Ep. 10 - Welcome to 2021

Welcome to 2021 and Episode 9 of the CSUSB Advising Podcast! Fall finals are here! Get up to date on spring semester deadlines! Also, hear from two CSUSB students about navigating the university and tips for success! 

In this episode, we have:

• Marian Jimenez - Graduate of CSUSB
• Kevin Yang - Current student at CSUSB 

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Transcript

Star Wildes  
Welcome to the CSUSB Advising Podcast. Join us as we bring you the latest advising updates at Cal State San Bernardino. Each episode is specifically made for you the CSUSB students and parents. We provide you with advising tips, interviews with both CSUSB campus resources and those in academic advising. Sit back and enjoy. Go Yoties. 

Matt Markin  
Hey, Yoties, welcome to episode nine of the CSUSB advising podcast. My name is Matt Markin.

Star Wildes  
And Hi everyone. My name is Star Wildes. 

Matt Markin  
Hey Star Happy New Year. It's 2021 How are things going?

Star Wildes  
Going great. We made it happy 2021 Matt, how's everything been going with you?

Matt Markin  
I'm hoping for a bright 2021 I know for some of us, it may not seem like there's much of a difference from the end of 2020 to now, but I think that's going to be a great year. This year, definitely better than 2020 so we shall see. But we're about a week away from the spring semester starting. So Yoties, if you have any Saturday classes, those begin on Saturday, January 23 and regular weekday classes start on Monday, January 25 hopefully you all are excited to be attending for spring and getting back into those classes. But please make sure to check your mycoyote account so your Student Center, if you're checking Blackboard for whether your classes are synchronous or asynchronous, maybe your instructor has already posted information regarding the class. And there is going to be a small percentage of you who have classes that might be scheduled to meet on campus, but you should have, or will receive info from your instructors if you're in one of those classes regarding if and when you will be on campus. So for the time being, classes will be virtual. And a couple updates on some other dates. Is January 27 is if you did take any winter intercession classes, grades should be available by that point on your Student Center. Now regarding spring, the spring the last day to add open classes via your MyCoyote is January 29 after that beginning February 1, it is a permission process that requires approvals, and that goes from February 1 through census date, which is February 22 and you can, if you need to do anything with permission request, You can submit those through your mycoyote account, and February 22 is spring census, so that is the last day that you can add or drop without record of enrollment. But star, we have a couple great guests on this podcast.

Star Wildes  
We do Matt and thank you so much for sharing that information. One of our special guests here is Mariana Jimenez, a recent CSUSB graduate, and also she worked with our office as a student assistant and also a student success peer advisor. So please join us as we listen to Mariana.

Star Wildes  
Joining us is recent CSUSB graduate, Mariana Jimenez. She is also one of our former student success peer advisors, and very involved in clubs and organizations in which she will share with us during her interview, Mariana earned a Bachelor's of Arts in communications. She has also earned a minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Mariana is applying to grad school, and we are excited to have her here with us. Let us welcome Mariana Jimenez,

Matt Markin  
Hey, Mariana, welcome to the podcast. 

Mariana Jimenez  
Hi. Welcome everyone. Thank you so much for having me. 

Matt Markin  
So Star read a fantastic bio, and we know that you're a recent graduate of Cal State, San Bernardino, but can you tell us a little bit more about yourself, and you know why you chose Cal State, San Bernardino, as your school to attend?

Mariana Jimenez  
Yes. So first of all, I am a first generation college student. I am the oldest in my family to go to college, to graduate high school, and I am the first one to really graduate and receive a bachelor's degree. So the reason why I decided to go to Cal State San Bernardino was because I do live very close to the campus. So not only was it a good commute for me, but it was also one of the better options financially and most of the information I was gathering, I just wanted to steer it more towards a more comfortable, more accessible kind of campus where I know that if I ever had any troubles, I could come back home and get assistance from my family if I ever needed it. So that's definitely a reason to why I decided to go to Cal State. San Bernardino.

