By: Courtney Jones
Features Assistant
Campus Recreation Program Specialist by day, student by night, Sonya Starr-McLin is quite the busy woman.
Campus faculty member Starr-McLin creates and oversees programs aimed at promoting health and wellness, as well as student involvement here in Campus Recreation. Specifically, Starr-McLin is in charge of outreach and tiny tournaments.
Starr-McLin’s favorite part about CSUSM is the overwhelming sense of community felt on campus. Recreation Program Specialist, however, was not Starr-McLin’s first position at CSUSM. She has worn many hats here at the university and has, in fact, been employed by our institution for over a decade.
Starr-McLin is extremely delighted that her position does not require her to be “chained,” so to speak, to her desk all day. She thoroughly enjoys interacting with her fellow staff-mates as well as the student body.
“I like it (working with Campus Recreation) because it’s different from day to day,” Starr-McLin said. “I’m not stuck behind a computer all day, and I get to plan activities with the students.”
She currently attends Ashford University, an institution headquartered in downtown San Diego, and is earning her degree in Sports and Recreation Management with a minor in Business Management. With a mere year and a half left, her moniker of student will soon be changing to that of graduate.
After graduation, Starr-McLin plans on staying right here at CSUSM. Starr-McLin feels that, although our university is relatively large, it exudes a similar aura to that of a small liberal arts college.
Outside of work and school, Starr-McLin tends to two athletically gifted children, a doting husband and two rambunctious dogs. Starr-McLin and her husband, a Master Chief in the United States military, have been happily married for 24 years and their ambitious nature has certainly carried over to their two children. Starr-McLin’s son, a student at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, played football for the vast majority of his athletic career. Her daughter, a high school student, participates on two cheerleading squads as well as her school’s track team.
In her spare time, Starr-McLin enjoys hiking, watching television and coaching. She has also been coaching cheerleading squads for nearly eight years.