Category Archives: Student stories

November newsletter: Provost update – Spartans give back to campus community

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am thankful for the generous Spartan spirit I see expressed throughout the year. Our students, staff and faculty are often developing ways in which they can give back to campus community members.Our theme at the Academic Affairs Staff Appreciation Breakfast has been “Full Circle Giving” for the last few years and the event is one example of the giving spirit at SJSU. This year donations from the staff and administrators supported the SJSU Food for Students Fund.

There are many more instances of our Spartans giving back to SJSU community members. Emeritus and retired faculty are supporting research, scholarship and creative activity through a grant program for current SJSU faculty; a staff member who is also an SJSU alumna created a scholarship for staff members pursuing a degree; and faculty and students tackled a 320-mile bike ride to raise money to teach middle school students about sustainability.

I talk to my own children about the importance of giving back to the community and hope to instill in them a sense that giving is important. My family and I donate to Spartan causes, includingThe Guardian Scholars Program. The Guardian Scholars Program is special to me because I was adopted at a very young age. I was fortunate enough to become part of a loving family that valued education, but I understand the unique challenges our Guardian Scholars face without this support system.

I hope all of you find your own Spartan causes to support through donations, volunteering or staying engaged in our campus community. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break.

November newsletter: Scholarship assists staff in reaching educational goals

Sami Monsur worked full time in the Connie L. Lurie College of Education while she was completing a degree in Spanish at San Jose State. She said Dean Elaine Chin offers $500 in professional development to each staff member every year.

“I was going for my bachelor’s and it really made a big difference with books,” Monsur said.

After she graduated with her degree in Spanish in 2011, she decided to donate $500 to create a scholarship for other staff members who are working toward their degree. She worked with University Advancement and Financial Aid to create the “Support Our Staff” scholarship, with the inaugural award given out in 2013.

This year, the scholarship fund received enough donations to give five $500 scholarships to San Jose State staff members who are completing a degree at SJSU.

Diana Fitts works as an assistant residential life coordinator while she is completing her master’s in occupational therapy. Fitts said she was inspired to pursue occupational therapy after spending time in El Salvador and the Philippines.

“People were in need of assistance, but they didn’t have resources,” she said. “I like figuring out what someone’s needs are and how to meet those needs.”

Fitts, who is scheduled to graduate in spring 2016, said the “Support Our Staff” scholarship allowed her to purchase books that will help her prepare for licensing exams and board certification.

Sarah Arreola, a specialist in teacher contracts and education projects in the College of Education, also received a scholarship this year. Arreola is working on a master’s in public administration.

“Getting a master’s has always been in the back of my head,” Arreola said. “I had strong family support and Sami (Monsur) encouraged me.”

Arreola, who uses the staff fee waiver program, said the scholarship has helped with books and other school supplies. She said her twin sons look up to her, and that she and her husband talk about college often with the boys.

The other 2015-16 recipients include: Amy D’Anna, a marketing coordinator in CIES who is pursuing a bachelor’s in public relations; Shawna Terry, a gift analyst in University Advancement, who is pursuing a bachelor’s in social science; and Nicole Arata, a barista with Spartan Shops, who is pursuing a bachelor’s in economics.

Learn more about the Spartans Supporting Spartans campaign.

Applications for 2016-17 will be available in early summer.

November newsletter: Spartan Climate Ride supports Green Ninja (video)

A team of Spartans pedaled hundreds of miles along the California coast this spring to raise awareness about climate change and to support SJSU’s environmental outreach program, The Green Ninja Project. The team included two professors, one alumna, one staff member and three students. Some are avid cyclists, while others were beginning bicyclists when they started training for the 320-mile ride.

The team members included Clare and Eugene Cordero, Paul Schmitt, Kelly Chang, Huong Cheng, Ramya Shenoy, Leah Tremblay and Gaby De La Cruz Tello. They raised $25,000 for the Green Ninja Project. The project is an interdisciplinary effort to teach middle school students about environmental issues and sustainability.

November newsletter: Academic division helps Food for Students fund

A volunteer stocks a student food shelf on campus. The Academic Affairs Division raised $7,000 for the SJSU Food for Students fund to support this and other efforts to help students with food insecurities.

A volunteer stocks a student food shelf on campus. The Academic Affairs Division raised $7,000 for the SJSU Food for Students fund to support this and other efforts to help students with food insecurities.

As part of the Academic Affairs Staff Appreciation Breakfast each year, administrators and staff compete in a donation challenge to support members of the community who face food insecurity. Provost Andy Feinstein volunteers a half-day of work with the unit that brings in the most donations. This year, members of the division raised money for the SJSU Food for Students Fund to support students in need.

Provost Feinstein announced at the October breakfast that $7,000 had been donated by staff and administrators in the division. Staff and administrators from the Connie L. Lurie College of Education gave the highest dollar amount.

Food insecurity is a real issue at San Jose State. SJSU Associated Student President LooLoo Amante shared her story this summer about struggling when she first arrived on campus.

According to Tovah Feldmanstern, who works in Counseling and Psychological Services at SJSU, one in three SJSU students say that it is often or sometimes true that they were hungry but didn’t eat because there wasn’t enough money for food and one in three SJSU students also say that it is often or sometimes true that they had to choose between food and living expenses such as rent, transportation or utilities.

Learn more about free and low-cost food sources on and off campus.

Screenwriting students take awards at festival

SJSU screenwriting students received multiple awards at the CSU Media Arts Festival in Los Angeles in November, according to Professor Scott Winfield Sublett, associate chair of the Department of TV, Radio, Film and Theatre.

RTVF major Mark Hertzler won first place in the short screenplay category. His script, “Becoming the Wild,” is a western about a religious man forced into violence. Hertzler wrote the script in Sublett’s online RTVF 160 class.

Michael Quintana won second place in the feature screenplay category. His script, “Hare,” is a modern take on an Aesop fable. Quintana, who recently graduated with his MFA in Creative Writing from SJSU, wrote the script in Sublett’s RTVF 160 class. Last year, took first place in the same category for another script, “White Rabbit,” which has been optioned by a Hollywood producer.

2015 marks the eighth year in a row that SJSU students have won first place in a CSU Media Arts Festival screenwriting category.

Congratulations also go to RTVF major Kourosh Ahari, who won third in the narrative cinema category for his film “Malaise,” and to Animation Illustration major Natalie Corsie, who placed fourth in animation for “Home.”