Los
Angeles Mission College
13356
Eldridge Avenue • Sylmar, CA 91342 • 818.364.7600
NEWS
RELEASE
August 26, 2004
New ASO President Spends Summer at Yale University
SYLMAR – You
meet the most interesting people at Yale University. Just ask Romeo
Gonzalez.
The new Mission College ASO president recently completed a six-week summer
session at the Ivy League school where, he said, he met a young dutchess
from France, the son of a Lithuanian oil baron, the nephew of a high Salvadoran
government official, many students from throughout the United States,
and, of course, present Yale students.
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"It was so amazing
to meet all of these people," said Gonzalez. "We were all different
but we had many of the same interests."
Gonzalez took "Crime and Punishment" (a study of landmark legal
cases, justice, incarceration and sentencing) and "The Renaissance
and the Printing Press," a class examining the impact of the printing
press on Western civilization. This latter course enabled Gonzalez to
view unique books and documents housed in Yale’s famed Beinecke Rare
Book and Manuscript Library.
Gonzalez said he enrolled in the summer session to find out for himself
if all the great things he’d heard about Yale – the "hype,"
as he put it – were true. He came away convinced it’s an even
better school than he had imagined. He plans to apply for transfer to
Yale and other Ivy League colleges and four-year universities.
Since his return to California in early August, Gonzalez has been preparing
to take the helm as student body leader. His focus will be on increasing
the membership and activity level of student clubs and campus organizations.
"Our students need to be more concerned with the issues that are
taking place in our community," he said. "We need to be out
there promoting ourselves as Mission College and letting people in the
community know that we’re concerned about what’s going on in
their lives."
Another goal is to make the annual AB 540 fundraiser an even bigger event.
Gonzalez said the ASO will work to convince more sponsors to match funds
raised by the students. The fundraiser provides scholarships for students
who attended high school in California for at least three years and graduated
from a California high school, but whose immigration status does not qualify
them for state or federal scholarships or financial aid.