In Memoriam

SB Strong 

The values of a community are often determined at times of great hardship, tragedy and sadness. It is during these times that a community’s values are tested, as neighbors – from all walks of life – come together to comfort, support and lift up each other in the darkest moments. 

On December 2, 2015, the San Bernardino community was tested following the horrific terrorist attack at the Inland Regional Center. Five alumni from California State University, San Bernardino – as well as alumni from Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona and UC Riverside – lost their lives. 

In the following days, weeks and months, the Cal State San Bernardino family came together to remember the victims, support their families, and unite under a common banner of tolerance, love and peace. The campus community led a powerful candlelight vigil, and a shared mantra of SB Strong united and inspired the region and nation. 

To memorialize the victims and support their loved ones, San Bernardino created the SB Strong Education Fund. The fund will establish scholarships for children whose parents were lost in the December 2015 attack. 

The SB Strong Education Fund was a major focus for the university’s Annual Faculty Staff Campaign in 2016. With $100,000 raised for the annual campaign from faculty and staff gifts and payroll deductions, over $16,500 was raised specifically for the fund, with average donations from faculty and staff nearing $100.

As the San Bernardino community marks the one year anniversary of this tragedy, is reaching out to over 15,000 alumni and friends to further support the SB Strong Education Fund – and honor the memories of fellow alumni while making a difference through education. 

Remembering a Shining Star 

The Nohemi Gonzalez Fund to Support International Study was established to honor the memory of Nohemi Gonzalez, the California State University, Long Beach design student killed during the November 2015 attacks in Paris. 

The university’s crowdfunding platform, Beachfunder, received a massive outpouring of support in memory of Nohemi Gonzalez, with donations coming from all across the university, California and the world. 

The fund – which raised over $100,000 in less than two months and surpassed its original funding goals by 400 percent – will assist ​Long Beach students with international travel and study-abroad opportunities. 

Nohemi — a Song for Paris

Mimi — can I call you that
this is a song for you —
with candles we stand & we kneel
this is how it is now we
well all of us we
send you these flowers across time
this time here which we
  cannot explain
all love goes to you
& your friends the other night
so many with you gone we
stand we play Lennon’s piano
Imagine — we say
a world with out violence —
we want to imagine that in your name
Nohemi Gonzalez from El Monte
from Whittier California from
Cal State Long Beach —
then
we run out of words
the words
so many words your mamá
Beatríz your cousin Jacqueline
we know them now — for you
we write them a poem too
I do not know how we will do that
we are doing that – that is all
like the designs you made – for a high-spirited world
you said you were high-spirited & self-driven — yes
like the dreams you had
as the words First Generation
the ones you used to
describe your life
we continue with you — somehow
it is not important to know how
it is important to continue that is all
I must — say it again
we are all writing a poem
for you for your cousin Jacqueline
for your mamá Beatríz — she loved you
their love will make it alright
all of our love will make it alrightyes
here is your song Mimi —
We light Nohemi a candle
the candle waves across the stars
close they are so close because
Nohemi & Paris are in our hearts

 
Because
Nohemi &
Paris — are in
our hearts​

 
Juan Felipe Herrera
Poet Laureate of the United States
11-15-15