Star Wildes  
That's awesome, Mariana, and I know that you were involved here at Cal State. So can you tell us a little bit about your involvement? Any clubs and organizations you want to give shout outs to? But what made you also involved in these clubs and our organizations?

Mariana Jimenez  
Definitely. So I was involved in the EOP student association. In I was accepted into the EOP program, and that really drove me towards wanting to give back. The EOP program is a program that really assists students that are first generation, low income, minorities, much like myself, and a lot of the resources that I was provided by them really inspired me and made me very thankful for a program like EOP, there are other programs on campus, much like sale and honor programs and a lot of other different STEM related programs that are very giving to the students and provide resources. For me, it was definitely EOP and sail as well who provided me with a lot of resources and support throughout my whole for four years in Cal State, San Bernardino, and because I was so thankful, I wanted to give back in any way that I could. So I joined the EOP student association as a vice president, and later on as the president. And when I was there, we did a lot of community service. We did volunteer, we had meetings, and we steered it a lot towards getting back to not only the campus but the community. We would do volunteer service that would that would be towards a company or a business called the Center Incorporated, where we would be giving presents to people who were low income, which was very during the holidays, it was something we would do so specifically around these times, we would help give presents and clothing to parents who were low income. So it was very, very fulfilling to know that I was able to give back to the community. And apart from the EOP I was in sale, I was able to conduct a painting, a little painting session with sail. And in that we were able to during finals season, we're able to kind of help other students relax a little bit, because I know finals can be very stressful, not only just academically, but just overall, because there's a lot of different factors that go into finals, it's the assignments they're all due towards the end of the semester, all the finals that are Coming up, tests and then also just home and work life that all is being combined. So it was a really good opportunity to kind of have something for students to relax and just be a little bit more at ease for a couple 30-40, minutes.

Matt Markin  
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I think every minute counts that they can have some type of engagement, but then also kind of take a little break as well. Now, as a graduate of Cal State San Bernardino, can you talk more about your major and what made you pursue that major, kind of what guided you to that major and minor?

Mariana Jimenez  
Yeah, of course. So my major is in communications, and it's a major in the College of Arts and Letters. But that really wasn't where I started. I started as a student from the College of Natural Sciences. I came in as a bio major. And the reason why I was a bio major was because I was very interested in the nursing program. But this interest didn't really strive for myself, I guess I came into Cal State San Bernardino, not really knowing who I was or what I wanted to do for the rest of my time here at Cal State. So when I was in the bio program, I've definitely been a student who loves chemistry and math, which can sound very surprising, and the classes were very interesting, and I did enjoy them, but personally, I know the major biology was not something that I can work with for the future, so I definitely went into being as resourceful as I could. I met with counselors from the Career Center. I met with counselors from the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Natural Sciences, just to seek another program that would be best for me and my career goals, which, at the moment, I still didn't know what they were, and I know that when we're in college, there's a lot of societal pressure to find a major and to know what you're going to do for the rest of your Life, whether it be because when you're at home, your parents, your family members or friends can ask you, Hey, like, what's your major or what are you going to do for the rest of your four years? It's very difficult to say. I'm not sure yet, or I'm still undeclared, but being resourceful and trying to find as many as much information as you can on the degrees on campus can really be helpful in answering those questions and maybe saying something along the lines of, I'm still searching for something, but I'm very interested in a major under the College of Arts Letters, or under the College of social behavioral sciences. So. When I did get all these all these support and advisement from these career counselors and advisors, I was able to find that communications was something that I was very interested in, and even though I didn't know what I was going to do with it, I really knew that the classes were something that I would enjoy learning about and something that I was going to be very dedicated in and interested in learning. 

Star Wildes  
And thank you so much for sharing that. And as you know, our office, we advise students who may be undecided, or maybe there's students out there that's listening, that may be in a major and they're not so sure if that major is for them. So I really appreciate you providing that encouragement and advice. But when you think about you know resources that you encourage students to take advantage of during this time, you know virtually and also, for those really thinking about students who may be undecided, I know you had mentioned you had sought out help from a career counselor that you went to your major advisor, what other resources do you encourage students to take advantage of, especially as we are virtually to explore their major or just for help in general?

