Erica Quiroz
My experience at CSULB has been a blessing. This school has given me invaluable opportunities, cultivated professional development and provided me exemplary education. The connections I have made, the tests I have studied for and the organizations I have joined have advanced my career in ways I never expected. It is evident how much the school, staff and faculty truly care for our future.
Aside from the great education and the diploma I cannot wait to hold in the spring, the college memories I will cherish most are the moments spent with my family and loved ones. Mom & Dad, you have always been so loving and supportive of me and I am forever grateful to have you both. I love you. Kayla, Nana, Charlie, old friends and new friends, thank you so much for making me smile, I love y’all! And most important, all glory and gratefulness to God. I love you.
I came to California State University, Long Beach right after high school. I remember being completely indecisive about the career I wanted, unable to pick a major, and quite honestly worried for the future. I prayed for two years, sincerely asking God what I should do. I begged him to show me the path I was meant to take because I was clueless. I realize now that all that time I took praying was exactly what I needed. It made me determined. Something I learned - if you’re determined and faithful, you’ll end up happier than you ever imagined.
Flash forward to my senior year, I am majoring in Broadcast Journalism, and minoring in Communication Studies. I work as the Executive Producer of the news/entertainment/sports show, ‘Beach Access’ at College Beat Television. I just completed my summer internship at TMZ under the News Desk and Research department. I am working on my thesis under the University Honors Program. I was the talk show host for ‘Late Night Long Beach’ for two semesters. This past spring I won one of the ‘Excellence in Broadcast Journalism’ awards in the department, became an initiate of the Kappa Tau Alpha Journalism and Mass Communication Honors Society, and attended the BEA 2015 convention. So overall I’ve just had the most productive and fun 1-1/2 years of my life… so far!
It was sophomore year in my journalism class and I was talking with one of my smiley classmates, Cienna Acevedo. She worked at College Beat Television, the student run TV station on campus, and was encouraging me to volunteer. That day basically changed my college career. Since then College Beat helped me grow as a reporter, interviewer, filmer, editor and has taught me so much about television. Now I work there as an Executive Producer. Sometimes opportunities start out with making a friend. Be kind to everyone because it’s the best thing to do.
Last spring there was a job fair in the University Student Union. I had forgotten it was that day since I was pretty busy with work and my 18 units at the time. But once I remembered I printed out some of my resumes, attempted to fix my hair and bolted to the fair. That was the day I met some really nice people tabling for TMZ. I gave them my resume, got their business cards and proceeded to email them until I finally landed an interview for a summer internship. What I’m saying is, always be prepared to connect with people, and collect business cards like they are dollar bills. The difference is business cards are more valuable.
Seize all the opportunities at CSULB, friends. There are so many available when you decide to take them.
Ideally, I want to be a broadcast reporter and eventually an anchor for an news/entertainment show. In general, to work on any television show or filming project for Disney, Dreamworks, CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS (any and all of them) would be a dream come true. I love television because it has the power to make an impact on the world, and it does so everyday. My biggest goal is to help people. I want to help people who can’t help themselves. I want to bring people kindness, knowledge, love, resources, a bible, clean water… Anything and everything to share the love in the world. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there is goodness on this planet, but I want to make it easy to remember.
