Joyce Ricci ‘68
Attending CSULB was quite an eye opening experience for me. It was my first time to live away from home. After high school, I attended Riverside City College and lived at home before transferring. I lived on the second floor of the Los Cerritos dorm my first year on campus. Driving past it now when I come to campus and I remember what a fun experience it was living there.
As a physical education major, I had many sport activity classes that took plenty of time. It was quite an adjustment. My minor was sociology, so I was walking up and down the hill frequently. There wasn’t a shuttle in those days!
My on campus job was working as a cashier in the bookstore. The managers were so kind there to work around my class schedule.
I was involved with activities within the physical education department and was a member of the Physical Education Club. Dorm activities were always fun, since we were all new to campus. It was a great way to meet friends. As a dorm student, we ate our meals in the main cafeteria. Dinner there was fun because the football team came in for dinner at that time. My roommate and I got to know guys on the team, so attending football games were really fun, since we knew so many of the team members.
49er Days were so much fun.There were booths, and the remake of an old gold rush town.
As a physical education major, I spent most of my time on lower campus on the fields and in the Gold Mine gym. While it wasn’t “on campus,” I watched quite a few baseball games at Blair Field. We had a very good team, but they weren’t called the Dirtbags back then. To this day, I still enjoy watching baseball games at Blair Field.
So many of the women physical education instructors were an inspiration to me. Joan Schlaich, my dance instructor, even provided me with advice when I got my first full time teaching assignment because part of my teaching load was to oversee the dance program. Since I really wasn’t a dancer, Joan gave me guidance to enhance my assignment. I really admired all the instructors, especially Dr. Shaffsma, Dr. Deatheradge and Dr. Lyon.
My degree prepared me to become a high school physical education teacher. In the 1980’s I returned to campus to obtain an administrative credential that helped me in my career.
I moved out of state and spent two years in New Jersey, where I started my teaching career, and then returned to California to teach in the Norwalk-La Mirada School District. In the mid 70’s I obtained a master’s degree in counseling from that Cal State Fullerton.With that, I was able to become a community college counselor. I worked at both Pasadena City College and Cerritos College.
Once again, I moved out of state, this time to Las Vegas to take a student services administrative assignment. My husband and I returned to California when we really got tired of the hot weather and missed the beach too much. My final administrative assignment was at Cypress College, where I was the dean of student development and counseling. I retired in 2007.
As a happily retired person, I spend a lot of time volunteering with the Assistance League of Long Beach and also at the University. I volunteer in the Alumni Office occasionally. For the Athletic Department, I serve on the Jewels of the Night committee and also serve as the community representative on the campus Commission on Athletics committee.
I thoroughly enjoy attending campus athletic events, working in the garden and planning our wonderful travel adventures and golfing. Fitness is important to me, so most mornings I start the day with a workout of some type in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center on campus.
