Sometimes life hangs by a string.
It was hanging by a thread for Rubi Duran a few years ago.
Diagnosed with advanced kidney failure following a trip to the emergency room for headaches and knee swelling, she was told by doctors she probably had two weeks to live if she hadn’t come in.
Immediate kidney dialysis ensued, but that only slowed the inevitable.
A child and adolescent development major at Cal State San Marcos at the time of her diagnosis, Duran’s only chance at survival was to find a match for a kidney transplant.
A thread.
The ideal college student
Early in her college career, Duran was the type of student professors love having in their classrooms.
Attentive and present, she was active and driven toward a path of becoming a teacher.
The spring 2020 semester was truncated due to the onset of the pandemic in March. But even that didn’t slow Duran the student down.
A positive person with a huge smile, she was also working at a preschool in her hometown of Escondido while taking a full load of courses.
Janice Phung is an assistant professor of psychology at CSUSM. She had Duran in a class that spring and was impressed with her dedication to studying.
“She was the only student who diligently came to my office hours regularly and would come to ask questions, go over her quizzes and exams, and check in about her progress in the course,” Phung said. “She was also genuinely interested in the course content and wanted to learn as much as she could outside of class.”
Any doctor will say that a natural positive outlook on life is a crucial component to staying healthy. It’s even more important when someone is facing a life-threatening illness.
“It was evident to me that Rubi was an eager student who was proactive in ensuring that she would do well in my class, and her efforts made me much more understanding when she went through her health issues,” Phung said. “I already knew her as a student and as a person, and I knew what she was capable of accomplishing despite her health issues.”
The news
The beginning months of the pandemic saw nearly everyone downplay their illnesses.
So when Duran had constant headaches and some knee swelling, she didn’t think much of it. Neither did her primary doctors. They were content with her waiting three months for an in-person visit.
But when she woke up one morning with a face so swollen she was hardly recognizable, a trip to the emergency room ensued.
Being young and healthy usually doesn’t concern medical professionals so quickly, but when her lab results came back, the worst fears were realized.
“It turned out that I had what they call end-stage renal disease, stage five,” Duran said. “I had kidney failure. The explanations that doctors told me is it's a very silent disease that no one knows until you get very ill. And sure enough, my symptoms like having a headache everyday was because I had really high blood pressure where I could have gotten a heart attack, and I didn't know it. My swelling was because I was retaining water for so long. They had no reasoning why I had this disease. It could have been an infection that my body was fighting since I was little, and I didn't know why.”
Basically, your body rejects your organs when this happens. For Duran, it happened to be her kidney.
There was no history of kidney disease in her family. That, combined with her age, stumped doctors. Without immediate action in the form of dialysis and eventual transplant, she would die. The dialysis was relatively easy to execute. The transplant, not so much.
So the prognosis and diagnosis were not nearly as important and urgent as the plan.
The clock ticks … TikTok
Getting a kidney transplant is normally a challenging process that often ends in disappointment.
The process usually begins with trying to find a match among family members. But that yielded zero results for Duran. That was a big blow because it typically takes 10-plus years to find a match if there’s not one in the family.
She got on the national transplant registry list, but as one can imagine, that list is extensive.
So Duran had an idea for a unique source to spread her story to a wide audience.
She had known the social media platform TikTok as a place to share short dance video edits. That was primarily what it was known for in its infancy.
In fact, she had personal experience with the power of TikTok when she posted a video of her older brother coming home from his military duty and surprising their parents. The video was so impactful, it gained her 70,000 followers almost overnight.
But her story was personal on another level.
“I had already known that I wanted to post my story on TikTok, but a part of me didn't want a lot of people to know,” Duran said. “So I knew that I was going to have to put myself out there. And I was just very scared because I know people weren't going to really understand me. I was very scared of what people were going to say or just label me as a disabled person and not see me for who I am. But that video (of my brother) went viral and I got so many likes, I knew I had to put my story out there.”
The reaction was immediate, kind and powerful.
