Good morning Bakersfield. 
It is Saturday, September 15, 2018….a great day to be a Renegade

This week we remembered September 11th from 17 years ago. Families still grieve, lives were forever changed. This week we reflected on our friends, mothers, fathers, men, women, daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, heroes who lost their lives that day.

We will never forget.

Football Wins Season Opener & New Faculty Reception

Last weekend, BC’s football team won their season opener against El Camino College, 20-15. The game was thrilling to watch and it was great to see all of our fans (approximately 5,000 attended the game) in and around the stadium throughout the evening.  Many watched on KGET.

 

The celebration started way before the game began. As per our annual tradition, we kicked off the evening with the New Faculty Dinner and Reception. As is the tradition,  we share BC’s New Faculty each year on our website along with their photo and discipline.

Victor Diaz spoke behalf of Academic Senate and Mayor Karen Goh who is a fan of Renegade Football was also in attendance to welcome our newest educators.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

I also have to mention the amazing food prepared by BC Food Services. The meal prepared each year is impressive and this year did not disappoint! Thank you Chef Stephanie!

The Renegade Rooter Bus brought some special visitors from  McFarland High School who attended the first Renegade Football game of the season. For making this happen, I must thank Abel Guzman, Jesse Oropeza for coordinating the visit, Chef Stephanie Stuart for the concessions, and the leadership team from McFarland including Maria Herrera, CTE Specialist, Miquel Martinez, Welding Instructor, Brian Bell, Principal, Aaron Resendez, Interim Superintendent, Ambelina Garcia Duran, Deputy Superintendent, Jim Beltran, Board President, and Eleso Garza, Board Member.

The game was covered in depth by Jon Mettus of the Bakersfield Californian in his article, “Renegades hang on for first win of 2018 season.” Nick Ellis also took some incredible photos during the game like the one below:

Be sure to come out to the game this Saturday at 6pm at Memorial Stadium against Santa Monica.

2018 College Night

BC was at the 19th Annual Kern County College Night last monday.  Over 125 colleges were present, and of course BC was there to represent!  This event is great for giving prospective students not only the chance to get to see what the colleges have to offer, but also they’re able to learn how to pay for college.  Thank you to the Outreach team and all who attended to represent that #WeAreBC!!

Special thank you to Tim Heasley and the BC Drum Corps who always puts on the best performance to get everyone in the house revved up.

All the photos can be found at BC’s Smugmug!

OneBook Event Kickoff & Distinguished Speaker Series: Jim St. Germain

Gorgeous weather, outdoor venue, and conversation made for a beautiful day at BC! In collaboration with the Kern County Library, One Book, One Bakersfield kicked off at the Campus Center Main Stage on Thursday. Addressing the crowd was Emerson Case from CSUB, Danyel Ritter from Student Life, and Dezi Von Manos on behalf of Free on the Outside Student Organization. The kickoff concluded with a presentation from the first Distinguished Speaker, Jim St. Germain. This author’s heart shone through in every word he spoke. He spent time getting to know our students, hearing their personal stories, and offering words of mentorship and encouragement to each person he came in contact with. Thank you, Jim, for sharing your life with our students!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thank You Sequoia Paints for Your Generosity!

This week, Sequoia Paints owner Jim Elder made a $100,000 donation to our Athletics department.   I cannot thank Jim enough for his generosity, and what it means to the BC family. You can read about it in the Bakersfield Californian’s article by Jon Mettus titled “BC Athletics gets $100,000 donation.”

BC Ag Teams Up and Cleans Up

Love seeing our Ag department get ready for the next year.  Last Friday our wonderful faculty members removed materials to build the showcase farm that BC deserves!  Thank you Chris McCraw, Jim Selgrath, and Matt Riley for your hard work!

Renegades of the Week

The athletics department is beginning a new weekly tradition – naming Renegades of the Week. Each week they will be honoring one male and one female student-athlete of the week based on how well they competed in their sport and led their team from the previous week. Please join me in congratulating our first two Renegades of the Week for this year: Jessica Merante from women’s volleyball and Elisha Ortiz from football. Jessica had 108 digs and a 2.51 passing % in helping her team to a 3-1 record at the SBCC Quad and Elisha Ortiz of football had 221 all-purpose yards and 2 TD’s to lift the Gades over El Camino.

