Student Success | Sonya Christian's Blog

Life at Bakersfield College

This past week has been crazy with a lot of time spent on the road, heading down to southern California for the Board of Governors (BOG) meeting and then back up to northern California for the CCLC Convention. I got back home late yesterday and am enjoying a quiet Sunday morning. Weather.com says that the high is going to be 72 today. Yes! Time for a long relaxed walk. Maybe to the Farmer’s market.

Thought I would share with you through pictures some of the highlights from last week. And I am certain that this list does not even scratch the surface of the happenings at BC. As we get into the Thanksgiving week let me just thank you my dear colleagues for all that you do for BC and our students. I am so thankful to have the best job in the world. I come to work, just delighted to hang out and work hard with you. We are….BC!

Where do i begin……. Maybe Delano.

If you are on twitter just #BCDelano or @RichMcCrown and you will catch up with the activities on our campus in North Kern. And btw, if you are not on twitter, go ahead and get an account. This will give you an opportunity to participate in another community virtually and follow the back channel conversations through hashtags.

#BCDelano

Liz Morris: “You are the future of Delano. You are the change.”

Ricardo Chavez: “You need to decide if Delano is worth it.”

Janet Rananal: “There is something happening in the community that I want to be a part of …..”

Liz Morris, panelist, CHAP

Ricardo Chavez, Mayor, Delano

Janet Rananal, Director, Delano Chamber

Jonathan Hernandez:

Jonathan Hernandez

So proud to see one of our own make headlines.

Jonathan Hernandez, a communication professor from central California, recently gained national attention for being ranked fifth highest-rated university professor in the country during the 2014-2015 academic year on the instructor-ranking site RateMyProfessor.com. The site has collected over 16 million student ratings and the most recent installment of their “Annual Top Lists” report combined weighted professors’ scores from this year and previous years to create their ranking.

Check out the website at: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/what-ive-learned-top-rated-college-professor-jonathan-hernandez-n458021

Communication Department Showcase:

Mark Staller Communication Dept Showcase Nov 2015

I briefly attended the Communication Department Showcase and enjoyed seeing Forum East packed with students, faculty, and community members. There was great energy in the room.

And the student speech I heard was phenomenal. Thank you communication faculty, and thank you Denise Norris for the fabulous reception.

Looks like I need to replace my old iphone to take better pictures. Here is Prof. Mark Staller, department chair, introducing the program.

Redesigning America’s Community Colleges Book Discussion:

Student Panel on Redesigning America's CC Nov 19 2015

Our student panels have been just great. If you did not have an opportunity to listen to our students, Manny De Los Santos has the videos posted on the website. Check it out.

https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/employees/professional-development/book-discussion

Thank you Kimberly Bligh, Odella Johnson, Nicky Damania, and Lesley Bonds for pulling together the 5 student panels.

Btw, as I was writing this blog, I got an email from both Kate Pluta and Janet Fulk with a link to this report by Rob Johnstone: Guided Pathways Demystified: Exploring Ten Commonly Asked Questions about Implementing Pathways. Check it out at http://www.inquiry2improvement.com/publications-resources

BC Political Science at Rotary, Nov 19, 2015:

BC’s Political Science professor emeritus and Congressman Bill Thomas was scheduled to speak at downtown Rotary on November 19th on the Presidential election. I invited 5 members of the Political Science faculty and students to be my guests–Steven Holmes, Faculty, Political Science and Academic Senate President; Charles Kim, Faculty, Political Science, Advisor for the Pre-Law Club, and Advisor for Phi Theta Kappa; Clayton Fowler, President of SGA; Robbie Burke, Political Science Student; Bailey Bryson, Pre-Law Student. As it turned out Bill Thomas had to attend a funeral service and Cathy Abernathy, former Chief of Staff for Bill Thomas and current Chief of Staff for Shannon Grove, stepped up and did an amazing job filling in for Bill Thomas.

Bill Thomas Picture Wikipedia

Cathy Abernathy, Rotary, Nov 19 2015

Enjoy these pictures of the event taken by Karen Goh, CEO of Garden Pathways, a great organization that helps our community by reintegrating disenfranchised individuals back into our community. You should check out what they do. Just incredible transformative work. http://www.gardenpathways.org/

BC Political Science with Karen Goh

Sonya Christian introducing BC Political Science

Renegade Athletics:

Our Renegade Student Athletes were so inspiring. Enjoy these pictures. Particularly Alberto Perez who gives a thumbs up to Athletic Director Sandi Taylor after doing his personal best by shaving 1:50 off his best time for the 4.1-mile race. I bet Coach Pam Kelley was proud.

Renegade Student Athlete Alberto Perez

Coach Dahl with her students

Sonya Christina and Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg enjoying Volleyball

Renegade Volleyball in action

Paramedic Accreditation Visit:

As I was heading back from my trip to Washington DC I had the opportunity to call in and listen to the exit remarks from the accreditation team for BC’s Paramedic Program. They could not say enough good things and what I loved the most was when they said that our faculty, staff and students are happy.

Christine Herker & Nathan Kennedy preparing for site visit

Myron Smith Program Lead

Previous Paramedic Class

A quick shout out to Hall ambulance for all their support. And talking about Hall ambulance, Mayor Harvey Hall is the best mayor ever!

Now let’s hear from Cindy Collier, Dean of CTE and Allied Health. This is an email she sent to the department after the site visit.

I just want to take a few moments to recognize our outstanding Paramedic Program! The Program just finished their 5-year national accreditation site visit today with flying colors. The reviewers commented that the strength of the Program was the faculty/staff and their ability to engage the community partners, as well as their support for our Program.

The reviewers also went on to say that they believe this is one of the best Program’s they’ve ever seen and more importantly they also said that we had the best students that they had seen in the state.

