In her short time at Cal State Fullerton, sophomore Mary Chammas went from nearly transferring to becoming the founder and president of both the Lebanese Social Club and the Southwest Asian North African organization, known as SWANA.
Being a Titan wasn’t her or her parent’s first choice. After graduating from Diamond Bar High School, she had her eyes set on USC.
“When I got into a Cal State, my parents were like, ‘What is happening?’ My older sister goes to a UC, and she got a scholarship for it,” Chammas said, adding, “They just expected a little more.”
Not getting into a dream school is disheartening, but when it happens, backups become the only option, Chammas said.
“I’d go to class, sit in my car, wait until my next class, go to class and then I’d stay in the library, get food at the TSU, go to the library,” Chammas said. “I’d have 30 minute breaks and literally drive home and then drive back. I just did not want to be on campus.”
Chammas said she tried making the best of her situation by finding a club where she could find her place. After what felt like endless research, no club stood out to her as one that represented her own culture or any culture she could relate to.
“I typed in any Middle Eastern country, (and) nothing would show up,” she said.
As her first semester progressed, things didn’t seem to get better until her friend, Connor Ward, suggested that she create her own club. After some hesitation and persistent convincing from Ward, Chammas started the Lebanese Social Club.
The Lebanese Social Club was the first decision of many that led Chammas to decide to stay at CSUF instead of continuing her transfer process.
As Chammas became involved in running the Lebanese Social Club, she ran into the types of clubs on campus that she was searching for all along.
After coming into contact with members of the Iranian Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine, they all collaborated on CSUF’s first SWANA week last year.
During the collaboration process, Chammas noticed the lack of resources for her community.
“Got to give the people what they need because the university won’t,’’ Chammas said. “There’s something that needed to change, and I saw it, and I wasn’t going to just sit there and not do anything about it.”
Chammas later decided to turn SWANA into a club in order to represent a larger population of people under one umbrella term.
“It’s basically a more inclusive term to use other than Middle Eastern. It also includes different regions within that area,” Chammas said. “That’s how we define SWANA, but we do not define the individual countries in SWANA because we realize the trial and error, and we don’t want to exclude a country that feels included, and we don’t want to include a country that doesn’t identify as SWANA but is in that region.”
Chammas has kept her hands full juggling school, spontaneous trips with her friends to the beach, time with her family, her double presidency and now her campaign for a seat on the Associated Students board of directors to represent the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics.
Chammas and her fellow candidates said they feel that it’s important to run a campaign revolving around four pillars under the acronoym D.A.M.N: diversity, authenticity, mental health and sexual assault awareness and a needs not numbers slogan.
“If a student needs something, chances are other students need it,” Chammas said. “It’s important to build a bridge between us and the administration and to tell them the students’ concerns and to implement change.”
Seleena Mukbel, public relations representative of SWANA, said that she believes in Chammas’ actions as a leader.
Mukbel said that Chammas insisted the Freedom Dabke Group, a cultural dance group, should be flown from New York to perform a traditional Dabke dance as the final event for the first SWANA week as a celebration of all SWANA cultures. Though Mukbel said the idea was out of reach, Chammas proved doubters wrong.
“It amazed me how she had big ideas, and not only did she say those ideas, but she actually made them happen into reality,” Mukbel said.
In 1985, Chammas’ father brought his family to California to escape the war in Lebanon. He took care of his family of five, went to college and started his own business. Chammas has been told by her family she has her father’s heart.
She stopped her transfer process and took the initiative to start an organization to make the people she viewed as her family feel seen and heard on campus.
“When your family needs you, you just can’t leave,” she said. “These people mean too much to me to leave, so I was like, ‘There’s no way.’”
After Chammas graduates in 2022, she said she intends on continuing her education to become a lawyer. Lulu Halisi, the community engagement lead for the Asian Pacific American Resource Center, said she believes Chammas will achieve that goal.
“She advocates for students’ needs and she fights for students on campus … I definitely see her at law school,” Halisi said. “I see her advocating for folks with less resources.”
Chammas’ energy keeps her moving toward one of her main goals, which is to see a SWANA resource center at CSUF.
“As the semester progresses, everyone loses energy and everyone kind of starts having tunnel vision,” Halisi said. “She is the one person that runs to the end of the tunnel and flashes her light at you to kind of make sure you get out of a dark place.”
While Chammas helped those around her, she said her peers guided her in the right direction at a pivotal crossroads in her school career that brought out the inner leader in her.
“Cal State Fullerton, at least with the SWANA community, wouldn’t be what it is today without Mary,” Mukbel said.
The post Titan leader turned a setback into success appeared first on Daily Titan.