CSUSM ACE Scholars Services

ACE welcomed our newest batch of first-year students at the ACE Summer Institute, last week! Throughout the five-day program, ACE Scholars were able to learn more about one another through Getting to Know You BINGO, get wisdom from current ACE scholars and learn about the fabulous resources our campus partners provide. 🐶🩺🙌

They also got to learns ways to prepare for college life from Professor(s) Elderidge, Harrison and double- alumn, Emilio. Throughout the entire week students got to go on a new adventure where we learned about our unique strengths and talents. 📚🎓✏️

We kicked the Jerel off as strangers and ended up as a tight-knit crew! 🥳

A heart welcome to all the incoming Cougars 💙🐾.

Hello ACE Scholars 🙌
We hope you’re having a fabulous summer ☀️😎🌻.
Quick heads up:
ACE center will be closed starting Wednesday, July 15, 2026- Friday, July 17, 2026.

But don’t worry!! We are open again starting Monday, July 20, 2026 at 8 am. 🤩🥳

Feel free to reach out to [email protected] with any questions or concerns. ❓

Thank you,
ACE Team ⭐️

Please welcome Gwen Ross, our new ACE Counselor!

Gwen comes to ACE with a strong background supporting students with foster care backgrounds in local community-based organizations including Foster the Earth 🥾🌍and Casa de Amparo🏠💟 and as a school social worker in the San Marcos Unified School District. Gwen is passionate about trauma-informed care, advocacy, and higher education access 🎓. She completed her master’s degree in social work from San Diego State University, post-master’s Pupil Personnel Services Credential (PPSC) program from San Jose State University and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from CSUSM 🐾💙.

In her role with ACE, Gwen will be providing comprehensive academic, personal, and transitional counseling, case management, and programming to ACE Scholars and, most importantly, being part of your support network 🤞🤩.

Outside of work, Gwen is happiest near the ocean 🌊 , whether she is at the beach 🏖️ watching one of her boys surf, 🏄 out on a deep-sea fishing adventure 🎣 , or hiking 🥾 the trails of San Diego County with her dog 🐶, Poppy.

We will have an official meet-and-greet at the start of the Fall semester but feel free to stop by the ACE Center to say hi. 👋

Thank you to all who came out to show support for ACE Foster Care Awareness event yesterday! What better time to celebrate this great month on National Foster Care Awareness Day!! Throughout our time, we got to connect with students, staff and faculty about some stats of foster youth and why ACE’s work is valuable on-campus. It was a great afternoon where we got to meet new people and provide fun giveaways that were tied with . It was also great to read the beautiful notes many people jotted down on how they will make the world a better place for foster youth 🥹💙. We can’t wait to keep celebrating all month long 🥳.

Hey ACE Scholars ⭐️

FINALS SEASON IS HERE.. and we got what you need to gear up and pass your exams, projects and papers 😉. Feel free to stop by May 4- May 14 to get some delicious breakfast 🍳 and snacks 🍎while you study 📚 🧐. Attending a day throughout the May 4- May 14 timeline will count toward your 3 event requirement toward your ACE Book Scholarship for next semester 💸📖.

Join ACE in celebrating Foster Care Awareness Month (May) on Foster Care Awareness Day (May 5) 😉!

We’ll be outside in front of the Administration Building from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., sharing fun giveaways and helpful resources. 💙

Stopping by our table is a great opportunity to learn more about the strengths and resilience of foster youth and discover how ACE is dedicated to supporting students with lived experience in foster care as they succeed at CSUSM. 🐾💪

We hope you can stop by and celebrate with us!

Please join us celebrating our 19th cohort of ACE graduates 🎓 🥳. We are excited to support our ACE students as they move into their next chapter.🥹💙

This year ACE Graduation Celebration will be held Thursday, Monday May 7, 2026 @ 4:30 p.m. at the Tukwut Courtyard.

⭐️ACE Scholars⭐️- this event will count toward your 3 event requirement to be eligible for the ACE Book Scholarship 📚 for next semester.

Please register to let us know that you will be able to make it by visiting csusm.edu/ace/events/index.html or check out the link 🔗 in our bio. Can’t wait to see you there!

Hey ACE Scholars,
We have a great workshop coming up for you to attend 🎉. Please join us Thursday, April 16,2026 during-hour to learn more about how your vote counts 🗳️ to make a big difference. We have the honor to host this workshop in collaboration with Shelby Rogers, the Associate Director of Experiential Learning. We hope that you can join us next Thursday for some yummy pizza 🍕 and an insightful chat.

Hey ACE Scholars,
ACE team will be joining the North County Day of Service tomorrow Friday, March 27! 🤩 We will be closing the ACE Center in order to join our CSUSM community and give back. We will be available if you have any questions or concerns through email [email protected].

We will re-open Monday, March 30 8 am-5 pm. Have a wonderful Spring Break!!

This past Saturday, ACE collaborated with Palomar NextUP and Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Care (FAKCE) with Grossmont College, to host its second annual Turning Dreams into Degrees conference 🥳. In support of initiative to reach more foster you and supporters, we all came together to discuss common obstacles for foster youth navigating higher education and the tools caregivers can utilize to ensure academic success 🎓📚.

It was a great day full of positive energy and possible opportunities for our attendees 🙌. We are so grateful to have our participants join us on a Saturday and let us share helpful tips on how they can support more foster youth succeed in post-secondary education 😄🎊.

Thank you to our wonderful collaborators and colleagues coming together and making this a successful event! 🌟