Endless Opportunities

It is February 2016 and we are well into our spring term at California State University San Marcos at Temecula. We are also entering our seventh year in Temecula offering degree completion and professional certificate programs.

We’ve come a long way since opening in January 2009. While 54 prospective nursing students awaited, we celebrated our grand opening at the Paul Goldring Garrett Institute for Higher Learning in downtown Temecula. In September 2010 we relocated to the former Joan Sparkman Elementary School on Margarita Road and in September 2014 we opened a second facility in Temecula in partnership with Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC) on the 2nd floor of the former Temecula City Hall building.

Now, 332 graduates later, we are contemplating where the next seven years will take us. We continue to see growth for CSUSM at Temecula, MSJC and the entire Southwest Riverside County region. The population projections in the area over the next several years are explosive and we see endless possibilities and opportunities for both students and educational institutions.

I recently found myself in conversation with Brenda Anguiano, one of our soon-to-be graduates in the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration program. Brenda is the owner of Charley’s Grilled Sub at the Temecula Promenade mall. Her story made an impression.

A first generation immigrant from Guatemala, Brenda came to California several  years ago because she realized she would have opportunities here that she could never have at home. But, she could not have imagined in her wildest dreams that she would soon finish a Bachelor’s degree, or own and operate a successful business.

Brenda is the first in her family to attend and graduate from college. So in May her family will come to the U.S. to watch with pride as she takes her place on stage to receive the Bachelor’s degree from President Karen Haynes.

Emotions ran high as she shared this story with me. As a single mom who lives and works in Temecula, CSUSM at Temecula gave her the opportunity to earn a degree while running both a business and a family. It’s a lesson that is resonating through the generations of her family as her own children, nieces and nephews look on.

An interested and committed CSUSM professor of Brenda’s has inspired her to consider applying to a PhD program in strategic management and to open another franchise…..endless opportunities and possibilities continue emerging from CSUSM at Temecula.

  

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.