🧡 TAPP Center Family Event Day (September 16, 2023)

💙 It was my first campus event helping as a student assistant for the Transfer, Adult Re-entry, Parenting and Pregnant Student Center at CSUF. Last year, I worked for the Career Center and Outreach department but it was different this year. I had a new job this semester with the population on campus that I most cared about. Transfer students. The event was simple. It was a back-to-school pool party event for parenting students and their kids. My job was to run the social media and help with the check-in table.

Even though I had three years of experience as a student assistant at both CSUF and Moorpark, I was so nervous for the event! It was my first time doing social media for TAPP. It was my first time helping with an informal event for my campus population. I was used to helping with formal events like career fairs and orientation days at CSUF. I didn't know what it was like to work in such an informal setting with my peers so this was my first try at it. Kids were swimming and eating sandwiches while parents lounged on beach chairs at the Student Recreation Center. It was such a mindset shift for me that day in seeing all different student types at this pool party.

My perspective on the lives of different campus populations completely changed because of it. While I worked with many different student populations before, this was my first time really getting to learn about their specific student experiences at CSUF. The population that left me in awe the most were parenting students. Some of them work 40 hours, have three kids and are taking 4 classes. Since then, I haven't complained about my work load because it is nothing compared to what they have to deal with. That event alone made me a more empathetic person to all the people I have met since then. It was amazing.

I always recommend that students go to TAPP Center events because they get to find community within the transfer community at CSUF at all ages.🧡