The content below goes straight to an excerpt featuring the three HHD students who have been named Outstanding Graduating Seniors for 2019. Read the full story of all six remarkable CSUN students in CSUN Today.
EXCERPT:
Khari Campbell-Wright, Outstanding Graduating Senior
Khari Campbell-Wright, Outstanding Graduating Senior
Khari Campbell-Wright, 22, reflected on his upcoming graduation and decided that, despite tragedy in his family’s past, his future is open-ended and optimistic. He’s expected to attend graduate school for sports management. He’s planning to travel to Thailand, and maybe Colombia, with his aunt and uncle. He would like to use his kinesiology degree to inspire healthy lifestyles in youths.
He’ll also try to close the most trying chapter of his life. He plans to attend the trial of the person charged with killing his mother, stepmother and little brother and setting their Oakland home on fire in 2016. He hopes to find answers to lingering questions about that night.
Despite encouragement to take time off from school following the murders, Campbell-Wright chose to stick with his studies, in part because he imagined what his mother, who was a Berkeley-area educator, would want him to do.
“I know the conversation I was going to have with my mom if I told her I wasn’t going to school,” he said. “It wasn’t going to end well for me.”
When he learned of the crime, Campbell-Wright was studying at Mississippi State University as part of CSUN’s National Student Exchange program. He returned to CSUN, still reeling, to learned he was 12 units behind schedule, making it nearly impossible to finish in four years.
Growing up, he said, he often was told about the things he, as an African-American male, couldn’t do. But he saw that nearly every adult in his family had an advanced degree. Calling something impossible just made him want it more.
He buried himself in school work. He took as many as 22 units a semester, and winter-term classes. He also got more involved on campus. He worked as a tutor in the Department of Africana Studies’ writing lab and was the Associated Students senator for the College of Health and Human Development.
He is graduating cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and a minor Africana studies minor.
“I’m in a great place now,” Campbell-Wright said. “I’m saddened that my mother isn’t going to see me graduate college, and that my little brother didn’t get to see his 20th birthday. It hurts. But everybody else around me showed me love and respect, and I didn’t give up. We don’t go through all these circumstances without the help of others.”
Beverly Ntagu, Outstanding Graduating Senior
Beverly Ntagu, Outstanding Graduating Senior
For many seniors, graduating from CSUN marks the start of their journey toward making lasting changes in society. But Beverly Ntagu already began creating an impact while an undergraduate student; graduation is just the next step in continuing her work.
Ntagu is the only daughter among three children of parents who immigrated from Nigeria to America to pursue professional success, not only for themselves, but for the family that they were going to create. Ntagu’s parents hold two bachelor’s degrees and four Master’s degrees between them — “I have a legacy to uphold,” Ntagu said. Completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a minor in child and adolescent development and a concentration in medicine, she is hot on her parents’ heels.
Ntagu views her academic achievement primarily as a means to serve others. She aspires to have a “transformational” career in the field of healthcare, where she hopes to become a leader and advocate for health-related resources for underrepresented and marginalized communities. She also dreams of making a positive impact in Nigeria by building a facility to provide healthcare to those who do not have access to it.
“Coming to CSUN wasn’t initially my plan, but when I got here, I promised myself that I would make my mark on campus and make a name for myself,” Ntagu said.
As the 2018-19 Associated Students (AS) president, Ntagu worked to amplify the voices of CSUN students. She brought back the AS “Red Couch Tour” in February after a nine-year hiatus. The program provides an open forum for students to ask direct questions of student government leaders about a variety of topics. As the president of the Tau Zeta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Ntagu facilitated programs aimed at helping and connecting with underrepresented communities, with a primary emphasis on the Black community.
The relationships she’s forged at CSUN have been a source of comfort for Ntagu. In 2015, when her father passed away, she said the connections she’s made helped her overcome those dark times.
She had the opportunity to share this story at the 2018 Association of College Unions International Annual Conference in Anaheim. Ntagu’s first job on campus was as a building manager for the University Student Union.
Her mentor Debra Hammond, executive director of the University Student Union, regularly reminded Ntagu that everything she has done during her time at CSUN has been to give back to the community, and not for personal gain.
“No one forced me to do any of this, rather I knew that what I was doing would have a lasting impact on those after me,” Ntagu said. “Debra would always remind me that in all that I do, it is not about me.”
Bhernard Tila, Outstanding Graduating Senior
Bhernard Tila, Outstanding Graduating Senior
Bhernard Tila is no stranger to sacrifices and embracing challenges. But in the face of uncertainty, he said, he strives to give back, empower and advocate for others.
“I was not supposed to go to college,” said Tila, who immigrated from the Philippines with his family. He was active in Reseda High School’s NJROTC program and planned to enlist in the military after high school. When he was unable to meet a requirement, that dream to serve his country evaporated.
Instead, he decided to explore an option he had never considered — a college degree. Tila enrolled at CSUN in fall 2014 as a computer science major before changing course to pursue a double major in public health and Asian American studies. He immersed himself in campus leadership opportunities, which expanded his support system and kept him focused on academics.
While at CSUN, he has served as an active member of Dreams to be Heard, a support group for undocumented students and allies, and was a student staff member of the Educational Opportunity
Program (EOP) DREAM Center. Through these positions, Tila developed programs and services that provide resources and mentoring for undocumented students, on and off campus.
Tila served as an Associated Students senator for the College of Humanities, on the College of Humanities Dean’s Student Council, as chair of University Student Union (USU) facilities and commercial services, and is currently completing his term as chair of the USU board of directors.
Navigating CSUN as a student, Tila said, has taught him how to think critically about the systemic
barriers that impact students and block access to campus services. He said he has learned the value of service to others and seeing beyond the needs of individuals.
Tila said he is grateful for his many CSUN mentors, including Tracy Lachica Buenavista, Debra Hammond, Dario Fernandez, Blanca Villagomez and his partner, Rajini Jasmine Babasanta.
Tila said the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award did not just honor him.
“This award is for my family, and for all the students I’ve worked with and that contributed to my time here,” he said. “I’ve achieved my goal, to give back what I have received.”
The content above is an excerpt featuring the three HHD students named Outstanding Graduating Senior. Read the full story our remarkable CSUN students in CSUN Today.
Sp 2019/CSUN Today (excerpted)
Liezl Bitas, Wyatt Samuelson, Jacob Bennett, Amy Hamaker,
Carmen Ramos Chandler