Two years ago, Alyssa Loschiavo decided to work for Campus Recreation because she needed a job to help support herself financially as a student at Cal State San Marcos. Loschiavo found so much more than a steady paycheck. She advanced to being the student coordinator of Outdoor Adventures. She developed skills that include leadership, communication and technical know-how. She even began to see potential career pathways that she never would have considered previously. “Before joining Campus Recreation, my career prospects felt limited,” said Loschiavo, a junior kinesiology major. “But this experience has greatly expanded my understanding of available opportunities.” Loschiavo is part of the small but mighty team at Campus Recreation, which features five full-time professional staff members and 35 student assistants. In the most recent academic year, the organization hosted 24 day and overnight trips through Outdoor Adventures, serving 221 students; ran 12 intramural leagues, serving 869 students; welcomed more than 2,000 participants in 290 group fitness classes and nine wellness events; and supported 425 members across a dozen sport clubs. Campus Rec, though, has long since run out of space while sharing Clarke Field House with CSUSM’s athletic department, limiting its ability to grow in line with the campus. To remedy that, the group for years has been advocating for a new wellness and recreation facility that would address its needs and benefit the student body holistically. Next week, Campus Rec hopes to take a big step toward making its vision a reality. From Oct. 21-23, a referendum will be held in which students can vote on whether they want to increase their student fees to fund the project. Voting will begin on Monday, Oct. 21 at 7 a.m. and continue until Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. Ballots will be sent to eligible students via their university-registered email addresses. All matriculated students who pay the recreation fee are eligible to vote.  CSUSM is planning to lease space in a new mixed facility boasting 49,200 square feet for wellness, recreation and basic needs services, plus 530 new student housing beds. The building would feature, among other amenities, more than 10,000 square feet for cardio machines and strength training equipment; dedicated wellness areas; an outdoor rooftop deck with a synthetic turf field for fitness programs, intramurals and sport club workouts; two standard-sized indoor courts; multipurpose rooms for a variety of individual and group activities; and a commuter lounge and e-sports collaboration den. The wellness and recreation facility would be located across Barham Drive from University Village Apartments and directly next to The QUAD. Lisa Dickinson, director of Campus Rec, said CSUSM is one of the only California State University campuses that lacks such a facility for its students. “This is truly a now-or-never opportunity,” Dickinson said. “The traditional path to a building on campus is too expensive and therefore not possible. This facility can be transformative in young people’s lives and create waves of positive change for families and their communities.” CSUSM held a referendum on the same project in April that received a low response rate and failed to garner the requisite majority of the vote. Since then, Campus Rec has solicited feedback from students and modified its proposal accordingly. The three notable changes are: The increase to the recreation fee was reduced by $20, to $245 per semester (representing a $210 hike to the existing $35 fee). The referendum in the spring called for a fee of $265 per semester. The fee will not be charged until the year when the facility opens, which is projected to be 2026-27. Students objected to language in the previous proposal calling for them to start paying the higher fee in fall 2025, one year before the building’s opening. The facility will be able to support more diverse programming. Large spaces like the indoor courts, rooftop terrace and outdoor courtyard can be reserved for student organization, department or student life events, which will expand programs to promote recruitment, retention, community and student success.  “I’m optimistic about this referendum vote because of the changes we made to it,” said Jacob Alvarez, a student assistant for Outdoor Adventures. “The biggest criticism we heard was about the fee for students who weren’t going to be here when the building opened. Now that we have deferred the payment until the opening of the facility, this will no longer be an issue.” Alvarez and Loschiavo are among the student assistants who double as Campus Rec ambassadors, fanning out across campus and social media to educate their fellow students about the referendum and the facility, and encourage them to make their voices heard. The ambassadors have given presentations on the upcoming vote in classes and to sports teams, even appearing at large events like the recent Cougar Madness. They mention aspects that could be appealing, like the 70-plus student employment positions and academic program partnerships.  “We've received a great deal of positive feedback from the places where we have made presentations on the proposal,” Loschiavo said. “I feel that students are much more educated about the referendum this semester. The student ambassador and project team's goals are to be as transparent as possible to students, to allow them to fully understand what the referendum entails so that they can provide an accurately educated and informed vote.” Students who will graduate before the facility opens won't have to pay the fee, nor will they be able to enjoy the facility, but they can leave a legacy of supporting well-being and better spaces for future Cougars. “This referendum has to pass for the benefit of all future students and for the good of the campus,” said Davis Hancock, a fourth-year student who plays lacrosse at CSUSM. Loschiavo understands how important the vote next week is to Campus Rec and the university. “The proposed facility,” she said, “has the potential to transform the CSUSM student experience.” Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

