CSUMB student on course for success

By Mark Muckenfuss

For Jaime Salazar, the grass is always greener. It’s his job to make it that way. 

Salazar, 33, is a senior in Cal State Monterey Bay’s Agricultural Plant and Soil Science program. He had already established a career in turf maintenance before becoming a student. Currently, he is the second assistant superintendent for the golf course at The Links at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach, working under superintendent Eric McAlister. He previously spent more than a decade at Carmel Valley Ranch, where he became the assistant golf course and grounds superintendent.

Despite that success, his longtime boss at Carmel Valley Ranch, Andy Magnasco, who served as a mentor to him, told him he needed to know more. 

“He was one of the reasons I went back to school,” Salazar said. 

That decision has given him a greater appreciation for the work he does.

When it came to tending the turf of a golf course, he said, “I knew what to do. Going back to school taught me the why. I understand that language now.”

And he has his sights set on loftier goals. Salazar plans to pursue a master’s degree in business administration once he graduates in the spring. Eventually, he would like to be an agronomist at a private golf course. 

He chose CSUMB, he said, because it had a good reputation in the local industry. Despite the school’s smaller size, he’s gotten everything he needs, he said.

“Everyone has been very mindful of my job,” he said of his professors. “If something translates to turf, they’ll talk about it. I’ve met great professors here.”

Discussions with other experts in the industry has shown him that “the knowledge I’ve gotten here is equal to other programs.”

But gaining that knowledge hasn’t been easy. Working a full-time job while going to school makes for a long day, Salazar said. 

“This semester has been pretty tough,” he said. “I get up at 4, start work at 5 – we’re there two, almost three hours before the first golfer – get out at 3 or 3:30, come home and shower and go to class here until 6.”  

The support of his fellow students helps, he said.. 

“The friendships that I’ve built, that bond with other classmates, are not what I expected,” he said. “Also, the immense support I’ve gotten from my professors. Those relationships I’ve built have been one of the best parts of being here at CSUMB.”

The son of agricultural workers, Salazar grew up watching his parents work the strawberry fields around their Watsonville home. Now, the first in his family to attend college, he wants to be an inspiration to his nieces and nephews, and others.

“I want to be a motivation and an example for them,” he said. “I think a lot of people will say, ‘He did it, why can’t I?’ It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible. And I know it’s going to pay off.”