CARSON, Calif. - California State University Long Beach (CSULB) Communication Studies students are working collaboratively with Long Beach BLAST (Better Learning After School Today), a non-profit organization which serves at-risk children K-12 in the City of Long Beach, and the Los Angeles Galaxy to run a soccer clinic for 150 BLAST kids. The clinic will be run by former Galaxy Assistant Coach Ralph Perez and Galaxy defender Kyle Veris, along with CSULB student-athlete volunteers, and will be held on Wednesday, May 16 from 4-5:30 p.m. on the CSULB Intramural Soccer Field.
"We wanted to show the children what higher education could offer and to give them a tangible experience that connects education to opportunity," said Cal State Long Beach Communications student Kristine Tran. "What better way of expressing this than to provide them with a one in a life time opportunity, to have a private lesson from a professional sports team."
The clinic has two main goals: first to provide the kids with a fun-filled day, and second to raise awareness for BLAST and its mission to train college student volunteers to mentor children who are at-risk for school failure and in turn, provide crucial academic and enrichment opportunities to after school programs located in low income neighborhoods.
"We chose to target the Galaxy because of the team's commitment to the community and the children's interest in the sport," added Tran. "The LA Galaxy along with their corporate sponsors Herbalife, AM 830, Bank of America, Hormel Foods, Infinity Insurance and Macy's have provided a great example of what corporate responsibility and a commitment to the community should look like."
This event came to fruition as the result of a class project assigned to Cal State Long Beach Communication Studies students, Kristine Tran, Rachael Porsz, LaToya Tonadeo and Nick Nader. The project required that they plan and execute an event for Long Beach BLAST. The idea was to create an enrichment opportunity for the kids of BLAST, enabling them to be a part of a dream, a dream of accessing higher education and inevitably the world.
