FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2008
Media Contact: George Cagala, (760) 750-4012
 
High Risk Students Earn Degrees Despite Challenges

Among the 2,500 students graduating from Cal State San Marcos this month will be more than thirty students considered “high risk” in terms of successfully completing their undergraduate university degree.

They’re generally older than the average student; some have physical handicaps such as blindness, and most face economic challenges.  All of them, however, had at least one thing in common: the motivation to seek out and obtain the backup support they needed.

That is the purpose of CSUSM’s Faculty Mentoring Program—to provide motivated students with personalized support in the form of mentoring. The program focuses on students who are at the junior or senior level—students who are close to graduating—and who are the first in his/her family to attend a university and/or from low income status.

Not to be confused with tutorial assistance, this mentoring program aims at providing advice and guidance to such students to help them complete graduation requirements and prepare them for careers or graduate studies.

• Karen Lenhof, for example, is a first generation student who needed guidance to help build her confidence, according to Susan Thompson, associate librarian.

“Karen was interested in mentoring because she felt insecure. She was the first person in her family to go to college – her parents didn’t even finish high school. She also was concerned about being older than most students. She wanted to find something in common. She wanted a relationship, a friend, which she didn’t feel was possible with a regular teacher in the context of a class,” said Thompson. “Karen’s philosophy is that education works better if we support each other. We’re not Clint Eastwood, a lone ranger.”

• Like Lenhof, Sierra Neal entered CSUSM as a first generation college student, but with the additional burden of a learning disability.

“She worked diligently to successfully graduate,” said her mentor, sociology professor Marisol Clark-Ibánez. “We paired up in the faculty mentoring program in her junior year. Since then, we have worked together to alleviate stress at work, school and home. We also strategized about her academic work and future (graduate school and just-out-of-college jobs) to get her geared up for her profession. She is one of the hardest working students I know!”

• Faculty mentor Salah M. Moukhlis describes her mentee, Pamela Castillo, as “very bright and highly motivated.”

“Like me, she is the first in her family to attend college and I could relate to and help her with many questions that she has encountered along the way,” said Moukhlis, associate professor of comparative studies and world literatures. “Besides helping her navigate specific academic requirements, we also spent time talking about the challenges and the opportunities for the future. Coming from a multicultural background myself, we also discussed cultural differences, the challenges, and the advantages of cross cultural understanding and dialogue, especially important at a time when we are required to be aware and sensitive to global context of our identities and cultures.”

Carmen Nava, associate professor of history and director of CSUSM’s Faculty Mentoring Program, underscored the importance of helping high risk students overcome the often invisible barriers to academic success.

“Faculty mentors give their students support, encouragement, and recognition right up to the very end of the semester of they graduate,” she said. She added, “We know our students can succeed and achieve great things. And we know that the support of a mentor can sometimes make a pivotal difference as the student strives to complete their CSUSM degree.

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For contact information on these and other students and mentors, please contact George Cagala, gcagala@csusm.edu; 760 750-4012