Mariana Jimenez  
I think now that we're in this virtual environment, it has become a little bit of an easier way to get resource and resources and get advisement, not only because we don't really have to physically go into a meeting, but because we can just do it here from the comfort of our own home, maybe even in our car, if it's during our 15 minute break from work. So it helps, because you don't have to turn your camera on, and really it could just be like a one on one conversation with someone, and I think in regards to the resources that are very beneficial for students, regards to finding a major or a program that's more better geared toward them, definitely the Career Center, there's many, many advisors there. So if you maybe meet with one advisor and you don't specifically like or agree with everything that they might be recommending, you can always try a different career counselor from that same center. Everyone can give you a different opinion and just different information that you can go based off of. I think it's very important to if you have any questions regard to a certain major, or if you have a major that you might be interested in, but you're not too sure to seek advising or to seek mentoring from an advisor in that specific major, because who the perfect person to really tell you about that major and what classes you're going to need is someone who advises for that major, someone who knows what classes are required from you, someone who can kind of give you an idea of what classes you're going to need to fulfill that major in regards to what you have already done. And also just maybe talking to people that have who have been enrolled in that degree and in that major, and kind of talk to them about what the classes are like, how the professors are, what they might want to do with that major. Because maybe what you want to do with, let's say, for example, a biology major would be completely different with for what someone else wants to do with a biology major. So I think those are three very important factors, and also maybe just Googling it. Google what you can do with a biology major, with the criminal justice major, there is multiple options to what you can do with one major. It's not just one one certain degree, one certain career that you have with that major. So I think just kind of looking it up and trying to find as much info that you can is kind of the best way to go. 

Matt Markin  
Absolutely. And I mean, you mentioned Google, and that is a lot of people's best friend is to google it, and it's how easy it is. And even just another website to throw out there is the bls.org The Bureau of Labor Statistics, where, if you have like, a career in mind, you can type in that career, and it'll give you a lot of information in terms of, like, the education that you might need, and that can also help out with some of that research that students might be able to do. Now, you know we talked about resources. Do you have any words of encouragement or anything you'd like to tell students who might be continuing on in this virtual learning environment for the spring semester?

Mariana Jimenez  
Yes, so I definitely like to live by just knowing that nothing is forever. Everything that might be troublesome or might be difficult at the moment is only temporary. I know the virtual setting and virtual learning environment could be a little bit challenging for some students. I know it was for me. I did graduate June 2020, my last two semesters, my last two quarters, at the moment, were virtual, so it was a bit of a challenge. So I definitely understand that the virtual environment is a little bit more challenging. For some it might be a little easier. So just knowing that this virtual environment isn't going to be forever, there will be improvements. It does get better, specifically with finals and just starting new classes, try to be as resourceful as you can. I'm not telling you to memorize your syllabus, but definitely took a really good look at it, put alarms and reminders on your calendar. It does get better, and at the end of the day, when you receive that diploma, you're going to look back and be very grateful and very proud of yourself for getting through. So I believe in you all, I finally did it. I was the first in my family to graduate, the oldest in my family. Now I'm able to encourage my little sisters and help them through their way towards graduation, so you can do it as well. I believe in you all, and I definitely look forward to seeing you all with your cap and gown down one day.

Star Wildes  
That is awesome, and we all do. And thank you so much for that, Mariana, that's amazing encouragement for all our students out there. We have one last question for you, Mariana. And since this episode will be posted in January, do you have any new year's resolutions or goals that you would like to share with our fellow yodes Or anybody listening?

