CSUSM to Host Puente Student Leadership Conference for First Time

About 1,000 ninth graders will attend the PUENTE Student Leadership Conference at CSUSM on March 18.

Cal State San Marcos will host the Puente Student Leadership Conference for the first time on Saturday, March 18. Approximately 1,000 ninth-grade students and 200 parents/guardians from high schools throughout Southern California will be in attendance.

The Puente Project is a four-year college preparatory program co-sponsored by the University of California and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. Puente is designed to increase the number of educationally underserved students who enroll in four-year universities, earn degrees and return to the community as leaders and mentors to future generations.

“Planting the seed of higher education at an early age ensures that students make the appropriate decisions to become college ready by the time they graduate from high school," said Viridiana Diaz, CSUSM's vice president for Student Affairs. "Attending college is a family decision. This conference introduces families to CSUSM and everything that we offer to support their students from pre-matriculation to enrollment and beyond.”

This event is an institutional effort in partnership with Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, University Advancement and other divisions across campus.

The all-day conference will offer more than 20 breakout sessions and a resource fair on how to become college ready, understand the various forms of financial aid and experience campus through guided tours. Workshops will be provided for students, parents and legal guardians, and sessions will focus on identity/self-awareness, self-care, mentorship, the college student experience and the various careers in college.

Reyna Grande, award-winning Mexican author, novelist and memoirist, will serve as the keynote speaker at the PUENTE Student Leadership Conference. Reyna Grande (pictured), an award-winning Mexican author, novelist and memoirist, will serve as the keynote speaker.

Sponsorship is generously made possible through philanthropic funding by CSUSM Foundation Board Chair Steve Wagner and Laura Wagner, who gave $1 million to the university to establish funding to support social mobility, one of the core tenets of the university’s new strategic plan. The Stone Brewing Fund for Social Mobility provides foundational funding to improve college access and success for students via avenues such as Student Affairs initiatives, college faculty mentorship programs and community outreach.

For more information, visit the Student Affairs Puente Conference website.