04 Fall2.indd - CSUSB Magazine - California State University, San ...

Get the Alumni Advantage! …and get 25% off CSUSBlogo merchandise at the Coyote Bookstore.Show your CSUSB pride!By Sid RobinsonThe dignitaries posed intheir proper places in frontof the camera, all wearing theirbusiness suits and hard hats,smiling as they shoveled thefirst grounds of dirt from theland that would soon become aconstruction zone.This day in early June2001 would be rememberedin Rialto, as the school board,city and county officials, localdignitaries and volunteers gatheredto break ground for abrand new high school. Perhapswithout notice at the time, onekey face didn’t make it into thepicture that day. Her absenceIf You Became a High Schoolfrom those photos is a bit moreconspicuous now.“I was delayed getting to thegroundbreaking ceremonies, soI sat in the back and watched,”recalls Wilmer Amina Carter,laughing at the irony. On thatday, the retired four-term RialtoBoard of Education memberwas simply one of many peoplein attendance who looked outat the undeveloped acreageand proudly visualized whatthe new state-of-the-art schoolwould look like. As for whatelse was in store, “I had no idea— nobody did at the time.”Nearly a year after breakingground, the future “Rialto HighSchool No. 3” would becomeknown as Wilmer AminaCarter High School. On Aug.31, some 2,200 students in 9th,10th and 11th grades becamethe first to attend classes. “I’vetried and tried and tried tofigure out how this happened,and the only thing I can think isthat it is divine intervention,”reasons Amina. “So many othershave played important rolesin bringing this school to reality,and I am no more special thananyone else.”Ray Johnson, the first principalat Carter High, sees Aminaa bit differently. “She is verygracious and very humble, butfrom the first time I met her itwas very obvious to me whyshe was chosen,” says Johnson.“She has a love for educationand young people, and her passionis something that should betreasured and honored.”Amina is the first livingAfrican-American woman in theInland Empire for whom a highschool has been named. She isprobably the first Cal State SanBernardino alumna — a 1972bachelor’s degree in English anda 1976 master’s in education— to have any building namedin her honor, let alone an entirehigh school. For that matter,she can also likely claim thatdistinction among all currentandformer CSUSB employees,having worked for two yearsat the university as a legislativeand community liaison. In all,18 people were nominated tohave the new high school carrytheir name.Amina served four four-yearterms on the Rialto Board ofEducation from 1983 through1999. For 23 years beginningin 1973, she was a fixture inRialto and the local communitiesas part of CongressmanGeorge Brown’s staff, includingher position as district director.Along the way she has managedto serve and volunteer her timeto more than 35 local, regionaland national organizations, fromthe San Bernardino CountyDistrict Advocates for BetterSchools and the FeldheymPublic Library Literacy board tothe Center for Civic Education.She is a founding memberof the Martin Luther Kingannual prayer breakfast committeeand a member of theNational Organization of BlackEducators. Most recently, shereturned to public service as afield representative for CliffordYoung, who just finished servingas interim supervisor ofSan Bernardino County’s fifthdistrict. Young is the director ofgovernment relations at CSUSB.Her passion for giving backis just as obvious when it comesto her former university, whereshe is a life member of theCSUSB Alumni Association anda founding member of the university’sBlack Future Leaders.GOING UP — Three classroom buildings, anadministration building, gymnasium andathletic fields were a good month old whenWilmer Amina Carter High School was dedicatedOct. 9. Construction will continue overthe better part of the next year to add moreclassrooms, a performing arts complex andother facilities. (Photo by Robert Whitehead)The Alumni Association honoredAmina as its DistinguishedAlumna in 1981. In 1999 shereturned to campus, workingfor CSUSB President AlbertKarnig for two years as coordinatorof governmental relations.Amina remembers going outto the community to encourageits support for the bondmeasure that would fund thebuilding of the new high school.Later, when the school districtsent out the call for nominationsto name the school, shebusily searched for candidates.Little did she know that aground-swell of support forher own nomination was risingbehind her. “It was so excitingto see the community get soinvolved in the entire processof building this school,” shesays. “But then I found out Iwas being nominated to havethe school named after me.That was something thatCONTINUED ON PAGE 31Fall/Winter 200425CSUSB