CSU Students Recognized for Community Service

The California State University system has honored 21 students throughout the state with the STARS award in recognition of outstanding community involvement as part of their service-learning courses.

"CSU STARS award recipients are role models at the CSU and exemplify our students' dedication and service to the community," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. "One student from each campus was selected for her or his efforts to improve the lives of individuals or the community in such areas as social justice, education, health, public safety, and the environment."

The STARS award, which stands for "Students That Are Recognized for Service," was created by the chancellor three years ago to honor community participation and promote service-learning curricula.

Community service-learning focuses on learning experiences that take place in the community and are directly related to academic course content.

In addition to providing a valuable educational experience to students, the program offers a tangible value to society. More than 135,000 CSU students systemwide perform 33.6 million hours of community service annually--a minimum wage value of approximately $193.2 million.

2002 STARS Honorees

CSU Bakersfield
Kim Brown, a Head Start teacher-leader at CSU Bakersfield and mentor for 32 students. She also leads an adolescent study group through her church, and facilitated a 6-week summer project with the preschool residents of Tabitha House, a substance abuse rehabilitation center for parents and their children.

CSU Chico
Annie Sherman, one of the founders of Chico State's highly successful Diversion Excursion Program, which encourages residence hall students and the campus community to engage in recycling. She has recruited student volunteers to collect reusable materials, which are sorted and donated to local charities. She is directly responsible for diverting over a ton of recyclable materials from the Butte County landfill.

CSU Dominguez Hills
Catherine Anderson, a "Rolling Reader" who has given many years of service to her community. She is also a rape crisis counselor and co-chair of the neighborhood food bank. Anderson contributes to her community while serving as chair of the Student Union Board of Directors and president of Alpha Kappa Delta Honor Society. She is a full-time mother.

CSU Fresno
Ashley Howard, a volunteer at Madera Valley Teen Ranch involved in tutoring at-risk youth in math, reading, and social studies. She also volunteers at Happy Trails Riding Academy for the Handicapped, where she helps young people with therapeutic riding exercises. Through her sorority, she has also coordinated fund-raising drives for Toys for Tots and Coats for Kids.

CSU Fullerton
Susan Shoho, for the past 10 years has volunteered with Keiro Services, an organization that works with the elderly Japanese population. Shoho's roles have ranged from teaching arts and crafts to coordinating fund-raising events. She is also an active volunteer and fund-raiser at TrinityCare, a hospice for the elderly in Torrance.

Humboldt State University
Robin Pagliuco, an active volunteer and leader with the Youth Educational Services Program, a student-led service organization. She has facilitated volunteer training and the organization of events on campus and in the community. She coordinated the campus Arts and Music Festival, which brought a free day of entertainment and alternative energy education to the entire community.

CSU Long Beach
Russell Daley, a member of the team that helped create the Center for Advancement of
Philosophy in Schools, CAPS. The center trains teachers and CSU Long Beach students to lead philosophy discussions with students in fifth through 12th grades. Daley also wrote a successful grant proposal to create a summer philosophy institute for 75 at-risk teens from Long Beach.

CSU Los Angeles
Graciela Quintanilla, contributed more than 500 hours of volunteer service to the APRENDAMOS educational enrichment center, which serves young people in the Pico Union community of Los Angeles. At the center, she serves as a math instructor and as a fund-raising organizer. She also helped create community service activities for the children.

Maritime Academy
David Boudreaux, works four jobs on campus and still finds time to stay deeply involved with community service. As president of the Circle K Club, David has launched a number of innovative service programs such as the annual Penny Drive, which is now in its third year. He also mentors and tutors students at two local elementary schools, where he recently played Santa Claus for local school children.

CSU Monterey Bay
Tamara Murphy, invested over 400 hours working with the California Rural Legal Center (CRLA). During her service to CRLA, Tamara has done research in the fields, tracked field violations, investigated fraudulent ID and license sales, and researched opportunities for farm workers who want to move on to new occupations.

