Bright Futures

It is final exam week here at California State University San Marcos at Temecula. As you’d expect, there is some stress in the air; much of it related to the typical worries over earning passing grades, and entering the workforce.

I took some time to visit a couple of classes and observe students in the hall and student lounge. These students were happy and confident about the end of the semester and about being able to spend down- time with friends and family.

I also visited one of our classes on entrepreneurship at the Temecula Higher Education Center. I wanted to wish the students good luck on finals and a happy and safe holiday break. Instead I sat and listened while they presented group pitches on fictitious business start-ups they had created. I learned that some of these businesses were under serious consideration by our students.  I heard about everything from organic solar patio covers to wristbands that tell you when to take your meds!

These students blew me away. They are truly bright and engaged.  Given the fact that 85% of CSUSM graduates stay in the region and contribute to regional economic growth I know that some of these students will be looking to launch careers-in our community in the next few weeks. I hope you will consider hiring them for your business…..

  

If you do hire one of our graduates from business, nursing or kinesiology, let us know. We want to stay engaged with them and with you. Knowing what we are doing right and what we can do better will keep our programs vibrant and relevant.

We look forward to seeing the positive economic impact that our students will have right here in the Temecula Valley!

Suzanne Lingold, M.Ed. is the Associate Dean for Extended Learning at Cal State San Marcos at Temecula. She may be reached at (951) 676-9254 or Temecula@csusm.edu.  

Students Who Are “Inspired”

When the fall term began back in August, I started to think about how we at California State University San Marcos at Temecula (CSUSM-T) inspire our students to succeed in their studies, and be all they can be. The Oxford dictionary defines inspiration as the ability to fill someone with the urge or ability to do something special or creative.

How is it, that a group of recent graduates from CSUSM-T were inspired to set up a routine brainstorming session to discuss business start-up ideas?  Amanda Maggio, a 2015 graduate of the Business Administration (BSBA) degree program and our new student services assistant explained that five graduates from the BSBA program get together every few weeks to discuss ideas for possible business ventures, hoping that the next great business idea will be borne from these gatherings. They work on concepts between meetings and make their meetings very intentional.

“We are confident that the skills and concepts we learned at CSUSM-T prepared us for both business ownership and employment,” she says. The group recently held a focus group to test out one of their best ideas and the team believes the concept has real potential.

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), the characteristics and skills successful entrepreneurs need to have include  understanding and comfort with taking risks, ability to the think on your feet, ability to make decisions alone not knowing whether they are right or not, persuasiveness, creativity and the ability to negotiate. These skills are all incorporated into CSUSM-T’s BSBA program.

So, how does CSUSM-T inspire our students to succeed? Though I am not entirely sure of the answer, I do know that when our student cohorts’ work in teams to address issues and problem- solve together, they instill in themselves the confidence to succeed regardless of their goals.

And I am proud that Amanda’s group is doing just that.

Suzanne Lingold, Associate Dean, at Cal State San Marcos at Temecula