CSUCI to graduate first freshman class
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers CONGRATULATIONS- Student body president Jessica LaRoe, left, and student senator Rosali Garcia will be part of the inaugural freshman class that graduates tomorrow from California State University at Channel Islands.

Jessica LaRoe and Rosali Garcia never intended to graduate from California State University at Channel Islands.

LaRoe, 21, said she began classes as a freshman at CSUCI assuming she'd transfer after her sophomore year.

Garcia, a 22-year-old Fillmore resident, said she had the same plan.

Tomorrow the two will don their caps and gowns and accept their diplomas along with 623 fellow students as part of the university's first freshman class to graduate. Nearly 8,000 family and friends are expected to converge on the campus and attend the graduation ceremony- a historic first for the youngest university in the California State University system.

When the two soon-to-be graduates first visited the university four years ago, only 500 full-time students took classes at the fledgling campus surrounded by farmland and tucked into the Conejo Grade. They both said it didn't feel like any of the other colleges they had visited.

"I was treating it like a community college," LaRoe said. "I thought I'd get my core credits and then transfer to another school, but I just fell in love with the university and I didn't want to go anywhere else."

A Sacramento resident, LaRoe said her first impression of CSUCI was up close and personal. She and her mom, Terri Nicholson, were visiting a number of California campuses when they arrived at CSUCI.

Expecting another gaggle of prospective students to join them on a tour of the campus, LaRoe said she was surprised when it was just she and her mom for the private tour.

"At other schools, I was in the back of a tour group and couldn't hear what the guide was saying," said LaRoe, a business major with minors in economics and psychology.

LaRoe said she decided to attend CSUCI because of the small campus and the fact that as a member of the first graduating freshman class, she was asked for her input on what new students wanted from a university.

"I was able to help develop a lot of the aspects of campus," LaRoe said. "Every student has the opportunity to start up their own club. They're not just joining a group of people; they can start it and make it what they want it to be."

LaRoe said she was encouraged by Gregory Sawyer, vice president for student affairs, to get involved in the campus' burgeoning programs. Over the years, she's helped administrators establish a number of student rules and kept involved with many studentrun activities.

Eventually, LaRoe opted to stay and would go on to be voted class president her senior year.

Her graduation speech, "Memoirs of a Maverick," will focus on what it meant to be part of the first freshman class of a new university and how her class helped shape the young university.

Garcia said she too eventually fell in love with the small campus she called her "second family," and made the decision to stay at the now four-year-old university.

The biology major, who plans to attend medical school next fall, said she'll miss the "tight-knit" community of university students and staff.

A member of the student senate, Garcia said she liked CSUCI because of the small class sizes- some with as few as 12 students- which allowed for more one-on-one time with her professors.

She said the smaller classes helped her grasp the intricacies of her difficult major.

"Being a biology major, it's important to understand the material," Garcia said. "And it's helpful to be able to go to your professors and get help."

Although she battled an hour-long commute from her Fillmore home to the campus, Garcia will graduate with a 3.6 grade point average. Her college resume includes stem cell research at the university's lab and a schoolsponsored trip last year to Kyoto, Japan.

Garcia will be busy this summer studying for her medical college admission test and working as a camp counselor for the University of California at Santa Barbara Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement Center School Program. The camp tutors high school students from low income homes in math and science, preparing them for college.

Garcia said her goal is to become a pediatrician and eventually wants to open her own private practice in Ventura County. LaRoe, a business major with minors in economics and psychology, said her post-college plans also include opening her own business within the county.

Those plans might be the start of what may well become an economic boon for Camarillo and the rest of the county. Many local employers have already begun recruiting CSUCI grads to help staff a growing local workforce.

The university is expected to become one of the county's leading employers in the next 15 years as the student population grows from its current 3,100 to a projected 15,000.

CSUCI has injected more than $100 million into the region, sustaining some 2,100 jobs in the past four years, according to the CSUCI website. Those numbers are expected to climb.

California State University at Northridge, which draws around 30,000 students, generates nearly $700 million within Los Angeles County and accounts for about "12,000 jobs through direct employment or local spending," according to CSUN.