Reflections, Recipes and Rocking Hunger!
![Native American Heritage Month?2024-08-31](https://as.sdsu.edu/newsletter/images/2023/nov2023-article415-1.jpg)
Native American Heritage Month
This month, we celebrate Native American Heritage Month. Since 1990, Native American Heritage Month has been celebrated to recognize the history, heritage and culture of our country’s indigenous people. Hear from Justice Herrera, A.S. Shared Governance Assistant, as she shares about what Native American Heritage Month means to her.
“For me, Native American Heritage Month is about visibility and education. It is a way to honor cultural traditions and the people today who are working to keep them alive. As an ally, I encourage you to be immersed in a Native space or history, learn and support them through engagement and celebrate this month with us.”
Justice at the National Diversity in STEM conference for the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science where she got to present her summer research.
In addition, we invite you to attend one of the following events hosted by SDSU’s Native Resource Center:
- Nov. 3: Community Tea: A Cup of Stories
- Nov. 9: Native American Heritage Month Tabling
- Nov. 9: Equipping Caffeine and Other Energy Sources
- Nov. 13: Reconnecting with Natural Elements
- Nov. 14: Native American Heritage Month Tabling
- Nov. 16: Indigenous Book Club
- Nov. 29: November Talking Circle
Times and locations of each event are still being determined. Please refer to the Native Resource Center’s website and the Native Resource Center's Instagram for more information.
![SDSU students collecting funds and food for ARH?2024-08-31](https://as.sdsu.edu/newsletter/images/2023/nov2023-article416-1.jpg)
Donate Now to Aztecs Rock Hunger!
The Aztecs Rock Hunger campaign is officially underway! Aztecs Rock Hunger is an annual university-wide campaign led by A.S. with the goal of fighting food and nutrition insecurity and raising as much money as possible for the SDSU Economic Crisis Response Team, A.S. Food Pantry and the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank.
The need to support food insecurity remains crucial, as basic needs are becoming more inaccessible with rising inflation. 1 in 4 SDSU students use our A.S. Food Pantry but no student should have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.
To finish off the campaign, we are excited to announce our Aztecs Rock Hunger A.S. Competition! Compete against the other A.S. departments through Nov. 5 with the winning department receiving breakfast on behalf of A.S. for their entire team!
All donations raised help fund the food for our A.S. Food Pantry, support students on campus facing unforeseen financial crises through the SDSU Economic Crisis Response Team and benefit over 400,000 San Diegans monthly through the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank.
We invite you to ask your friends and family to donate on behalf of your department. Please see below for more information on how to donate and make sure to include your A.S. department name in your donation to count for the competition!
3 Easy Ways to DONATE NOW:
1. Online through the SDSU Online Giving Portal
- Forward your receipt with your department name to associatedstudents@sdsu.edu.
2. Venmo @aztecsrock or CashApp $aztecsrock
- Include your department name in the memo.
3. At all Starbucks, eateries and markets on campus
- Take a picture of your receipt with your department name written at the top and email it to associatedstudents@sdsu.edu.
To make teams as equitable as possible across all departments, the teams are as follows:
- Business Services & Government Affairs
- The Children’s Center
- Aztec Recreation & MBAC
- Viejas Arena
- Student Union (Including Student Union Facilities)
If you have already donated, you can still submit your receipt for the A.S. competition. Please contact Veronica Perondi if you have any questions about the A.S. competition.
For more information, go to the ARH website or follow ARH on Instagram. Thank you for your support of Aztecs Rock Hunger!
![United States Flag?2024-08-31](https://as.sdsu.edu/newsletter/images/2023/nov2023-article417-1.jpg)
Veterans Day
On Nov. 11, A.S. will observe Veterans Day to honor military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. We would like to thank all of our veterans, including two in the A.S. family: Brandon Wallace, A.S. Safety Manager and Daniel Soehlke, MBAC Sailing Instructor and Maintenance Assistant. Please read below as they share their experience as a veteran:
Brandon Wallace, A.S. Safety Manager
Brandon and his SEAL platoon at Mid South Institute of Shooting. Faces of current or former SEALs are blocked but the two unblocked faces are Matthew Leathers and Brett Marihugh, friends of Brandon that passed away too soon.
