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On the Spot: Is America Failing the Working Mother?

Perhaps you’ve heard, breast is best. Or, party at the breast, coined by the late Encinitas lactation trailblazer Vicki Wolfrum. They are catchphrases that many new mothers hear. They are simple, yet salient, slogans that align with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation that babies be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life, with breastfeeding continuing beyond the first year. Despite the medical community being armed with extensive research on the value of breastfeeding for both mom and baby, if meeting the one-year benchmark were a college course, America would receive a failing grade. In the U.S., 81 percent of mothers initiate breastfeeding, but by three months that number is nearly cut in half with only 44 percent of mothers exclusively breastfeeding. “A lot of nursing mothers struggle to pump the milk their babies need once they return to work and many inevitably give up,” said Olivia Nolan, a recent graduate of CSUSM’s public health program. “In order to improve public health, this needs to be a public conversation.” Nolan, along with public health graduate students Shawnee Morgan and Lisa Hammond, pioneered a research study that explored lactation supportive environments for both working mothers and student mothers. “We’re working to change the American culture,” Morgan said. “Just like you see a restroom sign, we want lactation rooms to be readily available and normalized. It doesn’t need to be something we whisper about.” The team conducted surveys, led focus groups, toured work sites across California, curated an index of resources and even shared their findings with lawmakers. They discovered a great chasm. Many mothers are unaware of available resources and many employers are falling short in supporting the new working mom. In 2010, it became federal law that employers provide nursing mothers with private space other than a bathroom for pumping breast milk, as well as reasonable break time to express milk as frequently as needed by the nursing mother. “But current laws are too vague and offer little enforcement,” said Nolan. By six months, the number of nursing mothers exclusively breastfeeding plummets to 22 percent. “I get it,” Hammond said. “With many mothers already feeling the often unspoken ‘mommy tax,’ many avoid asking for accommodations for lactation.” But accommodating lactation is an economic no-brainer, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The AAP reports that for every $1 invested in creating and supporting a lactation support program (including a designated pump site that guarantees privacy, availability of refrigeration and a hand-washing facility, and appropriate mother break time) there is a $3 return. “Employers can be key to a mother’s success,” said Lisa Bandong, the supervising faculty for the research team. “The best first step we can all take is to start the conversation.”

