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CSUB celebrates 2024 outstanding graduates

Haydee Barahona and Luis Rangel receive President's Medal

By California State University, Bakersfield

May 16^th, 2024

California State University, Bakersfield communications student Haydee Barahona has had an interesting year in her role as a journalist, going from reporting the news to making it.

That streak continued Monday, when Barahona was selected as the university’s top undergraduate of 2024, joining Luis Rangel, who was named top graduate student of the year. Both were presented the President’s Medal by Interim CSUB President Dr. Vernon B. Harper Jr. at an intimate campus gathering of their families, faculty mentors and university leaders.

“Haydee and Luis are extraordinary students who excelled in every category,” Dr. Harper said. “But what really distinguishes these Roadrunners is their commitment to the communities that we serve. They embody the CSUB spirit of selfless service and our mission to elevate the families of this region through the power of education. We are so proud to call them CSUB alumni!”

Rangel, who received his Master of Business Administration degree in December with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, was stunned when he received a call during work at Golden Empire Mortgage about the medal. On the line was Dr. Harper.

“I didn’t understand what the President’s Medal was,” said Rangel, 38. “It was a very surreal moment, and it took me awhile to understand exactly what he was saying. I was speechless, just beside myself.”

Barahona has made several headlines this year. She helped launch El Veloz, a Spanish-language version of CSUB’s student newspaper, The Runner. In recent days she was named the top undergraduate student in the School of Arts and Humanities. Still, the attention is new for someone accustomed to providing news coverage about others’ achievements.

“I’m so grateful for this recognition, but it is strange to be the focus,” she said. “When I started at CSUB, I was a Spanish major and then went back and forth on what I wanted to do before deciding on journalism. I would say to other students who aren’t sure of what they want to do, just focus on your basic courses and get them out of the way. I was able to graduate in four years, even though I made a couple of changes along the way.”

The President’s Medal for top undergraduate and graduate students was established in 2019 by former President Lynnette Zelezny. The recipients are chosen from a list of distinguished Roadrunners from each of CSUB’s four academic schools and the Antelope Valley campus. The medal recipients are also recognized during the university’s spring commencement ceremonies.

CSUB celebrates 2024 outstanding graduates

‘I hadn’t been a good student, but I knew I wanted to go to school’

Rangel came to the United States from Mexico with his family when he was 4 years old. They settled in the Los Angeles area, where his parents struggled to make ends meet.

“I come from a pretty big family, with four sisters and a brother,” he said. “Being undocumented immigrants, it was very difficult for my parents to provide for us. They had multiple jobs, and we hardly ever saw them. It was a very tough time.”

When Rangel was 7, the family moved to Nebraska on the recommendation of friends who had relocated there. Rangel’s dad got a job at a beef processor, and the family found security in their new home state. But, by the time he had graduated from high school, Rangel was ready for a change. He had grown tired of the brutal northern winters and decided to join his older sister in Bakersfield.

“I hadn’t been a good student, but I knew I wanted to go to school,” said Rangel, who enrolled at Bakersfield College before transferring to CSUB. “It took me eight or nine years to finish my undergraduate degree because I had to work and go to school at the same time. But I graduated cum laude with my degree in finance in 2015. What gave me the courage to go back for my MBA was taking in my niece and nephew.”

Just before the pandemic, one of Rangel’s sisters accepted a job offer in Iowa and made the hard decision to allow her teenage daughter and son to remain in Bakersfield to finish school. They were staying with Rangel and his partner, Sonya Carrillo, when the entire world shut down and forced the transition to remote learning.

“First of all, I didn’t realize the undertaking of raising two kids,” Rangel said. “My sister is a great mom and does everything for them, so it was a big adjustment. But before their mom returned to Bakersfield, I taught them to drive, they got their first jobs, established credit and started their savings. They are both now students at CSUB. I’m a very proud uncle.”

While his niece and nephew were accessing instruction out of his home, Rangel made the decision in 2021 to return to his alma mater for his master’s degree. Like his undergraduate experience at CSUB, the master’s program offered one-on-one attention and rare opportunities for professional enrichment, including a trip to Italy.