Her message was clear – not solely to seek a matching donor but also to bring awareness of renal failure and its symptoms.
Her followers increased as her story was shared with thousands of people all over the world.
Someone about 100 miles up Interstate 5 would turn out to be the crucial recipient of her links.
As fate would have it
Duran got tens of thousands of likes and new followers. She made connections with others who had undergone kidney transplant surgery as well as family members of those currently waiting for a match.
Thousands of people applied to be a match. She found a community of support that went a long way into healing her and bringing her inner peace.
But the match wasn’t coming, and she was losing the thing that carried her throughout this brutal journey – hope.
Not to mention she lost 30 pounds as the dialysis treatment made her ill. It interrupted her school schedule, but thanks to Phung and other flexible faculty, she was able to stay relatively on track.
About a year after she posted her first TikTok video, doctors told her it was dire. If a matching donor couldn’t be identified soon, her health would rapidly deteriorate.
And then fate stepped up in the form of Sandra Leon.
A 26-year-old Army reservist, Leon volunteered her kidney at UCLA Medical Center shortly after returning from deployment. While waiting for paperwork to be completed, she started her own search and came across Duran’s post.
“She was looking for a donor with O positive blood type,” said Leon, now 28 and working as an HVAC dispatcher for Veteran Air and still in the Army reserves. “I knew I was O positive so I reached out to her and asked her if she had already found someone, and she responded letting me know she had not. So I immediately reached out to my UCLA coordinator and asked if it was possible to test me for Rubi’s match.
“I truly believe that we were both put in each other’s path by fate. My donation process was through a completely different county. It could have gone to anyone, but it went to Rubi. I am glad I acted quickly because it would not have been possible had UCLA already found a recipient that I was a match for.”
Duran was admittedly down at this point. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say she had lost hope. For someone who lights up the room with her smile and positivity, that was crushing news to everyone in her inner circle.
So when she received a call from her doctor one day on her way to work, her expectations were low.
“I thought she was going to call me just to do blood work to make sure that I'm still healthy to be on the list because every year you have to relist to be in the living donor program,” Duran said. “She just said, ‘I just wanted to tell you that we found a perfect match for you. Her name is Sandra Leon. She's 26 and in the military. She's really healthy. And she just genuinely wants to donate to you, and she found your story on TikTok, and she's already in touch.’ So yeah, that was like, ‘Wow.’ ”
When Duran recounts that moment today, she understandably gets emotional. It was the day her life changed forever.
The transplant surgery was in October 2021. To call it a success is an understatement. In fact, her surgeon told her it was the prettiest kidney he had ever seen so it should serve her well into old age.
“Rubi seemed like a very sweet and genuine person from her posts,” Leon said. “She looked hopeful, full of life, and despite what she was going through, she shared her story and her battle to spread awareness. I think us being so close in age also instantly convinced me. She still has her whole life ahead of her. I knew she should have a shot at life.”
Duran and Leon are close today. They talk or FaceTime daily. Leon refers to herself as an older sister.
The two large families will get together for a Mother’s Day celebration this weekend that will have extra meaning this year. Duran will graduate from CSUSM the following week, and Leon welcomed her daughter Sofia to the world just four months ago.
Duran will wear her cap and gown next week. Many students will walk across the stage having overcome remarkable challenges, Duran included.
If anyone deserves a break, it’s Duran. And she’ll take one. Her path to being a kindergarten teacher will veer to social work. She wants to enter a master’s degree program to train to help others like she was helped by so many social workers during her journey.
But that master’s program will wait at least a year so she can catch her breath, reflect on her journey and accomplishments, and give proper thanks to Phung, her family, her “kidney family,” and all of those in her inner circle and social media circle who helped inspire her.
It’s neither fair nor just to compare one person’s struggles to another. But perhaps no student will celebrate next week who without hope, generosity and maybe a miracle, wouldn’t be here.