So congratulations to our Paramedic Faculty – you guys just rock!!! I am so proud of you!!!!

I agree with Cindy. Our faculty and staff simply rock!

At CCLC. Nov 19-21, 2015

The conference was very good. Got some ideas on the College Promise discussion to shape the Renegade Promise work that the college is doing. Great opening speaker Josh Tickell on Gen Y–the Millenials. He described the boomers as conservative, Gen X as frustrated and Gen Y as entitled 🙂 Actually, he was very good. I’m thinking we should try to bring him to BC. Also connected with Thomas Bailey author of Redesigning America’s Community Colleges. He promoted the Guided Pathways Summit on February 18, 2016 at Bakersfield College. Yes! Davis Jenkins, one of the three authors, is our keynote for the summit.
I presented at the conference on a panel related to the Common Assessment Initiative (CAI). My remarks were from the standpoint of being a member of the Common Assessment Initiative Steering Committee member as well as a pilot college for both the CAI as well as the Multiple Measures Project.

Sonya Christian & Josh Tickell

Alice Van Ommeren, Jennifer Coleman, Sonya Christian, Louise Jaffe

Sonya Christian & Thomas Bailey

Does it take a village, or does it take a county? Thank you Kern County Board of Supervisors!

Rich McCrow, Gustavo Enrique, Jareth Regapala, Sonya Christian, Michael Turnipseed, David Teasdale, Alfonso Noyola

This morning I attended the County of Kern Board of Supervisors meeting to wait for a very special agenda item: the awarding of $400,000 to Arvin High School for a partnership with Bakersfield College that brings college courses to Arvin and helps students in the area achieve higher education completion sooner, and in fields of study relevant to immediate employability in key industries.

Bakersfield College has been focusing on improving educational attainment levels in rural Kern and the work in the Arvin/Lamont community has been critical. With the funding from the County of Kern Board of Supervisors for the new 1+1+2=Game Changer program, Bakersfield College’s relationship with Arvin High School is expanding, and the opportunities for local students are increasing tremendously.

Much of what Bakersfield College does is guided by the Educational Master Plan, which directs the college to “explore new avenues” to educate the area’s socioeconomically disadvantaged population. Within the Educational Master Plan is the Rural Communities Initiative, which focuses on the rural communities inside Bakersfield College’s service area, and outlines specific strategies and tactics for reaching these communities with higher education information and access.

Richard McCrow, who came to Bakersfield College to oversee the operations at our campus in Delano, quickly became Bakersfield College’s lead administrator for all of our rural initiatives, designing programs and partnerships to take higher education into communities like Arvin, Lamont, Delano, Shafter, Wasco, and many more. The Rural Communities Initiative guides how Bakersfield College moves among communities where unemployment and poverty are often higher than statewide averages and educational attainment levels lower.

Rich has been expanding our offerings in the Arvin area. We already offer courses in the evenings at Arvin High School, and now the plan includes components focusing on dual enrollment and educational advising. Dual enrollment allows high school students to take courses that count simultaneously for high school and college credit, and these courses help students work toward their higher education goals.

Supervisor Leticia Perez. Source: http://blog.herofinancing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/HERO_Post_blog_a.jpg

I’m pleased that today, the County of Kern Board of Supervisors put their support behind the program by awarding Arvin High School $400,000 to make the partnership possible through more courses, a state-of-the-art interactive classroom, and technologically advanced equipment.

In brief, 1+1+2=Game Changer provides a program of study for incoming high school freshmen to take college courses at Arvin High School during the traditional school day. At the end of four years, these students will have completed their high school education and a full year of Bakersfield College classes, and will need just one more year at Bakersfield College to complete one of three educational pathways:

Transfer to California State University, Bakersfield for a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Supply Chain Logistics.
Completion of an Associate of Arts in Agriculture Business Management at Bakersfield College.
Application to the Bakersfield College Bachelor of Science in Industrial Automation degree program.

Bryon Schaefer

So many people made this program possible. I thank our partners, Kern High School District Superintendent Dr. Bryon Schaefer and Arvin High School Principal Carlos Sardo for their willingness to make differentiated educational opportunities possible. I thank the team that put together the proposal for their hard work: Rich McCrow, Delano Campus Director; Gustavo Enriquez, Student Success Program Manager at the Delano Campus; Veronica Lucas, Counselor at the Delano Campus; and Jareth Regpala, Counselor at Arvin High School. The 1+1+2=Game Changer program was supported among county administrative staff, including Assistant County Administrative Officer Teresa Hitchcock and Ricardo Del Hoyo from the office of Supervisor Leticia Perez.

The original momentum to making this happen came from Michael Turnipseed, CEO of Kern Taxpayers Association and Supervisor Leticia Perez, both not only committed to workforce development for the region but also able to take action quickly and decisively. I enjoyed the remarks made by Alfonso Noyola, City Manager for Arvin, as well as David Teasdale from Kern Community College District.

Amber Chiang

Things can happen rather fast here at Bakersfield College, and I’m glad we have a team working together who are willing to step in and take care of whatever may come up. That was the case yesterday when I received a phone call asking if BC could draft a press release. I called Amber Chiang, Bakersfield College’s public information officer, and gave her little more than three hours to talk to five different people and read a 25-page proposal in order to create a draft press release that could be distributed to news media as soon as the Board of Supervisors approved the funding. Of course, as she always does, Amber took the task on with flair and gusto, and produced a release that went out at 10:32 this morning. The release is posted on Amber’s page on the Bakersfield College website if you’d like to read it.

I look forward to telling you more about 1+1+2=Game Changer in coming blog posts. With this program, we are truly changing the game of education for current, and future, students in the Arvin and Lamont area of Kern County. We are BC!