“As a veteran on Veterans Day, I’m reminded of all the blood, sweat and tears that I gave freely in support of my country and fellow service members. The purpose of Veterans Day is to celebrate and honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. As a veteran, I can sleep comfortably in my bed knowing that we have brave men and women continuing their sacrifice for the common good."
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Daniel Soehlke, MBAC Sailing Instructor and Maintenance Assistant
“To me, Veterans Day is a good moment to reflect and take an honest look at your time in service. Hit up your old friends from the barracks you may not have heard from for some time, check in and make sure they're doing well. Many may disagree, but barracks life was the best life — chow hall down the road, buddies all living around you, just knock on a door and you have a camping or rock climbing buddy, etc. It is a feeling that just doesn't exist in the civilian world.”
![People eating dinner?2024-08-31](https://as.sdsu.edu/newsletter/images/2023/nov2023-article418-1.jpg)
Holiday Recipes
Looking for a new recipe to add to your holiday meal this year? Well, look no further because here are some recipes from some of our A.S. full-time employees!
Eryn Juns, SDSU Children’s Center Supervising Teacher
These cheese beans have always been a staple for my family. My grandmother would make these every year. As children, my sisters and I were not fans which made all the adults happy (more for them!). Now that we are all grown with our own families, our tastes have changed and we all love cheese beans (our children, not so much). When I make this dish, I always double, or even triple, the recipe as the adults all love it and want leftovers. Enjoy!
Cheese Beans
Ingredients:
- 3 cans drained and rinsed green beans
- 8 oz shredded Swiss cheese
- 1/2 pint sour cream
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
- Add drained and rinsed green beans to a large mixing bowl.
- Melt butter in a saucepan. Add in flour to create a roux. Mix in sour cream and salt to make a white sauce.
- Add the white sauce and shredded cheese to the bowl with the green beans and mix well.
- Place in a greased baking dish and bake at 300 degrees for 2-3 hours until golden and bubbly.
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Veronica Perondi, Assistant Director of A.S. Programs
My favorite thing to make is cornbread stuffing. It's technically dressing since we don't stuff it in the turkey. :)
Cornbread Stuffing
The day before:
Make 2 recipes of cornbread: Either use cornbread mix like Krusteaz Southern Cornbread Mix or homemade. I use White Lily Self-rising but up to you.
Make 2 recipes of biscuits:
- 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter thinly sliced
- 1 cup cold buttermilk
Directions:
- Bake biscuits on a sheet tray, not as individual biscuits. Break cornbread and biscuits up on separate cookie trays. Let them stay out all night to dry out. To help dry them out, place them in the oven as you warm the oven up the next morning.
- Chop equal parts onion and celery (about a cup and a half). Saute in a stick of butter.
- Melt an additional stick of butter. While you're sautéing the veggies, warm up 4 cups of chicken broth (1 box). Measure with your heart and add in dry sage, poultry seasoning and Tony's.
- In a very large bowl, temper five eggs with the chicken broth so they don't curdle. Slowly add in ladles of broth — not too much, just enough to warm the eggs.
- Butter a 11x9 ceramic baking dish. Add equal parts of the broken up biscuits and cornbread to the large bowl. Don't add all at once, just in case you don't need all of it. Add in some sautéed veggies, broth and melted butter.
- Continue to add in parts until you have enough to fill your baking dish and it's the consistency you want. You want it moist, but not soaking wet. Once you are happy with the amount and the consistency, add it to the baking dish and cover with aluminum foil.
- Bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Check the temperature — once it reaches 165, take the aluminum foil off so the top can brown.
- Cover it in gravy and yum :)
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Quentin Skaggs, Graphics Manager
Creamiest Mashed Cauliflower (Vegetarian)
Serves 8 as a side dish
A quick, easy, delicious alternative to mashed potatoes. There is no actual cream in this “Creamiest Mashed Cauliflower” recipe, instead, a bit of the cauliflower’s cooking liquid is used to create a creamy emulsion. You can’t over-mash or over-whip cauliflower the way you can potatoes. Without potato’s starch to contend with, you can purée the cauliflower all day with no risk of gumminess.
Mashed cauliflower has an earthy, nutty flavor, which means it offers some complexity to the final dish that really needs nothing more than butter and salt to feel complete. Even with the addition of butter, each serving only has 67 calories.
Ingredients:
- 2 (16-ounce) packages riced cauliflower, or 1 large head cauliflower (about 3 pounds)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter*
- 2 cups water (approximately)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Cracked black pepper to taste
Directions:
- If you use a whole cauliflower, halve the cauliflower through the stem. Cut a "V" shape around the core to remove the core from each half. Finely chop the cauliflower. The smaller the pieces, the faster the cauliflower will cook and the creamier the finished dish will be.
- Melt the butter in a 4-quart pot over medium-high heat. Add the cauliflower and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower has lightened in color, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the water and salt and bring to a boil. Cover and cook until the cauliflower is tender, 10 to 12 minutes. (The water should just barely cover the cauliflower).
- Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Drain the cauliflower.
- Place the drained cauliflower back in the pot. Mash using an immersion blender, adding the reserved cooking liquid back in the pot a little at a time, until the desired consistency is reached. Serve hot. Add cracked black pepper to taste and add additional butter if you like.
*To make this recipe vegan, replace butter with vegan butter.
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Gema Rodriguez, SDSU Children’s Center Food Service Supervisor
Roasted Stuffed Bell Pepper with Chipotle Turkey
Ingredients:
- Bell peppers
- Ground turkey
- Diced onion
- Diced tomatoes
- Cilantro
- Garlic powder
- Chipotle sauce
- Salt
- Pepper
- Cayenne pepper
- Olive oil
- Mozzarella cheese
Directions:
- Cut off the bell peppers tail and take out all the seeds. Set aside. In a bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients, mix well and stuff the bell pepper with it.
- Set the bell peppers on a tray that has olive oil and add olive oil all around the bell peppers. Sprinkle salt and pepper.
- Set the oven on broil at 500F. Cook for 10 minutes and turn them; cook for an additional 10 minutes.
- Add the mozzarella cheese on top of the bell pepper. 'Check for the internal temperature of the ground turkey, once it's 165F they are ready. Enjoy!
Autumn Salad Kale & Spinach
Ingredients:
- Kale
- Spinach
- Roasted butternut squash
- Roasted Brussel sprouts
- Cranberries
- Sunflower seeds
- Balsamic dressing
Directions:
- Dice butternut squash and chop brussel sprouts into four pieces. Set in a tray; sprinkle salt, pepper and olive oil.
- Cook for about 30 minutes in an oven that is set at 365F. Cool and refrigerate.
- Chop kale and spinach. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and enjoy!
![Tree on a grassy hill?2024-08-31](https://as.sdsu.edu/newsletter/images/2023/nov2023-article414-1.jpg)
A.S. Sustainability Tip
November
By Charlotte Roberts, A.S. Sustainability Coordinator
What is your favorite type of tree?
It’s hard to choose just one, but olive, oak, quaking aspen, citrus and of course the treasured pine with its delightful aroma are some of my favorites.
Balboa Park is home to a stunning fig tree that is over a century old and 123 feet wide. Right here at A.S., we have gorgeous magnolia trees in the Student Union Courtyard that infuse biophilia into student activities.
