Journey to Cal Poly: An Outstanding Grad Shares Her Leadership Story

Carolyn Lidster graduates with magna cum laude honors. (Photo by Pat Pemberton)

Carolyn Lidster was ready to leave Sacramento for college in 2018, probably outside the state — until her dad brought her to Cal Poly for a campus tour.

“I felt so incredibly connected to the environment when I toured here,” the business administration major said. “It was easy to tell that everyone is genuinely excited about their involvements, courses and peers. I did a tour of both the whole university and the Orfalea College of Business. The collaborative atmosphere did not go unnoticed. People here are eager and willing to help each other. I am someone who learns most from the people around me, and I just knew that Cal Poly would provide me with the unique opportunity to capitalize on that.

“Also, the stories, experiences and projects that Cal Poly students were working on truly fascinated me. Cal Poly students are so creative and intelligent, and I wanted to be a part of the differences they were making in the world.”

Lidster will graduate Sunday, June 12, with 131 Orfalea classmates who, like her, focused on information systems.

Carolyn Lidster, during the Cap Poly Garden Dedication in 2019. (Photo by Jay Thompson)

As a freshman she hit the ground running and four years later leaves behind a legacy of involvement, leadership, compassion, determination and student success.

She graduates with magna cum laude honors and nine quarters on the Dean’s List. She has been a part of Cal Poly’s Honors Program for four years, which provides an academically enriched learning experience for the university’s most highly motivated students.

While pursuing a music minor, she was especially active in the business college, working as a peer advisor, as a research assistant in the Information Systems Department and as a teacher’s assistant for several courses — experiences that “allowed me to work on my professional and personal development,” she said.

The 22-year-old helped organize and host Orfalea’s first diversity, equity and inclusion conference and served as student representative on the Dean Search Committee’s successful hiring of business Dean Damon Fleming, efforts that led to her receiving the college’s 2022 Outstanding Senior Award for College Contribution.

She was an active member of the local chapter of Delta Sigma Pi, the professional business fraternity, serving as its vice president of community service and then as chapter president during a difficult two-year period.

Carolyn Lidster, with Ronda Beaman after Beaman’s leadership class finale. Lidster was a student assistant for Beaman, whom she cites as one of her role models. (Photo: Pat Pemberton)

“I’m sure that many students will say that the pandemic was the biggest challenge they faced in completing their degrees,” she said. “This is completely true for me. I became president of Delta Sigma Pi just days before in-person school was shut down in 2020. It was incredibly hard to keep people virtually connected who were also doing online school for 12 hours a day in their childhood bedrooms all across the country.

“This group kept me grounded throughout that time,” she added. “They diversified the way I look at life. They provided me with professional development, opportunities to give back in the community, and we had so much fun together the past few years on top of it all.”

Through the ebbs and flows of the past four years, she has enjoyed a network of supporters that includes friends, roommates, co-workers, bosses and teachers like Dr. Ronda Beaman, who lectures in the college.

“She saw something in me my freshman year, and has believed in me ever since,” Lidster said. “I have been her teacher’s assistant for a few years, and she has been a constant support system. I am forever grateful for her unwavering help, and the opportunities she has given me.”

After graduation she will travel in Europe for a few months and then begin work in January at LinkedIn in San Francisco as an associate in the online platform’s Business Leadership Program.

Lidster will leave Cal Poly with a completely different perspective.

“When I first came to campus, I was very unsure of what I wanted and the kind of people I wanted to surround myself with,” she said. “I am confident in my abilities now, and what I want out of both a career and the environment I want to be in.”