Employee of the Month - November 2024
Alayna Cosores, Alayna Cosores
Student Health Services
Awarded Monday, November 18, 2024, via Zoom Virtual celebration. Alayna was joined by President Jane Close Conoley, Beth Lesen, Vice President of Student Affairs, numerous campus colleagues, and family members.
For Alayna Cosores, “Education is one of my main passions.” For the first half of her professional life, she worked at a large preschool in Long Beach. She started as an assistant teacher and worked her way up to Early Childhood Education Director. However, after COVID hit, “I was ready for a change and new challenges, which led me to CSULB.”
Interestingly, her first role at CSULB was to coordinate work related to COVID-19 contact tracing. Her Administrative Services Coordinator position duties have evolved since then, and she now handles Student Health Services (SHS) event planning and outreach and supports the fiscal operations.
Ben Brown, Associate Director of Budget and Facilities for SHS, shared, “She’s a Swiss army knife, she does a little bit of everything.”
Whatever she does, she does it well. This was not unnoticed by Melissa Norrbom Kawamoto, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives for Student Affairs, “CSULB hosted the first CSU-wide conference focused solely on mental health and well-being and Alayna served as an essential part of the planning committee. Alayna served as a volunteer coordinator for the event, and she truly went above and beyond.
“She oversaw the collection of volunteers for the event, created a volunteer orientation program explaining the role and purpose of volunteers for the event, and she created personalized volunteer role sheets with tasks each volunteer needed to do. She went a step further and even had their T-Shirts put together in a little packet with their volunteer assignments, name badge, any dietary accommodations, and volunteer assignments.”
“Volunteers who participated said it was the most organized experience they have ever had. And honestly because the volunteers had such a smooth experience, our event guests also had a wonderful experience. Alayna is truly a hidden gem in Student Health Services with an exceptional skill set.”
Alayna gives back to her community, too, including volunteering as a Girl Scout leader. Outside of work, she spends most of her time with her husband (David), son (Dominic) and daughter (Aliana). They are a Scouting family – her son is working on his Eagle Scout project and her daughter is working on her Silver award in Girl Scouts.
She enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, and hanging out with her friends and extended family. They host game nights, craft nights, family or friend gathering, cooking or baking nights, and more. Alayna said she loves to “experience life.”
Alayna shared, “Thank you to the staff at Student Health Services for providing me a place to learn, grow and be challenged. A place to have fun while being part of the bigger picture here at CSULB. Most importantly for opening my eyes to endless opportunities we have on campus for the students and for allowing me to share this knowledge with the students.”
It’s clear that education is, indeed, her main passion, and the Beach is fortunate to have her.
Alayna graduated from Long Beach Community College with an associate degree in culinary arts, then transferred to CSULB and earned her Bachelor of Art in Family and Consumer Sciences with an emphasis in child development.