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Poly Parent News: November 2020
This Month's Newsletter
Mustang Family Green and Gold Packs
Sign Up to Receive Fall Commencement Information
Out-of-State Families: Learn About Local Connections
Travel During the Academic Break
Student Housing Winter Break Closure
Service Spotlight: Career Services
Message from Our Team
Dear Parents and Supporters,
We hope that you and your family are staying safe and well. Thank you to all who attended Virtual Mustang Family Week last month. It was full of engaging sessions, Learn by Doing opportunities and time to connect as parents and supporters.
The end of the quarter is less than a month away, and our team is switching gears to prepare for Virtual Fall Commencement on Saturday, Dec. 5. We are excited to host six separate virtual ceremonies for each academic college to celebrate your Mustang's accomplishments. View our story below to learn how to sign up for Virtual Fall Commencement emails and receive important information about the big day.
As always, our staff are available as resources to you! Please reach out to us anytime with comments, questions or concerns as you continue to support your student throughout their Cal Poly journey.
Enjoy this month’s edition of Poly Parent News.
Sincerely,
Parent and Family Programs Team
Mustang Family Green and Gold Packs
Mustang Family Green and Gold Packs include an exclusive Cal Poly Mustang Family T-shirt (available in multiple quantities and sizes), one 32 oz. Cal Poly Nalgene bottle, one Cal Poly face mask, one Cal Poly Mustang Family 2020 sticker and one Cal Poly Proud Family car decal. Order yours today!
Sign Up to Receive Fall Commencement Information
Cal Poly family and friends are invited to sign up to receive Virtual Fall Commencement 2020 emails to stay informed about the virtual ceremonies. Sign up.
Save the date for Cal Poly’s Virtual Fall Commencement 2020 celebration at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, featuring six separate virtual ceremonies for each academic college.
Out-of-State Families: Learn About Local Connections
Cal Poly's Local Connections program aims to support out-of-state students and foster a sense of community in their new home away from home. It offers students the chance to find and form a lasting support system during their Cal Poly journey, providing opportunities to meet, connect and build long-lasting friendships with fellow out-of-state students.
This year, the Local Connections program is looking to connect students with the community now more than ever! Our staff will be hosting student-led hangout sessions, study groups, game nights, community cooking events featuring foods from different parts of the world, and more! Learn more.
Snapshots of Fall Quarter
What does campus look like these days? View photos from a quarter unlike any other as the campus community adapts to life in a pandemic. Learn more.
Travel During the Academic Break
Cal Poly continues to urge all students, faculty and staff to consider canceling plans for non-essential domestic travel.
Our first and most important priorities are the well-being and safety of our community members. We want to share facts, to help decrease any feelings of anxiety or panic that our community may be experiencing.
Please use the following travel recommendations to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 to your family, friends and supporters at home, and others around you while you travel. Learn more.
Student Housing Winter Break Closure
As the Fall Quarter contract ends Saturday, Nov. 21, residents need to vacate their campus residences by Saturday, Nov. 21 at 5 p.m. If students are coming back to campus for Winter Quarter, they do not need to take their belongings, and can plan on returning to their same assignment. However, they will not have access to their room until housing re-opens in January, so be sure to take any essential items home with you. Learn more.
Service Spotlight: Career Services
Career Services empowers students to achieve a lifetime of meaningful career success by engaging with Cal Poly's vibrant network. They shape innovative, ethical and culturally competent graduates to advance the economic and collective welfare of our global society. Learn more.
Earn by Doing
Jessi-Ryah Cordova, a second-year agricultural business major, has worked at the Cal Poly Dairy as a business intern since her freshman year. She was initially hired to assist Craig Russell, manager of the Cal Poly Dairy and Creamery, create an updated five-year business plan. Cordova now handles invoices, creates operation spreadsheets, collects herd inventories and assists with the hiring process for incoming students. She is one of 35 students working at the campus dairy – the largest student-run dairy in the U.S. “There are 14 milkings per week, 365 days a year and I am the only full-time employee – the students are our main workforce,” said Russell. “Student success and Learn by Doing are the foundation of everything we do.”
