Last night, I watched the new Cinderella musical on Amazon Prime. And although Natalia Winkelman gave an excoriating review of the movie in the New York Times, I completely enjoyed the movie. It could be because I love musicals ….. Cinderella came across as a mash up between a high school production of Glee attempting a Lin Manuel-Miranda-ish production of In the Heights. It could also be that I like fun-loving stubborn women and the characters of Camila Cabello, Minnie Driver, Idina Menzel were just that.
Every musical ends with a grand finale and this movie had its own version of a grand finale with the song titled “Let’s Get Loud.” Here is my favorite verse with a call to live life big…. live life bold:
If you wanna live your life
Live it all the way and don’t you waste it
Every feelin’ every beat
Can be so very sweet you gotta taste it
Enjoy this 4-min video.
Good morning, friends…
It is September 18, 2021.
The sun shines bright over KCCD.
This week, the Pirates, the Coyotes, and the Renegades continue to
#DareMightyThings
Porterville College
PC Timely Care Workshops help provide Suicide Prevention Awareness for students
September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and Porterville College is partnering with TimelyCare to provide the mental and emotional support students need all year long. This month, PC is offering two virtual sessions to help students through difficult times. The first is a discussion on how we can all save lives by learning more about suicide prevention and awareness, while the second is designed to help students optimize their emotional and mental well-being. For more information on these sessions and more from PC Timely Care, visit www.timelycare.com/PC and click the “sessions” button at the top of the page.
Remember, If you know someone who you think might be struggling:
- Recognize the risk factors and warning signs of suicidal ideation. (see the image above)
- Ask them if they’re OK.
- Be direct – ask them if they’ve experienced suicidal thoughts.
- Listen and offer hope.
- Provide resources to get professional help.
TimelyCare is available for students anytime, anywhere, with no cost to visit. If you or a peer are experiencing suicidal thoughts, speak to one of our licensed counselors by downloading the PC TimelyCare app immediately.
As a reminder, TimelyCare licensed providers are available to offer mental health support via phone or secure video visits. Have questions? Visit timelycare.com/PC to chat with us for technical support or call 1-833-4-TIMELY.
Visit to PC includes exercises in unity
This week, I joined Bakersfield College President Zav Dadabhoy and Cerro Coso College President Sean Hancock as we paid a visit to Porterville College and President Claudia Habib.
During the visit, we spent time touring the PC campus, talking with faculty, staff, and students. We also met to discuss ways to collaboratively tackle issues facing the district and then spent time on a student-directed creativity exercise. The activity had the participants using new technology (3-D Pens) to create representations of district unity.
Each participant created versions of a logo representing the unity that is shared by all three KCCD colleges, but it was the inspiring guidance of the students, Carlos and Rebecca, that really seemed to strike a chord with everyone.
Thank you Roger Perez for snapping these wonderful photos.
PC Continues The Effort to fight COVID / Get Students Vaccinated on campus
Over 1000 PC students have already submitted proof of vaccination and more are sending in proof each day via the KCCD App. PC has once again partnered with Sierra View Hospital, Kaweah Health and Imperial Ambulance to bring more clinics to the College Cafeteria.
The first of these added clinics on September 16th made both the first and second dose of the vaccine available to anyone who needed it, whether they be students, student’s family members or community members.
A clinic scheduled for September 20th will offer the second dose to those who need one.
PC has brought COVID testing to campus with weekly visits from the Tulare County Testing bus. The bus is parked in the Stadium parking lot Every Tuesday. Visit unitedhealthcenters.org for more information or to pre-register for testing.
Cerro Coso Community College
Founding President Dr. Richard Jones Tours Campus After 50 years
Founding President of Cerro Coso Community College, Dr. Richard Jones, returned to the Ridgecrest campus on Monday, September 13, 2021, to tour the facilities for the first time in almost 50 years.
In 1950, Bakersfield College began offering an A.A. degree in Ridgecrest in conjunction with an apprentice program on the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS). In 1961 those college classes became the Desert Division of Bakersfield Junior College.
Dr. Omar Scheidt was the first dean, and had the first full-time faculty of three that included now-retired longtime professors Don Rosenberg and Gary Matulef.
In 1966 Dr. Schedit left and Dr. Jones was appointed Dean. He immediately began his work of establishing a new college here in the high desert.