End of an Era: Running Legend Leaves Lasting Legacy

It was a run-of-the-mill workout when one of the Cal State San Marcos runners sensed someone on her hip. But it wasn’t just anyone tagging along – it was running legend Steve Scott. “He jumped in and ran with me,” Natalie Rodriguez said, “then he started going pretty fast. He still has it and he still loves to run.” The only cross country and track and field coach in CSUSM’s history, Scott stepped down at the end of the spring season after nearly two decades at the helm of the Cougars. “I feel honored to have had him as a coach,” Rodriguez said. “He doesn't act like he was a superstar back in the day.” There was a time when Rodriguez didn’t know much about Scott’s résumé. But it wasn’t long before she learned about the Great Scott. Learned that he was a two-time Olympian – and would have been a three-time Olympian had the United States not boycotted the 1980 Games. Learned that he held the American mile indoor mark (3 minutes, 47.69 seconds) for 26 years. Learned that he ran an unprecedented 136 sub-four-minute miles. Learned that he is a member of the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame. “When I researched him I was amazed at what he had accomplished,” Rodriguez said. “I’m so lucky to have had him as a coach and a mentor.” Luck? The Cougars got a big dose of it when Scott agreed to come aboard. Inauspicious beginning The christening of CSUSM’s Mangrum Track and Soccer Field in 1999 was a big deal. Longtime Cougars supporter Bob Mangrum wanted his running hero, Scott, to preside over the opening ceremonies. Scott was all in, although he wasn’t sure where CSUSM was located. “I thought it was across the 78 freeway from where San Marcos City Hall is,” Scott said with a laugh. “The only buildings on campus then I think were Craven Hall and the University Commons.” There were few cellphones back in 1999 and when Scott's ride was late to the track’s ground breaking, Scott didn’t make it to the ceremony. “When I said I would do it I had no idea what Cal State San Marcos was or where it was,” Scott said. “And when it became clear I couldn’t make it, I couldn’t call anyone because they were already out on the track.” An embarrassed Scott finally reached someone at CSUSM with a mighty mea culpa. But Scott’s rare misstep turned into a stroke of good fortune for CSUSM. Scott wanted to make things right so he went to Mangrum’s Valley Center home, where they enjoyed grub and a run. Mangrum revealed that the Cougars were starting a track and cross country program and, oh by the way, would Scott know of any coaching candidates? Scott’s right arm shot up so fast it’s a wonder he didn't dislocate his shoulder. “Yeah, me,” Scott said. With his racing career in the rear-view mirror, the rat race wasn’t agreeing with Scott. He was selling sponsorships for the Carlsbad 5K, an event he co-founded, and hawking nutritional goods. “I was miserable,” Scott said. “I needed something I could be passionate about, like I was with my running. So when he asked about finding a coach, it was the answer to my prayers.” One of a kind There were few runners like Scott. After graduating from Upland High School, about 90 miles north of CSUSM, he ran for UC Irvine before embarking on a running career that few equaled. Scott set the American indoor and outdoor records in the mile and the indoor standard at 2,000 meters. Track and Field News had Scott ranked No. 1 in the U.S. in 10 different years. There are scads more eye-popping marks and milestones. Scott even established the world record of playing a round of speed golf, scoring a 95 on 18 holes in under 30 minutes. Some would like to hear more tales of Scott’s running dominance, but he isn’t one to boast. “He’s a very humble man and he does not brag about what he did,” CSUSM runner Lisa Flora said. “We have to pry it out of him.” Greatness as an athlete doesn’t always translate into being a top-flight coach. Often those who have performed at the highest level don’t have patience to teach someone not up to those standards. Then there is Scott. “At the beginning of the season he always reminded us that he is happy as long as we are happy,” Flora said. “And to make him happy, you don’t have to be fastest on the team. As long as you are doing your best and are a good teammate, he is happy. That was always his main objective.” Lasting legacy What will the next 20 years bring for the CSUSM cross country and track and field programs? Scott sees only positive visions. The school successfully made the transition to NCAA Division II, and Scott said few universities offer what CSUSM does. “It’s got tremendous potential,” he said. “I could see this school being a dominant force in all of the California Collegiate Athletic Association sports because of the size of the school and our location, close to the ocean. It pretty much has everything, and other schools pale in comparison. Plus, we can start tapping into our graduates and have them support their alma mater.” Any time CSUSM Athletic Director Jennifer Milo needed a voice to spread the word on CSUSM, Scott was always available. “He was the first one to say ‘yes’ if asked to go speak to a group or do an event or clinic with youngsters,” Milo said. “He always lent a hand. That’s what is special about Steve and who he is as a person.” This being school, everyone gets a report card. When Scott’s evaluations landed on Milo’s desk, she knew the scores before opening the folder. “The student-athletes all say how much Coach Scott cares about them,” Milo said. “To Steve, it’s not just about how fast they run or how many miles they run. It’s how they are as people and how they are developing in college and working toward that degree and getting that job once they graduate.” After two decades, Scott is moving on to the next chapter of his life, but the Cougars are the better for his time at CSUSM. “I hate to lose Steve’s leadership in our department, but he has built his legacy and is leaving here having accomplished everything and more than he could have hoped for,” Milo said. “His student-athletes are better people because they had Steve Scott in their life.”

Gift From Burnhams Benefits Nonprofits and Students

Cal State San Marcos’ Senior Experience Program has helped regional businesses and nonprofits for a quarter of a century. Now, thanks to a gift from Malin and Roberta Burnham through the Burnham Foundation, the door is open for additional nonprofits that may not have had the means to participate in the past.

How Two Mothers Inspired a Gift

Stella Clark once had a student who was forced to sneak into his grandmother’s nursing home at night to sleep on the floor because he had nowhere else to go. Clark, who founded the Modern Language Studies department at Cal State San Marcos, recalls many students who struggled to make ends meet while they attended college.

Commitment to Service

Catalina Melendez isn’t fazed by a daunting schedule. “It’s challenging, but it’s not unbearable,” said Catalina, who will graduate from Cal State San Marcos in May with a bachelor’s in speech-language pathology. Being a full-time student is just one aspect of Catalina’s busy life. She is raising three children – 16- and 11-year-old daughters and a 9-year-old son. She is in the Navy Reserves, eligible to be called to active duty any time now that the three-year exemption since her last active tour in Afghanistan ended in 2014. Then there is the long list of school-related activities, including the Student Veterans Organization and the National Student Speech Language & Hearing Association (NSSLHA). And, for good measure, she’s a PTA member and volunteers every other Wednesday at Tri-City Medical Center. Catalina served in the Marines for nearly nine years before stepping away to focus on her family. Missing the military, Catalina eventually joined the Navy Reserves. It was while serving in Afghanistan that she learned about speech therapy from a co-worker and began giving serious thought to earning her bachelor’s. Catalina enrolled at MiraCosta College upon her return from deployment and is part of the first cohort in CSUSM’s speech-language pathology bachelor’s program. “Throughout her undergraduate studies in speech-language pathology at CSUSM, Cat has contributed to the overall excellence of both the department and its students,” said Rachel Nortz, a lecturer in CSUSM’s speech-language pathology department and the chapter adviser for NSSLHA. “Cat holds the position of undergraduate student liaison for the NSSLHA chapter at CSUSM and through this position she has encouraged new membership involvement from the student body. Being a veteran herself, she has already given back to her country and she now wants to continue that journey by becoming a speech-language pathologist.” Catalina plans to continue her education after receiving her bachelor’s, setting her sights on obtaining a doctorate in audiology, which focuses on hearing, balance and related disorders. “My command is really good about working with me, especially knowing that I’m a full-time student,” she said. “One of my senior chiefs really looks out for his people. That’s what I like about the military. You have those people who really stand out and take care of you. That’s how I want to be. That’s what’s kept me in the military – good people.”

