The first male CSUN student to win a NCAA Division 1 National Championship was honored with an official statement of accomplishment at the Associated Students Senate meeting yesterday afternoon.
Dashalle Andrews, 22, jumped 25 feet and three quarter inches in the long jump 2007 NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships held in June to be the second person in CSUN history to win a NCAA event.
A.S. President Adam Haverstock, who presented Andrews with the resolution, or official statement of the Associated Students, congratulated his amazing accomplishment and for bringing national distinction and honor to CSUN. The track and field team has also won the Men’s and Women’s Big West Competition.
Andrews, a senior kinesiology major attending CSUN on a scholarship, has been “jumping since he was a kid” and trains for 15 to 20 hours a week. He had just come off a yearlong knee injury.
“You just have to be patient,” said Andrews of his victory. “Great hard work pays off and it was my time to shine.”
“We are a really good team and the title shows that,” said Andrews’ track and field teammate and girlfriend, Shelese Ruffin, 21. “Hopefully, it will bring support to the track and field team.”
Andrews’ emphasis is in secondary education and hopes to become a physical education teacher and coach. The resolution will be distributed to departments and organizations across campus to recognize Andrews’ achievement.
Also discussed at the first A.S. Senate meeting of the semester was the record breaking enrollment of 4,000 freshmen. University Advisor Tom Piernik encouraged the Senate’s support in the Freshmen Convocation being held Thursday, Sept. 6. The ceremony begins at 6 p.m. with an attempt to have all of the freshmen march through Matador Square to the Oviatt Library lawn.
“This is the largest group of freshmen in CSUN history,” said Piernik, who said he is excited to see the turnout of students.
The event will host featured speaker Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who will discuss “Our Environmental Destiny.” Piernik noted that Kennedy, Jr. will not be discussing global warming. but the future of our environment.
Kennedy, Jr. will be the first speaker for this semester’s “Speak Your Mind” series on the environment. A reception will follow the screening of “An Inconvenient Truth” at 7:15 p.m. on the Oviatt Library Lawn Patio.
The A.S. Senate also approved the following positions and welcomed new Senators: Assistant Director of Finance Andrew Collard, College of Education Senator Amanda Lynch, Health and Human Development Senator Aaron Schlabra, Associate Justice Visha Vakhshori, Arts, Media and Communication Senator Raffi Vartanian, Elections Committee Members Peter Haddad and Stephanie Prasad, and Upper Division II Senator Alex Ross.
The Senate also appointed the following to committees for A.S. representation: Senator Byron Baba to the S.P.A.C.E. committee, Senator Amanda Perry to the finance committee, Senator Nicole Umali to the Children Center Advisory Board and Senator Lila Askejian to the judicial court committee.
There’s still time to get involved with the vacancy of ad hoc committee members on the Academic Affairs committee. Student representation from each college is needed and all college seats are currently available. A minimum 2.0 GPA is required and meetings are held on Thursdays at 2p.m. in the A.S. Central Office at the University Student Union.
The A.S. Senate encourages students to attend meetings every Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. in the USU Grand Salon. An open forum is hosted at the start of every meeting for the public to voice their opinions or concerns.
