By Pierson Cepeda

Staff Writer

CSUSM is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and, from my point of view, 25 years is a relatively long period of time.

I just turned 22 last year, and like other birthdays, there was a cake, a song and the surprising realization that another year has passed. Most of my birthdays have me thinking that another year has gone by without accomplishing much in terms of dreams and aspirations. This year saw a great change due to the fact that as CSUSM has grown, I have matured as well and the things I want to accomplish are closer now more than ever.

As a freshman coming into CSUSM, many thoughts raced through my head the week before school started. Some of these thoughts were along the lines of “when should I get my license?” Sadly, I did not have a license. “When should I go shopping?” Because I needed clothes and supplies. Another thought that had me up till four o’clock in the morning was “what is college going to be like?” which was interesting considering I had a class at eight o’clock that same morning.

That moment in time had me thinking with the mindset of an inexperienced teen concerned with only the immediate realities. Though this is not necessarily a bad thing, I later found out that I severely limited my worldview and, as a consequence, my openness to growth.

For the first couple of semesters, the format of college was a welcome change from the schooling that I had become accustomed. Upon realizing that the time was coming to choose a major, I crowd-sourced an answer and after picking the choice that was the most unknown, in this case Communication. I then enrolled in my first set of core classes.

In hindsight, the class that was the most pivotal for my development, as a person, was COMM 200 with Professor Michelle Holling. This class truly represents the beginning of my collegiate self, not only because of the workload, the professor or even the subject matter, but because of a combination of all of the above. It was in this class that I learned to appreciate the value of challenging work that required effort in addition to brains.

Additionally, it exposed me to the beauty of a shared community that strived for education and personal growth. It is important to state that growth like this does not magically take place, it requires testing your mind, your body and your character over and over. But, I honestly do not think it could have happened had I not gone to CSUSM.

Again, CSUSM has been a source of growth for my character. I realize that had I not gone to school and struggled, I would have been lost trying to find my place in the world and would be no closer to figuring it all out. On this, the 25th birthday of CSUSM, I celebrate not just the passing of another year but also the profound influence you have had on my life. Happy 25th  birthday, CSUSM!