Good morning, Bakersfield.
It is Saturday, September 14, 2019… A great day to be a Renegade.
Who doesn’t love looking at the moon. Always beautiful….always kindling emotions within our souls… Last night was a special full moon…A full moon on Friday the 13th! Enjoy the photo I snapped while walking Neo and then the other taken by Nick Strobel.
New Faculty Reception
Per tradition, we welcomed our new faculty before the first football game of the season last Saturday.
See all of them on the Bakersfield College New Faculty page.
We had lots of great food, prepared by our food services.
Our Deans were there to welcome everyone.
Dean Corny Rodriguez
Among the dignitaries present, Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh energized the group with her usual upbeat message ending with the BC chant….We are BC!
Trustee Romeo Agbalog and Trustee Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg greeted the new faculty
Trustee Romeo Agbalog 
Trustee Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg 
Was happy to have Congressman Bill Thomas at the event. Was a real treat that he brought as his guest retired faculty member Gaylen Lewis.
Bill Thomas and Gaylen Lewis 
Bill Thomas
Steve Holmes, Academic Senate Pres. 
Aren’t these Renegade tattoos great?
Football Season Begins
A highlight for me was hearing the BC Men’s Choir for the first time. Jen Garrett you just keep raising the bar on our music program. Thank you!
Love this photo by Manny De Los Santos
Thanks to Measure J funding, the Renegade football team opened up the 2019 football season running out onto the beautiful, newly installed field turf field of Memorial Stadium. The field, the first football field in Bakersfield to have field turf, was the focal point of the evening as more than 5,100 fans packed into the stadium for the home opener. The game was broadcast locally on KGET, and I was the halftime show guest with Nick James. The game was also streamed on GoGades.com where over 6,000 fans tuned in, and broadcast on the radio at KERN 1180.
While the team had a tough game against Mt. SAC, they look to bounce back tonight on the road at El Camino at 6pm. The game stream will be live through GoGades.com and on the radio at KERN 1180. The next home game is September 28th at 6pm against Golden West. Be sure to fire up your grill for tailgating at that game as a $500 prize will go to the winner of the ‘Mexican Fiesta’ tailgating theme. Judging will begin at 4:30pm and end by 5:30pm. The winner will be announced at the game.
Mayor Goh and Trustee Agbalog 
Sonya Christian, Nick Strobel 
Charles Daramola, Sonya Christian
Jackson with his grandma Janet Tarjan 
Sonya Christian, Steven Holmes
Thomas Blackwell visits BC
Thomas Blackwell, fresh off the plane from Japan, explained during his Distinguished Speaker presentation, “The Liberty of Our Language Revealed,” on Monday, “challenges are just opportunities for growth.”
During his presentation, Blackwell brought up a few volunteers to demonstrate the ways that words affect our body. The audience could see how positive words made the person’s body language stronger, while negative words made their body language weaker.
In the evening, Blackwell gave a community presentation in the Edward Simonsen Performing Arts Center (PAC) Indoor Theater.
Blackwell was the first of nine Distinguished Speakers scheduled for the 2019-2020 semester. The events are organized by the Office of Student Life to offer thought-provoking discussions to the campus community.
I would like to thank the Office of Student Life, Dr. Jennifer Garrett, and BC Performing Arts Department for bringing this speaker to campus. Don’t miss the next Distinguished Speaker, Arun Gandhi, grandson of civil rights leader Mohandas Gandhi, in Delano on September 30 at 11:00 a.m.
You will be found
Right before she introduced Thomas Blackwell for the community presentation, Dr. Jen Garrett had the Chamber singers perform You will be Found. A beautiful piece with great words. Enjoy BC’s Chamber singers.
Have you ever felt like nobody was there?
Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere?
Have you ever felt like you could disappear?
Like you could fall, and no one would hear?Well, let that lonely feeling wash away
Maybe there’s a reason to believe you’ll be okay
‘Cause when you don’t feel strong enough to stand
You can reach, reach out your handAnd oh, someone will coming running
And I know, they’ll take you homeEven when the dark comes crashing through
When you need a friend to carry you
And when you’re broken on the ground
You will be found So let the sun come streaming in
‘Cause you’ll reach up and you’ll rise again
Lift your head and look around
You will be found
Interview with Ema Sasic
I had a delightful interview from Ema Sasic of the Bakersfield Californian. Check it out at “Q&A: BC President Sonya Christian says the college will have its ‘best year yet’.”
