven together his cultural heritage, academic pursuits and professional aspirations in wildlife conservation. “His journey from a student passionate about animal welfare to a researcher helping shape federal-tribal collaboration policies showcases the transformative power of education grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing." Working with the butterflies was Valverde’s favorite part of the internship. Following a day in the field, Valverde got a call from someone on the Tribal Communication team letting him know they had officially found Laguna Mountain skippers on Palomar Mountain. “They hadn’t been found out there in full butterfly form,” Valverde said. “They've only been found out there in their pupae or caterpillar form, and finding one means they're surviving. If there's one, that means something is going right. That means that others will be able to follow. This is historic.” While the year-long internship ended last May, Valverde is looking toward a future in conservation after his expected graduation in fall 2025. He is entertaining a handful of ideas, hopeful for an opportunity that can include both the environmental and tribal side of things. “It's not a need to be there,” Valverde said, “I want to be there. I have to be there. It's like a burn in my heart, where it's like it just spreads whenever I go back.” Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
