A life transformed

Marisol Luna learned “who I am and who I want to be” at CSUB

By California State University, Bakersfield

July 1^st, 2020

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories introducing you to our nine 2020-2021 alumni scholarship recipients. The CSUB Alumni Association awarded a total of $11,500 to nine CSUB alumni pursuing their graduate degree on campus.

Marisol Luna knew she wanted to attend CSUB ever since touring the campus in the 7th grade. But at the end of her first three years of high school, she found herself unmotivated.

That all changed her senior year when, unexpectedly to Luna, she was accepted to the university and realized all the possibilities ahead of her if she got her grades up and went on to college.

Luna’s transformation accelerated during her undergraduate years, especially due to the advising, tutoring and other services she received from the CSUB Educational Opportunity Program and her experience volunteering at the campus food pantry.

“I’ve changed completely, and I owe it all to CSUB,” Luna said. “I feel like I have goals, I have motivation, I know who I am and who I want to be.”

Luna is an East Bakersfield High School grad who was the first person in her extended family to go to college. It not only inspired her younger sister to attend but multiple cousins.

When Luna first got to CSUB, she didn’t know what a college major was let alone how to get from enrollment to graduation and take advantage of all the resources available to help her. That’s where the EOP came in.

She ultimately earned an undergraduate degree in psychology in 2019. Her little sister, Janet, will be a senior in the fall

“I’ve changed completely, and I owe it all to CSUB,” Luna said. “I feel like I have goals, I have motivation, I know who I am and who I want to be.”

Luna wants to become an educational counselor at CSUB, and that’s her course of study in graduate school. She learned the field was a good fit for her helping young people apply for citizenship and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program at the United Farm Workers Foundation.

“It’s amazing how open they are with me when I’m helping them fill out their applications,” she said. “They tell me their whole experience coming to the United States and what they’ve been able to do since coming here.”

Luna’s work at the food pantry further underscored for her the need among CSUB students for supportive services. The pantry has been a big help to her family, too, especially in the winter when rain prevents her father from doing his work at a local ranch.