• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Features
  • Campus News
  • CSUDH.edu
  • Contact
  • People
    • Staff Spotlight
    • Faculty Highlights
    • Alumni
  • Magazine
  • For Journalists
    • CSUDH In The News
    • Press Releases
    • Facts and Figures
    • Find Media Experts
    • Gallery
    • News Reporting on Campus

CSUDH News

The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

Homecoming

Toro Community Celebrates Homecoming 2023

February 21, 2023 By Kandis Newman

Toro Community Celebrates Homecoming 2023

Hundreds of CSUDH alumni from throughout the state descended on the campus during Homecoming 2023, enjoying a week-long slate of activities and opportunities to connect with old friends.

The event kicked off with an opening ceremony in front of the Leo F. Cain. University Library, and culminated on Saturday, Feb. 18, with an outdoor brunch, games and activities on the North Lawn, and a pair of basketball games at the Torodome.

At Monday’s opening ceremony, several speakers got the event rolling by describing their pride at attending CSUDH and happiness at seeing the campus growing and thriving. Former mayor of Lynwood and current Alumni Advisory Council President José Solache was in attendance, saying, “I’m full of pride for this event, and anything we can do as a campus to promote more pride and spirit. We should be proud of where we’re at.”

“We really want alumni to give to the campus, not only financially, but with their time and commitment,” he added. “We want to create that exciting vibe where our Toros want to get involved because they’re proud to bring their families or significant others back home to campus.”

Other Homecoming Week activities included an alumni, faculty, and staff social held at the Alumni Brick Courtyard, where guests enjoyed drinks and light refreshments, and Teddy Toro was on hand for high-fives and selfies. On Friday night, the brothers and sisters of CSUDH’s Greek community stepped out in style at the annual D9 Greek Yardshow, hosted by the Delta Sigma Theta sorority’s Pi Chi chapter. The jubilant crowd enjoyed an evening of spirited dance routines, shouted history lessons, and playful crowd interaction.

The Saturday morning Homecoming Brunch Bash wrapped up the week, with inflatables and a soft play area for children on the North Lawn. A “Drag Bingo” event was held, as well as performances by representatives from CSUDH cultural resource centers, and demonstrations by the Snap Inc. Institute for Technology & Education, and the CSUDH Mobile Fabrication Labs, who produced personalized bags for Toro alumni and friends.

Saturday’s events ended with a pair of basketball games at the Torodome, where the number-five-ranked women’s team beat Cal State Los Angeles 64-61, which clinched the Toros’ first California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) title since the 2015-2016 season. Their win was followed by the men’s squad defeating Cal State LA 68-61. A beer garden and food from In-N-Out was available for fans outside the gym.

As Director of Alumni Relations Felicia Hernandez put it, “There’s a lot for CSUDH alumni to be proud of. The campus has grown over the years, and Homecoming is an important reminder of what our graduates helped build in the years they were here. By coming back for Homecoming, they can continue to build this community for the next generation.”

Toro Community Celebrates Homecoming 2023
Toro Community Celebrates Homecoming 2023
Women's Basketball CCAA Champions 2022-2023
Toro Community Celebrates Homecoming 2023
Toro Community Celebrates Homecoming 2023
Toro Community Celebrates Homecoming 2023

Homecoming Is Every Day for These Toro Alums

February 16, 2023 By Philip Bader

engagement photo
A newly engaged Mark Kerr and Paola Carbajal at CSUDH.

What do Dance Dance Revolution, Dungeons & Dragons, and theatre arts have in common? For alumni Mark Kerr and Paola Carbajal, these were just a few of the building blocks for their deep commitment to each other and their devotion to the Toro community.

Perhaps no previous (or future) Toro alums have had as close a relationship with the campus as Kerr and Carbajal. CSUDH is their alma mater and employer. They were married on campus, and they’ve lived in student housing for the last eight years.

“It’s quite a legacy story,” says Carbajal. “It’s not always ideal to live where you work. Some day we would like to have a house of our own. But we’ve made a good life here for us and for our two cats, Freyja and Gutz.”

Kerr and Carbajal met on campus in 2008, though each tells the story a little differently. “We met in the old game room at Loker Student Union, where we would play Dance Dance Revolution,” Kerr says. “Paola was in between relationships, and I was single. We just vibed.”

Visit our DH Stories page to read more about those special people that Toro alums found on campus-lifelong friends, academic mentors, and even the loves of their lives!

As Carbajal tells it, she was singing Karaoke during a session of Rock Band when Kerr introduced himself. “Mark thought he would be funny by coming up during my song and asking what was dying,” she says, laughing. “I knew it was a joke, but my friends were really angry.”

