College of HHD

Students Take Different Paths to Graduation

May 13, 2019

A record 11,627 students are eligible to graduate from California State University, Northridge this year. Each journey to that degree is as unique as each student, as are their destinations once they leave CSUN. Some are headed to overseas to realize childhood dreams of professional sports careers. Others are headed into business, law school or teaching. Some are even have plans that could change our understanding of the universe.

Among the CSUN students featured in this CSUN Today piece is Marissa Favela who is majoring in Public Health.  Get to know Marissa and a few of her 2019 classmates from across campus and learn about how mentoring has helped each of them shape their lives.

  • Videos and stories:  go to all five inspiring graduate profiles in CSUN Today.
  • Go directly to Marissa Favela's story below:

    When Keith West, head coach of CSUN’s women’s soccer team, looks at Marissa Favela, 21, he said, he sees courage, strength, tenacity, a dedicated student and a talented athlete who, when faced with obstacles, never gives up and has chosen to live life to the fullest.

    Favela said West’s faith in her has inspired her to pursue her dreams of playing for a professional soccer team. She hopes to play for a team in London, England. Teams there have a program that would allow her to pursue a graduate degree in nursing while she plays. She won’t know if she got into the program until this summer.

    Favela first played soccer at age 5, when her parents enrolled her in an American Youth Soccer Organization team in Diamond Bar, where she grew up. The sport soon became a passion. She spent as much time as possible on the field practicing. She played on club teams and was a member of the Diamond Bar High School girls team.

    Her life tookmarissa favela an abrupt turn at the start of her junior year of high school, when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Her treatments curtailed her ability to practice and play soccer, and forced her to be temporarily homeschooled while she focused on her health.

    When she returned to school at the end of her senior year, Favela said, she didn’t have the same body that had made her a star player in earlier years. She thought the opportunity to be scouted by college recruiters, which usually takes place during the junior year of high school, was gone.

    “But somehow Coach West saw me, and he gave me a chance,” Favela said.

    West happened to spot Favela playing a game in March of her senior year. He was struck by her natural talent. He said he talked to her high school coach to learn why she hadn’t already received offers from other schools and decided to give her a chance to play for CSUN. Favela enrolled at CSUN that fall, in 2014.

    She said the transition to college life was “a little bit of a culture shock.”

    “It’s a big school, and I was living on my own for the first time,” she said. “But as I look back, I realize it was a good experience.”

    Favela admitted she struggled a little her first year at CSUN. She did not play much as she worked to get her body into shape for Division I play. She also had to adjust to the academic demands of being a public health major.

    “Given my own experience with the healthcare industry, I knew that’s what I wanted to study,” she said, noting that her diagnosis of ovarian cancer at age 15 put her in a unique situation. She wasn’t “a kid with cancer,” nor was she an adult.

    “I want to be a nurse who specializes in working with someone like me — who wasn’t a kid and wasn’t an adult — because I think teens sometimes get lost in the system,” she said.

    She was determined to succeed, both in the classroom and on the pitch. She put in extra hours, in addition to regular practices, to hone her skills. She took advantage of tutoring and advisement programs offered by Matador Athletics to ensure she kept her grades up.

    Over the past four years, she managed to successfully juggle the demands of her classes while being considered one of the top scorers in the Big West Conference. She helped CSUN advance to the 2017 Big West Tournament Championship game, was invited to be part of the All-Big West team and is currently eighth in CSUN history in scoring. She also has been cancer free for nearly six years.

    Favela is expected to take part in the College of Health and Human Development’s  commencement ceremony at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 20.

    Videos and stories:  go to all five inspiring graduate profiles in CSUN Today.

    Sp 2019

    Carmen Ramos Chandler/CSUN Today