“Never,” said Phung when asked if she ever had moments of mentally preparing for Duran not making it. “I never doubted what Rubi was capable of doing. I had moments of worry about her health and recovery, but I never doubted that once she was healthy again that she would get right back on the horse and finish up to graduate. It's just who she is.
“She is a resilient, resourceful and determined young woman, and I have no doubt that she can accomplish anything that she sets her mind to.”
Visit Rubi Duran's TikTok page to view videos of her kidney transplant journey.
Media Contact
Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
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- Catering and Group Housing OptionsDining at Campus Way Cafe, for groups of 40 or more, is available throughout the summer! Interested in this experience? Reach out to dining@csusm.edu. Please provide the date and quantity of visitors in your email. Menu based on size of group. Looking for a place for your group to stay? Why not stay on campus? Summer Conferences can provide housing on campus for your group! Reach out to summerconferences@csusm.edu to book your stay!
- Arts Community Ensures That CSTEM Feels the LoveIt’s a tough time to be a scientist. The National Science Foundation has made drastic cuts to research funding, with hundreds of grants terminated and the proposed budget slashed by more than half. The National Institutes of Health has been hit equally as hard. Few universities have been spared from such reductions, including Cal State San Marcos. As the dire headlines piled up this semester, a group of faculty members in the School of Arts began conversing about what they could do to show solidarity with their science colleagues. “The real-life impact of cutting scientific research and inquiry will reverberate for generations,” music professor Merryl Goldberg said. “We feel that being silent equates to complicity.” Rather than marching in angry protest with bullhorns, the arts faculty opted to take a more positive, life-affirming approach. They chose love. In March, the professors – a group led by Lucy HG Solomon, Goldberg, Judy Bauerlein and Karen Schaffman – began holding events called “Love Letters to Science” that involved exactly that: faculty, staff and students writing letters in which they expressed their admiration for scientists and the vital work they do for the world. “The arts have always been first on the chopping block, and that vulnerability makes us sensitive to the extraordinary, arbitrary and indeed existential threat facing the sciences,” said HG Solomon, an art, media and design professor. “At the same time, some of our students shared that they did not feel that they had a positive outlet for responding to those same threats to their education.” The meetings took place weekly, with some letter-writing sessions occurring in the Arts Building and some at The Makery in CSUSM’s library. Sometimes they intersected with other events, as when the Office of Safety, Health and Sustainability co-hosted a table outside the University Student Union on Earth Day because, as HG Solomon put it, “climate science matters.” Sometimes science faculty would stop by to express their gratitude for the effort. Some members of the campus community wrote letters to science in general while others addressed them to specific scientists at CSUSM. Student Melanie Wollrabe, for instance, wrote to Heather Cook, a lecturer in the chemistry and biochemistry department who Wollrabe said has been a source of constant support. “I have a lot of friends studying STEM, so it was important for me to write letters to them to let them know that their area of study is still important and appreciated,” said Wollrabe, a liberal studies major and STEAM ambassador who’s graduating this month. “I haven’t had a lot of science classes, but the few ones that I have had, instead of feeling intimidated, the professors made me feel included and not inferior to my classmates.” The “Love Letters to Scientists” campaign culminated on Wednesday afternoon, when arts faculty led a final writing session in The Makery. Then they took a brimming box of letters compiled over the last two months and – holding posters decorated with messages like “Science Rules,” “Science is Real!” and “Dear Scientist, Your research sustains me. Love, The Planet” – paraded across campus to the USU Ballroom, where the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics was holding its annual Celebration of Achievement. The worlds of art and science melded as the letters – along with buttons for CSTEM faculty, personalized according to research interests – were delivered to an emotional audience. “I think this initiative had great meaning for our faculty, our community guests and our student awardees,” CSTEM Dean Jackie Trischman said. “What a great group of colleagues!” Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306