Renegades Put the Student in Student-Athlete

A huge thank you to Maria Wright and the Academic Support Services team, Darrell Ballard and all the coaches in athletics for helping guide our student-athletes to be excellent students in and out of the classroom. We have recently seen growing numbers of our students athletes using academic support to study and excel as students in the classroom. Shown below are student athletes on the softball team and our football Quarterback, Josh Medina using academic support. Great examples of superstar students and athletes!

Soccer Gets Huge Win at Home

Our men’s soccer team hosted East LA college at Memorial Stadium on Tuesday and scored a huge victory, 2-1. Scoring goals for the Renegades were Edgar Gonzalez and Jose Lara. Come out to Memorial Stadium this Tuesday for the men’s and women’s soccer double-header. Women play at 5pm and the men at 7pm.

Wrestling Goes 2-2 Over the Weekend

On Friday our wrestling team hosted Victor Valley in their first home dual of the season and won 56-0. The following day they hosted the BC Duals in the Gil Bishop Sports Center. We had seven other teams from across the state in attendance which drew a large crowd to watch the action. Our Renegades went 1-2 on the day and head to Sacramento City College this weekend to take on the Panthers in a dual meet. Go Gades!

Free Swim Lessons

Reminder to attend the 4th annual free community swim lessons The Bakersfield College Men’s and Women’s swim team will be hosting the 4th annual Free Community Swim Lesson and Six-Hour Relay on Saturday, September 15th, 2018 at the BC Pool. The event will last from 8a-2p and feature a free 30-minute swim lesson for each child. In addition, parents will receive water safety tips. Attendees are encouraged to attend whenever they are able to throughout the day. The event is free and open to anyone who would like to participate.

Emails Worth Sharing

This week, Welding Professor Jeremy Staat received an email from a previous student. The email reads:

“I just wish to let you know that currently I have been in Texas near Houston for the past 2 weeks. At the moment I interned with a pipeline company called Strike and have been learning what the life on the pipeline is like with each passing day. Thanks to you sir, I have been able to show a sense of purpose and often times even assist some welders as a welders helper. Currently I am assigned as a ground holder for the welders creating the root pass, and at times dealing with the welders behind who deal with the hot pass. Even though the work is repetitive, it is often filled with slight differences due to the time of day and weather.

One of the many things that has helped me since starting is when you would tell us that those who have an education higher than higher than high school will be more sought after. Honestly simply because I still remember how to stick weld and have some college background, I am receiving $2 more than what the standard position pays. To which I have you, Mr. Grays, and Mr. Ralls to thank, for instituting not only the basics of knowledge but also the practical work ethics and safety requirements such as signing in and out when entering the lab each day.

Thank you for being such a huge influence sir, may you continue to share your knowledge with others and may more people stay the course even during the tough moments.”

Here is a photo of Professors Jeremy Staat and Tommy Tunson at the 2018 Commencement in front of the Collins Campus Center.

“This is what education means to me” – Kim Arbolante

Kim Arbolante, BC’s lead in the Writing Center also sent an email worth sharing. She said,

“Today I was confronted with asking myself what education means to me and why I chose to work in education. I just tutored a student on his English speaking skills for an autobiography speech he was about to deliver in his COMM B1 course. He plans to tell the class that he majors in English because he is from Guatemala, and when he was a young boy a local gang would stand in front of the school so that children could not enter unless their parents had sent them to school with money to pay off the gang. His family had no money, but he desperately wanted to learn. So, he risked it all and snuck in the back door of the school to attend class. The gang found out and waited outside the doors for him after school. He was afraid to leave, so his teacher offered him a ride home. He graciously accepted. On their way in the car, she made him promise to keep up his schooling no matter what. The gang was following them, and shortly after he made her that promise, the gang boxed her car in, which forced them to stop. They pulled her out of the vehicle and murdered her in front of his eyes. He was just eight years old.