Mariana Jimenez  
Yeah, definitely. So personally, I am going to be, I currently am applying into grad programs, and I know a lot of our graduating students will be as well. So a very important tip is look into those deadlines and be as resourceful as you can. Take many notes and definitely look into your future. There might be times where we feel like we might be stuck, especially, especially with our circumstances. Right now, we feel like we're kind of just sitting here and not really knowing what the next move is going to be or how we're going to grow ourselves. But the days keep going. Time keeps going. Within maybe three years, I'm going to be I'm going to be 25 so those three years are going to pass whether or not I get a degree. So at the end of the day, I just try to make the best out of your time. Every day is a is an opportunity to learn, to grow, to become a better person, and even though there might be some issues that might be going on, some problems or mistakes that might have been made in the past, there's all every day is an opportunity to grow and to learn from that. And I think it's very important to just learn from your past and keep growing and keep going on, because the only person who is going to make you a better you as yourself. So just keep going and you got this. It only gets better from here.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, that's a that's a perfect way, I think, to sum it up. And I think a lot of lot of great motivation there for for students to hear it also, I think for Star myself to hear that from you. I think that's really amazing. And we look forward to seeing all the great things that you're going to continue to do in 2021 and years into the future. But Marianna, thank you so much for joining us. It was, it was such a pleasure. 

Mariana Jimenez  
Thank you so much. It was a great um, it was a great pleasure being here with you all. Thank you so all for listening.

Matt Markin  
Thank you so much, Mariana for that interview. And congrats again on being a graduate of Cal State San Bernardino, and you had a wealth of knowledge and information that we hope you yodes got from Marianas interview, but we do have another interview with another student at Cal State San Bernardino, and that is with Kevin Yang. Kevin is a current student at Cal State San Bernardino and is also a peer advisor within advising and academic services. So let's jump right into Kevin's interview. You Matt. All right, so we just heard from one of our former peer advisors, Mariana, who recently graduated, and now we're going to be speaking to another one of our employees in our office, Kevin Yang, who has been working in advising academic services for two years, who started out as a front counter student assistant and is also now a peer advisor. He's pretty much our go to for a lot of help that we might need. He's majoring in environmental studies. He enjoys painting, walking, hiking, cleaning and also singing. Maybe we'll ask him to sing on this podcast episode. We'll see if he will. And he's going to be graduating, hopefully soon, in fall of 2021 Kevin, welcome to the podcast.

Kevin Yang  
Hi there. Thank you, Matt. Thank you so much. I am honored to be onto this podcast. I'm honestly very excited about joining it, because it's like my first podcast. So it's, it's, I feel like it's a interesting and. exciting opportunity for me.

Star Wildes  
Well, I am. We are excited, Kevin. And thank you so so much, and I'm taking that up on what he just mentioned about the singing. Definitely want to hear your amazing voice. I've never heard it a couple times here featured on our social media. But thank you again for joining us. So here's some. The first question here is, you know, I know you've been taking courses virtually, so how have you been handling taking courses in this virtual setting, in this virtual environment?

Kevin Yang  
Honestly, it's been very, at least to me, it's been very difficult. Because, especially like, since I'm a peer advisor and I meet several students, it's interesting how, like, some students, you know, actually handle it well, you know, like they like online, they like doing online or virtual courses. And then you also meet other kinds of students who find it difficult, just like myself, and I feel like it's, it's the adaptation to, like, at least learning, like physically, like going inside a class, seeing the professor, like you're actually interacting with students around you. And so I think it's that, it's that adaptation part that it's difficult for us, because when you transition to online, it's completely different. It's something that we've never really done since we've been mainly going to school, like, since elementary up until college, just, you know, learning, like, go, like, physically going to school. And so I myself find it very difficult as well. And I mean, I'm a fourth year too, so like, it's, it's, it's interesting the way how different people handle it. And to me, I think it's still great that we still get to have, of course, like online learning courses, where we could learn virtually, but it is kind of like different in a way, for a lot of us. 

Matt Markin  
And, you know, I mentioned being a fourth year student, and so as a student, you at Cal State San Bernardino, you were attending Cal San Bernardino when we were on campus, and then when we kind of had to do this 180 and go to all virtual with your classes, and now been continuing on with those. So I guess with that, you know, we talked about your the virtual experience as a student. How have your instructors, you know, been doing with with teaching these classes virtually.

