Good morning Bakersfield.
It is Saturday, September 8, 2018….a great day to be a Renegade

It was a four-day work week with Monday being Labor Day. But those four days were jammed packed with activities … the norm at BC!

And then when I get home……

 

CSU Bakersfield President Zelezny visits BC

CSU Bakersfield’s new President Lynnette Zelezny visited the BC campus earlier this week, where she spoke with students and staff about the importance of BC and CSUB’s collaboration.  She explained to us that her last name is Czechian and means Iron Man… or Iron Woman in her case. President Zelezny spoke about bringing a personal touch to the CSUB campus, and letting students know that they WANT students to succeed.  Her vision of letting students know that they are qualified to be here and are welcome aligns perfectly with BC’s. I enjoy working with President Zelezny and am looking forward to amazing opportunities in the future.

You can view more photos here:

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I’d also like to say a special thanks to Jennifer Seratt for organizing this visit, and to Stephanie Stuart and her food services team for the beautiful fruits and snacks!

BC at Boy Scouts event

Bakersfield College was present in full force at the fundraiser for Boy Scouts where they were honoring Msgr. Craig Harrison.  You can spot Mary Jo Pasek, Billie Jo Rice, and Rene McMillion with Mayor Karen Goh, Chief Lyle Martin, and Msgr. Harrison.

 

 

Temporary parking lot during last phase of parking lot renovations

We are in our final phase of parking lot renovations, but that means that our student parking lot P8 on University and our staff parking lot P11 next to the pool and LA building are closed for the next month.  We have created a temporary parking lot for staff and students between the soccer fields and baseball fields to help with parking during this time. Thank you to Bill Potter and Chris Counts for spearheading this project! You can find a larger view of the map HERE. 

Renegade Volleyball on a roll last weekend

The Renegade women’s volleyball team has started the 2018 season on a 4-0 winning streak without giving up even a set in each of their matches. On Friday the Renegades swept both College of the Sequoias (25-19, 25-10, 25-20) and Cuesta (25-7, 25-10, 26-24) at the COS Crossover. The next day they headed home to host the Bakersfield Quad at the Gil Bishop Sport Center and swept both Allan Hancock (25-8, 25-15, 25-16) and Santa Barbara (25-19, 25-21, 25-17).

“I am extremely happy to start the first weekend of competition going 4-0,” Coach Ferreira commented, “The players deserve all the credit, as they executed their preseason preparation with tremendous efficiency.  While I was pleased that we did a lot of things well, I’m looking forward to watching film, studying stats, and getting better. We still have a long ways to go in order to be a championship caliber team.”

Up next, the Renegades will head to the Pirate Classic Quad at Ventura College to play Golden West and Fullerton on Friday, Sept. 7th and on Saturday, Sept. 8th will plan in the SBCC Quad against Pasadena and Long Beach.

Cross Country opens season at Ventura Invitational

The Renegade men’s and women’s cross country teams opened up the 2018 season at the Ventura Invitational on August 31st.  Both the men’s and women’s as a team finished 4th out of 14. The top individual finisher for the women was Lourdes Cruz, and for the men it was Alexander Struzyna. The Renegade cross country teams will next take the course on Saturday, September 8th in the Fresno Invitational at Woodward park at 9am.

Football opens season at Mt. SAC

Football opened their season this last weekend on the road against Mt. SAC at Covina District Field in Covina, CA. Although the team put up a good fight in the first half and even held the lead at one point, the Mt. SAC offense proved to be more than the BC defense could handle and the Mounties sealed the victory on a late 4th quarter TD. Stay up-to-date with the Renegades on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and by visiting GoGades.com.  Thank you for coming out on the road to support Renegade Football.  It almost felt like we had a larger turnout that the other team.

 

I’d like to say a special thanks to Brandon Urry for all of his great work as Sports Information Director.  Keep it up, Brandon!

BC reps at Achieving the Dream’s 2018 Data & Analytics Summit

Our very own Institutional Effectiveness team attended the 2018 Data & Analytics Summit in Maryland earlier this week.  There they learned how to build institutional capacity to collect, access, analyze and use the data. It’s essential that BC be at these events to continually grow and use the power of leading indicators to ensure our evolution.  Thanks to Amber Hroch, Manny Mourtzanos, Dan Hall, and Eleanora Hicks for attending and continually developing your talent for BC!

Levan Center highlights leadership & talent

The Levan Center is holding three upcoming events, largely in thanks to the new Levan Center Director, Reggie Williams.

Each of the beautiful flyers above were designed by our own BC faculty and staff!  We are so lucky to have such leadership and talent at BC. Thank you to David Koeth and Eric Carillo for all of your hard work!

Thank you for parking smart!!

Students, faculty and staff, plz carpool to work or join me and ride the Express bus from the southwest to the main campus.  I’ve loved getting to meet our students, and thank you to Michele Bresso and Mindy Wilmot for helping to keep cars off of campus!

Bakersfield Californian shines light on inmate education

This must-read story focuses on how BC is reducing recidivism and developing skills for jobs through education.  We started our Inmate Scholars program in Spring 2015, and to say that it’s had an impact is putting it lightly. Thank you to Chelsea Esquibias and our faculty for helping to transform lives! You can read the link HERE.

Community Voices: Wisdom calls us

Our own Jack Hernandez wrote a beautiful piece last Sunday on truth and wisdom. Moral wisdom teaches us that we should respect and have compassion for others.  Thank you to Jack for helping to spread this message. You can read Jack’s piece HERE.

BC Strength & Conditioning Coach Zack Peters on KGET

KGET featured our very own Strength and Conditioning Coach Zack Peters this week. Zack is in his third year of strength and conditioning here at BC. We are so grateful for his dedication to our students and the college.  Thank you for helping to shape our student athletes on AND OFF the field! You can view the full story HERE.

Passing of Cecil Bailey

We are not always aware of the generous, faithful service given to the college and thus the community by those who serve on the Kern Community College District Board of Trustees.  It is so important to have good people in those positions and to recognize good service.

Cecil Bailey just passed away at the age of 100.  For twenty years of his life, from 1971 to 1991, he served on the KCCD Board of Trustees.  For a period of time he was the President of the group. That is a real commitment. One of the Trustees appears at every graduation to welcome the new graduates and to participate in the presentation of diplomas.  In the newspaper’s obituary, it was noted that Cecil “had the honor and privilege of presenting a nursing diploma to his future daughter-in-law, Kelsey Henderson.”

At 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 8, a celebration of Cecil’s life followed by a reception will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2216 17th Street.

 

Motivational speaker Mark Potter sends message of positive thinking to Renegade student athletes

On Friday morning our student athletes were privileged to hear from visiting motivational speaker Mark Potter. Mark is a former college head basketball coach who went through bouts of depression in his professional career and found ways to become mentally resilient. He taught our student athletes to have a go-to positive thought to replace the negative thoughts that pop into their minds. He challenged them to track their negative thoughts for one week to be aware of just how many negative thoughts they had so they could be prepared for counteracting that influence. We are grateful for Mark and the time he spent here helping our student athletes become more mentally tough!

 

 

That’s all for now.  

Until next time.

With much Renegade Pride and Collegiality.  

sonya —
the luckiest and happiest college president ever

 

Tagged: Bakersfield College, BessieTheLab, NeoTheGolden, President Lynette Zelezny, Sonya Christian