This week I spent some time in beautiful Santa Barbara.
Neo and I particularly enjoyed walking among the bountiful bougainvillea throughout the area:
Good morning, friends.
It is July 30, 2022.
The sun shines bright over Kern CCD.
Porterville College
PC Neighborhood Market Returns
We’re excited to see the return of the PC Neighborhood Market to the Jamison Stadium parking Lot. The monthly food distribution event has been back up and running for the past several months now. It’s great to see the amount of people we are able to help each month with this wonderful service for students and the community.
This free community food distribution is held on the fourth Monday of every month as a drive through event to assist people in the community facing food insecurity and hunger. We provide pre-bagged items such as food, toiletries and hygiene items along with other essentials. Each car pulls through the line and items are loaded into their vehicle for them.
We are often asked how someone can help with this effort. There are several ways that you can help:
- Volunteer to help during the distributions. You can apply to volunteer with our volunteer form at https://pcpio.wufoo.com/forms/s1cybhzo1n0evar/
- Donations can be made in the PC Business Office. You may donate any amount you see fit.
- Bring plastic grocery bags for us to use in the food pantry for students.
- Donate non-perishable food items each month.
- Get involved in the Annual Pirate Pantry Food Drive held during the Fall semester.
All food donations can be delivered to the Pirate Pantry. If you prefer pick-up, please call to schedule a time.
Jump Start Academy Tours Setton Farms
The PC Jump Start Academy is in full swing, giving students hands on experience in industrial careers, along with opportunities for career exploration.
The Academy provides a curriculum designed specifically for incoming Central Valley high school seniors (current juniors) with an interest in learning more about careers in Industrial technologies.
This week the group took a tour of Setton Farms in Terra Bella to get a look inside their plant and learn about career opportunities in the farm and processing industries. Before leaving on the trip, Dr. Habib stopped by to talk with the students and was excited about what they had to tell her.
The Jump Start Summer Academy, part of a partnership between Porterville College and several higher education and industry partners, provides a curriculum designed specifically for incoming Central Valley high school seniors (current juniors) with an interest in learning more about careers in Industrial technologies.
Cerro Coso Community College
Aloha! Potluck Luau Welcomes Staffs Return
The meatballs were made. The theme was set. We had a Luau. We’ll never forget.
After more than 2 years of limited staffing, working from home, and COVID restrictions, it was exciting to see the campus come alive again with the staffs full return to work. A Welcome Back Potluck Luau was held at the Ridgecrest campus on Thursday, July 28, 2022, to celebrate.
Meeting new staff members, greeting those who returned, the overall event was a tropical blast, complete with music and leis.
Welcome back everyone.
Davis and Mills Present at Book Festival
Professors Cliff Davis and Yvonne Mills were invited to speak at the Eastern Sierra Book Festival on Sunday, July 17th. The organizer of this annual event is Jennifer Crittenden, a current Cerro Coso student and a published author of successful books about women in the workplace and life in Mammoth. Davis’s presentation, “The Odyssey and Greek Classics, cites Homer’s epic poem as a paradigm of a classic: a work “so meaningful that it has universal application to the human condition, a text so profound that it isn’t limited by historical context, authorial intention, or the fallacy of an ‘ideal reader.’” Mills participated in an interview with Crittenden called “Shakespeare and Modern Performance History,” in which she discussed how political immediacy and diverse interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays can significantly impact their presentation and reception. Both talks were very well-received by audience members.
Briseno – Passion for Advocacy, Leadership, and Community Involvement
Anthony Briseno has joined the Counseling Department at the Ridgecrest campus as an Education Advisor.
Anthony spent most of his life in Kern County where he grew up in Bakersfield, CA, and outlying cities.
He is a first-generation college student who attended CSU Bakersfield where he obtained his bachelor’s in Sociology and his master’s in Educational Counseling with an emphasis in student affairs.
Anthony’s professional background is in Human Services where he worked for Jamison Children’s Center, Child Protective Services-Adoptions, and Welfare.
Anthony’s passions are advocacy, leadership, and community involvement. Oh, and you can’t forget Anthony’s love for big, oversized dogs! In fact, Anthony has a nine-year-old Blue Nose Pitbull named Adonis that he rescued back when he started college.
A motto that Anthony lives by is “Hermanos Unidos Juntos Triunfaremos – Brothers/people united together we will triumph.”
Welcome to Cerro Coso, Anthony!
Preparing for the Unexpected
Safety and Security has been busy all summer bringing the college up to speed on its Active Assailant training.
