Some 4,400 athletes from 168 delegations joined the Parade of Nations in the Place de la Concorde on Aug. 28 to mark the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, and a proud graduate of CSUDH’s certificate program in orthotics and prosthetics walked among them. Para canoeist Jillian Elwart, 41, will make her Paralympic debut at the Vaires-Sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Sept. 6. Her event is a 200m sprint in a Va’a, an outrigger-style canoe fitted with a float on one side. Elwart’s Paralympic journey began in 2014 after a whitewater expedition in Mexico introduced her to para canoe sprinting. Meeting Paralympian Kelly Allan, who represented the U.S. in Rio in 2016, gave ... Read More
Features
Toro Alum Works to Share History of Early Civil Rights Activists
Edwin Henderson might not live anywhere near CSUDH, but his experience after taking teacher credential courses here shows how the Toro community’s commitment to social justice transcends distance and history. Henderson taught elementary school in the Compton Unified School District in the 1980s, attending CSUDH to take the required courses to renew his teaching credential. He later moved to Falls Church, Virginia, teaching in public schools there until his retirement in 2012. It was there in Northern Virginia that Henderson started his work commemorating the region’s early civil rights history. He founded the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation in 1997 to research and preserve the critical ... Read More
NFL Internship Opens Up New Horizons for CSUDH Sophomore
Ty Herring never imagined that as a college student he would get a glimpse behind the curtain at the NFL’s West Coast headquarters in Inglewood. But for two weeks in June, he worked side by side with the creative team that packages game footage and graphics for the NFL Insider television program. “You walk into this incredible atmosphere,” says Herring, recalling the moment he arrived at the headquarters. “Highlight clips are playing on all the TV monitors, and team branding is hanging everywhere. It was amazing.” Herring, who will be a sophomore in the fall semester, was one of 20 students selected from a pool of more than 300 applicants for a paid internship in the NFL’s Technical ... Read More
Homecoming — The Encore Hits All the Right Notes as Alums Show Their Toro Pride
The sounds of live music and the scents of local food vendors filled the Sculpture Garden at CSUDH on June 22 as an estimated 500 alumni, faculty, administrators, and their family members marked Homecoming 2024 in an event dubbed The Encore. Severe storm forecasts earlier in the year preempted a week of festivities originally scheduled in February. The warm June weather could not have been more accommodating as attendees relaxed in the shade, danced to the music of DW3 and the CSUDH Jazz Ensemble, or mingled with fellow alums in the beer and wine garden. Cedric Hicks, Sr., Carson city councilmember and graduate of CSUDH along with his parents, wife, and daughter, reminded attendees ... Read More
Love and Resilience Crucial to Success of Project Rebound Grad Christopher Carson
Christopher Carson once found himself on a dangerous trajectory. He was born and raised on 107th Street and South Vermont Avenue, an area long acquainted with gang culture and the violence that accompanies it. “It’s what you’re used to when you live with it,” says Carson. “It’s what you know.” In 2016, a court convicted Carson of attempted murder and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. But for the steadfast love of family and friends, and the timely intervention of unexpected mentors, Carson might have succumbed to the hopelessness of the prison industrial complex and come to believe that he would only ever be defined by his mistakes. Instead, he joined some 4,400 other students on ... Read More
