Happy Fourth of July California!
I hope you enjoyed some time relaxing and celebrating with friends and family as we honored the United States’ 248th birthday.
Check out this video from NYC’s fireworks show:
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A July 4th tidbit – the day that the Caesar Salad was invented? It celebrated its 100th anniversary this year!
Not many classic dishes can claim a specific birthday. But the Caesar salad was created for the very first time on July 4, 1924, in Tijuana, Mexico.
It is not a Mexican salad, says Jeffrey Pilcher. He’s a culinary historian who studies Mexican foodways.
“This is an Italian salad,” Pilcher says. “Caesar Cardini, the inventor of the salad, was an Italian immigrant and there were many Italian immigrants to Mexico.”
And CNN shared a video with the original chef’s grandson, Alex Cardini.
Good morning California.
It is July 6, 2024.
A good day to be a Community College Champion
From California Community Colleges.
Our Time is Now!
El Camino College FIRST Students Win Big in PSA Competition
The team from El Camino’s Formerly Incarcerated Re-Entry Students Thriving (FIRST) Program recently competed in the Rising Scholars PSA Challenge, part of the annual Project Rebound symposium at Cal State LA. The team brought home the first-place prize, along with a sense of pride in their work, and a $1,000 award for the FIRST Program.
Hancock Art & Design Professor Nancy Jo Ward Featured in
International Art Exchange Exhibition in Japan
Allan Hancock College Professor Nancy Jo Ward is one of 57 visual artists selected to represent the United States at the 23rd International Art Exchange Exhibition. The event fosters curiosity, artistic expression, and meaningful interactions. The exhibition is officially supported by the cultural embassies of Japan, China, Thailand, and Australia.
Three Solano College Arts students place in the top 20 in Bridgegood’s Inspire Oakland Design Challenge
As one of their class projects this spring, students in Rachel Smith’s advanced graphic design class (DMA 11: Graphic Design 2) participated in the Bridgegood.org Inspire Oakland design challenge, creating billboard designs inspired by the diversity and culture of Oakland. Student Lilliana Mendez placed in the Top 6 with her design, while students Herman Billingsley and Nova Ojeda both placed in the Top 20.
In Case You Missed It
LA Times – Mike Muñoz: College champion of marginalized students
Mike Muñoz bears the lofty title of superintendent-president of Long Beach City College. But he still sees himself in many of his students who have navigated hardscrabble lives to pursue higher education.
Muñoz, who grew up in Whittier and Anaheim, became homeless at age 17 and moved 10 times in five years searching for a place to live. He went without food or electricity at times, scrapping to make ends meet with low-wage work. He became a single parent at age 20. Then, he came out as a gay man and became estranged from his father.
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Education Trust-West: Championing Student Parent Success
in the Cradle-to-Career Data System
Juggling coursework and family can be a lot, as Dia, a parenting student at Los Angeles Pierce College, knows all too well. Dia was hired as a student worker with Project SPARC (Student Parents Are Reimagining CalWORKs), a statewide effort that empowers parenting CalWORKs students to drive forward systems change through leadership development, research and policy development, and advocacy. Through this work study opportunity, Dia and other SPARC students design solutions that address their needs as parenting community college students and advocate for these solutions to systems leaders and policymakers.
Fun Photos & Spotted on Social Media
From College of the Redwoods:
CR Trail Building class professor Dennis Houghton leads the Bigfoot Trail Alliance Trail Steward Team (including CR Faculty Gabrielle Gopinath and Benjamin Funke and CR students), along with Take to the Hills and the US Forest Service, in the Trinity Alps wilderness.
Students built and widened a ½ mile section of trail from 6200-6800ft elevation on the way to Packers Peak.
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Columbia College climate stewardship class helps clean up Firewise Community
Climate Stewardship class students (from left) Ben Cossel, Orion Peck, Christina Johnson, Morgan Velasco, Lisa Murphy (instructor), Autumn Azzaro, and Mateo Garcia helped create defensible space in the Sonora Knolls/Dragoon Gulch neighborhood.
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From San Jose City College:
The Jaguar family mourns the passing of the retired, legendary Percy Carr, head coach of the San Jose City College Men’s Basketball team for 45 years. He is the winningest Black men’s basketball coach in history and the winningest men’s basketball coach in California Community College history.
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And check out this video promoting cybersecurity programs at our California Community Colleges!
Blast from the Past
Please enjoy this video of Bakersfield College’s fireworks after commencement in 2016:
And From the Home of the Renegades
BC Hosts Campus Stories: Voices Of LGBTQIA+ Scholars at Bakersfield College
In honor of Pride Month, BC’s Student Government Association recently hosted Campus Stories: LGBTQIA+ Scholars at Bakersfield College.
The event featured a panel of four BC faculty and staff members and two BC students and was moderated by Chris Cruz-Boone, Professor of Communications at BC. Each panel member answered various questions about their experiences as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in Kern County and at Bakersfield College.
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Remember – our greatest challenges enable us to do our greatest work.
That’s all for today.
See you next Saturday!
With much hope and joy,
Your Chancellor,
-sonya
#OurTimeisNow
#NuestroTiempoEsAhora

