Good morning, Bakersfield.
It is Saturday, April 6, 2019… A great day to be a Renegade.

BC Attends Farm Day in the City 2019

Last week, BC attended the two-day event Farm Day in the City, which was held at the Kern County Fairgrounds.  The Kern County Farm Bureau sponsored the day to help acquaint children with agriculture and the importance that it has in our community.  Over 4,000 students in grades 2-4 attended where they were introduced to farm machinery, livestock, and commodities, as well as interactive demonstrations of ag-related issues of water, safety, and pesticide use. Thanks to our Career Technical Education (CTE) group Carlos Medina, Jessica McGrath, and Denise Crawford for attending and letting students know what BC offers in regards to agriculture.  Also, thank you to Mayor Karen Goh for her unwavering support of education in our city.

BC Hosts Faculty from Engineering University of Nicaragua

The Bakersfield College Family embraced colleagues from Central America this month when it hosted three faculty members from the National Engineering University of Nicaragua (Uni). The three professors included Donal Perez Palma from Uni’s Department of Energy, Emmanuel Jose Canda Toledo from the Department of Applied Theoretical Mechanics, and Pablo David Trejos Aguilar from the Department of Engineering in Economics and Business. The three came at the invitation of Kern Community College District Vice Chancellor of Educational Services John Means. The goal of this hands-across-the-miles outreach is to develop global and academic exchange opportunities for both faculty and students and to build understanding between the institutions.

Uni leaders were especially interested in Bakersfield College’s Baccalaureate Program in Industrial Automation. As a result, the faculty members’ visit included a campus tour led by Michele Bresso, Dean of Instruction; a tour and overview of the Industrial Automation Program by BC’s Industrial Automation Lead Faculty Manny Fernandez, presentations by Industrial Automation faculty Tom Rush and Industrial Automation students Yasmeen Reyes and Jose Manriquez; an overview of the California Community Colleges by John Means, and a closing session with various BC faculty and staff to explore ways the institutions can partner in the future. At the end of the visit, Industrial Automation Program Manager Aubrey Priest presented each guest with goodie bags of Bakersfield College items as a memento of their visit.

We all look forward to more opportunities to work with the National Engineering University of Nicaragua as Bakersfield College models its mission to help students engage productively in the community and the world.

Preparing for Hackathon

On Thursday evening, teams of students visited the Levan Center to register for this year’s Hackathon. The room was packed wall-to-wall with teams of engaged and excited students! The weekend long event encourages college students to create technology-based tools that support healthy communities, and culminates with a contest that involves each team pitching, programming, and presenting their functioning app.

This interdisciplinary collaboration inspires students from all backgrounds including technology, graphic design, communication, STEM, social science, and more to respond to specific community needs. I’m looking forward to hearing about the tools designed at this year’s competition.

Special thanks to Sarah Baron, BC’s Public Health lead faculty and champion, and special guests including Kiyoshi Timono of Adventist Health, Brynn Carrigan of Kern Public Services Health Services, Edgar Aguilar of Dignity Health, Raul Gallardo of Community Action Partnership of Kern, and Kristin Weber of Kaiser Permanente.

BC Culinary Arts Cooked for Cioppino Feed and Live Auction

Last week, BC Culinary Arts provided the food for a live auction charity benefit put together by the Bakersfield West Rotary.  Culinary Arts students prepared cioppino, an Italian-American stew originating from San Francisco that uses fish and crab meat for the charity benefit that raised approximately $80,000 for local non-profit organizations.  BC puts its unique spin on the dish with a secret sauce you can only taste from BC Culinary Arts. KGET covered the ciopinno feed and live auction in a video piece last week.

Cioppino is just one of the delectable dishes put together by our amazingly talented Culinary Arts students under the direction of faculty chefs Alex Gomez and Susan Tangeman. There are only a few more weeks left to enjoy their dishes in the Renegade Room before the end of the Spring 2019 semester. Next week, you can try their pulled pork sandwich, Thai chicken salad or meatloaf and mashed potatoes during the Wednesday lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 10, or you can go all in on their Thursday evening buffet from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on April 11, which will be themed around Pacific Rim cuisine.

After Spring Break, there will only be two more weeks of service in the Renegade Room, and you’ll have to wait until next fall before you get the chance to try our world-class cuisine again, so make a reservation as soon as possible by calling (661) 395-4441.

Learning & Career Pathways Hosts Spring Pathways Fair

On Monday, representatives from our ten Learning and Career Pathways hosted an informational fair in the CSS Lawn Area to raise awareness of all the career opportunities available to students at BC.

Our Spring Pathways Fair also had booths for all of our student affinity groups and academic support organizations, as well as Financial Aid. Students from Industrial Automation brought a remote-controlled vehicle to pilot around the CSS Lawn, and the Mechanized Agriculture Department parked two large excavators for students to check out the type of equipment they might use if they choose to follow a Mechanized Agriculture pathway. Automotive Technology also showed off a prototype of the race car created by students in their pathway, and they’ll be driving the real car in a race with other schools at the end of the year.

