Sacramento – Students and faculty from across the Golden State who rallied on the steps of the Capitol against budget cuts were encouraged by speakers to continue their activism even after the March in March event was over.

The event’s master of ceremonies Reid Milburn, student senate for California community colleges president, said change depended on the more than 15,000 students that marched to the Capitol on March 22.

“It doesn’t end here. It’s up to each one of you to go back and talk to legislatures,” Milburn said. “It’s up to us to rescue education.”

Dom Lupisan, a CSUN grad student and college counselor, said he attended the rally in support of education.

Lupisan, 27, said he thought the rally was more effective than the March 4 protest as students were taught through workshops how to effectively lobby.

“We have an understanding of why we are here and we are all on the same page and know this is a prolonged battle,” Lupisan said.

A.S. Attorney General Neil Sanchez, a philosophy major, said the fight for education would continue at CSUN.

Sanchez, 22, said student involvement was crucial but to get students to participate a “grassroots effort” would have to take place.

“It’s easy to talk about it but to get them to come out, it’s all about interaction,” Sanchez said. “There’s really no successful formula.”

Another speaker at the event was Assemblymember Warren Furutani, who reminded the crowd that 50 years ago the California Master Plan for Higher Education was passed and one of the promises it established for the California education system was a free education.

Furutani said the rally was going to be good but the fight wasn’t over.

“Brothers and sisters, the answer is not in this building,” Furutani said. “The answer is in your activism.”