By Destiny Johnson, Jailene Paniagua, Tyler Williams, Sydney Pate, & Abigail Ramos
Low student engagement worries campus events and club organizers while students fret the lack of effective communication about the campus extracurricular activities.
According to the Office of Institutional Research, about 94% of students at CSUSB commute. Out of 20,000, “that’s about 18,775 students,” said Muriel Lopez-Wagner.
Déan Saravia, a university honors student, said he felt more informed when he lived on campus during the beginning of his college career.
“The problem is that most of the students are commuters who are not properly informed about the variety of resources we have,” Saravia said. “When you’re a resident, you are constantly informed about what’s happening on campus.”
Extracurricular opportunities allow students to travel nationally and abroad, gain experience through internships, receive physical and psychological counseling, and so much more. Yet, many students fail to take action.
Jane Rodriguez, CSUSB’s Student Engagement Coordinator, expressed her frustration.
“The engagement isn’t there,” Rodriguez said. “What we’ve noticed is that students are not opening their emails, which is where the information that we send them lies.”
Kayla Burroughs, a transfer student in her second year at CSUSB acknowledges that the information in those emails could be important, but she believes the sheer amount of random emails throughout the day “vaguely headlining school-related matters” causes her to feel more repelled than inclined to open them.
“I feel like I get a lot of emails but I never know what they are about, and I never want to open them because of how frequently I get them,” explained Burroughs.
“It’s barely noon and I already have six emails that I needed to go through,” said senior Garrett Little. “It devalues university communication. It is more spam and less of a notice.”
Vanessa Cruz, a Business Management Major in her 4th year, reflected on her time on campus. She regrets that she did not get to experience other cultures through the Study Abroad Program, a department that frequently sends out informational emails about upcoming trips, giveaways, and events.
“Fortunately, I found an alternate way to travel,” said Cruz. “Through my involvement in the ‘Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities,’ I am leaving this month on a paid flight to Chicago!”
Cruz admits that as a first-generation college student, she’s “really nervous, but she is still putting [herself] out there and networking with other professionals.”
In a school where 81% of the student body is made up of first-generation college students, getting involved is important in order to gain the necessary experience said Career Counselor and First Generation student graduate, Denise Perez-Flores, M.S.
“In order to attain your goals, it is gonna take a lot of work,” she said. “It’s better to use the resources available on campus.”
Levena Griffin, a 3rd-year Business and Administration Major is also a first-year college student. She found entering college to be difficult and intimidating. However, Griffin says that even though she doesn’t always “know what to do and who to ask” that, from her sorority sisters to her professors’ office hours, there is “always an answer” if she seeks it.
Jenny Phan, a 5th-year Sociology Major in the Master’s Program is currently pursuing her passion. The professors in her Sociology Program connected her to an internship at a local courthouse, where she mentors and counsels families in distress.
Phan stated, “While I started as a Computer Science major, I learned more about myself, and discovered what my passion is, which is serving and helping people.”
“It’s barely noon and I already have six emails that I needed to go through,” said senior Garrett Little. “It devalues university communication. It is more spam and less of a notice.”
Phan realizes that had she failed to reach out to faculty and attempt “new things,” she would have missed out on “a journey of self-discovery and her future career.”
Peer Advisor Mariana Jimenez shared how getting involved on campus changed the whole trajectory of her college experience.
She feels like a student’s college experience is entirely in their own hands.
“I could just be a student who comes here, takes the classes, and then just goes home, but then I wouldn’t get to have that university experience,” she said. “I would say your education and experience in general here at CSUSB is what you make it.”
Leave a Reply