The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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A.S. graduates reflect on time at CSUN

As they contemplate life without CSUN, graduating Associated Students senators and officers said they will miss serving their fellow students, and will miss the camaraderie and friendships they have established through A.S.

Although they are graduating from different CSUN colleges and come from a myriad of backgrounds, the now-former A.S. officials found common ground in the service they provided.

Tiffany Beskow, outgoing A.S. chief of staff, said officers and senators got to know each other on a more personal level during a winter retreat.

“We got really teary (at the retreat),” Beskow said. “We walked out together as one big family.”

As chief of staff, Beskow was responsible for compiling reports, coordinating information and putting other A.S. directors “in touch with the right people for whatever event they (were) planning.”

Beskow said she hopes to land an internship with a book publisher and one day aspires to “buy novels.”

Serving in A.S. provided the opportunity to give back to the university, said A.S. Graduate II Senator Sylva Kouzouian.

“I knew I wouldn’t be coming back to CSUN (after graduation),” Kouzouian said. “(CSUN) has done so much for me. I got an education, a degree.”

Due to her extremely busy schedule as a student, as well as working for her family’s thriving manufacturing business, Kouzouian served just one semester as a senator, but said she was happy she did.

“I would have loved to continue being a senator,” Kouzouian said. “(I) really enjoyed being at the meetings. Just being part of something I had never been.”

Kouzouian will earn her master’s degree in manufacturing systems engineering this week, and already has a bachelor’s degree in family consumer science.

Kouzouian plans on attending a six-week architectural workshop at UCLA this summer to explore the possibility of learning that profession, as well.

She said she hopes to one day expand the scope of her father’s business to not only manufacture furniture, “but design it as well.”

Mario Lopez, outgoing Humanities senator, said his involvement in A.S. has caused him to consider becoming a school administrator.

“(I want to be) in a position to change lives,” said Lopez, who will receive his degree in Chicano/a studies.

If Lopez becomes a school administrator, he said he would like to help high school students “find ways (to) get a college education.”

Social and Behavioral Sciences II Senator Victor Morales is just getting started on his collegiate journey. Morales, who is receiving a bachelor of arts in political science, said he plans on attending graduate school before aiming for a doctorate degree. He has applied to USC, UCLA and CSUN for graduate school, and then would like to head east and attend Columbia or NYU for his doctorate.

Morales, a self-proclaimed idealist, said his experience as an A.S. senator was better than he expected.

“I had a chance to work with a lot of different people from different backgrounds,” Morales said. “All had different (goals), but all had the desire to serve.”

Morales, originally from El Salvador and the first in his immediate family to attend college, said he hopes to one day write and do research about Third World countries in Asia and Latin America.

Beatriz Trejo, A.S. director of political awareness who is earning her masters’ degree in political science, has been attending school nonstop since high school.

“I wasn’t playing around,” Trejo said. “I wanted to get that degree as soon as possible.”

Trejo said she overloaded units and attended summer school in order to complete both degrees.

“Ideally, I would work within the field of (political) elections,” Trejo said.

In spite of the years of overloading, classes, not to mention A.S. duties, Trejo repeated a phrase other outgoing A.S. officials said again and again.

“I’m going to miss being a student,” she said.

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