thedrifter
05-25-07, 06:51 PM
Marine Marches To Top Student Award
By Carla M. Collado
Staff Writer
When Mark Rosenbaum walks up to get his diploma on Wednesday, having survived business school at California State University, Long Beach, will be just one of the major accomplishments he has achieved in life.
The 28-year-old Long Beach native has been chosen as this year’s Most Outstanding Graduate for the CSULB College of Business Administration. But it wasn’t just his academics that caught the attention of those who nominated him for the award.
After graduating from Poly High School in 1996, Rosenbaum joined the U.S. Marines in February 1997 as a military police officer and was stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
“I wanted to really challenge myself,” he said. “I wanted to serve my country.”
He served on active duty until February of 2001, then enrolled full-time at CSULB. However, his school time was interrupted when, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Rosenbaum decided to reenlist in a Marines reserve unit.
The young Marine was called back to active duty twice, each for a period of one year — including for a tour in Iraq from August 2004 to February 2005. Rosenbaum served as a platoon sergeant at the Al-Asad Airbase in northern Iraq, overseeing a platoon of 43 Marines, as well as the largest entry control point for Marines in Iraq.
Daily tasks included processing Iraqi nationals and third country nationals and searching every person and vehicle entering the base, Rosenbaum explained. On a typical six-hour shift, about 120 people and roughly 20 vehicles passed through the entry point, he added.
Although things went smoothly most of the time, Rosenbaum remembers one incident that left him shaken, but thankful to be alive. He was the one Marine standing closest to the vehicle when a car bomb exploded, throwing him to the ground unconscious, but ultimately leaving him unscathed. The explosion, however, killed 19 Iraqi police officers and injured more than 40 Iraqi police and civilians, he said.
“I know that God performs miracles,” he said of the attack. “I have no idea how I’m alive today.”
After returning to Long Beach in 2005, he jumped right back into classes that fall semester at CSULB. The transition from Marine life to student life was anything but normal.
“You go from one day carrying your M-16 rifle and nine millimeter pistol to pretty much É a month of two later carrying your backpack around school,” he said. “It’s a strange feeling, I guess.”
Despite the changes in daily routine, Rosenbaum dedicated his time to his studies in Finance, excelling in ways his professors quickly noticed. Thomas Rhoads, professor of a Legal and Regulatory Environment of Business course at CSULB, — who nominated Rosenbaum for the Most Outstanding Student Award — described him as a student who has all the qualities a school should seek in its graduates.
“I have found him to be intelligent, industrious, personable and devoted to his duties, morals and ethics,” Rhoads wrote in his nomination letter. “He has brought a maturity and purposeful presence to our classrooms.”
Rosenbaum also always found time for community service. Over the past 10 years, he has volunteered for groups and events such as the Long Beach Police Explorers, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), Identify-A-Child, Spring Carnivals, Health Fairs, Special Olympic, Toys-for-Tots, and the list goes on.
As he prepares to receive his bachelor’s degree, Rosenbaum is positive about his plans to become a financial advisor. He said he eventually hopes to start his own financial advising company, mainly to help people achieve financial stability.
“Everybody has dreams and what they want to do,” he said. “I want to help them accomplish their dreams and goals.”
Rosenbaum will be graduating with a 4.0 grade point average next week. While at CSULB, he made it onto the Dean’s Honor Roll three times and the President’s Honor Roll twice. He said he is especially proud to be a 2007 Most Outstanding Graduate.
“I was thrilled,” he said of finding out about the award. “I was really honored. I think if you really make an effort to do the best you can, great things are going to happen.”
As glad as he is to finish school, his time in Iraq and the people he met there are still ever-present on his mind. He told of the great relationships he and his fellow Marines developed with the Iraqis, calling the Iraqis brave and inspirational for their determination to work and support their families.
Rosenbaum recalled one man who hugged and kissed him on his last day there, thanking him for all of his work.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him and those people,” the war veteran said. “I think about them a lot.”
Rosenbaum will graduate at the CSULB College of Business Administration commencement ceremony at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Central Quadrangle on campus.
For details on CSULB Commencement 2007, call 985-2351 or visit www.csulb.edu/projects/commencement.