- Parental Support Drives Biology Graduate on Road to Ph.D.When Valeria Castellanos Rodriguez crosses the commencement stage next week, she will be thinking about the countless hours she logged in labs en route to a biology degree. She'll be thinking about her primary Cal State San Marcos mentor, biology professor Carlos Luna Lopez. She'll be thinking about her impending enrollment at UC Irvine to begin a Ph.D. program in cancer research. Mostly, though, she'll be thinking about her parents. Rodriguez’s father and mother never got the chance to pursue higher education, with her dad stopping in sixth grade and her mom in first grade. Rodriguez grew up in Oceanside with three siblings, and for the first 18 years of her life, she and her entire family resided in a house owned by a relative. Her father would rise by 5 a.m. seven days a week to do landscaping work, and still it was barely enough to scape by. Many parents in that situation would have urged their children to drop out of school to help earn money for the family, but Rodriguez’s parents thought differently. “They have always supported my journey of higher education, which I’m very, very thankful for,” Rodriguez said. “They didn’t choose not to have an education. They didn’t have an opportunity to. My mom used to tell me that if she could have gone to college, she would have become a nurse.” On her path to a science degree, Rodriguez benefited from more than just parental support. She had a sibling role model in her sister, Tanya, who’s only one year older and resembles Valeria so much that they’re often mistaken for twins. Tanya preceded Valeria at CSUSM (graduating in 2024) and, after taking a gap year, also will be starting a Ph.D. program in the fall, at UC Santa Cruz for immunology. Then there was her high school. Rodriguez had the advantage of attending Mission Vista, the newest high school in Vista Unified School District, which offers a program called Project Lead the Way that allows students to get a head start in STEM disciplines like biomedicine and engineering. As a result, Rodriguez arrived at CSUSM having been exposed to and liking science, specifically biology. It was at CSUSM, however, that she discovered research and the notion – previously unimaginable to her – that research could be a career. After her freshman year, she joined the lab of Luna, the biology professor, for the Summer Scholars program in 2022. She wanted to do research involving the human body, and she liked that Luna specialized in breast cancer research. Rodriguez has been a member of Luna’s lab ever since. She worked on a project to learn how different types of fat cells (brown and white) affect how breast cancer spreads, growing such cells in the lab and using a special microscope to examine how they change shape. She also helped the lab transition to employing 3D models to study breast cancer cells since, as she points out, “humans are 3D, so hopefully we make research a lot more relevant if we use a model that’s closer to us.” “Dr. Luna is the best mentor I’ve ever had,” Rodriguez said. “He’s very honest when it comes to meeting realistic goals but also supports me in the path that I want to follow. And he’s a very fun guy.” After she caught the research bug through Summer Scholars, Rodriguez set her sights even higher for the subsequent two summers, gaining acceptance to premier undergraduate research programs through Stanford University and the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle. Outside of the lab, she became heavily involved with both the Center for Training, Research and Educational Excellence (CTREE) – the hub for research-based initiatives at CSUSM – and The Alliance, a program aimed at increasing access to college education for area K-12 students. She also maintained a 3.96 GPA while being honored as one of the first two CSUSM students ever to receive a Barry Goldwater scholarship, a prestigious national award that recognizes leadership potential in research science. Of being a first-generation Latina scientist, Rodriguez said: “It has been difficult. Sometimes I feel like I’m behind, like I’m sprinting a marathon rather than jogging it. But I’ve learned to appreciate the small moments, whether it’s winning an award, having a happy time with my family and friends, or just chatting about life with Dr. Luna. Those moments motivate me to continue and overcome the hardships that I’ve gone through.” Luna and Denise Garcia, the director of CTREE, said Rodriguez is one of the most motivated and talented students they’ve encountered in their careers as professors. “I put her in the top 1% of students that I’ve worked with,” Luna said. “She displays a great deal of dedication, intellectual capacity and compassion. She is driven to be a leader and role model in the field of cancer research.” The drive is innate in Rodriguez. It was forged as a child as she watched her parents struggle to assimilate into American culture and establish a livelihood. It carried her through her high school years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when her whole family was stuck inside the rented room, which simultaneously brought them closer together and drove them crazy. Now, with her family having moved out and living in their own apartment, that inner drive will propel Rodriguez toward a doctorate in UC Irvine’s Cellular and Molecular Biosciences program, which she could start as soon as next month. “I’ve always been motivated to get a college degree and a Ph.D.,” she said. “Yes, I want to have a better life for myself, but more importantly, I want to thank my parents and make them proud.” Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306