In all, the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences employs 400 students at its 15 food and agriculture production units on campus through the college’s Earn by Doing program, where students learn first-hand the intricate details of managing and operating these units. The program is twofold: it provides students with hands-on, industry-specific experience that helps them be ready to make an immediate impact in their careers following graduation. It also ensures that the daily maintenance and operations of the college’s food and agricultural lands and facilities, including the 500-cow dairy, are well-managed.
The skills that Cordova, who came to Cal Poly from her hometown of Lompoc, California, is learning in the classroom align with her work at the dairy – learning how to create budget in financial accounting, tracking how the industry works in agricultural economics and assisting with marketing and sales with the principles she is learning in a business sales class. “All of it really works in tandem for me and I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity,” she said. “I have a deep love for the food and agriculture industry and everything it represents, and I feel it’s important for people to understand the industry and how food gets to their table.”
Students from across the college – and even the university – make food products as part of their coursework and the Earn by Doing program. Student-made products such as cheese, ice cream, jam, chocolate, wine, eggs and meats are used and sold on campus, in retail outlets and farmers markets throughout San Luis Obispo, and through special online promotions during the holidays. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, students who work at the campus’ J and G Lau Family Meat Processing Center have gotten creative and sell their products through a weekly drive-through event on campus. Hams, and for the first time this year, turkeys, are also available during the holidays.
Nicole Tribelhorn, a third-year environmental management and protection major from Michigan, is one of two student managers at the Cal Poly Creamery. During the fall quarter she and 2o other students are focused on assembling holiday cheese boxes, which showcase the various award-winning cheeses that students make throughout the year. “I didn’t want a typical job where I would be doing one thing all day, I wanted something that would keep me on my toes and the Cal Poly Creamery does just that,” said Tribelhorn. “It is a really good experience and a way to establish your work ethic and learn skills such as quality analysis testing that will help me with my future goal of pursing a job in biotechnology.”
The holiday cheese sale kicks off Nov. 5 and runs through Dec. 18, with shipping offered in the United States and pick-up dates available at the Creamery. A variety of Holiday Cheese Packs will be available, some of which include student-made jam, chocolates and barbecue sauce. For every 100 gift boxes sold, the Creamery will donate a cheese box to the Poly Pantry to support students impacted by food insecurity. People can also purchase a special cheese box to give directly to a student in need.
We invite the Mustang community to share your Mustang Pride this holiday season by indulging in these student-made products. Purchase Holiday Cheese Packs at www.calpolycreamery.com; join the Cal Poly Wine Club at www.calpolywine.com/Wine-Club; or visit calpolymeats.com to learn more about holiday hams, drive-through sales and weekly subscription boxes from Cal Poly Meats.
Recommended Viewing
Deconstructing White Privilege with Dr. Robin DiAngelo
Dr. Robin DiAngelo is the author of "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" and has been an anti-racist educator for over two decades. This 20 minute TEDx-style video is a great introduction to understanding key concepts in white racial socialization and why it’s often so hard for white people to talk about racism. Watch the Video
Cal Poly News
- Hungry Yet? Vista Grande Reopens with A New Look and All New Dining Options
- What Does a Congressional Internship Look Like Without Trip to D.C.? Panetta Intern Shares What He Learned
- Are You Digesting Fake Food News? This Class Teaches Students How to Spot the Facts
- From Bell Covers to Virtual Rehearsals, Mustang Band Adapts to COVID-19
- Librarian Supports Diverse Student Entrepreneurs Through New Resource Guides
- Device That Could Save Thousands of Mothers' Lives Just Got FDA Approval — And It Started as a Senior Project
- 'An Amazing Ambassador for Cal Poly.' Education Professor Wins CSU Faculty Award
- Should Police Be Able to Predict Crime? Professor Releases Roadmap for AI and Policing Ethics Research
- How to Fix Climate Crisis on the Central Coast? Cal Poly Researchers Look for Solutions in Ocean, Wind
Resources
- Roadmap to Fall 2020
- Cal Poly Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information
- Office of the Registrar Calendars and Deadlines
- Student Accounts Dates and Deadlines
- University Housing Dates and Deadlines
- Cal Poly Events
- What's Up Now Guide
- Parent Philanthropy
- Parent and Supporter Communication Sign-Up
- Follow Parent and Family Programs on Facebook and Instagram
- View Past Poly Parent Newsletters
- Contact Cal Poly
