Jack Norwood wins 2024 James R. Meindl Outstanding Student Leadership Award!

In a historic first, this year, CLIMB selected Jack Norwood from our Temecula campus as the recipient of our 2024 CLIMB Outstanding Student Leadership Award (aka the James R. Meindl Student Leadership Award). Once again, the award was generously sponsored by Emilie and Mark Hersh.

Jack is president of BOSS (Business Organization for Student Success), a student organization at our Temecula campus. He has been working tirelessly to build bridges between the Temecula campus and the main campus throughout this time at CSUSM. According to former interim CoBA Dean Dr. Ben Cherry, “Jack sought leadership roles at both campuses, working actively with ASI on the main campus. He was always serving as a peer role model who was positive, thoughtful, and helpful in his classes.”

Student engagement coordinator at ASI, Daphne Joie Smith described Jack as having “cracked the code” when it came to leading effectively and making students feel very comfortable and welcome. She described him as an incredible person and the embodiment of joy in a human body! She added, “he sees a need and immediately tries to fill it.”

Through continued academic leadership Jack Norwood hopes to “embody what the James. R. Meindl Award truly stands for, which is the tremendous impact that we can have in the world around us, right here, right now, for the future.”