Introduction Letter

Hello everyone! My name is Cindy Galindo. I was born in Brawley, CA and was raised in El Centro, CA. Both towns are located in the Imperial Valley, where it is HOT!!! The summer heat is no joke, the highest maybe 120. I did all my K-12 schooling in El Centro. I graduated high school from Central Union High School. Where I met my boyfriend, Armando, who I have been with for six years now. We are high school sweethearts. Right after I moved out to San Marcos and began college, here at Cal State San Marcos. The shift from a small town to a big city (San Diego) was definitely different, but fun experience. I am a senior and hope to graduate in December with my BA in Liberal Arts and walk May of next year. I am also planning on applying for the credential program for the Spring semester. I want to become a elementary school teacher, and teach at a school that has a dual-immersion program.

I have recently become a Mac person! I had worked with Mac computers before, but didn't have one of my own. Until about three weeks ago, I got my Macbook. I love it! It is more practical for school use, and definitely fun to use. I was not sad to see my PC go. I depend on my laptop and technology in general heavily on a daily basis. I am currently taking an online class, one of my first, and am attached to my laptop keeping up with posting all the time. I also work as a bank teller, so a computer is crucial to helping my customers. I often think how dependent we are on a computer and the internet to do banking transactions, that when our system goes down we are helpless. It has happened often when our system crashes and we can't do anything for hours until our system comes back up. It's is definitely an example of how dependent anyone is to technology. The new version of Microsoft was difficult to get used to at first. I didn't have the update on my personal laptop so when I used the computers at school it was very confusing. I was so used to the older version. Now, that I have used it more it makes more sense to have it set up that way. I like it!

The mission statement is definitely a determiner of why I chose Cal State San Marcos. One of the things that I liked the most is that it states "committed to diversity, educational equity, and social justice, exemplified through reflective teaching, life-long learning, innovative research, and ongoing service." I agree with it completely, it shows educational growth. CSUSM is addressing many of the issues that many other schools ignore. Diversity is huge, students are different in several ways. It affects social justice and educational equity. I love that the Mission Statement for the CoE includes community involvement. There goal is to create effective and professional educators through diversity.