“A lot of the places we visited were very successful businesses that had been around for hundreds of years,” he said of the educational expedition organized by Dr. David Olson. “The cultural priorities are very different. In the U.S., we are very bottom-line, money driven. We’re also a culture more interested in quantity over quality. But there, it’s about sustainability and quality. You don’t need 20 different shirts. You need five good-quality shirts that will last you a very long time that you can use throughout your life. How I can apply that is a shift in mindset. I’m not going to transform the company I work for but, for myself, I can make small changes in how I conduct my business and life.”

Rangel credits CSUB’s faculty for giving him a “first-rate” education, and singles out Dr. Olson, Dr. Dan Zhou and Dr. Mahdy Elhusseiny for their mentorship.

“You can see they care,” Rangel said of the CSUB faculty. “They treat students with respect and make themselves available. They’re always trying to accommodate students. You wouldn’t get that at a larger university.”

'For my community'

When Barahona and fellow editor Jennifer Serrano Ramirez decided in September to publish the English-language Runner newspaper in Spanish as well, it opened access to a new demographic of readers, which included the families of many of the journalists who work on the monthly publication.

“I come from a Spanish-speaking household,” Barahona said. “My mom is from Guatemala and my dad is from El Salvador. I grew up around the culture and wanted to embrace that. I shared that feeling with my fellow students at The Runner because a lot of their families could not read some of the issues they were taking home. We have so many students at CSUB where Spanish is their first language, and they come from the background I do. This was for my community.”

Working with CSUB’s Dr. Gladys Gilliam and Bianca Moreno, Barahona also secured grant funding to continue the game-changing publication. She hopes that it will evolve beyond a mere translation of The Runner and become an original producer of content for its Spanish-speaking readers.

“There just isn’t enough local media for this demographic,” Barahona said. “I want to change that.”

She had intended to get started right away and was poised to begin looking for career opportunities in the local media market with her bachelor’s degree in communications in hand. But then she received an offer she couldn’t refuse: An invitation from the University of California, Berkeley, to join its prestigious Graduate School of Journalism.

“My mom and I talked about it, and there was no way we could turn this down,” she said. “But I’ve never lived away from home, so this will be hard for me. We are a very close family. You never know what the future holds, but I intend to come back here to Bakersfield when I’m finished to tell the stories of my community.”

Barahona sang the praises of the entire communications faculty at CSUB, including veteran newspaper journalist John Harte, who just retired from a 27-year career as a local college journalism instructor. He served as her last adviser on The Runner.

“She is probably the most combined talented and versatile journalism student I've ever had,” Harte said. “If they paid attention to college journalism students like they do athletes, Haydee would be a first-round draft pick.”

Barahona also cited former Runner faculty adviser Jennifer Burger as a major influence, not only on her journalism trajectory at CSUB, but her life.

“She just believed in me so much,” Barahona said. “Without her, I know I wouldn’t be where I am today. I owe so much to her, and I know she will always be there for me.”

“In my 10 years teaching journalism and advising student media at CSUB, I can count a handful of students who absolutely made the most of their time there, learning as much as they could, collecting as many experiences as possible, honing their skills as journalists and emerging as leaders,” Burger said. “But of all the incredible students I’ve gotten to work with, Haydee Barahona is the gold star.”

Barahona and Rangel were chosen from a stellar group of Outstanding Graduates from each of CSUB’s four academic schools and the Antelope Valley campus by the deans of those schools. Here is the full list of those exceptional scholars who are graduating during this spring’s commencement ceremonies:

KAREN FUENTES

Outstanding Graduate — School of Arts and Humanities

Fuentes is graduating with a master’s degree in history after distinguishing herself as a scholar through her keen insights, collaborative nature and ability to weave personal experience and knowledge into historical context. She spent the summer of 2023 working as an intern at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she helped with the re-launch of the park’s junior ranger program. As a first-generation bachelor’s and master’s degree recipient, she has taken her connections with the community seriously, volunteering as a tutor, drumline coach and history advisor at local schools. Fuentes is exploring a career as a teacher in local schools or at the community college level.

