Past Student Spotlights

Our Business Honors Program Capstone course student teams participated in the prestigious 48th Small Business Institute (SBI) Annual Conference, which runs the national/international Project of the Year competition. This year, the conference was hosted in Orlando, Florida. The competition has two undergraduate categories, consulting and comprehensive, with the latter being the most rigorous and competitive.

Business Honors Program director, Dr. Silvina Bamrungpong states, "I want to acknowledge the remarkable success of our two student teams in securing first place in both undergraduate consulting and comprehensive categories. This triumph showcases our students' exceptional dedication and caliber, skillfully mentored by Dr. Drew Foley, our Capstone professor, who acted as the faculty advisor for both winning teams."

• Comprehensive Category - Project of the Year: First place (top photo)

  (Pictured) - Dr. Drew Foley, Kahleho Molapisi, Justin Tolchinsky, and Keiana Samoy

  (Not pictured) - Justin Keller and Marisol Zuniga

   

• Consulting Category - Project of the Year: First place (bottom photo)

   (Pictured) - Emily Emrani, Fernanda Reyes, and Brenda Dzul

   (Not pictured) - Keenon Takaki and Patrik Khan-Babaei

CONGRATULATIONS, to Business Honors Program student, Robert Begley!

Robert Begley is honored at CSUN's David Nazarian College of Business and Economics during the 2024 commencement ceremony on Monday, May 20, 2024. You can view the video here.

Eden was recognized at the 2023 CSUN University Honors Convocation Ceremony for Outstanding Senior. You can view her recognition via the YouTube video here; She is shown at the 9:55 time-stamp. 

Irina (right) and Diana (left) are the 2023 Business Honors Thomas Bloch scholarship recipients!

The David Nazarian College of Business and Economics Business Honors Program offers the Thomas C. Bloch Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship opportunity recognizes a Business Honors students who achieve academic excellence.

At an athlete award ceremony, Business Honors students, Lacey Hall and Tatiana Smeltzer were joined by their teammates, coaches, academic advisors, athletic faculty, our fellow student athletes, and President Erika Beck. 

Lacey and Tatiana were both recognized as scholar athletes in both the 2022 Spring and Fall semesters. In addition, Lacey was recognized for being one of seven Female Scholar Athletes of the Year, for 2022. This is awarded to the athlete with the highest GPA. Lacey holds a 4.0 GPA. Lacey gave a speech to represent the female athlete graduating senior that detailed her experience and journey these past 4-years at CSUN.  

CONGRATULATIONS to Eden Shashoua, Peter Radionov, and Justin Tolchinksky who will serve for the 2022-2023 year. Eden will serve as the Vice President, Peter will serve as the Finance Chair, and Justin will continue on as Senator for the Nazarian College. I know they will bring forth their best selves in their new cabinet positions!

About the Associated Students Senate

The student-elected representatives that make up the senate are the legislative arm of AS Student Government and serve as the official voice of CSUN students. The senate also serves as the board of directors for the AS corporation and advocates for students in a variety of other capacities within the campus community.

The senate is composed of 24 voting members — two lower division students, two upper division students, two graduate students and two elected from each of the eight colleges along with the vice president and president (who serves as the chair).

Members of the senate have the opportunity to develop skills in parliamentary procedure, goal setting, communications, group processing, multiculturalism, decision making and critical analysis.

Serving on the senate enables students to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-life situations. They gain a more thorough understanding of fiscal issues, personnel matters, marketing and public relations.

In sum, members of the senate:

• Serve as one of the 24 students representing a student body of more than 38,000
• Gain valuable leadership experience
• Initiate and approve policy and legislation
• Preside over a multi-million dollar operating budget
• Serve on committees that affect change on campus
• Network with people from various backgrounds
• Work with faculty and campus administrators

Elline Deogracias, Outstanding Graduating Senior.

Deogracias is graduating with bachelor’s degrees in business law and business honors. During her tenure at CSUN, she served a senator in the student government, Associated Students, and was co-founder of the university’s first sustainable fashion certificate program.

She also worked as a student assistant in CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability, helping to coordinate events and collaborations with campus and community partners to promote education on such topics as zero waste, food insecurity and sustainable fashion. Her work with the institute and the creation of the sustainable fashion program led to a research project on corporate sustainability. The results of that project, done in collaboration with family and consumer sciences professor Tracie Tung, were published in the CSU Journal of Sustainability and Climate Change. Deogracias is listed as the article’s lead author. During the pandemic, Deogracias often worked three to four jobs, while going to school full time, to help her family make ends meet. Deogracias hopes to attend law school.

Jessica accepted a position at MuteSix. In her new position, Jessica will serve as MuteSix’s search coordinator. Her duties will include developing strategies for paid search campaigns, creating marketing materials for Google’s different platforms, and collaborating with different teams to optimize marketing strategies.

