About the HSI mini grant series
Each year, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion awards a variety of high-impact mini grants to campus projects that support Latino students through targeted initiatives. Last year, the office distributed $35,000 across 17 projects. This story is one of 11 Mustang News features highlighting where and how those grants made an impact.
Cal Poly students, Diego Ortega and Luis Cruzgarcia, collaborated to produce videos showcasing the school’s Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences (NRES) department.
Cruzgarcia and Ortega, both environmental earth and soil sciences seniors, created three videos for the project. They are in the final editing stage before approval from the Office of University Inclusion and Diversity (OUDI).
The pair received their wages through funding allocated from a Cal Poly Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) High Impact Mini-Grant awarded for the 2024-2025 academic year. Cal Poly supplied the necessary equipment to produce these videos.
This grant, one of 17 campus-wide HSI Mini-Grants, was specifically awarded to the NRES department during the 2024-2025 academic year. The grant supports an outreach program targeting nearby community colleges in the Central Valley region.
Ortega and Cruzgarcia filmed three videos in total and are awaiting final edits and approval. One shows NRES students logging, and another provides general information about the department and the resources available to students. The third video focuses on Hispanic students in NRES and how they find a culturally focused community at Cal Poly.
This video featured a Hispanic individual wearing a Cal Poly sweatshirt, returning home to her mother, who was making tortillas. Her mother asked about her activities at Cal Poly, and they conversed in Spanish about her involvement with the NRES department. The video also includes photos of students participating in Cal Poly’s Latinos in Agriculture chapter.
“I noticed how there’s a lack of diversity on campus. And I think overall, Cal Poly is a really good school,” Ortega said. “So it was shocking to me that I saw a lack of diversity. I think, just from knowing the skills that Luis and I both have, we were able to use those skills for good to bring about some change.”
Ortega and Cruzgarcia were both born in Mexico and moved to the San Luis Obispo area at a young age. They shared that coming to Cal Poly was challenging for them, as it was difficult to culturally and ethnically connect with other students.
Cruzgarcia emphasized that Ortega and he wanted to highlight how fun environmental science is and how the various programs offer different opportunities.
“For the video we shot with the house and tortillas, we just wanted to use that video to showcase how homey and how different a Hispanic household is, and just how interconnected the family is. If you live in a Hispanic household, it’s like everything that you do affects your family,” Cruzgarcia said.
However, Cruzgarcia and Ortega noted that they struggled to find Hispanic Cal Poly NRES students who were available or willing to act in their video.
“The issue is that there are very few Hispanic students in the department, so it’s hard to show [the diversity]. For example, in the tortilla video, the actors in the video are actually not related to Cal Poly at all. The mother is a family friend, and the daughter is also a family friend,” Ortega said.
Ortega emphasized that he and Cruzgarcia wanted to accurately represent the ethnic demographics of NRES students, while also aiming to attract Hispanic students by engaging them with student-led organizations and hands-on opportunities, as showcased in their videos.
“The main thing is that we want to be realistic,” Ortega said.
According to Cal Poly News, Hispanic students accounted for 29% of the incoming undergraduate class in Fall 2024. Cal Poly must maintain an enrollment of at least 25% Hispanic students for two consecutive years to be eligible to apply for HSI designation.
While this number brings Cal Poly closer to becoming an HSI, some faculty members are spearheading efforts to improve diversity and representation in their respective departments.
Christopher Surfleet, a Cal Poly professor and graduate in forestry and natural resources, directed the project and led a group of Cal Poly students to Reedley College for a community college forum. According to Surfleet, the main goal of the videos is to attract more Hispanic students to NRES, as there are currently few applicants.
“We lack women, and we lack a lot of Hispanic students. We’re just trying to do a better job of that, because a more diverse workforce just helps everyone,” Surfleet said.
Surfleet emphasized that there is a disconnect between the predominantly Hispanic community colleges in the Central Valley near San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly’s programs, but he aims to bridge that gap.
“I’m actively working on some of these efforts among other faculty members, particularly to enhance more of the Latinx college students to transfer in, because I think that would be a good thing for them,” Surfleet said.
Surfleet and the students hope to complete and release the videos soon to the Office of University Diversity and Inclusion. All three expressed their desire to continue efforts to increase Hispanic student representation and enrollment, contributing to Cal Poly’s progress toward becoming an HSI.