When another car ran a red light and slammed into her side door, Carolina Valdivia feared that more than her vehicle would be destroyed.   Valdivia was in her second year at Cal State San Marcos, and she was thriving both in and out of the classroom. But she was also an undocumented student whose academic career was a fragile thing, always at risk of being thrown off course by seemingly endless dangers and challenges.   It wasn’t built to withstand incidents like the crash Valdivia was the victim of while driving to campus in 2009. She was unconscious for a short period, and when she came to, the police were on the scene, tending to her and asking for her driver’s license. One problem: Because of her undocumented status, she didn’t have a driver’s license.  Officers asked if she wanted to be taken to a hospital. No, she said. She didn’t have health insurance, and the prospect of the emergency room fees was terrifying.   Valdivia came away from the accident with a fine for driving without a license, a hefty bill for recovering her car from the impound lot – and a belief that she had reached the end of the road in her quest to graduate from college.  “It was a reminder of how vulnerable I was in my pursuit of an education,” Valdivia said. “At the time, I was struggling to pay for school in the first place. When that crash happened, I was like, ‘I guess this is as far along as I can go.’ ”  In the end, Valdivia greatly underestimated her individual fortitude, the support of her family and the kindness of the community. After receiving a scholarship from a couple she calls her guardian angels, she graduated from CSUSM with a degree in sociology in 2011.   But she didn’t stop there. She went on to earn a master’s from San Diego State and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, then received a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship. She's now a professor at UC Irvine, where she teaches courses on immigration, and law and society, and also mentors undergraduate and graduate students through the qualitative research process.  Though she has gained more security in her immigration status, Valdivia remains passionate about issues affecting undocumented immigrants. At 35, she has emerged as one of the nation’s foremost young voices on the plight of undocumented students in America, determined to prevent future Carolinas from being waylaid before they have a chance to succeed – as she very nearly was.  “She has a pretty deep moral compass in terms of what’s right and what’s just,” said Marisol Clark-Ibáñez, the associate chair of CSUSM’s sociology department and one of Valdivia’s mentors during her time at the university. “And what she does isn’t just for herself – it’s for her larger community. She’s very invested in the idea of the collective.”  Valdivia has the collective in mind with every scholarly pursuit. She’s writing a book that examines how immigration enforcement impacts young adults and their families. She’s continuing to oversee the My Undocumented Life online platform, which she launched in 2011 and features up-to-date information and resources for undocumented students, their families and allies.  As if that weren’t enough, Valdivia also led – with Clark-Ibáñez – a two-year research initiative that explored the experiences and needs of undocumented high school students in the county and the school personnel who work with them. Building on work that Valdivia did with Clark-Ibáñez when she was a student at CSUSM, the UndocuResearch Project – billed as by, for and about undocumented students – involves a team of about 35 researchers who have fanned out to dozens of high schools in the region to talk to students and educators about what it’s like to attend school during this era of stronger enforcement and anti-immigrant sentiment.  The third and final phase of the project was an independent study sociology course that Valdivia taught with Clark-Ibáñez at CSUSM in which students were embedded in local high schools and took detailed field notes about the daily lives of undocumented students and educators. The team is continuing to disseminate the results through a research report, academic articles and presentations.  “We knew from our own connection with students and their families that they were experiencing heightened levels of fear and stress and depression,” said Valdivia, adding that only a small percentage of undocumented students is able to enroll in college. “We wanted to be able to capture it so we could then tell the story of what’s happening and what needs to be done.”  Born in Mexicali, Valdivia migrated to the United States with her family when she was 12. She was a Dreamer, the term for undocumented immigrants who were brought to America as children. That designation deeply shaped her educational trajectory, including her time at Orange Glen High School in Escondido. She was motivated to follow in her sister’s footsteps and pursue a college education, and to repay her parents for the endless sacrifices they had made.  