By Nicole Gregory, contributing writer
Less than a year ago, Josh Mitchell was stressing to finish his finals for his master’s degree in computer engineering at Cal State Fullerton. Today, the 24-year-old works as a software and database engineer at a growing Bay Area company called Poshmark and has recently given back to the university in the form of a $20,000 gift, in gratitude for all that he learned in his five-and-a-half years as a student.
Leadership roles in particular, which Mitchell took on as an undergrad and graduate student, taught him valuable lessons that he’s already used in his new job.
He was student body president at a time when racial tensions were escalating on campus and the entire community still struggled with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What I came to appreciate was that everybody has a different worldview or different viewpoint that they come to with a conflict,” Mitchell said. “And with that, it’s more so about listening and being able to navigate different people’s perspectives, and also learning to humble myself that I may not always be right, and there’s always going to be people smarter than me, so learning to appreciate their feedback.”
He also worked as a resident adviser overseeing freshman housing, a role that he likens to that of being a first responder, on call to help students in any kind of trouble and being a point person during an emergency. “One night there was flooding in one of the buildings, so I had to help get all the water out at 2 a.m.,” he said. “That was my first leadership experience that really started to change me.”
He taught computer science at a nonprofit called Dreams for Schools, which educates children, from kindergarten through high school, about STEM careers by demonstrating how to build software games for fun.
Mitchell was born in Mission Viejo and raised in Rancho Santa Margarita. When he entered CSUF in fall of 2017, his horizons were broadened. “Being from where I was born in south Orange County, you hold onto certain privileges that you take for granted, and maybe not understand that other people have other challenges that you’ve never had to experience or deal with,” he said.
During his last year at Cal State Fullerton, Mitchell got a virtual internship with Poshmark, and after he got his degree in January 2023, he moved to San Francisco, a city he enjoys exploring. He commutes to Silicon Valley several days a week because his company has a hybrid work schedule.
At Poshmark, he volunteers as a co-lead for an employee-resource group that focuses on health and wellness. He and his co-leader host events and workshops centered on being well at work. “My co-lead and I started this fun event in our company called De-Stress Recess. The main purpose of it is to be a kid again, and so on Thursday afternoons, we go play kickball or volleyball. It’s kind of fun because the two of us have to build our community, so it’s like building a mini business within the company,” Mitchell said.
“With all the leadership experiences that I gained at Fullerton, it was easy to translate, because even though one is a college environment and the other is a company or corporate America environment, I feel like a lot of those same lessons apply,” he said.
He is happy to be able to make his recent $20,000 gift to the university, part of which goes to the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “I hope that it would be gifted toward someone who is in NSBE, or the National Society of Black Engineers,” he says. “My experience as a student, as someone who is biracial, not seeing too many people like me, I’m hoping to see more people of color in that field.”
Part of his gift will also go toward scholarships for student leaders, in the hope of making those roles accessible to more students.
Mitchell remembers many talks about funding when he was president of ASI. “I got to connect with a lot of different student groups and saw the challenges that they went through. It always seemed like the number one problem coming up was ‘We need more money,’ or ‘Our students are struggling, and we need scholarships’ or ‘If our students had more financial support, then things would be going smoother.’ I felt like I was able to start off my career pretty well at Poshmark, so I wanted to find a way to help out, and this scholarship gift felt like a really easy way to give back.”
Though he is now a CSUF alum, he feels very connected to the university. “My heart is invested in Cal State Fullerton. I know a lot of the student groups there; I know a lot of the people who work there; I trust the leaders there. The two scholarships that I provide with engineering, computer science and also student leaders, those are identities that I held very closely to me during my five-and-a-half years at the institution.”
