Good morning Bakersfield.  It is Saturday, February 20th….A good day to be a Renegade!

This was a short four-day week given that Monday was Presidents’ Day.  But the week was intense.  So many activities on and off campus that last night I fell asleep while watching Shields and Brooks on PBS Newshour talking about the Presidential election.  Crazy….I don’t fall asleep on Mark Shields of the Washington Post and David Brooks of the New York Times.

It was a week where BC held the first statewide Guided Pathways Summit, and the statewide Black Student Caucus thanks to our Student Senator Fitzgerald Graves.  A group of us (Trustee Dennis Beebe, Trustee Kay Meek, Tom Burke, Rich McCrow, Zav Dadabhoy, Steve Watkin, Gustavo Enrique, Juan Torres, Raquel Lopez) attended  a Building Health Communities event in Arvin.  We also had a fabulous student, Sarah, from Arvin attend as well.

Talking about students….. BC students are at it again!

Basketball:  Our Renegade Basketball team won the Western States Conference Championship on Wednesday, Feb 17th!  Do take a moment to enjoy these students and Coach Rich Hughes in my previous blog:

http://bcpresidentblog.com/2016/02/12/bc-athletics-basketball-spring-sports-heat-up-the-valley/

Also check out Francis Mayer’s piece at

http://www.gogades.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/pages.page/id/890/article_id/457

and his photo gallery at

http://tinyurl.com/zpgmwkg

Some of our students are putting their abilities on display in a way that can occasionally seem like magic — and in two wildly disparate, but creatively linked disciplines. Two departments, BC’s Digital Illustration and Chemistry, have recently completed projects in which they were able to take purely theoretical ideas and apply their knowledge to producing physical products that are both beautiful and intriguing.

www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/kvaughn

Chemistry: In the Chemistry department, Professor Kenward Vaughan’s students were given a variety of mysterious compounds and, as a group, students conducted experiments to either identify what the compound was or split the compound in order to identify its original components.

I did a June 2014 blog on last year’s OChem Letters.  Check it out:

http://bcpresidentblog.com/2014/06/24/chemistry-research-at-bakersfield-college/

Some students attempted to change their compounds from solid to liquid, or liquid to gas. While those students were working to identify the compound, others were working backward in an attempt to split the compound. By piecing together all the elements that make up the compound, they could try to uncover what individual components could have been combined in order to create it.

After all those assorted theories and experiments were finished, the students put their findings in writing. Throughout the OChem Letters, students offer up ample detail and the thought processes that ultimately led them to their conclusions.

David Koeth

This captivating work of our chemistry students not only offers an engrossing look at the ways of the scientific process, but the ingenuity and creative thinking required of science professionals that may not be obvious to the uninitiated.

(I found this great picture of David Koeth on the website)

Illustration by Karina Hurtado

Digital Illustration: You may not see many clear parallels between organic chemistry and artists, but David Koeth’s Digital Illustration students were confronted with an intriguing challenge of their own — creating visualizations of a trip to Peru expressed only via written word.

Students were given a letter describing the trip, offering descriptive detail about the colored skies, exciting adventures, and even mishaps that took place during the journey.

Illustration by Miguel Fabian

Each student was assigned a “mood” and color pallette to portray and created spot illustrations for different situations found throughout the narrative.

Having only the letter and their own imaginations to rely on, the students were given just three hours to complete the project. Even under that restrictive time crunch, students were able to produce some beautiful art displaying vivid representations of the trip. Our talented students captured and recreated this trip with as much life and imagination as if they themselves had traveled to Peru. Being that no two people are the same, each picture told a unique side of the story.

Illustration by Jaqueline Carmona

The students’ depictions included parties, jewelry, hiking through the forest, laying on the beach and even the author’s wife getting airplane sick. The students allowed the trip to be portrayed in such a way that you could live out the trip as if it were your own.  You can see some of these gorgeous illustrations above.

The students here at BC never fail to impress, and never cease to bring great pride to our campus.  And our faculty…..they are the very best. They are scholars, artists, and athletes in their own right, as well as being dedicated teachers who spend hours with their students.  On Wednesday night, one of our Public Safety Officers, Mason,  who is also a student, gave me a ride from the admin parking lot to the gym for the Basketball game.  During this short ride, he excitedly shared with me stories about his amazing instructor, David Koeth, and how David inspires the best in him.

Friends, this is Bakersfield College.  A place of learning, a place of excellence filled with brilliant and committed faculty and staff. We are…BC!

Tagged: BC OChem Letters, chemistry, David Koeth, Digital Illustration, Guided Pathways, Kenward Vaughan, Renegade Basketball, Sonya Christian