Kevin Yang  
So with the instructors, some, some of my courses require me to to attend, like zoom, meetings at specific days and times while other ones are it's literally you just do your work on Blackboard, and there's like, no, like, videos, no, nothing is literally just PowerPoints posted on your Blackboard page, and you just have to review it and then take a quiz or a midterm or final afterwards. So honestly, like, the way, how I feel, like, how professors handle it. It's, I don't know how to describe it. I feel like each professor has their own, like, different teaching techniques when it comes to online as well. Because some professors, you can tell like they actually do want to meet with students still, and some professors maybe they're just not, they don't I guess they're not sure on how to like pre record, like meeting or like their lectures. So I feel like sometimes even professors struggle with especially with teaching online or virtually as well. 

Star Wildes  
Thank you so much for sharing that, Kevin. I know that you know it is new for some professors as well, who taught over like 20 plus years just in person. So may I maybe ask, are there any campus resources you've used that you found beneficial, whether that was during, you know, the time that we've been on campus, or during this virtual time of learning?

Kevin Yang  
Yeah, so I've actually been to the tutoring center. There's several, like, tutoring centers, but the one I I'm not sure, like, which specific tutoring center it was, but it was in the University Hall, so our building. So I would go to the tutoring center back when I was, like a sophomore, because I needed help in a course, and I found it, honestly, very helpful, because there's a lot of plenty of tutors there, and every time I would go in, there's just like, there's like, no students. And to my surprise, it's, I mean, yeah, it is surprising, really, because there's not like many students who take advantage of that resource. And you know, some students like myself, like I've struggled with courses, and I need help and assistance, and maybe if I go to someone else, you know, I can get a better understanding or clarification of what I'm actually learning about in that course too. And I found that really helpful for me. And there's also si instructors too. So I know certain courses, especially like biology 1000 they have si instructors, where it's also students as well. And they, you know, they basically go over all the topics that you've just recently learned from your professor that same specific. Day as well. So I found those to be very helpful for me to better understand the material in the courses.

Matt Markin  
And many of these resources, you know, they're covered in campus, fees that that, that students pay, and you know, it's, it's something that I really wish that a lot of students will hopefully take advantage of, and hopefully hearing from you and seeing that it was beneficial that they'll utilize those resources in the future, especially during spring semester. Now, let's kind of change over to majors. Now, as a Cal State San Bernardino student, you're majoring in environmental studies. So can you talk more about why you chose that major, what that major is all about?

Kevin Yang  
Honestly, this goes back way into high school, so when, when I was, like, still a senior in high school, I was picking up, I was looking around, like, majors specifically. And one of the majors that I was, like, really interested in was, like, environmental science. And so, of course, Cal State, San Bernardino, didn't offer specifically environmental science and and I was okay with that, too. And then I started looking at other colleges as well to see kind of like, if they have a field related to that, as as environmental science. And interesting enough I was, I was going to commit to attending Humboldt State University as well. And so it was between either Humboldt State or Cal State San Bernardino, whichever one I wanted to attend. So it was a very difficult choice for me to pick out financially. I felt like it was a better option if I attended Cal State San Bernardino, just because I knew that it was I would practically be in debt if I went to a different university, far away from where, like, my hometown was, where I where I didn't have like, any sort of, like knowledge of, like budgeting, or finances, really. And so I decided to attend Cal State, San Bernardino, and stick with environmental studies. And honestly, what interested me into it was that I knew, for some reason, like, I felt like there was going to be some sort, I feel like, yeah, there was going to be some sort of, like, like, job, I guess job, job explode, say, explosion, job, like, increase in, like, the, I guess, the environmental like fields since, at least right now too, you see a lot of like, people urging or like questioning a lot about like the environment, really, how like the ice is, like melting, or climate change and things like that. And so I felt really interested in in trying to be a part of that movement as well. And that's honestly kind of like why I joined it at first, and then it started to transition over more into just having this interest into GIS as well, which is geographic information systems. And so that transition over from environmental studies to GIS. It was a completely like different turn, which I did not expect as well. And so I'm very like interested in GIS, where you can, of course, build your own kind of like map and get to see the statistics, and data of a lot of of really, basically what's on the map, or whatever, like you may be showing on the map or displaying to the audience as well. And that's what I've mainly had an interest in ever since, like, I've joined that major.