She applied to several universities in the state and liked the idea of following some of her friends to a school in Northern California, so she could escape her Escondido bubble. Her ineligibility for financial aid wasn’t the only hurdle, however, nor was her lack of a driver’s license. There was also the matter of Border Patrol checkpoints and the ever-present fear of deportation.   Even to people who she knew and trusted, Valdivia didn’t exactly advertise her immigration status.  “I remember feeling like there was this cloud hanging over her,” said Rita Guerra, who was a counselor at Orange Glen at the time. “It’s not that she was giving up, but it seemed that there was something worrying her and she didn’t want to talk about it.”  Valdivia found her voice at CSUSM. She joined and later became president of an organization for undocumented students, the name of which the group later changed to STAND (Standing Together As oNe Dream) to sound more assertive. She became an intern for the National Latino Research Center, which fostered a fondness for research and activism that has only blossomed over the years.   “I love learning. I love reading. I love writing,” Valdivia said. “In college, that’s when it hit me, and I was able to nurture it. My time at CSUSM provided the starting point for what I’m doing now.”  Clark-Ibáñez encouraged Valdivia to carry her education into graduate school – “I had no idea what that was,” she said – but she remained undocumented, which meant barriers still blocked her path. To afford the exorbitant fees for grad school applications, she and a friend organized fundraisers, selling anything they could think of – T-shirts, bracelets, tamales. She was accepted to and wanted to attend Loyola University in Chicago, but she couldn’t afford the cost of out-of-state tuition. She also feared being questioned at the airport about her immigration status.    Valdivia ended up at SDSU due to the proximity to home. In retrospect, she’s glad she did, as that’s where she gained invaluable research and teaching experience. By the time she was looking into options for her doctorate, she had acquired protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed her to obtain a driver’s license and work permit. She chose Harvard because of the presence of Roberto Gonzales, a leading immigration scholar who was Valdivia’s internship adviser after she was named a Sally Casanova Scholar through the California Pre-Doctoral Program for underrepresented students.  With a Ph.D. from an Ivy League university in hand and a career as a professor, Valdivia is now in demand as a public speaker, telling the inspiring story of her educational journey. Guerra saw her give a keynote address at a counselors’ conference several years ago and was reduced to tears by pride for her former student.  Despite all she has overcome and accomplished, Valdivia has no desire to sit back and take a breath. But her relentless drive takes a toll. In the course of dozens of interviews for her book and related projects, she has heard countless stories about people being detained and deported, causing her greater stress and costing her sleep.  It reminds her of how far she has come. It reminds her of how far so many others still have to go.   “Whenever I speak about what I went through, I’m always sure to emphasize how much support I had from my family, friends, mentors and the broader community, and how much I want to be able to help others in that sense,” she said. “Yes, I worked hard and had determination, but this is something millions of others are experiencing and they also need to have a community there to support them. I want to be part of that community.”   Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Cal State San Marcos recently opened the Climate Action and Sustainability Center (CASC) to provide opportunities for students related to climate change, climate justice and sustainability.  CASC plans to work with faculty and staff to prepare students with practical solution-oriented approaches to climate crises and provide hands-on learning experiences within sustainability. One example is a student podcast being produced called “Climate to Action.” Juliana Goodlaw-Morris, director of sustainability and climate justice and the administrative director of the CASC, is excited for the possibilities the center will provide for the campus community as is Dr. Kim Knowles-Yánez, professor in the Liberal Studies Department and faculty director of CASC.  “The CASC is an opportunity to build upon the tremendous work that faculty, students and staff have already invested in climate, sustainability and justice over many years, and to build stronger relationships with our wider community,” Goodlaw-Morris said. “This center is also a perfect example of how we, as an institution, are putting into action the core value of sustainability and climate justice, which is a part of our CSUSM strategic plan.”  Said Knowles-Yánez: “I welcome this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of establishing a new center charged with taking action and problem-solving for climate change. Please look forward to hearing more about our work on climate change curriculum and research, as well as the on- and off-campus collaborations we will facilitate to help our region meet the needs of climate change and climate justice mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.” The center will engage campus community members and external stakeholders on climate change, climate justice and sustainability initiatives for the region.  The mission of the CASC is to provide ”interconnectedness among societies, all living beings and ecosystems by ensuring socially just, ecologically sound, and resilient communities that value diversity, innovation, fiscal stewardship, health and well-being for all by creating a positive local to global impact for current and future generations."  