CSULB students continue to excel

Robert Maxon

CSULB president

More than 2,000 people - mostly students - crowded The Pyramid at midnight Oct. 17 to welcome the new men's and women's basketball season.

The NCAA allows basketball practice to start officially on Oct. 17, so at 12:01 a.m., the Long Beach State men's and women's 49er basketball teams took the floor. Associated Students Inc. President Christy Zamani, student government officials, our Greek organizations and several other student groups are to be congratulated for this overwhelming success.

A special congratulation goes out to Dani Dawson for the wonderful work she did in organizing the Midnight Madness program.

Dawson is awesome! I suspect that we have just seen another great tradition started at Long Beach State.

From watching the practice sessions, it looks as if we are going to have very strong teams, both the men's and women's.

Be sure to pick up their game schedules. Remember that all games are free for Cal State Long Beach students.

As part of National Service Week, I am designating the week of Nov. 2-8, 1998 as Service Week 1998 at CSULB.

This important effort is being coordinated on our campus by Dominic Espejo, president of Rho Gamma Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, the nation's largest service fraternity.

This year the Rho Gamma Chapter will organize service projects to help prevent domestic violence in our community. Let us all do our part to encourage 49er volunteerism and help others both within the campus community and in our own neighborhoods.

Congratulations to the fraternities and sororities for the great Greek Week celebration.

Robert Garcia and other student leaders are to be commended for their tireless, enthusiastic approach in promoting exciting co-curricular activities for all students.

Their exemplary leadership can be seen both in and out of the classroom.

Go Greeks!

The No. 1 ranked women's college volleyball team in America just keeps rolling along. They are now 20-0, with easy wins over New Mexico State and North Texas State this past weekend.

They play Friday at 7 p.m. at UC Irvine and at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 7 p.m. Those are easy trips for volleyball fans.

Remember that students have to pay for away matches. If you go, take your student identification for a discount.

The men's water polo team is playing at home in Belmont Shores (the Belmont Pool) against UC San Diego on Friday at 7 p.m. Students get in free with their IDs.

Our men are playing so well; your support could only help them do better.

Congratulations to the Long Beach State Rugby Team for beating UNLV last Saturday. Way to go guys! Congratulations are also sent to Delta Gamma sorority sisters for going undefeated and winning the Powder Puff Football championship over the weekend.

Be sure to catch the award-winning student play "De Donde?" put on by our fine theatre arts department at the California Reportory Company on campus.

My friend, Emi, is playing the role of a refugee in this powerful play about borders and boundaries between countries and individuals.

The play will run during the first two weeks of November except on Mondays.

Finally, I want to send my congratulations to the smart students who were inducted into the Golden Key National Honor Society on Sunday afternoon.

GO BEACH!