Luis Rangel, Cal State Bakersfield alumni, never would have guessed that at the end of his journey at CSUB he would have received the graduate student Presidential medal on May 13.
The President’s medal is given to one outstanding undergraduate, and graduate student at CSUB. Rangel received the top undergraduate student medal from the school of Business Public Administration.
Rangel started his career at CSUB as an undergraduate student. During his time juggling being a full time student and having a full-time job, he still made time to be active at CSUB, and give back to the community around him.
As an undergrad, Rangel was a member of the Financed Management Association where he had the opportunity to travel across the United States to New York. Rangel also started a Rugby club back in 2014 at CSUB.
“My biggest challenge was during my undergraduate academic career, having to work full time and go to school full time was challenging. The way I overcame these challenges by having open communication with my employers of my goals and school needs as well as with my professors about time limitations due to work commitments.” wrote Rangel.
At the end of Rangel’s undergraduate career, he ended up graduating cum laude, a recognition for having over a 3.0 GPA.
Rangel wasn’t done with his education upon completion of undergrad and returned to school to pursue a master’s degree in business administration.
During his time as a graduate student, Rangel was able to travel again, this time across the world to Italy, through a course within the master’s program, International Business. He also graduated with a perfect 4.0 and received the outstanding graduate award for the major business administration from the school of Business Public Administration earlier this May.
“It’s a great honor, I try to do my best to represent CSUB as best as possible.” said Rangel after he received the President’s medal.
Without the support of his employer, Golden Empire Mortgage, friends, and most importantly his partner Sonya Carrillo, Rangels time at CSUB could not have been as successful. Rangel said how Carrillo supported him every step of his college journey through encouragement and advice when it was needed. Rangel also received support from CSUB professors, Dr. Dan Zhou, Dr. Mahdy Elhusseiny, and Dr. David Olson.
Rangel was able to take what he was learning in the classrooms and utilize it into his world around him by starting a successful business. In 2018, he started a non-for-profit organization Kern County Rugby Association, to showcase the fun sport of Rugby within the community.
“The management, operation, and financial skills I have gained through my education will help me successfully steer this very young organization to achieve our goals.” wrote Rangel.
Rangel also hopes to grow within Golden Empire Mortgage and will be using the education, tools and the information that he obtained to do so.
At Golden Empire Mortgage, he is currently working to extend home ownership to underserved communities around 13 western and southern states. In the future, he hopes to one day return to CSUB as an adjunct lecture in the school of business.
“This will help me keep the newly retained knowledge fresh while helping my fellow Road Runners achieve their academic goals.” wrote Rangel.