Now, at eighteen years old, he is a student at BC and there are no words for how much I want him to succeed! He has crossed miles and miles of dangerous roads, uncertain outcomes, and unnavigable immigration procedures to fulfill that promise he made ten years ago in his teacher’s car. This selfless woman sacrificed her life to see that his might be better.

This is what education means to me. Education is not merely meaning making and skill learning. Education is social mobility. Education is the means by which we can alleviate poverty, diminish violence, and create a more peaceful, equitable world. Education provides hope to those who may find themselves in hopeless situations. I am just a tutor. I help students with their academic needs. However, today, my student taught me a more valuable lesson than I could ever give: he taught me why I do it. Today, more than ever before, I am PROUD to be a Renegade.”

President’s Challenge

The President’s Challenge to carpool to campus is still going strong. Aricia Leighton, in BC’s Marketing and Public Relations team sent me her selfie on Thursday morning as she rode the shuttle from BC Southwest!

Panorama Creative Music Summit

Is this year’s Panorama Creative  Music Summit on your calendar? Taking place on September 21-22nd at BC’s Indoor Theater, the Panorama Creative Music Summit will showcase acclaimed visiting artists, local performers, and BC faculty, students, and alumni performing original music and exploring a broad range of styles and creative approaches across the jazz-pop continuum.

Thanks to support from the Lydia Jennings Finlinson and Burns L. Finlinson Endowment of the Bakersfield College Foundation, as well as an Arts in the Community Grant from the Arts Council of Kern, all events at the summit are FREE ADMISSION, open to the public and the campus community.

For a full listing of the events and more information, visit the Panorama Creative Music Summit webpage.

2018 Emsi Conference: Visualizing the Future Workforce

The BC team was at it again this week, attending the 2018 Emsi Conference in Coeur D’alene, Idaho.  Our very own Michele Bresso, Amber Hroch, Stephanie Baltazar, Tony Cordova, Alma Livingston, Klint Rigby and Cindy Collier were at the conference, learning about how to better use labor market data to target our programs in the region.  Go BC!

Student Employment Kudos Corner

Each month the Student Employment Office selects an On-Campus Supervisor for their outstanding service. The Supervisor then has the honor to highlight one of their top student employees. This month, Cristina Martinez Gonzalez, Executive Secretary for Public Safety has been recognized because her student employees say that she fosters a great work environment and is always willing to help. Chief Counts is so pleased Cristina joined 8 months ago and has become not only a supervisor to the 50+ students but also a mentor and leader. Cristina has selected to recognize student assistant Justina Alston for bringing their mission to life. She assist students with campus emergency calls as well as faculty, staff, and our BC community with parking and other issues.

Fun Photos

History Professor, Olivia Garcia and her family enjoying the BC campus over the weekend! She said, “Sometimes, you just can’t stay away from BC. Me, my husband Julio and my little guys, Joaquin and Cruz. Julio and I ran, did some repeats under the shady solar panel parking area while the boys cycled. Beautiful day!”

Dean of Instruction, Andrea Thorson shared some fun photos of running into CSUB President Lynette Zelezny and Assemblymember Rudy Salas at the Democratic Women event.

 

BC in full strength at the Central Valley Counselors Conference:

 

Jennifer Johnson and Grace Commisso presented at the Counselor Conference on Friday.

Post from Anna Laven’s Facebook post:

Great day at the annual Technology, Jobs and Future of Work Counselor Conference! First heard from Sonya Christian about our amazing work on Guided Pathways, both at Bakersfield College and across the state. Then some really interesting breakout sessions on curriculum and labor market data. And finally an inspiring and humbling closing speaker making a very clear argument for intentionality in counseling and student success.  It was also delightful to run into so many people doing amazing work to support students!

 

and here is a post from Pam Gomez:

It’s been a busy and productive week. College Night, Business expo, Ag Club Mtg, Ag Expo planning mtg, and today we went to Clovis (2 hrs north) for the 4th annual Counselor’s Conference. Involved late nights and an early morning. We shook hands, spread the word about our great college and networked. Just a few things I enjoy about my job.

We are BC.

 

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, Karen Goh, McFarland High School, Romeo Agbalog, Sonya Christian