A Rewarding Experience Linda Oseso Sees the Importance of Giving Back to the Community
L
inda Oseso couldn’t be more pleased that she didn’t base her college decision on her first impression of the University of California. In August 2006 before the start of her senior year at Santa Clara High School, where she became a league champion in the shot put and discus, Oseso drove up to Berkeley with her mother and her best friend for a campus tour. She didn’t like what she saw. “I hated it,” Oseso recalled. “It didn’t feel like home.” Flash forward about eight months, and Oseso decided to give Cal a second look, this time on a track & field recruiting trip from which she gained the viewpoint of potential Linda Oseso coaches and teammates. “It just looked completely different,” she said. “I fell in love with the school.” Given a new perspective during her visit, Oseso soon decided Cal was the place for her to continue her educational and athletic pursuits. Now almost five years later, Oseso has expanded her horizons well beyond the Berkeley campus, using her studies as a launching pad to serve the community at large, from the local homeless population to women in her native Kenya who need improved access to health services. She is on track to graduate in May with her degree in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis in global health and society, as well as a minor in global poverty. Very early in her Golden Bear career, Oseso found a way to get involved. After seeing a video on Cal’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (Bear SAAC) at an orientation for new student-athletes, she decided to join the group since she saw it as a form of student government and a continuation of her leadership responsibilities from high school. Oseso soon began to rise through the organization and today serves as an officer overseeing community outreach. Not only does she help organize and encourage student-athlete participation, but she also acts as a liaison to outside agencies to set up special events. Among her projects have been a blood drive coordinated with Children’s Hospital Oakland, a canned food drive for the Continued on page 13
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cal sports quarterly
By Herb Benenson