Onam
Last week, I was invited to speak at the annual Onam celebration organized by Bakersfield Malayalee Association.
Onam is an annual harvest festival in the state of Kerala in India, as well as a major religious and cultural celebration practiced around the world by Malayalees, which is Kerala’s primary ethnic group. The event was a lot of fun and given the passing of my mom, I particularly enjoyed immersing myself in the sights, sounds and smells of all things Keralite.
Thank you President Chinnu for the invitation. Thank you to my dear friend Valsa to hanging out with me and catching up. Time is a precious gift….the struggle is always finding enough of it.
Transfer Day
We’re less than a quarter of the way through the Fall 2019 semester, but students are already thinking about where they’re going to go next year after graduating from BC. To make students aware of all their transfer options, BC’s Transfer Pathways team organized a resource fair in the Renegade Crossroads on Monday with representatives from colleges and universities around the country.
Colleges from near and far had booths for this year’s Transfer Day, with the Finish-in-4 Team from Cal State Bakersfield alongside the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. All of the UC campuses were represented at the transfer fair, as well as CSUs such as Fresno State and Humboldt State. There were also booths for specialized trade schools such as the California Aeronautical University and Gnomon School of VFX and Animation, as well as for-profit distance learning colleges such as the University of Phoenix. BC’s Financial Aid, Career Education, and Public Safety Training programs managed to get in on the fun, too.
I’d like to thank the Transfer Pathways team, Outreach, and everyone who helped organize this year’s Transfer Day as an important resource for students looking to continue their education.
Early College Tiny Renegades visit Delano
The Early College Initiative at Bakersfield College has been serving high school students for several years now, and most recently has grown to serve more high schools throughout Kern County. While early exposure to college in 9th grade is important, the Rural Initiatives team has partnered with Delano Elementary School District to expose students as early as Pre-school! This past Monday morning the team welcomed a group of tiny Renegades from Albany Park Elementary to the Delano Campus. The students got a tour of the campus, got to do some chalk art in front of the Science and Technology building, and walked away with some BC souvenirs. They even learned the “We are BC” chant! Thank you Abel for sending me the 15-second video. Loved it! A big thank you to Rural Initiatives coordinator, Carolina Madrigal, and the rest of the team for making this visit possible.
Wounded Heroes Fund Lunch
Bakersfield College turned out for the Wounded Heroes Fund Annual Barbecue Fundraiser. A number of BC employees purchased the lunches, prepared by Café Med, Mexicali and JM’s Café. Our own Veteran Services was there giving out information and BC Nursing students were on hand helping put the food together.
According to their website, the Wounded Heroes Fund (WHF)’s mission is, “To act as a service organization for those veterans and their families affected by the war on terror in an effort to provide them with support and appreciation they need for a healthy return to civilian life.” Edie Nelson, and her husband John, went above and beyond, driving to the site of the barbecue to bring back lunch for the a number of staff members, including the President’s Office. This busy day saw 2,850 meals sold!
Armando Trujillo and Ilene Garcia, Veterans Club Pres. 
BC Nursing Students
You can support the WHF at their next event “Soaring with Heroes” hangar party at Minter Field on November 2nd.
EPIC Faculty Story
On August 14, 2019 Bakersfield College Communication faculty member, Dr. Chris Cruz-Boone traveled to the Stanford University Campus for a summer intensive as part of a fellowship on teaching.
BC Classroom a Gateway to the World
One way we carry out our mission is through the establishment and consistent assessment of our 4 Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs).
The fourth of these goal is “Engage: Engage productively in all levels of society – interpersonal, community, the state and the nation, and the world”.
With this goal in mind Communication faculty Dr. Chris Cruz-Boone applied and was accepted as Stanford EPIC fellow.
2019-2020 Stanford EPIC Fellows Retreat
The EPIC fellow retreat hosted several renowned Stanford faculty to collaborate on materials and content with the goal of increasing global competencies. The first collaborative session for fellows was facilitated by Jeremy Weinstein the Faculty Director, Stanford Global Studies Division. Director Gary Mukai and instructional designer Jonas Edman, from the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) shared existing resources on various topics aligned with common core standards. Open Education Resources (OER) or free online textbooks provide cost savings to students. Stanford has created a free application that challenges learners to engage with digital materials in complex and meaningful ways. The application called Lacuana Stories provides an interface where individual’s annotations can be inserted into the text.
