Editor's Note: Interviews for this article took place in late 2019. It’s 9 a.m. on a school day, but Paola Gonzalez isn’t in a lecture hall. She’s leading a rapt circle of four-year-olds in a rousing rendition of “Slippery Fish” at the YWCA preschool in Compton. “Slippery fish, slippery fish, gulp gulp gulp,” she sings, wriggling her hands as the children squeal with delight. Gonzalez, a fourth-year theatre arts major at CSUDH, is well experienced in putting on a show. As a team leader for Jumpstart, she has ample opportunity to put those creative skills to good use. Each week, Gonzalez and her team of fellow Jumpstart volunteers plan and deliver an engaging curriculum for local ... Read More
community service
Male Success Alliance Celebrates 10 Years of Empowering Students of Color
(Carson, Calif.) California State University, Dominguez Hills’ (CSUDH) innovative Male Success Alliance (MSA) program is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The first of its kind in California to address retention and graduation rates among male college students, and high school dropout rates and access to higher education for boys of color, the MSA has garnered accolades and the funding to help develop similar programs statewide. Primarily serving African American and Latino males, but open to all ethnicities, the MSA was established in 2009 with a small group of seven CSUDH students. A decade later, the program has grown to approximately 80 members and, over recent years, has seen an ... Read More