The scholarship dinner held on Thursday, April 29 at the Odyssey Restaurant in Granada Hills, CA was well attended by several faculty, staff, and of course students!

Top photograph pictured: Emily Kaplan, Zarah Bastan, Dr. Silvina Bamrungpong, Lacey Hall, Nathan Hernandez, and Harrison Elder. 

 Bottom photograph pictured: Harrison Elder, Dr. Silvina Bamrungpong, and Kahleho Molapisi.

Congratulations to the following students (some of which are not pictured):

Harrison Elder (Thomas C. Block Spirit of Achievement, James F. McRaith for Marketing, and Howard and Ellen Press Family Scholarships)

Kahleho Molapisi (Thomas C. Block Spirit of Achievement and Heather J. Briggs Scholarships)

Lacey Hall (Jeffrey Flocken Academic Excellence Scholarship)

Emily Kaplan (Bossuk Scholarship)

Zahra Bastan (American Society for Quality Scholarship)

Valerie Lopez (Dean's Scholarship)

Keenon Takaki (Dean's and Carrie De Young Scholarships)

Adriana Lazalde (Stelmar Scholarship)

Emily Emrani (Stelmar Scholarship)

Nathan Hernandez (Suzanne Schweitzer Zaret Outstanding Student Award - Finance)

Note: Please email the Business Honors Program office if we missed someone who attended and is not mentioned in this post. Thank you.

Keiana is a data analyst for the WATT project that is researching efforts to improve current harmful methods of processing organic waste and increase the safety of workers. The WATT team just received $150,000 from the National Science Foundation's Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program.

ARCS is a NASA-sponsored, chartered, center of excellence. Their mission is to combine transdisciplinary, university-wide knowledge and talent from faculty, students, and NASA scientists to conduct convergence research and collaboration using increasingly autonomous systems (IA). ARCS is projected to become a global leader in IA within the next 5-years. 

Here are some links to learn more about Keiana's project:

WATT Research Project

2022 ARCS Fellows

Further information about the program can be found here.

Undergraduate students in the Business Honors Program placed in the “Consulting” and “Comprehensive” categories this year. The Hipcooks team that helped the in-person Hipcooks culinary school with a digital branding campaign, placed first in the undergraduate “Consulting” category. It is the Business Honors Program’s second first-place finish in this category within the past three years. 

Top Photo: Hipcooks team (pictured) Anmari Pagtalunan, Rian Denich, (not pictured) Julia Papp, Tina Toonian, and Lizbeth Sentoso.

In the undergraduate “Comprehensive” category, the Redflight Innovation team placed second, marking the second year in a row that a Nazarian College program has placed in the top three of the event’s most competitive category. Students on this team worked with Redflight Innovation that offers a science, technology, engineering and mathematical (STEM) kit to middle-school students with limited access to technology. 

Bottom photo: Redflight team (pictured) Natalie Simonoff, Adrine Arutyunyan, Daniel Madison, (not pictured) Aramazd Demirkhanyan

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Adrian received the Dean's Scholarship to recognize students of excellence, both in terms of life experiences and academics and the Carande Family Scholarship will provide scholarship support to students who are identified as coming from traditionally underserved populations.

Danny shared that he is humbled to be chosen as CSUN's Wolfson Scholar for the Class of 2021. He said that the Business Honors Program has been a great resource in providing opportunities and mentorship and that he is very appreciative to have been involved in such a strong and supportive organization. He looks forward to remaining involved as an alumnus and working to provide additional opportunities to the next generation of Business Honors Program students and graduates.

To be a Wolfson Scholar, a CSUN student must have an exceptional academic record, and have made a significant contribution to the University and community. The selection is based on each dean identifying one student from their college who epitomizes a Wolfson Scholar. The selection is made by a vote of all College deans and Provost Council.

This is a rare award that is only given to one graduating student. The Nazarian College has not had a Wolfson Scholar since 2006. Thank you Danny for breaking this long awaited pause! Danny was recognized at the 2021 CSUN University Commencement Ceremony for Outstanding Senior. You can view his recognition via the YouTube video here.  He is shown at the 1:07:32 time-stamp. 

Danny will also be recognized as an Outstanding Senior along with other peers at our 2021 Commencement celebration ceremony by the Nazarian College.

Danny is a shining example for all current and future Business Honors Program students. We wish Danny all the best in his professional endeavors!

 Aditi was recognized at the 2021 CSUN University Commencement Ceremony for Outstanding Senior. You can view her recognition via the YouTube video here.  She is shown at the 1:00:30 time-stamp. 

Aditi will also be recognized as an Outstanding Senior along with other peers at our 2021 Commencement celebration ceremony by the Nazarian College.

Elline and Justin share their thoughts in this brief video.