Both are local South Bay kids. Kerr grew up in Lawndale and attended El Camino College before transferring to CSUDH in 2005. Carbajal was raised in nearby Wilmington and started at CSUDH right after graduation from Bishop Montgomery High School in 2007.

Walks along the Pike in Long Beach, a shared passion for music and theatre–they both majored in theatre arts at CSUDH–and of course, Dungeons & Dragons, convinced them that they had found something special.

Onstage image from She Kills Monsters
Paola Carbajal, left, and Mark Kerr, lying at her feet, in a CSUDH production of She Kills Monsters.

Kerr says it wasn’t just one thing but an accumulation of things that convinced him he’d found true love. “She’s 100% down for Dungeons & Dragons. She even wanted her own dice. When she took on different creative projects and theatre roles, she told me she’d be happier if I was a part of those projects with her,” Kerr said. “Over time, I was just, like, I don’t ever want to leave this person.”

Kerr had completed his bachelor’s degree when he met Carbajal. He was working as a student counselor for the College of Health, Human Services and Nursing while starting on his Master of Education degree. Carbajal’s path to graduation took a more circuitous route.

“Mark got to see me go through many different majors. I even transferred to Harbor College for a time, but I came back and finally settled on a degree in theatre arts,” Carbajal says. “I was fortunate to have my own personal student counselor to help me through some difficult times.”

The two also worked together in campus theatrical productions of Biloxi Blues, a modern retelling of MacBeth, set among Mexican drug cartels, and She Kills Monsters–a comedic take on, you guessed it, Dungeons & Dragons.

“There’s a photo of the first time we both appeared together on stage in She Kills Monsters. You wouldn’t know it because I’m on a platform, and he’s lying on the ground dead,” says Carbajal.

Bulletin wedding photo
Kerr and Carbajal make the front page of CSUDH’s The Bulletin.

Carbajal graduated in 2013 and accepted a job with student housing as a residential life coordinator. A year later, she and Kerr were married during a ceremony in the sculpture garden, followed by a reception in the student union. “We were still young professionals. I had just graduated, and money was tight,” says Carbajal. 

November 2024 will mark Kerr and Carbajal’s 10th wedding anniversary, and Kerr says he hopes to have some kind of celebration on campus. “We’re not thinking of anything massive, but it would be nice to do something in the sculpture garden again.”

Carbajal, who has one year left to finish her master’s degree in educational administration, says they’re still talking about options, including a vow renewal ceremony. “We were so young when we got married. 25-year-old me is different in some ways from who I am now. Renewing our vows would be a good way to solidify this new chapter in our lives.”

As for life on campus, it has its advantage and disadvantages, says Kerr. “I love being here. Most of our students have a really great vibe. But it can be stressful. When you’re an advisor, or a residential life coordinator like Paola, the job doesn’t just end at 5 p.m.,” Kerr says.

“I might come across a student in the commons area who’s dealing with a family loss,” Kerr adds. “I can’t just turn my counselor mode off. It might be 7 p.m., I might be hungry or have a headache. But the student needs me. That’s what we do. That’s why we’re here.”

Primary Sidebar

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
2nd in Economic Mobility

Press Releases

Installation view of “Personal, Small, Medium, Large, Family”

CSUDH University Art Gallery Presents “Personal, Small, Medium, Large, Family” by Mario Ybarra, Jr.

September 19, 2023

Student walking near Science and Innovation building on campus.

CSUDH Recognized as a Top Performer in the 2023 Sustainable Campus Index

September 15, 2023

Map showing geography of Southern California

Getty Foundation Awards CSUDH $180,000 for Brackish Water Los Angeles

May 9, 2023

See all Press Releases ›

CSUDH in the News

Installation view of “Personal, Small, Medium, Large, Family”

Daily Breeze: Upcoming CSUDH Exhibition Takes on Mass Incarceration

September 27, 2023

CSUDH campus sign framed by palm trees

BestColleges: California Program Makes Master’s Degrees More Attainable for Incarcerated Students

September 25, 2023

Students working on computers.

Daily Breeze: CSUDH Offers New Master Program for Incarcerated People for Fall 2023

September 11, 2023

See more In the News ›

Faculty Highlights

Headshot of Carolyn Caffrey.

Faculty Highlights: September 2023

Headshot of Jonathon Grasse

Faculty Highlights: August 2023

Rama Malladi

Faculty Highlights: July 2023

Staff Spotlight

Cesar Mejia Gomez

Staff Spotlight: Cesar Mejia Gomez

Staff Spotlight: Ludivina Snow

Staff Spotlight: Gilbert Hernandez

Footer

California State University, Dominguez Hills Logo

Related Sites

  • csudh.edu
  • magazine.csudh.edu
  • gotoros.com

EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Get CSUDH News directly in your inbox

Copyright © 2023 · California State University, Dominguez Hills