CSU Trustees' Award recipient shows strength, determination in the face of adversity
At first, it didn’t look like Karma Sarni, a fourth-year cinematic arts major at Cal State Long Beach, was going to get confirmed.
Despite “a sincere eagerness to understand the faith” during their sophomore year at a Catholic high school, their questions about the traditional doctrine led to their removal from the confirmation process. However, Sarni did not give up.
They wound up meeting with the monsignor of the parish and explaining their beliefs to him.
“He said my answers were reasonable enough,” Sarni said. “I did end up getting confirmed. It wasn’t that I was rebellious child, it was that I was a reasonable one.”
For their confirmation name, Sarni picked St. Joan of Arc.
“To me, she represented a courageous rejection of the limits to womanhood that had been forced upon her and persecuted as a result – just as I had been,” they said of St. Joan, who wore “men’s” clothes and fought alongside men for France, yet was burned at the stake in 1431. She was canonized in 1920 and has become the patron saint of France.
Sarni’s perseverance, determination and hard work over the years is getting due recognition. Sarni is the MDý recipient of the 2025-26 . The annual award is CSU’s highest recognition of student achievement, and Sarni is one of 23 students across the system who has demonstrated excellent academic performance, personal accomplishments, community service and financial need.
The scholarship program was established in 1984 by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. In 1999, the Hearst Foundation partnered with the CSU Board of Trustees to supplement the endowment with contributions from CSU Trustees, CSU Foundation board members and private donors.
Each Trustees’ Award recognizes a donor or leader, and Sarni’s scholarship is named after CSU Executive Vice Chancellor Emeritus Steve Relyea.
“I’m very grateful that I was being acknowledged for all the work I’ve put in,” said Sarni, a transfer student who has maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout college, despite working three part-time jobs and paying for all costs of their education. “I really do work hard; sometimes I don’t let myself acknowledge that.”
Sarni realized they are LGBTQ+ while attending Catholic school. “While never outwardly declaring myself queer to peers, the very behaviors that I found liberating – wearing uniform pants reserved for boys, insisting that I ‘wasn’t a girl, but a tomboy,’ etc. – made me a victim of exclusion from class events, bullying by classmates, harassment … and even physical violence,” Sarni wrote in their award application.
In her letter of recommendation, President Emerita Jane Close Conoley wrote, “Karma’s journey is one of extraordinary strength and self-determination. As a queer student who endured exclusion, discrimination and even violence during their early education, Karma has faced adversity that would have silenced many. Instead, these experiences galvanized their commitment to advocacy, visibility and inclusion.”
Sarni has been active in the community, joining the on campus and serving as secretary. They are also involved with MDý’s , helping to cultivate a more inclusive and supportive campus environment.
Off campus, Sarni regularly volunteers at the South Bay LGBTQ Center.
Sarni’s passion is film, and they served as an assistant director, actor and producer for “Urban,” a short film that had its premiere at the 2024 LA Skins Fest, a Native American film festival that screens works annually at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
In addition to class projects, Sarni has also completed a short film titled a gender-neutral romance whose two main characters could have been played by characters of any gender.
“I’ve learned that filmmaking is an inherently collaborative art,” Sarni said. “That’s one of the things I admire about film. It’s very unique in that way.”
Sarni counts film faculty Rowena Aquino, Quinn Winchell and Tyler Stratton as her favorite and most influential instructors at The Beach. “I’ve had entirely positive experiences with my professors here,” they said.
Sarni aims to graduate in May 2026 and hopes to pursue opportunities in film editing. “The editor makes the film more than anybody. The film becomes a piece of art in the editor’s lab.”