How Diversity Has Led CSUSM from the Beginning

Diversity isn’t a fad. It’s in our DNA at Cal State San Marcos. More than demographics, diversity at CSUSM represents three core values: inclusion, social justice and equity.

Rising Above: Biology Student Aims to Help Others

Francisco Fernandez knows the importance of higher education. As he enters the final stretch of a seven-year journey toward his bachelor’s degree, Francisco is determined to help others from his hometown of Zapopan, Mexico, follow a similar path to college. Even if it means helping to pay for it himself. Francisco, a senior molecular and cellular biology student at Cal State San Marcos, regularly sends money to his mother in Lomas de Tabachines, a community in the northeast part of Zapopan, which is about 1,400 miles south of Tijuana. She then distributes it to children in the community who are doing well in school. It is typically just $5 here or $10 there, but the nominal amounts of money aren’t nearly as important as the gesture. Francisco will do whatever he can to inspire people from his hometown to pursue an education. “If I get one kid to go to college over there, I’m happy,” Francisco said. Francisco isn’t just helping financially, he’s setting an example through his actions. In September, his efforts were recognized at the California State University Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach where he was presented with the CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement. The award is given annually to one student from each of the CSU’s 23 campuses who demonstrates superior academic performance, personal accomplishments, community service and financial need. “Francisco is always eager to learn and has an outstanding work ethic,” said Dr. Matthew Escobar, a CSUSM professor of biological sciences and Francisco’s mentor in the Maximizing Access to Research Careers-Undergraduate Student Training Research (MARC U*STAR) program. It’s been a remarkable journey for someone who arrived in the United States a day after his 18th birthday knowing just one word of English – “Hello.” As a teenager, Francisco said he was constantly told he wasn’t smart enough or wealthy enough to attend college. Rather than discourage him, it fueled a desire to pursue an education and help his family. To do that, he knew he had to leave Zapopan. “My high school years in Mexico are just a blur,” he said. “I didn’t know how to be a student. I wasn’t mature enough to be a student and I didn’t do well.” Francisco was born in the U.S., but his parents moved back to Mexico when he was an infant. He returned some 18 years later, in September 2011, and moved into the garage of an uncle who lives in Escondido. Almost immediately, Francisco began taking night classes to learn English. He got a job at a car wash – the same business where his parents worked two decades earlier – and eventually settled into a schedule that had him working 16 hours a day three days a week so he could attend community college Monday through Thursday. Trying to learn English, not to mention the intricacies of higher education, while taking courses at Palomar proved challenging. Francisco didn’t know what a credit class was, didn’t know about choosing a major and didn’t know the first thing about writing an essay. “I literally didn’t know anything,” he said. “Luckily for me, there’s a lot of people who speak Spanish at Palomar and I got a lot of help.” Though Francisco was able to get some direction from advisers, he still cringes when thinking about his early struggles in class. As his English slowly improved, Francisco took his first science course at Palomar. It proved to be a life-changing experience. It was in Jim Gilardi’s biology class that Francisco learned about the North San Diego County Bridges to the Future Program, a partnership between CSUSM, Palomar and MiraCosta to help prepare underrepresented students for a seamless transition to a four-year university and a career in biomedical sciences. The program includes a stipend for students, which allowed Francisco to ease up on the number of hours he was working each week and spend more time focusing on his classes and research. Another door opened after he transferred to CSUSM when he learned about the Office for Training, Research & Education in the Sciences (OTRES) and was accepted into MARC U*STAR, which prepares qualified underrepresented undergraduate students majoring in the sciences to enter and succeed in doctoral studies. Only five new scholars are admitted to the program each year. The accompanying program stipend allowed Francisco to quit his outside jobs and focus completely on school. With more time to devote to his studies, his grades skyrocketed. “OTRES is like your family,” he said. “They care about you. They help you with your personal problems, they help you with your research problems, they help you look for opportunities. I call them my school family, but they’re my family.” Francisco was chosen for a summer research program at Marshall University in 2016 and completed a stem cell summer program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in 2017. The experience in Dallas led him to put UT Southwestern among his top choices for pursuing his Ph.D. “It’s been a long trip from literally knowing nothing to applying to Ph.D. programs,” Francisco said. “If you would have told me two years ago that I’d be applying to Ph.D. programs, I would have said you’re joking.” Francisco doesn’t get back to Zapopan often. It’s a long, expensive trek, so he only visits every two years or so. But he communicates daily with his family via Facebook. His parents tell him about the people in his community who are keeping tabs from afar, invested in Francisco’s success as if he were their own son. It’s similar to the reaction he receives when he visits the car wash where he used to work. “Now when I go to the car wash people ask if I’m doing my best and say, ‘Show them you can do it,’ ” Francisco said. “I have a lot of people who believe in me, here in the U.S. at the car wash and in Mexico in my community. “I’m pretty lucky. I come from humble beginnings, but when I was hungry, I always had food. Even though I struggled a lot, I consider my life as being easy. My parents are alive, I have all my limbs, I can see. I’m lucky. I want to help people who haven’t been as lucky.”

