Sonoma State University’s own Charles Schulz Library held an open house on Wed. March 4. Students were welcomed by balloons near the entrance of the library next to Charlie Brown Cafe when the event started at 4 p.m. For awhile, students were used to going into a noisy first floor of the library as it went through a renovation that took a little over six months.  

Dr. Karen Schneider, dean of the library, opened up the ceremony saying, “I welcome you to this open house. Look around. The library is the heart of our campus and the updated first floor has transformed our space into an even more welcoming place for students to study and connect with vital support services.”

The library was offering students popcorn, cotton candy and cupcakes with star designs attached on top. There were also board games set up at different locations on the first floor and they even had a very popular game called Loteria, which is Mexican bingo. Some of the other games they had were: Jenga, Illuminati and a spin the wheel where a prize was given. On top of all that, there was a station in the library where students can make their own stickers or pins. 

After all the speakers had finished, Dr. Karen Schneider closed the ceremony saying, “The remainder of the Open House event will provide you with opportunities to learn more about the essential student services now available on the first floor, including the Learning and Academic Resource Center(LARC), Student Success & Advising, the Center for Academic Access and Student Enrichment(CAASE), and the University Library”. 

The Center for Academic Access and Student Enrichment (CAASE) offers a variety of programs that are geared toward helping first generation students be successful at Sonoma State. With the recent renovation in the library, there is now a “CAASE lounge” where students can work on their homework and get work done with fellow CAASE members. This allows for members to have a safe communal space  and meet other hard working students. Next door to the lounge is the CAASE office where students can go make appointments with their advisors to talk about classes, additional support, future class schedules, and any goals they want to achieve. The programs that are offered are TRIO-SSS, Dream Center, Seawolf Scholars, EOP, and Puerta Centro. 

Sophomore Ileana Aleman, who attended the event said, “The resources on the first floor have helped me by providing me with an additional support system, and easy access to great advising that ensures I’m on track and meeting all requirements in order to graduate”. Ileana is part of the CAASE program and visits the first floor often.

This is just one of a litany of new resources on the first floor.

Trio Student Support Services is a program designed to increase the postsecondary consistency and graduation rates of low income students, first generation college students, and students with disabilities. All the students who are in the Trio program are also enrolled in some type of postsecondary education and also meet one of the eligible requirements . Trio also currently houses United for Success and Multilingual Achievers Program (MAP). 

Another resource housed on the new first floor of the library is the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), which aims to improve the access, retention and graduation of students who have been historically, economically and educationally disadvantaged. EOP helps make it easier for students to transition from their old school to SSU and provides help for students in admissions, orientation, financial assistance, academic support and personal advising. 

Preparing Underrepresented Educators to Realize their Teaching Ambitions(PUERTA) pushes to increase the number of Latinx teachers in K-12 public schools and is yet another useful tool on the first floor. Their three goals are: Increase Hispanic and Latina/o student persistence and graduation rates, increase the amount of hispanic and latino students who have earned their teaching credentials, and increase the number of students who transfer to SSU from a two year Hispanic Serving Institute. 

Dream Center is a space for undocumented students where they receive academic, personal, and professional guidance in order to get in to and graduate college. They offer help with DACA renewals, Family Petitions(Green Card), and also help review scholarship applications. 

Seawolf scholars strives to increase the academic and personal success of motivated foster youth that attend Sonoma State. They help current and former foster youth in making sure they fit in on campus and also letting the students know of their resources that SSU has to offer. The program wants to transform the lives of the scholars by encouraging and supporting the students to become well fitted leaders in their communities. 

Ultimately, this open house allowed students to see all the new resources housed on the first floor of the library in a fun and inviting way.