Leaders, Scholars & Champions
In 2024–2025, student success at CSM was evident everywhere: on championship fields, in research posters, during startup pitches, and at community forums. A common thread runs through it all — equitable teaching, hands-on practice, and strong support systems that turn opportunity into outcomes. These snapshots celebrate students who led, competed, researched, created, and brought our campus together.
Líderes, Académicos y Campeones
En 2024–2025, el éxito estudiantil en CSM fue evidente en todas partes: en los campos de campeonato, en los pósteres de investigación, durante las presentaciones de startups y en los foros comunitarios. Un hilo común lo recorre todo: enseñanzas con enfoque en la equidad, el aprendizaje práctico y fuertes sistemas de apoyo que transforman la oportunidad en resultados. Esta vista celebra a estudiantes que lideraron, compitieron, investigaron, crearon y reunieron a nuestro campus.
Champions Across Seasons
Across football, softball, and track & field, the Bulldogs set the standard. CSM Football captured our second state championship in three years and earned civic recognition for excellence on the field and in the classroom from state-elected officials. Softball swept the playoffs to reclaim the state title and was also honored by elected officials. Track & Field added two individual state championships and nine Coast Conference gold medals.
CSM Softball Champions
Innovation for Community Good
When STEM meets entrepreneurship, our students build solutions that matter. A cross-college team of students, including Auner Barrios Vasquez, won the statewide business pitch competition with Urban Canopy, a retractable, solar-responsive awning designed to reduce urban heat where trees can’t be planted. Along the way, they participated in a boot camp at Uber, ongoing coaching, and a final pitch before industry judges at PG&E. This opportunity sharpened their skills in human-centered design, rapid prototyping, and storytelling.
Auner Barrios Vasquez
Leaders Who Lift Others
From club officers to peer mentors, student leaders made the campus a welcoming and vibrant place. Our end-of-year Student Life & Leadership awards celebrate service, inclusion, and the courage to lead; skills that communities need. Congratulations to this year’s honorees:
- Outstanding Student Club Programming Award: CSM Mental Health Peer Educators
- Impact Award for Advising & Mentorship: Gil Perez
- Equity & Justice Impact Award: Patrice Reed-Fort
- Allan R. Brown Outstanding Student Service & Leadership Award: Auner Barrios Vasquez, Sam LaCarrubba, Michael Llanell-Vararaj, Emily Manjarrez, and Kay Vazquez
Michael Llanell-Vararaj
Scholarship That Starts with Community
CSM’s first-year experience seminar (College 1) supports students as they transition to college and introduces them to undergraduate-level research. The program hosted a symposium where students transformed their lived experiences into scholarship using author Tara Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth framework. Through posters, performances, and dialogue, they mapped six forms of cultural capital (aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistant) and named the assets their families and neighborhoods bring to higher education.
Community Cultural Wealth Symposium