Why "Save the Trees" Is a Noble* Ambition
Trees are not only beautiful but they provide shade, produce delicious food, reduce urban heat island effect, prevent erosion, serve as habitats and make great structures for homemade swings! Most importantly, they convert CO2 and sunlight to oxygen for mammals to breathe.
Trees are essential to life on planet earth, but humans are cutting them down for commodities at a rapid rate. According to the journal Nature, “over 15 billion trees are cut down each year, and the global number of trees has fallen by approximately 46% since the start of human civilization” (2015). We are not replanting trees even close to this rate, and when forests are clear cut or burned, massive amounts of greenhouse gasses are emitted and we lose carbon sequestration benefits.
Deforestation is driven by a multitude of commercial and industrial activities but one simple way you can reduce deforestation is by purchasing paper products made from recycled content.
In 2015, A.S. began purchasing 100% recycled toilet paper and paper towels, which has saved a total of 1,134 trees! This is a huge accomplishment to be proud of, so thank you all for continuing to choose green options through Waxie.
A.S. November Sustainability Tip:
If you’d like to expand your positive impact, consider purchasing 100% recycled paper products for your home and save hundreds of trees throughout your life.
*pun intended
If you would like additional information or have questions about anything listed above, don’t hesitate to email me at cmroberts@sdsu.edu!
![Book on shelves?2024-08-31](https://as.sdsu.edu/newsletter/images/2023/nov2023-article419-1.jpg)
A.S. Book Club
At the October A.S. Book Club meeting, the members discussed “The Cruelest Month” by Louise Penny. The book received an A.S. Book Club Rating of 4 stars, out of 5.
Here is what we are reading next…
November 9: “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky
When Raskolnikov, an impoverished student living in the St. Petersburg of the tsars commits an act of murder and theft, he sets into motion a story almost unequaled in world literature for its excruciating suspense, its atmospheric vividness and its depth of characterization and vision. Dostoevsky’s drama of sin, guilt and redemption transforms the sordid story of an old woman’s murder into the nineteenth century’s profoundest and most compelling philosophical novel.
December 13 (new date): Readers Become Writers by A.S. Book Club Members
January 11: “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
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Whether you read a printed book, listen to the audio version or read the ebook on your phone or tablet, join us for our lively discussions. The Club is open to all full- and part-time A.S. employees. If you have any questions or would like to join the club, please contact Quentin at 42303 or email qskaggs@sdsu.edu.
To learn more about the A.S. Book Club, visit as.sdsu.edu/bookclub.
![ADP logo?2024-08-31](https://as.sdsu.edu/newsletter/images/2023/nov2023-article420-1.jpg)
A.S. Transition to ADP
We are excited to announce that on Dec. 16, 2023, A.S. will migrate to a new HR/Payroll solution: ADP Workforce Now and ADP Workforce Manager from our current UKG/Kronos platform.
How Will the Changes Benefit You?
With ADP Workforce Now and the ADP Mobile App, you can quickly and easily:
- Access the mobile application that can be accessed anywhere, anytime
- See your pay statements
- Request time off and see your time off balances
- Update direct deposit information
- Access personal information with easy update functionality
Timekeeping, which will launch on Dec. 16, 2023, is just the beginning of this transition.
ADP Workforce Now and ADP Workforce Manager will also integrate all systems of HR and Payroll into one user-friendly solution. Features that will continue to be developed into the new year include scheduling, recruitment and onboarding, which will include easy apply options.
We will continue to share updates regarding this transition as we approach Dec. 16, 2023.
![Image of A.S. Logo?2024-08-31](https://as.sdsu.edu/newsletter/images/2023/nov2023-article421-1.jpg)
New A.S. Employee
Mike Dils, Viejas Arena Associate Director of Operations
Hello Associated Students team, my name is Mike Dils and I am happy to introduce myself as the Viejas Arena Associate Director of Operations. I am excited to continue my career in event and facility management with Associated Students. This position is full circle for me as I started with A.S. in 2001 at Cox Arena (now Viejas Arena), departed the Aztec Center in 2009 and am very fortunate to return to A.S. in my current role.