The genesis of the center is the Climate Change Faculty Working Group, which faculty founded in 2020, and for which Knowles-Yánez was chair of the steering committee. “The Climate Action and Sustainability Center provides recognition and structure for efforts that have been occurring across all disciplines and units,” said Dr. Charles De Leone, dean of Graduate Studies and Research, who is responsible for oversight of all centers and institutes on campus, had this to say about the new center. "And the new center could not be in better hands with Kim Knowles-Yánez and Juliana Goodlaw-Morris as its inaugural leaders."   CASC will also serve as a resource for faculty seeking to develop research. The center is hoping to collaborate on fundraising opportunities to expand activities and sustainability efforts. Biology professor Dr. Darcy Taniguchi drafted the proposal for the center and geography professor Dr. Elizabeth Ridder shepherded the proposal through the campus approval process.   Taniguchi is hopeful the CASC will raise awareness toward climate issues. “The CASC is an important establishment that will focus on some of the most pressing issues of our time,” Taniguchi said. “Its proposed efforts in the areas of climate change, climate justice and sustainability are important and timely for our campus community and beyond.” Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Brick-and-mortar libraries were dying. So went the conventional wisdom around the turn of millennium, when the rise of the internet and all forms of digital technology threatened to make dusty tomes and the fortresses that housed them obsolete. Someone must have forgotten to pass that memo to the dozens of people who were eagerly waiting for Kellogg Library to open its doors for the first time on the morning of Jan. 20, 2004. The five-story structure, the largest in the California State University system at that stage, had been anticipated at Cal State San Marcos almost since its founding 15 years earlier, and here it was – finally a reality, a testament to the bold vision and ambition of a young university. Judith Downie, a former CSUSM student who by then was the first alumnus of the university to become tenure-track faculty (as a humanities librarian), was one of several library employees who were greeting visitors on that day. “We unlocked the doors,” Downie recalled, “and it was like a tidal wave of students who came in to explore this new space just for them.” The opening of Kellogg Library fundamentally shifted the focal point of the campus, which for more than a decade had been the area around University Commons and the Administrative Building (then Craven Hall). It also marked a significant departure from other university libraries and particularly those in the CSU system, many of which had been built in the early-to-mid 20^th century and thus felt like relics from bygone generations. “We have the enormous benefit of having entered the modern era of university libraries with Kellogg,” said Char Booth, the library’s interim co-dean for administration and advancement. “That was a really important time. It was a time of reckoning with what academic libraries were going to become, a lot of talk about e-books – are libraries necessary, are they even important anymore? And what you see is that absolutely they are, and we built a building that embodies how important this resource can be to a learning community, a student community.” At 200,000 square feet, Kellogg remains one of the biggest libraries in the 23-campus CSU system. But it’s no fortress. Unlike many of its peers, which can feel dark and forbidding, it’s veritably bathed in natural light and boasts impressive vistas of the surrounding landscape from its multiple balconies and patios. And unlike many of its peers, it largely eschews long, intimidating stacks of books in favor of open and dedicated spaces designed for student collaboration. Across its five floors, Kellogg features 1,443 seats that can be used for studying. To facilitate the numerous collective projects at CSUSM, the library has 43 group study rooms with a combined capacity of 289 seats, and that doesn’t include the intimate Reading Room, a fifth-floor events venue that doubles as a study nook. Kellogg has shown a capacity to evolve with the times. Two years ago, in response to student needs, library leadership undertook a construction job in which the original computer stations near the third-floor entrance were replaced by a new area called the Hybrid Learning Lab, a partnership with Instructional and Information Technology Services (IITS) that includes individual study pods, group study spaces, an upgraded computer lab, Zoom rooms and comfortable furniture. “There are nap pods, there are fold-out chairs,” Booth said. “You can plug in, or you can use group seating for collaborating. … If you’re tired, we want you to be able to take a nap. If you’re hungry, we want you to be able to get a snack from the satellite food pantry (on the second floor) that we’ve worked with the Cougar Pantry to create.” This spring marked the debut of The Makery, a makerspace that reimagined a second-floor area that formerly housed media services. That low-fi addition to the library – featuring sewing machines, a craft printer, a button maker and myriad other supplies for arts and crafts – joined an existing high-tech one in Inspiration Studios, with its video, photography and audio production services. “These are good, recent reflections of how we really want students to make this library their own and find ways to express themselves and consider this building a home,” Booth said. During the