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opinion:
a.s.i. president
Genesis of Beach
Pride was school spirit
By now most of you
have heard the phrase Beach Pride at least once. Chances are
that you've probably heard it a couple of times. You may have
heard President Maxson mention it in a speech, or perhaps you
remember the term because you checked out beachpride.com.
You may even have
visited the Beach Pride Center or attended this semester's
Beach Pride poolside event. Most remember the phrase as the
title of last year's fee referendum. Building Beach Pride
is also our Associated Students Inc. theme for the year.
But what exactly
is Beach Pride and where did the phrase come from? The term
"Beach Pride" is only two years old. The first time
the phrase was printed was during the A.S.I. elections of
1999. I was running for A.S.I. president and was asked to
make a statement about why I thought I was a good candidate.
My response was
that I had genuine Beach Pride. Seeing that quote in print
prompted me to use the phrase as one of my campaign slogans.
Although I lost the election that fist year, the campaign
slogan stuck around.
The following year
I again used "Beach Pride" as a campaign slogan
and convinced the A.S.I. president and the author of the fee
referendum to call it the "Beach Pride Referendum".
Putting the referendum under the Beach Pride banner allowed
us to be more flexible with where the money could go.
Today, Beach Pride
is more than a slogan or a simple phrase. A student that is
proud to attend Cal State Long Beach is a student that has
Beach Pride.
It is about having
pride in our academic programs, student organizations, athletic
programs and diversity. Every student contributes to the campus
spirit and we all have reasons to be proud of our great university.
Beach Pride -- it's a Long Beach state of mind.
Go Beach!
Robert Garcia
is a communications studies major at Cal State Long Beach.
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