Photo from: @KDHRRadio on Instagram

Mercy Calvo-Cruz, KDHR Student Production Assistant, and Eres Henton KDHR Production Intern assist in setting up sound for ASI’s Spring Fling 2022 concert.

By Mercy Calvo-Cruz

California State University Dominguez Hills is a majority commuter CSU campus. When I started at Dominguez, I noticed the quick hustle and bustle of most students. Most people I knew would come to their classes, and leave campus almost immediately to work or go home.

As someone who wasn’t local, but was living off campus, I wanted to find a sense of familiarity and belonging to something. I quickly became involved as a podcast host with KDHR, the school’s radio station sponsored by the Associated Students Incorporated.

As a freshmen, my roommate and I were the only two women to have a podcast and almost hosted a KDHR Takeover event taking place in late March of 2020, until it was canceled.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit us like a train. We were just adapting and it felt as if our work was for nothing. Still, we did our best. It felt surreal, experiencing college like this. With mainly online classes and work consuming most of my time, I was feeling unfulfilled. I knew that the pandemic was an obstacle, but I was still seeing organizations be active virtually. That was when I knew I had to get involved.

In the Spring of 2021, I joined Lambda Theta Nu Sorority, Incorporated, before we began in person classes again.

Coming back to campus I was able to find a sense of community through Greek life and due to my prior involvement as a show host for KDHR, I was offered employment as their student production assistant.

Due to how involved I became on campus, I realized that there were several students on campus unaware of the resources available to them so they are unable to be involved and make the most of their student dollars.

One of our missions in ASI is to cultivate the student experience through our events. Although Spring 2022 was the first semester with the majority of the campus being back since the pandemic, I ran into a couple students who had been attending CSUDH prior to the closure of campus who were unaware of resources such as ASI’s Toro Tuesday scholarship giveaways, free scantrons, sanitary items, and even their children’s center for student parents.

During my time being active on campus, I have had conversations with people who always tell me they wish they got involved a lot sooner in their college career and built a network. I always express it’s never too late and yet they almost always make an excuse as to why they lack involvement.

I currently work two jobs to pay for my tuition, live on my own, and am a part of a couple organizations on campus. Yet somehow, I have managed to make it all work.

At the end of the day, theUniversity days should be the days in which you build memories, where you build future connections, and also improve your skills. Ultimately, although academics are important, I value networking and experience much more.

Due to my involvement on campus I find it safe to say that I am not fearful of life after graduation. I have net-working experience and skills in areas even beyond my field of study, to the point in which I am proud of my resume.

If I were to give any freshman or transfer advice I would say, try new things. Be open to opportunities and experiences, because you never know who you can meet or what you can gain from it.