- University Honors Outstanding 2025 GraduatesMore than 4,000 students are expected to graduate from Cal State San Marcos this academic year, including six standouts from the Class of 2025 who are receiving special recognition for their achievements. Honorees were nominated by faculty or staff and endorsed by their college’s dean. Here is a closer look at each award recipient: Alexandria (Alli) Mulqueen, psychological science President’s Outstanding Graduate Dean’s Award, College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences Mulqueen is engaged on campus and in the community, where she demonstrates unique commitment to her passion around disability inclusion, equity and justice. She serves as co-president of the Disability and Neurodiversity Alliance (also known as the CSUSM Best Buddies Chapter), which is aimed at empowering people to become advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and to bringing awareness to the disability rights movement. As the only student organization on campus focusing on neurodiversity and disability justice, Mulqueen’s leadership has provided a voice and place for community building, belonging, learning and advocacy for students with disabilities and allies. Learn more about Mulqueen. Tyler Glasser, business administration Gerevas Family Dean’s Award, College of Business Administration Glasser was selected for his collective leadership contributions to the college and the student community, including helping to advance the Cougar Fund. Through his leadership and knowledge, the Cougar Fund has enhanced its investment strategy and rebalanced the holdings of the fund’s portfolio. The diversification has helped mitigate risk and established a foundation for the financial sustainability of the Cougar Fund. As important, the knowledge and techniques introduced by Glasser will move the Cougar Fund’s chief investment officer position forward, motivating future leadership to new levels of performance. It has also enhanced student hands-on learning, a cornerstone of CoBA degree programs, better preparing Cougar Fund students for their future investment careers. Nathan Lenski, master's public health Dean’s Award, College of Education, Health and Human Services Lenski has consistently demonstrated exceptional research skills and a deep commitment to improving public health, particularly among vulnerable populations. Additionally, he has taken up the mantel of the department’s student organization, Graduate Organization of Public Health. He has accomplished this over the course of CSUSM’s accelerated Master of Public Health degree program while still employed full time for the County of San Luis Obispo. Lenski was lauded for his research capabilities and for being both intuitive and open to learning. His commitment to public health is not limited to his academic work but is also reflected in his actions. He seeks to leverage his research and leadership to create meaningful solutions. Maya Qaddourah, biochemistry Dean’s Award, College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Qaddourah has shown a remarkable commitment to leading efforts to support and encourage her peers and her community at a time when her peers were consumed by isolation, fear and self-doubt with all that is happening in the world. She did this all while balancing a heavy academic load and performing at an exceptionally high level in the classroom, demonstrating a deep commitment to interdisciplinary biochemical research that resulted in working in multiple labs across campus and bringing her research to the point of publication, almost unheard of at the undergraduate level. She also served as a teaching assistant in several advanced courses where it is unusual to have even one of these experiences. Even with such extraordinary academic and research accomplishments, what set Qaddourah apart was her insight into the importance of community and sense of belonging and her exceptional persistence that led her to develop a personal mission of leaving an enduring impact that fosters inclusivity, innovation and career readiness in STEM at CSUSM. Kate Carlson, master’s kinesiology Dean’s Award, Graduate Studies Carlson’s work ethic, attention to detail, professionalism, communication, reliability, leadership and organization skills are impressive to her peers and professors. These qualities were on full display during Carlson’s thesis defense on Feb. 20. Following the presentation, the committee unanimously agreed that it was the most exceptional master’s thesis project, defense and written document they had encountered in their academic careers. One committee member even noted that Carlson’s performance was on par with Ph.D. dissertation defenses from former students who now hold full or associate professor positions at top-tier research institutions. Miyah Walker, psychological sciences Dean of Students Leadership Award Walker’s ability to provide a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment for residents, while promoting wellness, has been a hallmark of her time as a resident adviser. Additionally, she has demonstrated exceptional counseling, mentorship and facilitation skills, leading educational conversations that center on personal development, cultural understanding and co-curricular programming in a diverse learning environment. Walker is a rare student who has integrated her studies, co-curricular experiences and embodies a holistic student experience at CSUSM. She has taken what she has learned in psychology and applied it to her RA and peer educator roles. After graduation, in the near term, Miyah intends to become a registered behavioral technician to work with autistic children. Her long-term goal is to earn a doctoral degree and work in underserved communities as a psychologist. Learn more about Walker. Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314
- Neufeldt Unveils Latest Exhibit of Student Art in Her HomeCal State San Marcos President Ellen Neufeldt remains committed to doing her part to showcase student artists. Neufeldt hosted about 40 people at her house on April 27 for a reception to unveil the third exhibition of student art in her home gallery. The exhibit features 11 pieces of art and was curated by Sarah Bricke, a professional artist and CSUSM alumna. Bricke also curated the previous display, which had hung in Neufeldt’s home for the past year. The four student artists are Emma Dill, Adel Bautista, Kaia Pappas and Erin Wilmot. More than 800 CSUSM students have a major or minor in the arts. A priority of the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences and the School of Arts is to increase space to showcase student artists, and to teach, rehearse and perform. Here’s the language that Bricke used in describing the exhibit, followed by artist statements: This exhibition brings together four emerging artists whose practices engage forms of portraiture as a site of experimentation. Though grounded in distinct mediums, each artist reimagines the portrait as more than likeness, exploring how it can function as a record of presence and experience. Dill’s photographic work, while not traditional portraits, centers the experience of live music and the ephemeral intensity of performance. Her images in this exhibition can be read as a “portrait” of a moment in time and associated emotional experience. Bautista utilizes nature photography alongside self-portraiture to convey internal states over physical representation. Her compositions reflect an engagement with the landscape as an element of portraiture. Pappas approaches the portrait through the labor-intensive process of woodblock printmaking. Her repeating images distort photographic clarity, reconfiguring familiar forms into graphic abstractions that invite multiple interpretations. Wilmot pushes the boundaries of the photographic portrait, layering found objects and expressive mark-making over photo substrates. Her tactile surfaces mirror the nonlinearity of childhood cognition, rendering portraiture as a fragmented, sensorial field of discovery. Together, these artists challenge conventional boundaries of the portrait, privileging intuition, memory and material play over realism. Their works collectively demonstrate how portraiture can serve as a flexible and generative framework for exploring identity, environment and the ever-shifting relationship between self and other. Emma Dill Music has been a constant presence for Dill – from singing pop and punk with a sibling to listening to alt-rock in the car with her parents – ultimately inspiring an eclectic taste that continues to evolve through college. With over a decade of experience in photography, she focuses her work on both live performance and conceptual image-making. By photographing concerts, she aims to capture the joy of shared musical experiences, offering fans the chance to relive the energy of their favorite artists. Her experimental and creative projects seek to introduce reflection and variation within an increasingly saturated visual culture. Whether through the thrill of live music or the stillness of constructed imagery, her practice explores the emotional and aesthetic dimensions of sound, performance and visual storytelling. Adel Bautista Baustista is a photographer and digital media artist based in Vista. Her work draws from travels across the United States and internationally. These journeys serve as emotional outlets, offering opportunities for reflection, clarity and well-being. Her practice is rooted in emotional awareness and the pursuit of balance – socially, emotionally, spiritually, environmentally, intellectually and physically. The resulting images are shared with the intention of encouraging positive ways to manage the stresses and challenges of daily life. As a survivor of physical and emotional abuse, she makes art that’s a declaration of resilience and strength. Bautista’s work champions emotional mindfulness as a foundation for personal health and communal empowerment. Kaia Pappas Pappas is a woodblock printmaker based in East Los Angeles. Her work explores photographic, posterized imagery translated through the tactile and