ANA CABRERA ORTIZ

Outstanding Undergraduate — School of Business and Public Administration

Ana Cabrera Ortiz will graduate with her bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in human resources. Under Dr. Sunjin Pak’s mentorship, Ortiz significantly contributed to the study titled “Investigating the Impact of Leader Workaholism on Menstrual Dysfunction and Turnover Intentions Among Female Managers: A Lens on U.S. Global Competitiveness in Talent Management.” Ortiz was involved in every stage of the research process from data collection to refining the research findings for scholarly dissemination. She will present the research at the 20th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry in May. Cabrera Ortiz’s drive to succeed is driven by the desire to honor the sacrifices made by her family to support her challenging pursuit of a university degree, which she plans to use as a human resources professional.

JARED WHITE

Outstanding Undergraduate — School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering

Jared White will earn his bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a 4.0 GPA during his three years at CSUB. After transferring here from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo during COVID, White soon found his place in the Department of Mathematics. For his senior seminar, he researched the original proof by the great mathematician Euler of the Konigsberg Bridge problem in Graph Theory. White has also used his talents in math to tutor his peers at CSUB as well as younger students in his community. Double-minoring in music and Japanese, White is also active in the Bakersfield music community, where he plays trumpet in several bands, both on campus and off. White’s accomplishments in math and music are more impressive when considering the inflammatory polyarthritis he has fought through to persevere. Following graduation, White will pursue his Ph.D. in applied mathematics at UC Davis. He hopes to become a college mathematics professor.

MARIO GAYTAN

Outstanding Graduate — School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering

Biology graduate student Mario Gaytan has maintained a near-perfect GPA while completing a labor-intensive research project on the San Joaquin Valley Giant Flower-loving Fly and working full-time in ecological consulting. His faculty mentor, Dr. Lucas Hall, called Gaytan “an absolute model” of a successful graduate student, praising his dedication, work ethic and involvement on campus with CSUB’s Biology Club and Kit Fox Society. Following graduation, Gaytan will focus on his environmental consulting business and is also considering pursuing his Ph.D.

MATTHEW KABEL

Outstanding Graduate — School of Social Sciences and Education

Matthew Kabel is graduating with his doctorate in educational leadership at CSUB, having earned a 4.0 grade-point average. He has made significant contributions to the field of special education through his research. In addition to the published articles listed below, his dissertation, "Job Satisfaction Among Special Educators," employs a mixed-methods approach to explore the variables affecting job satisfaction among special education teachers post-COVID. His work highlights the need for systemic changes to enhance teacher retention and satisfaction.

JAMES TOMPKINS

Outstanding Undergraduate — School of Social Sciences and Education

James Tompkins is an outstanding student and who has overcome many hurdles to get where he is today. He has earned a 4.0 grade-point average at CSUB while he also participated in research in multiple labs at CSUB and other campuses. He also has served as a leader in a range of roles including as a peer navigator for Project Rebound and executive vice president of Associated Students Inc. And he’s had to fight harder than most for those achievements. He quit school in eighth grade and instead earned his GED. He developed drug addictions, which lead to several prison stays. After a friend died from an overdose, James realized that it was time to change the path he was on and began his higher education journey. His goal is to follow his accomplishments at CSUB and conduct psychological research in a Ph.D. program, with the end goal of being a professor.

REBECCA AGUIRRE

Outstanding Undergraduate — CSUB Antelope Valley

Rebecca Aguirre has earned her bachelor’s degree in child, adolescent and family studies from CSUB’s Antelope Valley campus. She was awarded top marks for her research into the effects of grief on children’s developmental progress at different age groups. As she worked toward her degree, Aguirre also worked as a teacher’s assistant at Learning Tree Preschool, supporting the success of students, helping develop educational curriculum and using her fluency in Spanish and English to help all of her young charges. This first-generation college student said she struggled to navigate the challenges of a university education, especially when her grandparents passed away, but her parents inspired her to keep working and become the outstanding graduate she is today.

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Footnotes

Story by Story by Jennifer Self, senior director of strategic communications, with contributions by James Burger, marketing and communications director; photos by Arthur Schneider, multimedia student assistant