The Ridgecrest Police Department recently completed a site assessment of the Ridgecrest campus and conducted an internal training on Friday, July 22 in the LRC. It is everyone’s nightmare – an active assailant putting lives in danger. In addition to training, It is vital that the local police department be familiar with our campuses to ensure a quick strategic response to any incident on campus for which they are called to assist.
A larger scale exercise that will incorporate Cerro Coso employees and other first responders is being planned.
These exercises will also be expanded to the Tehachapi and ESCC campuses.
Safety and Security Manager Kevin King will present an Active Assailant training for the Faculty Flex event this fall and in person to all staff sections in the coming weeks.
Preparedness: Readiness, organized, arranged by systematic planning, and a united effort.
Cerro Coso to offer NEW AA-T Degree in Law, Public Policy, and Society
Are you interested in working in a law-based profession to help people and society? Are you interested in an education path that could lead to law school? Are you interested in becoming a politician or working in government offices? Cerro Coso is offering a new Associate of Arts for Transfer degree in Law, Public Policy, and Society.
An associate degree for transfer provides a clear pathway to a CSU major and baccalaureate degree. The AA-T degree guarantees admission with junior standing somewhere in the CSU system and gives priority admission consideration to your local CSU campus or to a program that is deemed similar to your community college major. This priority does not guarantee admissions to specific majors or campuses.
The Law, Public Policy, and Society study spans the humanities and the social sciences, incorporating disciplines, such as criminal justice, business, economics, political science, diversity, and paralegal. Careers in this field include: paralegal and legal assistants, legal secretaries, lawyers, and judicial law clerks.
Students pursuing this degree major will learn to: identify sources of American law and articulate how a law is created; describe the American legal system, including jurisdictional requirements, state and federal court systems, and roles of those in the legal field; locate, critically read, and analyze relevant primary and secondary sources; apply laws, public policy, and/or societal or ethical theories to develop a solution to a legal issue, a public policy issue, and/or a society concern, describe one’s ethical obligation to social responsibility under the laws.
The degree has an option to take a more civil law, or more criminal law-based pathway to completing the program depending on your interests.
If you are not sure that you have the technology resources you need to be successful in an online program, please contact studentservices@cerrocoso.edu to see how the college can help you.
Fall 2022 classes at Cerro Coso Community College begin August 22, 2022. Complete registration and course information is available on the web at www.cerrocoso.edu or contact the College Counseling Department.
Bakersfield College
BC Students Attend the 14th Annual Immigrant Youth Empowerment Conference (IYEC) at UCLA
Student leaders from Latinos Unidos Por Educación attended the 14th Annual Immigrant Youth Empowerment Conference, hosted by UCLA’s AB540 Project and IDEAS.
The AB540 Project is the community service component of UCLA’s Improving Dreams, Equality, Access, and Success (IDEAS) program, with the goal of increasing awareness and access to resources for immigrant students. IYEC is an all-day conference that is committed to empowering, educating, and paving a way for immigrant youth to pursue higher education.
Students left UCLA with renewed confidence in themselves and developed a wider network of supportive colleagues. After the IYEC Conference students enjoyed a nice evening relaxing and having fun at the Santa Monica Pier/Promenade.
BC Celebrates Disability Pride Day
This week, Bakersfield College held a special event in honor of Disability Pride Day. Staff and students were invited to celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This moment has led to substantial improvements in terms of access to public services, accessibility to buildings and online entities, and began a societal shift in understanding of persons with varying disabilities.
Automotive Technology Program Launches Auto Detailing Course
The Automotive Technology program has developed two new, non-credit courses in auto detailing. The focus of the curriculum and training will be on industry standard techniques to clean and restore a vehicle’s interior and exterior surfaces. The two courses, AUTOB60AN and AUTOB60BN, were first offered this summer and are expected to be offered again in late fall. Each non-credit course is 54 hours and are available tuition-free to the public.
Auto detailing is utilized throughout the automobile industry to maintain and prepare both new and used vehicles for purchase at dealerships. These programs prepare students for employment at such dealerships, as well as small business opportunities in the detailing industry. BC’s Andrew Haney and Rick Range both attended training and were certified in detailing by the International Detailing Association.
Rural HEAL Hosts Kids’ Summer Camp
Rural Health Equity and Learning Collaborative offered a hands-on summer camp for third- and fourth-graders at the Shafter Library and Learning Center focused on the body’s cardiopulmonary system and how it works. The program provided a basic overview of human health and an introduction to careers in the health science and medical fields. HEAL has been a major driver of advancing strategies to build up the local health care workforce as a way to eliminate health disparities common throughout the San Joaquin Valley by improving overall health, education and economic outcomes in rural communities.