Business Student Can’t Be Held Down

Jeff Mata never planned to attend college. He never thought about competing in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He certainly didn’t expect to speak to audiences about the challenges he has overcome. Mata never could have predicted just how much the life he was living in his early 20s would change now that he’s 35. “If I still had my eyesight and was still doing the whole drinking thing, I could have totally gone off track, maybe gone to jail or even died,” said Mata, who will graduate from Cal State San Marcos with a bachelor’s in business administration next fall. “Now I have a new life. I’m living a new, healthy lifestyle and really looking forward to the future. I’m seeing the world in a different way, which I think is a better way. At a certain point in my life, I couldn’t see the big picture that I see now. I was going in a different direction, for sure.” Mata transitioned from a standout wrestler at nearby Poway High School to a fledgling boxer after graduation. When he wasn’t training, he was making a good living in sales. But Mata’s excessive training took a physical toll. He suffered a retinal detachment in his left eye as well as uveitis, an inflammation of the eyeball. Mata’s vision loss was gradual and he completely lost his sight in 2008. “It was devastating,” he said. “I went into a depression and everything was negative – anything and everything was negative. If there was something positive, I’d find something negative about it.” Mata said he tried filling the emptiness he felt through drinking and drugs, and the downward cycle continued for four years. “When I lost my eyesight, my independence was stripped away from me,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything for myself. I couldn’t even choose an outfit for the day by myself. That really takes a lot of your dignity away. It’s a humbling experience.” The turning point came through his Christian faith. Mata attended two rehabilitation programs where he learned how to live and function without his eyesight. At one of the rehab programs, Mata decided to sit in on a Bible study. He started attending church with his parents. He also witnessed the premature death of multiple friends who had lost their eyesight and endured struggles similar to his own. He didn’t want to follow the same path and knew it was time for change. Getting clean opened up opportunities. Once a finely tuned athlete, Mata gained weight during his depression. While learning living skills in the rehab center, people told him his athletic background would make him an excellent candidate for judo. It took a couple of years for him to act on the suggestion, but he eventually found a dojo in San Marcos that trains people with visual impairments. In addition to judo, Mata started competing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu against sighted athletes. He has thrived in both disciplines, qualifying for the U.S. visually impaired judo team and competing – and winning – against sighted opponents in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He earned his third gold medal in October at the Sport Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championships. Mata’s athletic prowess has earned him a sponsorship with Shoyoroll, a highly regarded manufacturer of the gi garments worn in martial arts. He also has received financial support for training from the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Mata frequently shares his story with others. He’s a speaker for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and also speaks at recovery centers and schools. At CSUSM, he serves as a peer leader in the Tukwut Leadership Circle, which helps students build their leadership skills. “I want to continue sharing the message that there is still hope and purpose in your life regardless of what disability or ailment you may have,” he said. Before losing his sight, Mata never gave a thought to pursuing higher education. Now, he’s a year away from becoming the first in his family to earn a degree. Mata communicates frequently with his professors to ensure that they describe anything that he may not be able to see such as a PowerPoint presentation. Mata said CSUSM’s Office of Disability Support Services has been invaluable in his success, helping him get documents in an accessible format as quickly as possible. Mata plans to continue his education after receiving his bachelor’s with a Ph.D. being his ultimate goal. He also will continue to stay busy with judo and jiu-jitsu and wants to expand his work as a motivational speaker. He is even looking into writing a book about his journey. “I just want to continue inspiring and motivating people who may be going through a struggle in their life, who may have lost hope and bring some light into their life,” Mata said. “It only takes a little bit of light to shine through a whole lot of darkness.”