Thank you to everyone who made our Spring Pathways Fair a huge success, and I hope that the students who participated learned about BC pathways to help them make an informed decision about their education.

BC Adult Ed Presents the Job Spot at CCCAOE 2019

BC Adult Ed representatives Program Manager Endee Grijalva and Educational Advisor Lupe Aguirre presented on the Job Spot this past Wednesday, along with Mark Wyatt (Principal of Bakersfield Adult School), Jodi Loeffler (BAS Supervising Admin), and Terrence Banks (Job Spot Admin). The presentation was held during the CCCAOE Spring 2019 Conference and provided some insight into the co-location serving South Bakersfield.

For those who don’t know, Job Spot brings together multiple service providers, community-based organizations and post-secondary institutions to serve adults in a 21st century learning environment. This innovative, creative space, was designed to serve community needs with a & “one stop shop” for educational (Adult School/College) and employment resources, in a setting that promotes student success.

Bidder’s Open House at Bakersfield College

The Kern Builders Exchange held its Bidder’s Open House in the BC gym on Thursday, which was a great opportunity for local contractors to come learn about over $1 billion in local construction and maintenance projects, many of which will be ready to bid on soon.  Attendees saw projects of all sizes and for all trades at the event. Bidders were also able to learn how to qualify for public work projects, obtain a timeline of upcoming projects, and gain access to resources.

We were extremely happy to facilitate this event as it was a great opportunity for attendees to network with experts and hear about all of the great projects coming up at BC. Thank you to Kern County Builders Exchange Executive Director Mikin Plummer for holding the event on BC’s campus and for keeping our local contractors informed on the various projects available.

Comedian Jeff Horste Visits BC

April Fool’s Day featured a comedy show for the Bakersfield College Community this year! The campus welcomed Jeff Horste and his friend and opener, Ron Taylor, for an hour of laughs. Jeff was highly sought out due to being handpicked by Kevin Hart to appear on his specials on comedy central and to open for him in the past. The audience loved Jeff’s humor and jokes, and Jeff truly enjoyed coming to our campus!

English Fair Meet and Greet

BC English faculty hosted a meet and greet in the Levan Center on Tuesday to inform students about all of the programs and services available through the English program.

Several booths lined the inside of the Levan Center with information about courses focusing on everything from Shakespeare, Latino literature and the Bible as literature, to English B2, which teaches advanced composition and critical thinking using J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. There were also representatives from student organizations such as the Umoja Community and the newly-created English Club. Attendees got the opportunity to participate in a raffle contest and a scavenger hunt, and there was a photo booth in the corner where people could pose with cutouts of famous literary figures.

Thank you to the English Department and everyone who put together the English Meet and Greet event. It was a wonderful chance for students to learn more about the opportunities available to them in an English pathway.

Check out all the pics at BC’s Smugmug!

Mental Health Screening at BC

On Thursday, thirteen MSW students, three faculty, and four community professional volunteers provided a Mental Health Screening Day for BC students. The screening provided students with an opportunity to find out how they scored on two different spectrums – Depression (PHQ9), and Anxiety (GAD7), and then they had the opportunity to talk at more length, including suicide assessment as needed, with the screener regarding resources and coping skills that may be beneficial to the student. In doing the screening we were able to make referrals to BC’s Student Health and Wellness Center for follow up appointments with the clinical staff there.

This is the second screening day that MSW students have provided this school year. In the fall 93 students were screened, and on Thursday they reached 102 more. That is nearly 200 BC students who have received education and resources regarding mental health and suicide prevention!

I want to thank the MSW student interns who coordinated this effort this year: Natalia Hatley, Anabel Jimenez, and Jennifer Shockley. It was due to their tremendous effort and dedication to this event that it was so successful.

Emergency Responder Seminar

Public Safety Officer Jason Mattheus gave a seminar on BC’s emergency response protocol in the Levan Center on Tuesday.  Each building on campus is assigned a building marshall in the event of an emergency to ensure that everyone leaves the building and moves to designated evacuation zones. There are several alternates in the event that the designated building marshall is not present, and employees are expected to be adept in providing any kind of emergency response that is needed.

Each marshall has a red bag with flashlights, first aid kits and other types of emergency equipment. In an emergency event, the marshall performs a scan of the building to clear it out via a safe evacuation route and ensure that there is no structural damage, and then assigns a runner to report their findings back to the central command center in the library.

While the Public Safety department is able to provide support for areas of the campus that are suffering the most damage, they can’t be everywhere, so it’s up to all faculty and staff to be informed about the emergency response protocol and render first aid if necessary. Public Safety checks the emergency red bags annually, but departments should also do periodic checks of their red bags throughout the semester and report to Public Safety if anything is missing or whether the flashlight needs new batteries.  Thank you Public Safety for hosting this important seminar and everything they do to keep our campus safe.

Bakersfield College Fire Technology Department Passes Accreditation

The Bakersfield College Fire Technology Department passed its accreditation review with flying colors, according to the report by the office of the California Fire Marshall.