The one-hour course is called “The Human Body” and is part of HEAL’s See It Be It campaign led by Dr. Kathy Murphy, a local pediatrician and interim director of the HEAL advisory group.
Check out this video:
California Energy Commission Workshop
Last week, the Kern CCD hosted the California Energy Commission (CEC), as it gathers input for an “equity and environmental justice framework” to inform its Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) update. It was the first time an IEPR meeting has ever been held in Kern County.
During my remarks, I highlighted Kern CCD’s leadership in clean energy and transportation, including our California Renewable Energy Center of Excellence.
For more photos from the workshop, visit https://kerncommunitycollegedistrict.smugmug.com/Public/2022-2023/California-Energy-Commission-IEPR-Meeting/.
Representatives from Kern CCD Attend Veterans Education Conference
Veteran representatives from Bakersfield College and Cerro Coso Community College attended the annual Western Association of Veterans Education Specialists (WAVES) conference. Convening in Portland, Oregon, the WAVES conference brings together representatives of higher education from across the Western states to serve the needs and interests of veterans, faculties and administrators by providing a forum to facilitate the interchange of ideas and information.
Representatives from the sister schools of KCCD had the opportunity to work collaboratively to address issues and legislation affecting student veterans of Kern County.
Latina Leaders of Kern County Awards Dinner
Latina Leaders of Kern County celebrated its 21st Annual Latinas Leading the Way Awards Dinner on July 16 at the Seven Oaks Country Club with our own Norma Rojas-Mora serving as MC. Norma is the past President and current board member for Latina Leaders. Gabriela Gonzales, External Affairs Advisor for California Resources Corporation currently serves as the President of the Board. They did a phenomenal job of keeping the crowd inspired.
It was great seeing the tremendous community support including participation from our Trustees Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg and Yovani Jimenez as well as our good friend Maria Herrera, the newly appointed California State Director, Rural Development for USDA and Abigail Solis, the Central California Director of External Affairs for the Office of Governor Newsom.
There definitely were plenty of friends of Kern CCD. The Latinas Leading the Way award recipients included Emily Duran, CEO of Kern Health Systems; Monica Bermudez, Attorney at Law; Rosa Romero, Superintendent of the Richland School District, and volunteer of the year Sarah Sanchez.
Latina Leaders has continued to develop the leadership potential of young Latinas through the Youth Leadership Program.
In The News
Shafter Learning Center offers first class for HEAL
The Bakersfield Californian published this wonderful piece about the Rural HEAL kids’ summer camp in Shafter.
“It’s never too early for kids to learn about careers that are available to them in their community and to begin thinking about their future,” said Romeo Agbalog, president of the Kern Community College District’s governing board and the KCCD’s representative for the Shafter area. “With classes like this, BC is showing how our collaboration with rural communities like Shafter can be a win-win for education and workforce development.”
‘Just transition’ discussion stands out at environmental justice workshop
The July 20th workshop was also covered in this piece in The Bakersfield Californian.
“The issue of “just transition” — ensuring that workers are protected as the economy shifts away from oil and gas toward clean energy — involves a variety of logistical factors, added U.S. Department of Energy Senior Advisor Betony Jones.”
Fun Photos and Spotted on Social Media
PC President Dr. Claudia Habib took to twitter to sing the praises of faculty taking part in the Summer Retreat for Student Success.
“I am impressed by the energy & commitment to students’ success by this cohort of faculty who came together #SummerRetreat to build community, share best practices and design the best experience in career exploration courses #ACIP #Onboarding #Ask #LightTheirFire #DualEnrollment”
Kylie Campbell shared this fantastic update from our district’s Early College program:
2021-2022 was an outstanding year for #EarlyCollege in Kern County. @KernCCD colleges provided 12,406 high school students with free college credit opportunities, resulting in 26,916 enrollments for the year. Way to go @BAKcollege, @cerrocosocoyote and @PCollegePirates!
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That’s a wrap for now.
See you next Saturday!
The future is bright at KernCCD.
-sonya
a joyful and grateful Chancellor
#KCCDDaringMightyThings
Tagged: #KernCCDDaringMightyThings, Bakersfield College, California Energy Commission, Cerro Coso College, Kern Community College District, Patty Monahan, Porterville College, Siva Gunda, Sonya Christian, Tim Rainey
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