I am originally from Phoenix, Arizona and completed my undergraduate studies in Business Administration at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. My event-focused career began while working game operations with the San Antonio Spurs, then through facilities within A.S. and most recently at the University of San Diego.
I enjoy listening to music plus following the ups and downs of professional Arizona sports teams. Disneyland is one of my favorite places to visit and upon retirement, I hope to become an engineer on the Disneyland Railroad.
![Donna's family?2024-08-31](https://as.sdsu.edu/newsletter/images/2023/nov2023-article422-1.jpg)
15 Questions
Donna Buenafe
- What is your name and title?
-
Donna Buenafe - A.S. Executive Assistant
- Which A.S. department do you work in?
-
I work for Government Affairs. I provide administrative support for the Government Affairs Team and the A.S. Executive Officers.
- How long have you worked for A.S.?
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1 year and 3 months
- What do you like most about working for A.S.?
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I enjoy working with my colleagues and all the students here at A.S. Having a team that is so supportive makes for a happier and healthier work-life balance.
- Do you collect anything? What do you collect and why?
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I collect small ornaments and fridge magnets from each vacation I have taken. I hang the ornaments on my Christmas tree. New ornaments are added every year along with great memories.
- What is your favorite dessert?
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Mango Sticky Rice. It is a dessert with fresh mangoes, coconut milk and cooked sweet (glutinous) rice. My mom steams the glutinous rice in a wok lined with banana leaves straight from her garden.
- If you had to move to another country, which one would you choose?
-
If I had to move, I would move to Japan. I haven’t had the chance to visit Japan yet. I am fascinated with their traditions, culture, practices, delicious food and their minimalist lifestyle.
- Do you prefer pens or pencils?
-
As much as I like the erasability of pencils, I do prefer pens. I feel I can write faster with pens.
- Would you rather be a superhero or the world’s best chef?
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A superhero. I would use my superpowers to do good things for the world. In return for doing good for others, I might be blessed with a delicious dinner from the world's best chef.
- What type of pets do you have and what are their names?
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I have a 3 year old African Sulcata Tortoise and her name is Rolling Stoney.
- There is a free, round-trip shuttle to Mars. The catch: it will take one year of your life to go, visit, and come back. Are you in?
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Once in a lifetime opportunity but unfortunately, I would decline the trip. I wouldn’t want to be away from my family for that long. I cherish every minute with them.
- What is your favorite breakfast food?
-
My favorite breakfast dish is a traditional Filipino breakfast called Longsilog. It consists of garlic fried rice, fried eggs and longganisa (sweet pork sausage). It's delicious for breakfast and dinner!
- What does your perfect burger have on it?
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My perfect burger would be on a buttered burger bun toasted on the griddle, with double burger patties, grilled onions, shredded lettuce, tomatoes and In-N-Out spread. Basically, an In-N-Out double-double with grilled onions.
- If you had to sing karaoke right now, which song would you pick?
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Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like a Woman!” It’s just fun and easy to sing along too.
- Would you rather speak all languages or be able to talk with animals?
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To be able to speak all languages would be one of the greatest gifts. I would feel comfortable traveling around the world and gain more insight into many cultures.
Entertainment
VIEJAS ARENA &
CAL COAST CREDIT UNION
OPEN AIR THEATRE
![Microphone Illustration](https://as.sdsu.edu/newsletter/images/assets/mic.png)
![Feed the Beast Tour - Event](https://as.sdsu.edu/images/events/extra/2023-06-20-12-51_kim-petras.jpg)
![- Event](https://as.sdsu.edu/images/events/extra/2023-06-15-11-44_kirk-franklin.jpg)
Calendar
NOVEMBER 2023
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