infancy of CSUSM, it was the library that was searching for a home, or at least one with some degree of permanence. Like the rest of the new institution, it originated as part of so-called Cal State Jerome’s, the university that was born next to a furniture store in a strip mall off Highway 78. There were only two library employees in that founding year of 1989: interim director, and future dean, Marion Reid (whose husband, Brooks, was a founding faculty member) and the first person she hired, Cathie Dorsett. They worked in concert with Bonnie Biggs, then the librarian of San Diego State’s North County campus and an eventual associate dean of CSUSM’s library. The library, such as it was, occupied two ends of a building – with public services, magazines and two CD-ROM stations on one side and the humble book collection and staff offices on the other. It was a different era, to be sure. “My first day, I remember Marion said, ‘This is your cubicle, and there’s a computer,’ ” Dorsett said. “I had never touched a computer. I was terrified. And she said, ‘And there’s already some email for you.’ I was like, ‘What’s email?’ ” By 1991, SDSU North County was gone and the CSUSM library had grown to 15 employees. One of them was Downie, who was hired as a student assistant on the first day of orientation. “They put me in charge of delivering media equipment, like TVs and VCRs, on a cart,” Downie said. “We did what we had to do to provide students and faculty with what they needed.” CSUSM shifted its operations from the strip mall location to the hillside campus gradually, as new edifices were completed. Among the final units to make the move was the library, in the spring of 1993. It took over parts of the third and fourth floors of the Administrative Building, with the entrance from the Tukwut Courtyard. The library’s new footprint was substantially larger, but the digs were far from ideal. Reid remembers that the space didn’t have lights at the beginning, so employees had to leave work as soon as it got dark outside. And even when the lighting came, it wasn’t suitable for a library because the room had been designed to contain a TV recording studio. “The walls were dark, and the ceiling was a black, acoustic-type ceiling,” Downie said. “The day we opened up, a student walked in, looked around and said, ‘What’s with the cocktail lightning?’ There were sections of the stacks where you basically felt like you had to have a flashlight to read.” The problems didn’t stop there. There weren’t enough computers or chairs to keep up with demand. There were only four study rooms initially, and all four had to be converted into faculty offices. There were, for some reason known only to 1990s design aesthetics, double-decker study carrels. By the middle of the decade, it was clear that the library had outgrown its two floors in the admin building. But where could it go? This was a period when no less an authority than Barry Munitz, then-chancellor of the CSU system, was saying CSUSM didn’t need a library because – does this sound familiar? – all books were going to be electronic. Into this uncertainty stepped the couple for whom the library would be named. W. Keith Kellogg II was the grandson of the cereal magnate, and he and his wife Jean eventually settled in Rancho Santa Fe and began directing some of their philanthropy toward CSUSM. In 1996, the Kelloggs donated $1 million to the university, then the largest gift in its history, to kick-start a project to construct a standalone library. They ultimately gave $1.5 million for the library, securing naming rights in the process, and also established an endowment that continues to fund library renovations to the present. The groundbreaking took place in 2001, and the final price tag for Kellogg Library was $48 million. About six weeks after the doors opened to students, a grand opening ceremony was held on March 5, 2004, attended by new CSUSM President Karen Haynes (in her first semester on the job), U.S. Rep. Randall “Duke” Cunningham (one year before he went to prison on bribery charges) and, of course, the Kelloggs. Reid spoke at the event while wearing clothes reminiscent of early-1900s England. “It was fun, a physical symbol of the importance of libraries,” Reid said of her outfit. “The message was: Look how far we’ve come and how advanced libraries always have tried to be. This isn’t a new thing.” Reid worked closely with the architecture firm Carrier Johnson on nearly aspect of the library’s design and construction, particularly the interior. “It was hours and hours and hours of time. But we had to do it,” she said. “Somebody had to speak for the people who were going to use the space.” Kellogg Library opened with 35 total employees, and though the structure was new, the staff had long since begun to think of themselves as family. In at least one case, the dynamic became literal. Dorsett had a son named Ryan in 1992, and he was 12 years old when Kellogg was born. Ryan doesn’t remember spending much time there – like many teenagers, he was a devotee of video games – but he valued his mother’s profession and, if nothing else, he gained an appreciation for the library through osmosis. He enrolled at CSUSM in 2010 and, with Cathie’s help, immediately started working for the library as a student assistant. He stayed on for his five years of undergraduate education, then returned as a full-time employee in 2018. Last year, two years after his mom’s retirement, he transitioned from working in media reserves to becoming coordinator of The Makery. “Some of the staff have known me since I was a baby. A lot of those relationships have carried on into the present, and it has made certain areas