CSU Northridge
Nancy Landa, a campus leader in the incorporation of service activities into the educational experience. As a board member of the campus Volunteer Council, she has worked with the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, United Way, Los Angeles Housing Authority, and Habitat for Humanity to develop meaningful long-term service projects for student groups.

Cal Poly Pomona
Joe Salas, actively involved with RACE 4 KIDS, a community based program that raises money to provide need-based college scholarships for students in the Pomona Unified School District. Salas is also a member of ELEVATE, an Islamic-based community service group, which works with the Los Angeles public schools to increase students understanding of Islam in the aftermath of Sept. 11th.

CSU Sacramento
Tricia Randall, has served as a leader of five community service days and 10 blood drives at CSU Sacramento. Through the community service days, she helped place approximately 350 students with 13 non-profit organizations.

CSU San Bernardino
Jeannette Doswell, president of the Social Work Student Association. She has organized fund-raisers, canned food drives for economically disadvantaged families, and spring job fairs. As a student representative to the National Association of Social Workers, she has helped to create the first annual Social Worker/Public Citizen of the Year recognition award.

San Diego State University
Christine Alfonso, a campus leader in community service who has also conducted advanced research in community service issues. She performed a comprehensive evaluation of policies for K-12th grade and their effects on students of color. She also tutors at Bonita Vista High School. Last year, Christine spent her spring break volunteering as an English tutor at an orphanage for boys in Tecate, Mexico.

San Francisco State University
Juslyn Manalo, working with the San Francisco Veterans Equity Center, Manalo supervises the Veterano Project, which has engaged 250 SFSU students to take down the oral histories of Filipino World War II Veterans. When completed, the oral histories will be on permanent display by San Francisco's Filipino community and will be made available to schools.

San Jose State University
Vanessa Nisperos, completed more than 900 hours of service with Jamaicans for Justice, Community Homeless Alliance Ministry, Students for Justice, and a student coalition to bring about peace in Afghanistan. Within two days of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, Nisperos and a group of students responded by organizing a peace vigil that brought together more than 3,000 campus and community members.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Joel Henderson, a tireless community service leader who has served as director of the Volunteer Service Corps and student coordinator of the Walk to End Homelessness. As student coordinator of Make a Difference Day, he recruited hundreds of students and community volunteers to provide project-based service to 20 community agencies, resulting in more than 1,600 hours of community service in one afternoon.

CSU San Marcos
Anna Fleming, as Circle K President, she organized the El Salvador School Supplies Drive to help children in El Salvador after the devastating earthquakes last year. Fleming also participated in Escondido and Oceanside Beach Clean Ups, and helped prepare and distribute sack lunches to children who are in need of nutrition services in Tijuana. She also contributed to a Pediatric Trauma fund-raiser for parents who cannot pay for their children's trauma care.

Sonoma State University
Lauren Mapes, chair of the group Join Us in Making Progress (JUMP) the community service program of the Associated Students. She facilitated the completion of more than 7,000 hours of volunteer service by Sonoma State students. Mapes also has served as Service-Learning student leader, Adopt-a-Grandparent coordinator, and a two-term AmeriCorps member.

CSU Stanislaus
Clarissa Lonn directed the Make A Difference Day Project in her campus, which brought 88 students and community volunteers to work with local government and neighborhood associations. Lonn also coordinated with more than 93 agencies to develop a database that enables students to access local volunteer opportunities. She is also working with local K-12th grade schools to create service-learning projects in honor of Cesar Chavez.

The California State University is the largest system of senior higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, nearly 400,000 students and 44,000 faculty and staff. Since the system was created in 1961, it has awarded about 2 million degrees. The CSU is renowned for the quality of its teaching and for the job-ready graduates it produces. Its mission is to provide high-quality, affordable education to meet the ever-changing needs of the people of California. With its commitment to excellence, diversity and innovation, the CSU is the university system that is working for California.