Dr. Cruz-Boone Project: Establishing Best Practices for Early College: Using Lacuna Stories in Culturally Responsive Teaching
Dr. Cruz-Boone uses digital learning resources, specifically Lacuana, as a mechanism to increase student engagement in the Arvin Early College program. Class materials will be designed for general education classes and aim to engage students to simultaneously explore relationships in cultural context of globalization and integrate these skills in the process of effective communication.
Very proud of Chris Cruz-Boone … very proud of BC faculty.
Fun Photos
Stephanie Stuart, Interim Food Services Manager worked all day Saturday to cover special functions, such as the New Faculty Welcome Dinner and the first home game of the football season, and still found time to help one of our long time BC football fans.
With Cooper at new faculty reception.
Good looking team supporting Renegade Baseball fundraiser.
Tom Burke, Tonya Davis, Corny Rodriguez, Tony Cordova 
Athletics Update
Football Breaks in New Turf (Time-Lapse)
Check out this great time-lapse video (above) captured by Manny De Los Santos from May-August of the construction. The photos were taken by Brandon Urry and show the difference in the field from fall 2018 to fall 2019. We cannot thank Kern County enough for voting yes on Measure J!
Before 
After
Student Athlete Spotlight – Zach Hernandez, Renegade Football
Enjoy this week’s Renegade Student Athlete Spotlight video on Zach Hernandez from football. Zach talks about why he chose to come to BC and shares advice for future BC student athletes. This video was shot and edited by fellow BC digital media student Jacob Amado. Great work, Jacob!
Congrats to the 9/1-9/7 Kern Schools FCU Renegades of the Week!
Renegade Athletics is proud to announce this week’s (9/1-9/7) Kern Schools Federal Credit Union Renegades of the Week:
Penelope Zepeda, Volleyball – In helping the team to three impressive wins over Santa Barbara, Long Beach and Pasadena, Penelope totaled 47 kills and 60 digs! She also added 40 perfect passes with a 2.43% passing percentage and 64% perfect pass percentage.
Christian Gonzalez, Men’s Soccer – Scored the tying goal on the road against San Francisco City on Friday and had an assist in Saturday’s 4-1 win at Mendocino in playing 177 out of 180 minutes in both contents.
Men’s Golf Serves the Community
This past Saturday our Men’s Golf team represented the college providing service to the Kern County Mission, helping sort and prepare food and make sure water cups were filled! Thank you Coach Coble and team! We love to see our Renegades out in the community making Bakersfield a better place.
Renegade Athletics scores this week:
- Volleyball goes 3-0 over the weekend:
- Men’s Soccer goes 1-0-1 over the weekend on the road up north:
- Cross Country Runs at the Fresno Invitational
- Football Falls to Mt. SAC to open season, 34-7
- Women’s Golf Places 4th at Santa Barbara
- Men’s Soccer Tops East LA at home, 1-0
- Women’s Soccer Falls on the road to Fresno, 1-0
Wrestling Set To Open Up The Season at Home
Our Renegade Wrestling squad opens up their season at home this weekend in the Gil Bishop Sports Center. Coach Brett Clark is excited for the new year and says “Expect our team to compete and wrestle to the end.” Coach Clark and the team placed 6th at the state CCCAA state tournament last year and we are expecting big things from them this season. Read their wrestling season preview.
Renegade Swim Hosts 5th Annual Free Community Swim Lessons
This last Saturday, the Renegade Swim Program led by Coach Matt Moon opened up the BC pool to host the 5th Annual Free Community Swim Lessons. Participation from the local community was great and those kids who attended were able to get a 25-minute swimming lesson followed by a snow cone! If you missed the event this year, be sure to join us next year!
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, Bill Thomas, GAylen Lewis, Karen Goh, Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg, Romeo Agbalog, Sonya Christian
Another fabulous. Informational blog. Beautiful pictures of President Christian at Keralite!
So happy to see your comment Marlene. Great fall semester so far. Thank you for all that you do for BC.