Before coming to Ridgecrest, Dr. Jones was an English and Journalism instructor and served for three years as a counselor at Bakersfield College. He was also the advisor to The RIP.
In 1968, the Desert Division became the Desert Campus. Still located at Burroughs High School. Only evening classes were held until 1967 when a third relocatable building was secured allowing for the first day classes to be offered.
In December of 1969 the state approved a new college in the area and Dr. Jones became the founding President of that new college, yet unnamed, that would become Cerro Coso Community College.
He returned to the Ridgecrest campus with his wife Mary Lou and met with Cerro Coso’s 8th President Dr. Sean Hancock.
He left in 1975 to become the President (Superintendent) of Clark College in Vancouver, WA and in 1981 became Chancellor of the San Bernardino Community College District.
Cerro Coso participates in 9/11 20th Anniversary Parade of 1000 Flags
More than 1000 community patriots took to the streets on Saturday, September 11, 2021, at 9 a.m., carrying flags in memory of those lost and first responders of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in 2001.
This signature event draws people from near and far and is noted to be one of the most patriotic events of 9/11 commemorated anywhere.
Congressman Kevin McCarthy served as this year’s Grand Marshall, led by Bagpiper George MacGillivray.
Many of the children in the parade were not yet born at the times of the attacks, but they need to know and understand the significance of one of the darkest days in America’s history.
The annual parade helps etch that into their memories. The Parade of 1000 Flags began with a march down China Lake Boulevard to City Hall where the flags were posted in Freedom Park followed by a program at the gazebo.
NAWS Commanding Officer, Captain Vaughn, served as the keynote speaker.
Other speakers included: Captain Scott, the officer in charge of the earthquake reconstruction at China Lake, Ridgecrest Mayor Eric Bruen, Congressman Kevin McCarthy, State Senator Shannon Grove, Assemblyman Vince Fong, Stu Witt and a number of other local representatives.
A signature event for Ridgecrest, the Parade of 1000 Flags is a strong symbol and image of what the community stands for: a patriotic community with a strong presence of the US Navy and the role it supports in the defense of our country. United we stood as 9/11 responders toiled and families searched in 2001. We will never forget!
New Maintenance Building
The Maintenance and Operations staff at Cerro Coso are very excited about the progress of the construction of the new Maintenance Building.
The team of men and women who provide valuable services required to maintain and operate all campus facilities are currently housed in a modular unit older than the campus itself.
One of two buildings, relocatable prefabs, was originally located at the south end of Burroughs High School in 1966. The old building was moved to the campus in 1973 to be used as a Day Care facility. When the Child Development Center at the Ridgecrest campus was built and occupied in the summer of 1990, Maintenance and Operations moved into the prefab facility, now 55 years old.
The Cerro Coso community takes pride in college buildings and facilities that are kept in excellent condition by a dedicated team of maintenance workers, custodians, and grounds workers. Long overdue, everyone is excited to see the crew that does so much to support the college’s mission move into their new facility.
Bakersfield College
Renegade Football Wins in Return to Memorial Stadium
From President Zav Dadabhoy’s email:
Thirty-seven years after playing his last game as a member of the Bakersfield Renegades football team, R. Todd Littlejohn led our Renegades into BC’s Memorial Stadium on Saturday evening, this time as our head coach, just the 11th in BC’s history.
After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the pandemic, BC’s first home game in 665 days was a success, as the Renegades defeated El Camino College 24-13. Renegade, Zack Hawkins, Running Back, is shown above during the game.
Welding Students Construct Fence for CityServe
This past summer, BC’s welding students had the opportunity to participate in a work experience/internship project through free courses offered by BC. These students constructed a metal fence enclosing the back end of the CityServe facility entirely from scratch as the first phase of an outdoor welding lab housed at CityServe.
Check out the video from Bakersfield College Career Education:
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UN Day Of Peace To Feature Local Peacemakers:
Program To Kick Off Series Of Upcoming Peace-themed Events
The Bakersfield College Peace Initiative will host a virtual gathering at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, September 21 as part of the United Nations International Day of Peace.
The event will feature short speeches by local peacemakers, musical performances, and will be the first in a series of other activities in the coming months. The program will premiere on BC’s YouTube Channel as a livestream at www.youtube.com/user/BakersfieldCollege.
