Parkside
Commons Coordinator
By Gina Ponce
On-line Forty-Niner
Experience,
good judgment, familiarization with services
available on campus and an understanding
of the structure of the residence halls
and of group living is what Gabriele Valenzuela
has to offer her new position in Residential
Life at Cal State Long Beach.
Stan
Olin, the director of Housing and Residential
Life at CSULB, said Valenzuela actually
stepped up in the spring 2002 semester to
finish the position after the person filling
the job had to leave due to an extended
illness.
Valenzuela,
a junior liberal studies major, was officially
appointed the position of student coordinator
for Parkside Commons in the fall 2002 semester.
“She
was just who we needed,” Olin said. He said
she is a delightful, young, energetic person
who is very conscientious in her job.
“We
want someone who doesn’t just go through
the motions, but who is really interested
in doing the job and doing it well,” Olin
said.
Valenzuela
said she became a resident assistant in
the Parkside dorms her freshman year at
CSULB as well as working as a student assistant
in the Housing office. She said there is
a lot more responsibility that comes with
the student coordinator position than when
you are a resident assistant, in addition
to more time commitment and acting as a
mediator between the resident assistants
and the Housing office.
She
said she took this position because it is
really hard to go back to being just a resident
after being a resident assistant so she
thought it would be a good idea to move
up in her job.
“So
far it’s been a good experience,” Valenzuela
said.
Ed
Murawski, assistant director of Housing
and Residential Life and Valenzuela’s supervisor.
said she is responsible for the buildings
on the north side of Parkside Commons. This
includes overseeing eight resident assistants
and the operation of that area of the complex.
Valenzuela
showed she was a good resident assistant
and was very successful in various functions
of the job, Murawski said.
“She
has a great personality, very caring and
a great person to work with.”
Valenzuela
is from El Monte and enjoys dancing, running
— as a stress reliever — and reading poetry.
She
said the most difficult thing about her
job is balancing everything because it gets
busy all at once and time has to be organized
efficiently.
What
Valenzuela likes the most about the position
is dealing with all sorts of people.
She said she gets to interact with students,
resident assistants and people from the
Housing office.
“Without
this job I wouldn’t have had the opportunity
to meet so many people with different backgrounds,”
Valenzuela said.
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