Jonathan shared his thoughts: "As the business senator, I have learned how unique our college is and how much we offer to the university. I have grown a lot, heard so many inspiring stories about students, and understand what it means to represent our college. My time as a senator has been so rewarding. I realized the importance of giving back and helping those who are less fortunate than I am. That is why I decided to run for president. I am truly honored to be elected into this position and promise to advocate for each of you no matter what. Thank you all who believed in me and look forward to working with all of you!”

About the Senate

The student-elected representatives that make up the senate are the legislative arm of AS Student Government and serve as the official voice of CSUN students. The senate also serves as the board of directors for the AS corporation and advocates for students in a variety of other capacities within the campus community.

The senate is composed of 24 voting members — two lower division students, two upper division students, two graduate students and two elected from each of the eight colleges along with the vice president and president (who serves as the chair).

Members of the senate have the opportunity to develop skills in parliamentary procedure, goal setting, communications, group processing, multiculturalism, decision making and critical analysis.

Serving on the senate enables students to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-life situations. They gain a more thorough understanding of fiscal issues, personnel matters, marketing and public relations.

In sum, members of the senate:

• Serve as one of the 24 students representing a student body of more than 38,000
• Gain valuable leadership experience
• Initiate and approve policy and legislation
• Preside over a multi-million dollar operating budget
• Serve on committees that affect change on campus
• Network with people from various backgrounds
• Work with faculty and campus administrators

Justin is the recipient of the 2021 Business Honors Thomas Bloch scholarship!

The David Nazarian College of Business and Economics Business Honors Program offers the Thomas C. Bloch Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship opportunity recognizes a Business Honors student.

This scholarship is open to matriculated continuing CSUN Freshmen students accepted into the Business Honors Program and pursuing a major within the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics.

Justin adds to this honor by also being selected to receive the Noski Family Scholarship.

Aram will also be recognized as an Outstanding Senior along with other peers at our 2021 Commencement celebration ceremony by the Nazarian College.

Business Honors students at California State University, Northridge’s (CSUN) David Nazarian College of Business and Economics placed first in the Comprehensive Project of the Year, the largest and most competitive category, at the 2021 Small Business Institute Competition and Conference, held virtually from February 25-26. The team's client report was completed for Stevie Howell, LLC. 

(Pictured (left to right): Sara Alteryd, Leila Esmaeili, and Marketa Pospechova)

Funded by the Institute for Sustainability's Faculty Innovation Grant, this presentation will feature the following speakers from CSU Northridge: 

• Elline Deogracias (Student Research Assistant, Institute for Sustainability)
• Tracie Tung, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Family and Consumer Sciences)
• Natale Zappia, Ph.D. (Director, Institute for Sustainability, Professor, Department of History) 

The research focuses on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in sustainable fashion. We have developed a matrix that clearly identifies which activities constitute CSR, including the stages of business operations in which they occur. Although research is still in progress, we hope that this matrix will serve the following purposes: 

• Provide existing companies with a self-assessment tool
• Encourage emerging companies to use the matrix as a guideline to implement CSR practices
• Help consumers better understand CSR activities
• Identify specific areas of opportunities in CSR practices in business operations

Track: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Supply Chain

Event Information: "CSU Chico's This Way to Sustainability (TWTS) Conference is a nationally recognized, student-run conference focused on challenges, ideas, solutions, and resiliency for a more sustainable future—the largest student-run sustainability conference in North America. The conference hosts 1,400 participants each year with a variety of respected professionals, faculty, and students speaking on the many aspects of sustainability. The goal of the conference is to educate a wide audience on ways to create a more sustainable future along with providing attendees with an opportunity to network, discuss, and become more aware of pertinent environmental and social issues we all face in this changing world."

Jessica will be our 2021 Nazarian College Commencement speaker!

Jessica will also be recognized as an Outstanding Senior along with other peers at our 2021 Commencement celebration ceremony by the Nazarian College.

Jessica adds to these honors by also being selected as the recipient of a Marketing Department Scholarship.

Winning team members: Jenna Flynn and Vanessa Arriaza (pictured), and Angeline Gomez, and Alexander Brankovic by assisting their BHP Capstone client World Empanadas from Burbank, CA -- Also pictured, Dr. Deborah Cours (Asst. VP Academic Undergraduate Programs), Dr. Silvina Bamrungpong (Business Honors Program Director), and Dr. Drew Foley, BHP Capstone Professor

Associated Students Senator Jonathan Hay spearheaded the effort to pass the AS Senate bill denouncing anti-Semitism. See the link to the full article below. 

Associated Students Passes Senate Bill to Condemn Anti-Semitism on Campus

Faiza is a first-generation Bengali-Muslim American, born and raised in the San Fernando Valley. Faiza began a small business called Fresh by Fai and was featured in VoyageLA about her story. See the link to the full article below. 

Life and Work with Faiza Rahman.