Speakers include Dr. Kathleen Murphy from Valley Children’s Healthcare and Hospital; Dr. Portia Choi, physician and poet; Karen Goh, Bakersfield mayor; Traco Matthews, community leader; and Neeraj Rama, from the Gandhi Committee for Truth and Nonviolence.
Check out these videos promoting the event:
Mindy Wilmot
Krista Moreland
Wylie And May Louise Jones Gallery Presents The 2021 Bakersfield College Art Faculty Exhibition
Starting Monday, September 13, the directors of the Wylie and May Louise Jones Gallery are presenting an exhibition of work from the Art Faculty of Bakersfield College. The work ranges from drawings, painting, sculpture, and textile to photography, video, and digital media. After the past year of quarantine, stress, change, and loss, the expressions rendered in these works, span a large range of the emotions we have all felt at one point or another in the past 17 months.
Dates: September 13 – October 22, 2021
Location: Wylie and May Louise Jones Gallery inside the BC Library on the Panorama Campus, 1801 Panorama Drive, Bakersfield CA
BC Student Health & Wellness Center Receives $55,000 Grant to Fuel Vaccination Efforts
The Bakersfield College Student Health and Wellness Center recently received a $55,000 grant from CalVax to support efforts in targeted rural and under-vaccinated communities. Health Center Director, Dr. Charles Collom gives a special thanks to Stephen Waller and Bonita Steele for their invaluable assistance in securing the grant.
The SHWC has also been hard at work on the BC Campus and surrounding communities to drive vaccination efforts in Kern. The SHWC hosts daily COVID testing and vaccinations clinics on campus, in the fireside room, between the hours of 8am and 4pm; and has scheduled routine pop up clinics at locations including BC Arvin Hub, Delano Campus, Job Spot, and The Weill Institute.
In addition to the strong vaccination efforts, the BC SHWC continues to offer medical, health, and counseling services to all BC Students. Anyone wishing to volunteer at a BC SHWC sponsored COVID vaccination and testing clinic should call 661-395-4336 or email Dr. Charles Collom at charles.collom@bakersfieldcollege.edu .
Poetry Corner
Please enjoy this poem from Jack Hernandez:
Rowing
My aunt watched
me learn to row
that small boat
on our favorite lake
where fish jumped
beyond us,
from that young boy
I have rowed
through many years,
into narrow coves
out to the wide middle,
searching searching
for the perfect spot,
lily filled
rain washed,
through it all
I have come to know
the end
is to row to row.
Faculty Quick Tips
Last week, I shared a great resource from Porterville College – their Quick Tips for Teaching Success series.
Today, I’d like to feature another Quick Tip: Quick Tips for Getting Hired.
You can check out the video at https://kccd.instructuremedia.com/embed/de046e3c-624c-4667-af81-49da6c8ca4f3.
Thank you to presenters Dustin Acres, Rebecca Baird, Joy Lawrence, Melissa Long, Ian Onizuka, Elisa Queenan, Robert Simpkins, and special guest star Thad Russell.
In the News
Community Voices: The sadness of suicide
Jack Hernandez wrote this piece for the Bakersfield Californian reflecting on his son’s suicide 30 years ago.
“Thirty years have passed, thirty years when my son could have traveled, loved, written. Thirty years when we could have shared our thoughts and stories, could have laughed as we played tennis. If only…“
September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or call 911 immediately.
Bakersfield College Nursing program ranked #8 in state by Nursing Schools Almanac
KGET ran this story about BC’s Nursing programs being honored by the Nursing Schools Almanac.
The LVN program was ranked #8 in the state.
Fun Photos & Spotted on Social Media
Lacey Navarro, Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of Instruction at Cerro Coso, welcomed Chyna Bear into her family:
Check out these photos from the Golden Valley High School College Fair on Wednesday. Thank you to Lupe Sanchez at Kern High School District for sharing these with the BC team. BC’s Outreach and Early College Counselor, Josie Guillen, is proudly representing Bakersfield College:
Kalina Hill shared this beautiful picture of a sunrise:
Jonathan Hernandez shared his own great start to the day:
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That’s a wrap for now.
See you next Saturday!
The future is bright at KCCD.
-sonya
a joyful and grateful Chancellor
#KCCDDaringMightyThings
Tagged: #KCCDDaringMightyThings, Bakersfield College, Cerro Coso College, Kern Community College District, Porterville College, Sonya Christian
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