On March 18, Deputy State Fire Marshall Caryn Petty visited BC’s Fire Technology facilities along with Dean Rich McCrow, Public Safety Training Director Tommy Tunson, and chiefs from the Bakersfield and Kern County fire departments, as well as Fire Academy Coordinator Alexander Clark and Fire Tech staff members Janet Mason and Karen Mattox.

The Deputy Fire Marshall reviewed BC’s Self-Assessment Report and toured all Fire Tech classrooms and training facilities. The accreditation report praised BC’s “flourishing relationships with fire agencies in Bakersfield and Kern County” and noted that the Fire Technology staff “possessed a strong devotion to complete student development from entry-level firefighters to career advancing leadership.”

I’d like to thank the Office of the State Fire Marshall for ensuring that California firefighters are adequately equipped to keep our forests and cities safe, as well as our Fire Technology and Public Safety Training departments for their dedication to teaching the next generation of heroes in the Central Valley.

Blue & Gold Day

BC has a strong commitment to helping students transfer! In Last week’s blog, I shared a bit about Blue and Gold day, but have some extra photos to share this week.  Over 20 CSUB departments and/or programs were in attendance for the day, with giveaways, raffles and lunch provided to 150 BC students, staff and faculty.  It was a fun-filled afternoon on the BC campus, with Transfer and Graduation on students’ minds. BC and CSUB partnered to celebrate students who have been admitted to CSUB for Fall 2019 and connected them to resources and programs on the CSUB campus, as well as introducing prospective students to the possibility of what lies ahead! Transfer In Triumph, Renegades!

BC’s College Council

College Council is a collegial consultative oversight body designed to serve the good of the College. The group facilitates timely, factual, and clear communication between constituents and the President. It provides recommendations to the President on college-wide matters. The Council oversees implementation of the Strategic Direction’s Plan and ensures institutional quality using ongoing and systematic planning and evaluation to refine key policies and processes, and to improve student learning.

Festival for Peace and Non-Violence

Last Saturday, the Office of Student Life supported and attended the Festival for Peace and Non-Violence at CSUB in celebrating of Mahatma Gandhi’s 105th birthday. The festival was a huge success with over 600 people participating!

Fun Photos on the Farm

Professor Deborah Rosenthal invited friends from BC to her farm to interact with the animals. Tracy Lovelace from BC’s Academic Technology department shared some fun photos from the afternoon. Professor Glen Samples from Fire Tech and Professor Matthew Garrett brought little ones to see the horses.

Fun Photos with Eric Schlosser

This week BC welcomed Eric Schlosser to campus to speak with BC students and the community. More to come in next week’s blog on his presentations, but for now check out these fun photos from his arrival day. Special thanks to KGET for the interview and BC’s team including Dr. Nicky Damania, Michele Pena, and Imelda Simos-Valdez for treating Mr. Schlosser to a great meal at La Costa Mariscos.

Fun photos at Happy hour

Dean of Instruction Corny Rodriguez organized a special happy hour at La Mina. It has been a while since I have hung out with colleagues in a non-work setting. Yikes! Corny, we have got to do this more often.

More fun photos of family time

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Renegades of the Week

Renegade Athletics is proud to announce this week’s (3/24-3/30) Wells Fargo Renegades of the Week:

Joycelind Currie, Track & Field – Won the 400m and was on the winning 4 x 400m team which got the B standard. She also ran on the 4 x 100m team which finished second and individually finished 4th in the 200m.

Blake Keesey, Men’s Golf – Posted a 2 under 70 at WSC match at Spring Valley Lakes CC which put him in the top 4 of all conference players. Blake currently sits in the top ten in all conference WSC golfers (78 players).

Renegade Report

If you missed watching the Renegade Report live this last Thursday at 11:00am, check out the segments from this week’s show from the links below. This week’s highlights included segments with new Centennial High School Football Coach Richard Starrett and BC Athletics Equipment Coordinator, Pete Maglieri.

Mayor Goh Supporting Men’s Golf

We love the support we receive from our local community. This past Monday Mayor Karen Goh came out to kick off the Rig City Classic hosted by our Renegade Men’s Golf Team at Bakersfield Country Club. She welcomed all the participating teams and gave some words of encouragement to these student athletes. Thank you, Mayor Goh!

Roundup of Athletics Events this week

As always, it was a full week of athletics events for our Renegades teams. Highlights from the week include (click for the story on GoGades.com):

• Men’s Golf Hosts Rig City Invite
• Men’s Swimming takes second at WSC Inland Meet
• Women’s Swimming takes second at WSC #3 Meet
• Beach Volleyball tops Santa Monica and Santa Barbara
• Softball tops Oxnard, 20-1
• Softball Dominates Ventura, 8-0

Stay Connected to Renegade Athletics

Be sure to stay connected with Renegade Athletics by following us on social media. On Facebook find us under ‘Bakersfield College Athletics’, on Twitter – @GoGadesGo and on Instagram – @gogadesgo.

Tagged: Bakersfield College, Sonya Christian