of the library feel really special to me,” Ryan Dorsett said. “I know that there are people here who I can go to and rely on now that my mom is retired. They are my other library moms. “For me, this place is like an extension of home. It’s been a huge part of my life, in more ways than I can express.” The Dorsett legacy in the library means just as much to Cathie. “Talk about full circle,” she said. “I worked here before he was even a twinkle in my eye, and to have him coming in, I was so excited. It felt so right, and I knew he would love it, and he did and he does. It was one of my proudest moments to have my son here and watch him grow and make his own way.” As Kellogg Library marks its 20^th anniversary – a celebration will take place Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Kellogg Plaza – it’s preparing to begin its next chapter with a new leader, as a permanent dean could be announced by the end of the year. Whoever is hired will inherit a strategic plan that will guide the library for the proceeding five years. A big part of the plan involves further rethinking of the building’s space. The Makery breathed fresh life into the second floor this spring, as the Hybrid Learning Lab had done for the third floor in 2022. The library has been raising money for its next signature project, a planned 8,200-square-foot renovation on the fifth floor that would expand and enliven the area dedicated to the Special Collections Department, currently located on the first floor, well beyond public view. The library, however, wants to solicit feedback from the campus community about other ways that the upper two floors could be made over. Booth envisions, for instance, a family study room that would allow student parents to do their classwork while their children play with toys or games. And Booth would like to devote more space to highlighting student art and complement the existing art in Kellogg such as the twice-annual Context Exhibit Series and the striking mural by Jessica Sabogal that greets students in the stairwell. “One thing we hear is that we likely don’t need to devote quite as much of our floor plan to storing books,” Booth said. “As our electronic resources grow, we can imagine different possibilities for those floors that could be larger areas for collaboration, more technology-rich spaces.” From its humble origins in a strip mall, the CSUSM library has long been and remains the beating heart of campus. There’s a reason why Kellogg averages a million visitors per year, and it goes far beyond students cramming for their finals. Reid recalls giving a tour of the library to a former CSUSM provost who had been involved in the planning but left the university before construction was complete. “What he said afterward was that this building makes his heart sing,” said Reid, who retired in 2009. “I think about that a lot. My husband and I live in San Marcos, and it’s nice for us still to be able to look up on the hill and see it. I can’t imagine it being any other way than it is —the building, the community, the family.” Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Most people give up when they’re faced with rejection.   Andrew Minjares stayed persistent toward his goals after many setbacks, and that has earned him a gold medal.   Minjares’ barbershop quartet, Rest Assured, placed in the top 20 in the nation last summer. In addition, the a cappella group he’s a member of – internationally renowned The Westminster Chorus in La Mirada – captured first in the nation and scored a perfect 100 in the 2024 BHS International Chorus Championships.   Minjares is a fifth-year communication major on track to graduate this year.  “Never in barbershop conventions has a score of 100 been achieved,” Minjares said. “It was a very surreal experience.”   Minjares describes his high school singing experience as always being the one to win “the most improved” award in his chorus. Although this hurt his confidence, it never destroyed it. His many setbacks have led to an incredible comeback as a Cal State San Marcos student.   A barbershop quartet is four people singing a cappella and each adding certain elements to the song. A chorus is essentially a larger version of a barbershop quartet in that it can be 90 people singing the different positions.   Minjares' position in both is the melody, which he describes as “the lead and the storyteller.”  Since Minjares joined his high school chorus, he dreamed of being a part of the Westminster Chorus.   “I never thought I'd ever be good enough to be in that chorus because they won Choir of the World in 2009, which is the most prestigious choir World Award that can be achieved,” he said. “So, I thought, 'There's no way that I could ever be in that chorus. I'm not good enough to be in that chorus.' ”   In his first audition for Westminster Chorus, he felt that familiar pang of rejection. He didn’t earn a spot but instead received some much-needed criticism on what to work on for the next time he’d audition.  “They were testing my ability to be coached, to be persistent and to apply the concepts that they're telling me to,” Minjares said. “The next week I came back and I auditioned, and I got in. It only took me two attempts.”   Minjares’ resilience and openness to being coached allowed him to get into the prestigious choir of his dreams.   Juggling school and his singing responsibilities have been a bit challenging at times.   Minjares stresses the importance of fitting the choir and quartet into his schedule, despite these challenges.  “I do homework in the car on the way there, and then I do homework on the way back,” he said. “I've even taken some exams in the car. I've tried to fit this choir into my schedule because it's what I need for my self-fulfillment needs and my psychological needs. There are 90 guys up there, and we really have to battle the topic of toxic masculinity because we're all trying to be the best brothers we can be, the best fathers.   “How can I be the best version of myself?”   Despite the challenge of balancing his choir/quartet and his schoolwork, Minjares was on the Dean’s List last spring and is on track to graduate this year. He is looking forward to finding a job in the communications field, while also prioritizing his barbershop quartet and chorus.   Minjares credits communication professor Robert Gutierrez with making him excited to show up to class.  “He made the subject matter interesting,” Minjares said. “I could relate it to my life. Everything he said stayed in my memory, which is rare for me in my classes. I think this was due to the fact that it was very interactive.”   Gutierrez not only worked with Minjares in class, he attended his performances.   It seems Minjares made an impact on his professor in more ways than one.   “I remember watching him perform on stage and being so proud of him,” Gutierrez said. “As a student, Andrew always asked great questions and contributed to class conversations with meaningful personal narratives and impressive insights on the assigned readings. I always felt like Andrew and I shared a love for our Latino cultures and a love for the power of performance to transform lives.  “I am proud of his accomplishments, and I know that this is just the beginning for this bright star.”  Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Having the first name Symphony, a career in music might seem predestined. You might expect them to be participating in an orchestra or entertaining large crowds when learning of their name.  However, for Symphony Rutkowski, a junior biological sciences major at Cal State San Marcos, the name was more of a spontaneous decision. “My mom always tells me she was just driving and thought, ‘What about the name Symphony?’ ” Rutkowski said. Despite her name's connection to the arts,  Rutkowski is fully invested in her scientific strengths. She was accepted to Cal State San Marcos’ BEARS program, which stands for Building Early Awareness and Research in Science, during her freshman year and participated for the two-year duration offered. BEARS, the school’s first bioengineering training program, is in its second year and co-directed by biology professors Tracey Brown and Carlos Luna Lopez. It is a scholarship-based program that is federally funded by the ESTEEMED (Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Educations Diversity) program at the National Institutes of Health. The program selects a cohort of first-year undergraduate students who are interested in bioengineering and biomedical research. Each cohort of students completes a two-year paid program that has activities and research at CSUSM and UCSD. Students participate in the program from the summer before starting at CSUSM through the summer after their second academic year. The goal of the program is to enhance the diversity of the biomedical research workforce. During their first academic year, students are connected with faculty and advanced students to learn about campus research projects. During that summer, they will do an extended group research project with their cohort to help introduce them to bioengineering research. The summer after their second academic year, they join a professor at CSUSM or UCSD for an individual research opportunity. During the final summer, students are paid $2,000 to conduct their own research projects with faculty from CSUSM or UCSD and present in the CSUSM Summer Poster Showcase. “We did a lot in the program,” Rutkowski said. “Usually every week, we dedicated a certain amount of time to learn some kind of practical techniques and applications in the lab that you might see. “We did fluorescent imaging of breast cells and we gained familiarity with techniques such as pipetting. We also did welding, which was something I'd never experienced before.” Students also attended the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists. While attending the conference, students get to hear presentations from a variety of other students and professionals in the field.  “The conference essentially gave me a lot of exposure to what you should be seeing as a scientist,” Rutkowski said. “Overall, I would say it was a very good experience to see what a scientist can become and the introduction to it.” Exposure and opening opportunities are top priorities for the BEARS program. “It definitely gears you toward getting into another program, especially if you have ambitions of a master's or a Ph.D.” said Rutkowski, who plans to pursue a Ph.D. after graduation. “It sets you up for that trajectory, just getting to know the people in the CTREE (Center for Training, Research, and Educational Excellence) community that was like my gateway.” Following her involvement in the BEARS program, Rutkowski is a part of the U-RISE, which is intended to prepare talented and motivated minority undergraduate students majoring in the sciences to enter and succeed in doctoral studies.  “I'm very grateful for the opportunity and the community itself,” Rutkowski said, "Everyone is extremely supportive. All of the coordinators, Dr. Luna and Dr. Brown, are very open to talk to you and get you the help and support you need as are the people I met there. So you start to develop friendships with these people and you see them in your classes. There's people I still talk to from that cohort.” Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314