CSULB’s fourth annual Day at The Beach event, a campus-wide open house and resource fair for newly admitted students, was held Saturday.<\/p>\n
Before they ever step into a classroom, admitted students at Cal State Long Beach are already asking a bigger question: Can I see myself here?\u00a0<\/p>\n
At Saturday’s Day at The Beach, that answer took shape in real time, as thousands of students and families moved through campus in search of direction, support and a sense of place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In welcoming remarks at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid, CSULB President Andrew Jones \u201882 \u2014 himself a first-generation college graduate \u2014 congratulated admitted students for being chosen from a pool of 110,000 applicants and promised their families not only excellent faculty and mentorship, but \u201ca campus culture where students can bring their full selves, pursue big goals and know that they belong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine,\u201d he said, \u201cwhat your future would look like here at The Beach.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
CSULB President Andrew Jones addresses a packed audience at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid during this year’s Day at The Beach.<\/p>\n
Incoming business major Sarina Waite didn\u2019t have to go far to do just that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a ballroom beneath the Pyramid, Waite found the annual Admitted Black Student Reception, featuring food, music, speeches and a ceremony honoring Black elders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s so inviting here. Even on a simple Instagram page you can meet your best friend.<\/p>\n
At one point,\u00a0Daria Graham, associate vice president of Student Success and Engagement, asked guests to look around the room while the Black faculty, staff and students in attendance greeted them with a wave.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery hand that waved is part of your community,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery hand that waved is part of your network. Every hand that waved is here for your success . . . It\u2019s the difference between when someone says, \u2018You are welcome,\u2019 and when they give you the keys. Here are the keys.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Waite, the message resonated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in El Segundo \u2014 so a predominantly white area,\u201d she said. \u201cTo be able to find another community where there are people that look like me, it\u2019s definitely refreshing. It feels like a part of my identity can be more vibrantly shown.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anaheim native Yousef Rizkalla, who plans to major in mechanical engineering, accompanied his friend Blen Zekarias-Dammena, an aspiring nurse. Zekarias-Dammena said she\u2019d met Waite on an Instagram account for Class of 2030 students, and they jelled immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I was really scared coming in,\u201d she said. \u201cI was like, ‘Oh my God, I\u2019m not going to make friends.\u2019 And then I connected with Sarina and I’m like, \u2018That\u2019s it.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the difference between when someone says, \u2018You are welcome,\u2019 and when they give you the keys. Here are the keys.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Waite agreed, crediting the university with creating so many inclusive spaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so inviting here,\u201d she said. \u201cEven on a simple Instagram page you can meet your best friend.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
That theme \u2014 of small but meaningful connections at an event of such scale \u2014 repeated itself throughout the day. Across campus, students spread out in every direction, moving between tents, classrooms and courtyards, touring labs and campus housing, loading up on CSULB merch at the bookstore. Along the way, they encountered student-led clubs and campus resources \u2014 from cultural centers and identity-based groups to first-generation programs, LGBTQ+ services, women-focused organizations and transfer support.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Attendees could not have asked for better weather Saturday. Despite a forecast of possible rain, hundreds of tents, tours and talks remained outdoors.<\/p>\n
At the admissions booth, where students could officially accept their offers, cowbells rang out each time someone made it official.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cZayla! Zayla!\u201d organizers cheered as a beaming Zayla Robinson, a transfer student from Morgan State University in Maryland, accepted her offer to study sociology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe communication and the resources have been amazing,\u201d said her mother, Zanetta Robinson. \u201cI was looking at the safety [as well as her potential for] cultural and academic success, and all of that seems to be here. I mean, it\u2019s just a win-win. I love it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Imagine what your future would look like here at The Beach.<\/p>\n
Nearby, Long Beach native Sofia Sund arrived with her parents and grandmother, already familiar with campus through years of visits and family ties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Something that really surprised me was the amount of people here to help with financial aid,\u201d she said, adding that, despite scholarships, cost is still a concern. What comforted her was “actually being here and hearing them tell us they\u2019re going to help.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the end of the day, those moments \u2014 of recognition, resources and reassurance \u2014 had done their work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Students weren\u2019t just imagining themselves at Cal State Long Beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CSULB’s fourth annual Day at The Beach event, a campus-wide open house and resource fair for newly admitted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1818,1820,7,1815,1823,1821,1822,1819,131,133,132,1817,1816],"class_list":{"0":"post-266500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-cal-state","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-college","12":"tag-conoley","13":"tag-csu","14":"tag-csulb","15":"tag-dirtbags","16":"tag-long-beach","17":"tag-long-beach-headlines","18":"tag-long-beach-news","19":"tag-long-beach-state","20":"tag-university"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}