deliberate process of hand carving. Influenced by artists like Shepard Fairey and Barbara Kruger, Pappas draws inspiration from portraiture, everyday life and the subtleties found in seemingly ordinary moments. Her compositions – often rendered in black and white – embrace ambiguity and interpretation, inviting viewers to engage with the image beyond surface clarity. Some works intentionally obscure their subject matter, reflecting the artist’s belief that little in life is ever truly black and white. Her work challenges perception while celebrating the emotional and visual power of contrast, process and reinterpretation. Erin Wilmot Wilmot is a mixed media artist whose recent work explores the emotional landscape and imaginative depth of childhood, inspired by a single moment captured at a family celebration. A spontaneous encounter with a child’s uninhibited play – particularly in the aftermath of a piñata explosion – served as the catalyst. Photographic prints from that day were later translated into hand-painted compositions. To foreground the painted medium, Wilmot first converted the photographs to black and white, creating a quiet visual pause for color, shape and texture to speak more vividly. Working intuitively, she incorporated found and local materials – spray-painted feathers, broken ornaments, string beads – to construct layered, tactile surfaces. With no strict blueprint, the process unfolds organically, reflecting the way children assign meaning to even the most ordinary objects. Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306
- D.C. Internship Pushes Students on Path Toward CareerKarli Llorens aspires to work for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Saba Wali wants to go to law school and become an international lawyer. Both Cal State San Marcos students took considerable steps toward their career ambitions this spring by participating in semester-long internships in Washington, D.C. Llorens and Wali were CSUSM’s representatives in Cal State DC Scholars, a program offered through Cal State Fullerton that gives students opportunities to earn academic credit while interning in the nation’s capital. Llorens, a second-year student who’s majoring in criminology and justice studies, worked for the U.S. Department of Labor. Wali, a third-year who’s a double major in political science and computer science, interned for the Washington International Trade Association, or WITA. “What I like best about my internship is gaining more research experience,” Llorens said. “Having the skills that come with doing thorough research will make it easier for me to be successful in my future career.” Said Wali: “The most valuable aspect of this internship is the network it provides. Each month, we’ve had the opportunity to attend lunches with board members representing diverse backgrounds in trade. Additionally, we can research event attendees and speakers to identify professionals whose careers align with our interests, allowing us to reach out and arrange coffee meetings for deeper insights.” Llorens chose to intern for the Department of Labor because she wanted to gain insight into working for the federal government. She worked with the head of the Employee Ownership Initiative, a new program that encourages business ownership by America’s workers. She also assisted with inquiries regarding the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, a federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established retirement and health plans. Outside of her internship and schoolwork (classes were Mondays and Wednesdays), Llorens lived in an apartment provided by an organization called Washington Intern Student Housing (WISH) and enjoyed exploring the city with other interns, including Wali. Because of her interest in international relations, Wali gravitated toward WITA, a nonprofit dedicated to providing a neutral forum for discussion of international trade policy and related issues. Her daily duties included communicating with WITA members and trade professionals, designing graphics, promoting events, conducting research, and expanding knowledge of international trade and trade policy. One of the particular benefits of Wali’s time in Washington was the chance, as a Pashtun Muslim, to connect with the robust Muslim and Afghan communities in the surrounding states of Maryland and Virginia. She too lived in WISH housing. “Living in a building filled with student interns has been an incredible experience,” Wali said. “Most of us share similar goals, and since we come from all over the world, there’s so much to learn and enjoy from each other.” An added bonus of both students’ Washington experience: the opportunity to meet with CSUSM President Ellen Neufeldt, who was in the capital last month as part of the CSU system’s annual Hill Week. “Meeting President Neufeldt really put it into perspective that I am doing something great for my community at CSUSM by being a representative for our university within the DC Scholars program,” Llorens said. “During my time on the Hill, I aim to showcase the strengths and greatness that are taught at CSUSM.” Media Contact Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306