Ellie
By Carla M. Collado
Staff Writer
When Mark Rosenbaum walks up to get his diploma on Wednesday, having survived business school at California State University, Long Beach, will be just one of the major accomplishments he has achieved in life.
The 28-year-old Long Beach native has been chosen as this year’s Most Outstanding Graduate for the CSULB College of Business Administration. But it wasn’t just his academics that caught the attention of those who nominated him for the award.
After graduating from Poly High School in 1996, Rosenbaum joined the U.S. Marines in February 1997 as a military police officer and was stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
“I wanted to really challenge myself,” he said. “I wanted to serve my country.”
He served on active duty until February of 2001, then enrolled full-time at CSULB. However, his school time was interrupted when, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Rosenbaum decided to reenlist in a Marines reserve unit.
The young Marine was called back to active duty twice, each for a period of one year — including for a tour in Iraq from August 2004 to February 2005. Rosenbaum served as a platoon sergeant at the Al-Asad Airbase in northern Iraq, overseeing a platoon of 43 Marines, as well as the largest entry control point for Marines in Iraq.
Daily tasks included processing Iraqi nationals and third country nationals and searching every person and vehicle entering the base, Rosenbaum explained. On a typical six-hour shift, about 120 people and roughly 20 vehicles passed through the entry point, he added.
Although things went smoothly most of the time, Rosenbaum remembers one incident that left him shaken, but thankful to be alive. He was the one Marine standing closest to the vehicle when a car bomb exploded, throwing him to the ground unconscious, but ultimately leaving him unscathed. The explosion, however, killed 19 Iraqi police officers and injured more than 40 Iraqi police and civilians, he said.
“I know that God performs miracles,” he said of the attack. “I have no idea how I’m alive today.”
After returning to Long Beach in 2005, he jumped right back into classes that fall semester at CSULB. The transition from Marine life to student life was anything but normal.
“You go from one day carrying your M-16 rifle and nine millimeter pistol to pretty much É a month of two later carrying your backpack around school,” he said. “It’s a strange feeling, I guess.”
Despite the changes in daily routine, Rosenbaum dedicated his time to his studies in Finance, excelling in ways his professors quickly noticed. Thomas Rhoads, professor of a Legal and Regulatory Environment of Business course at CSULB, — who nominated Rosenbaum for the Most Outstanding Student Award — described him as a student who has all the qualities a school should seek in its graduates.
“I have found him to be intelligent, industrious, personable and devoted to his duties, morals and ethics,” Rhoads wrote in his nomination letter. “He has brought a maturity and purposeful presence to our classrooms.”
Rosenbaum also always found time for community service. Over the past 10 years, he has volunteered for groups and events such as the Long Beach Police Explorers, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), Identify-A-Child, Spring Carnivals, Health Fairs, Special Olympic, Toys-for-Tots, and the list goes on.
As he prepares to receive his bachelor’s degree, Rosenbaum is positive about his plans to become a financial advisor. He said he eventually hopes to start his own financial advising company, mainly to help people achieve financial stability.
“Everybody has dreams and what they want to do,” he said. “I want to help them accomplish their dreams and goals.”
Rosenbaum will be graduating with a 4.0 grade point average next week. While at CSULB, he made it onto the Dean’s Honor Roll three times and the President’s Honor Roll twice. He said he is especially proud to be a 2007 Most Outstanding Graduate.
“I was thrilled,” he said of finding out about the award. “I was really honored. I think if you really make an effort to do the best you can, great things are going to happen.”
As glad as he is to finish school, his time in Iraq and the people he met there are still ever-present on his mind. He told of the great relationships he and his fellow Marines developed with the Iraqis, calling the Iraqis brave and inspirational for their determination to work and support their families.
Rosenbaum recalled one man who hugged and kissed him on his last day there, thanking him for all of his work.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him and those people,” the war veteran said. “I think about them a lot.”
Rosenbaum will graduate at the CSULB College of Business Administration commencement ceremony at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Central Quadrangle on campus.
For details on CSULB Commencement 2007, call 985-2351 or visit www.csulb.edu/projects/commencement.
Ellie