Matt Markin  
And you mentioned Humboldt and Star, I don't know if you I don't know I've ever told you, I almost went to Humboldt.

Star Wildes  
What I got

Matt Markin  
I got accepted to as an undergrad. I got accepted to Cal State San Bernardino and Humboldt. Those are the only two schools I applied to. And part of me just wanted to just leave, get far away from Southern California. And financial aid wise, Cal San Bernardino gave me, like, all these grants and all the free money. Humboldt wanted to only give me loans. And then I started thinking, I was like, that's I've got to pay these back, and I have to do this for like, four years now. I'm going to go to Cal State San Bernardino. And then also part of me, I was like, I feel like I'm gonna get homesick if I go to Humboldt, because it's, like, in the middle of nowhere. It's just surrounded by, you know, trees. 

Star Wildes  
But wow, I did not know that. I've known you for, like, what we're 18 years, and I did not know that about you. I always thought CSUSB was your place to go. So now I know, and we're going to go into what do you like about being a CSUSB student?

Kevin Yang  
Oh, man, that that answer is gonna be like, okay, so what do I like about being a CSUSB student? Honestly, I like the interactions that I've had, especially with you guys and with my other fellow students. At Cal State, San Bernardino as well. It's I like meeting, like, new people and just building relationships with them too. And I feel like everyone else is just kind of, like, very excited to meet one another and just introduce oneself and just just really, just, like, have a conversation and just have fun, honestly, like, besides, like just learning and like being a student, like just, you know, attending classes, there's more to every individual as well. Besides just going to school, working and then coming back home as well, it's interesting, you know, just meeting new people, having conversations with them, getting to know more about them again. Just back to that, building relationships with them, and being a CSUSB student has given me the opportunity as well to reach out to certain organizations and clubs to help out our campus, other nonprofit organizations, maybe even other organizations off campus as well. And so being able to kind of network with others has given me that opportunity to reach out to organizations or just build that networking skill with others as well. And so it's been very I felt like it's the opportunities that came up to me were very beneficial for me.

Matt Markin  
Yeah, and you mentioned opportunity networking organization. So it's very much a community, not just within the community of Cal State, San Bernardino, but just even locally, just statewide, even worldwide. So it's we're all connected somehow. And with this interview, this is being posted in the beginning of January. So we're now in 2021, for any listeners that are listening to this right now, do you have any new year's resolutions or goals? 

Kevin Yang  
With goals in mind, like, Oh man, I do want to definitely graduate. I mean, I'm only, like, one year away left, so I'm definitely like at that end Mark already, you know? And so I'm looking forward to graduate fall 2021 so I'm looking forward to graduate hopefully. I mean, I'm looking at jobs too, because I know that after I graduate as well. I'm not sure if I've decided to fully go into a master's program yet, but I have tried to also think about attending a master's program as well, just in case, I do want to continue my education. And then, in addition to that, I'm just looking for other jobs on the side as well, just in case, maybe I'll find something related within my field, so that I can actually start working as well. So, yeah, those are just like my a few of like, my personal goals in terms of, just like college. 

Star Wildes  
Kevin, best to you, and thank you so much for joining us. We're so appreciative of your time, and we look forward to you graduating fall 2021 it is. We'll be, you know, celebrating with you. But again, thank you so much, everyone. Happy New Year. Because once you hear this, it'll be a new year. You know, spring is going to be amazing. Keep it up. I know we're doing this virtually again. Look out for our upcoming, you know, podcast coming out and again. Thank you so much for listening.

Star Wildes  
Thank you so much for all that information, Kevin and thank you again for joining us. So yodes, we want to again, make sure that you are prepared for this coming term. If you have any questions, please don't be afraid to reach out to us via our social media platforms. You can follow us via any of the social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok at CSUSB, advising so yodes. With that being said, Please take care. We look forward to you joining us virtually again this coming spring, 2021 take care.