Graduation rates of CSUB student athletes has risen from 55% to 71% since the opening of the Kegley center, with student athletes saying the Kegley Center is key to their success.
The Dr. Jacquelyn Kegley Center for Student Success at California State University, Bakersfield opened in 2013. Since then, success of student athletes has improved drastically. The student athletes go to the center for their study hall hours, to have tutoring and to meet with their specific academic advisors.
The Kegley center is a 7,500 square foot facility, opening on the west side of campus after a $1,000,000 remodeling in 2013. The center was named after Jacquelyn Kegley, former chair for the Academic Senate and current professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at CSUB. It offers two computer labs for the student athletes, two study rooms, a nutrition bar for the athletes and eight offices for the support staff of student athletes.
Pedro Moura, a student athlete on the men’s soccer team at CSUB has noticed the improvement in his own academic performance since coming to CSUB last year and using the Kegley Center. He also uses it to study with his team mates, and to interact with other student athletes.
“The Kegley Center is a great facility for me and I am here all the time,” said Pedro. “I have to complete six study hours a week, but it gives me the chance to get tutoring for my classes and helps me study more for classes I am struggling in. I see others around me studying and it motivates me to do my work and try to get better academically.”
Student athletes from all 15 sports teams at CSUB use the Kegley Center, with more than 150 students using the center on a daily basis. Some regular students at CSUB feel the extra facility is unfair. Although it is open to non-student athletes too, many will not use the facility as it is very athlete centered when going into it and optimizing it. Allea Nalaine Paguia, a public relations major at CSUB, has used the Kegley Center before, despite being a non-athlete.
“I used to hang out in there all the time even though I wasn’t an athlete and it is very athlete centered,” said Paguia. “That being said it’s a great studying environment for them. Athletes live a different life to regular students with school, competing, working out and the pressure of all those things. So I think it’s a great place where athletes can focus on school work and get tutoring.”
In May this year, the CSUB volleyball team earned nationwide recognition with the awarding of the Public Recognition Award from the NCAA for finishing in the top 10% of teams in the nation, academically, within their sport. This is an award that the teams have won for three consecutive years and as their advisor, Melissa Bowen, credited this award heavily towards the Kegley Center.
“The Kegley Center has played a huge part in the earning of this award over the past three years and the girls are in here all the time, studying and doing homework. It’s a facility that we are lucky to have and is key to the success of our student athletes,” said Bowen.
Thomas Shepherd is a member of the Mens Soccer Team at CSUB.
Toms Text 