A Message From President Morishita: August 2019
- August 1, 2019
In the summer, Cal State East Bay remains busy and our students are hard at work in their communities and around the world. Here on campus, our orientation leaders escort groups of new freshmen, transfer students and their families on tours of the university. Incoming students benefit from hearing personal stories and advice on how to make it through college.
One innovative program designed to help first year students acclimate is the new “Five to Build” summer bridge program. For two weeks, students attend small, immersive classes to help develop the confidence, skills and support needed to thrive in college. A key component of Five to Build involves developing a problem-based project focused on social justice issues. Students work closely with faculty, peer academic counselors and staff to research, create and present a t-shirt campaign highlighting possible solutions to such large scale problems as plastic in the oceans or how to provide access to health care for immigrants. The relationships they form in the program become invaluable resources at the start of the year.
Off campus and around the globe, Cal State East Bay is making connections and improving lives. Closer to home, the Hayward Promise Neighborhoods program hosts summer reading events at local parks to encourage literacy among students from the community’s most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Halfway around the globe, students Alex Penaflor, Guanhao Su and Madeline Monroy are in a summer internship program, working alongside world-renowned scientists at CERN, the world’s largest particle collider. Engineering students led by faculty member Fadi Castronovo recently returned from Orvieto, Italy where they presented the mayor with their research on best practices for using virtual and augmented reality to teach about historical architecture.
All of this work is exemplary of the Cal State East Bay students, faculty and staff who make the world their classroom. We look forward to learning about their experiences and perspectives when they return to campus next month. Wherever in the world your summer plans take you, I hope you spend time doing what you love while you recharge and prepare for the exciting school year ahead.