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Enjoying our community: Boy Scouts

Uncategorized March 5, 2016 1 Comment

Good morning Bakersfield. It is Saturday, March 5, 2016…..A good day to be a Renegade!

This past week has been full, fast paced and exhausting – so much so that when I got home yesterday, I just wanted quiet time.

Here are just a few highlights of my week:

Karen Goh with Audrey and Martin Chavez and Audrey’s mom Oralia

February 28th, there was a wonderful mariachi concert organized by Andrae Gonzales in memory of his dad, Manny Gonzales, who was a counselor at BC for 37 years. The indoor theater at BC was sold out and there was a big picture of Manny on the stage….a picture taken when he was in Italy. Nice! The music was just wonderful. It was a very enjoyable afternoon enjoying seeing the community at BC and hanging out with friends. It was also wonderful meeting a few more members of the Gonzales clan. I must say that the two people I see everywhere are Mayor Harvey Hall and Karen Goh–supporting community events.

BC at Veterans Summit March 3 2016

On Thursday, March 3rd, I was at the Veterans Summit in the City of Industry. Paul Beckworth and I presented on the role administrators play in Veteran Services. The process of preparing for the talk was what I enjoyed the most. I got to research and find out at a more detailed level exactly what we are doing at BC as well as in other veterans programs in the community and across the state. We had a good group from BC–Armando Trujillo, Educational Adviser; Jamie Pacheco, BC’s Financial Aid Tech who is a liaison to Vet Services; Paul Beckworth, History Faculty; and Terri Goldstein, Director of DSPS, who is not in the picture.

Here is a photo with a few of our vet club students

Vet Club March 1 2016

Here are four blog posts that I did over the last three years on our student veterans:

Nov 11, 2015 Veterans Day, Vet Fest and Remembering America’s Best:
http://tinyurl.com/gwj7xu5

Nov 11, 2014 Student Veterans and BC’s 2nd annual Vet Fest: http://tinyurl.com/zfcafsb

August 24, 2014 Welcome email to our student veterans: http://tinyurl.com/zqtvmzt

July 17, 2013 GI Bill Workshop for Veterans Coming Thursday http://tinyurl.com/jmjc8uv

Rich McCrow, Veronica Lucas, Sonya Christian, Ron Kean, Gustavo Enrique

BC won three awards at the Kern Council of Governments (KCOG) awards night. It was quite the evening:

Regional Award of Merit for Local Government:
1+1+2 = Game Changer, a collaborative project in Arvin. Partners: BC, Supervisor Leticia Perez, KHSD Superintendent BryonSchafer, and CEO of Kern Tax Mike Turnipseed. Thank you Rich McCrow, Veronica Lucas and Gustavo Enrique for putting together the proposal working in collaboration with our partners. Check out my August 4, 2015 blog on this project http://tinyurl.com/glpeubo

Prof. Lindsay Ono, Sonya Christian

Regional Award for Merit for Community Involvement: Garden Fest. Lindsay Ono and Sally Stern. I am so proud of this program at BC. Sterns and Ono tirelessly work, along with others from the Ag department, to bring this magnificent event to the community. So, mark your calendars…April 16th and come out out with friends, family and loved ones and enjoy your Saturday at your community college. For more information check out the website http://891418088421670332.weebly.com/. Talking about BC’s Ag department, check out my brief post on Nov 19, 2014 on the first ever Kern Ag Summit http://tinyurl.com/hpgkc8b

Ron E. Brummett Regional Award of Merit for Lifetime Achievement: Ron Kean. It was wonderful seeing Ron Kean receive this Lifetime Achievement award. After accepting the award he told a story about his World Music class this semester where he worked collaboratively with Matt Garrett and Matt’s history class. Matt had a student from the Navajo Nation, and Ron did a piece inspired by Navajo music and the student just loved it. Beautiful….BC has the best faculty ever.

Some of the other awards:

Regional Award of Merit for Transportaion: The Thomas Roads Improvement Project. Thank you Bill Thomas for all that you have done for Kern County and Bakersfield College. You rock!

Regional Award of Merit for Innovation: Downtown Bakersfield Development Corportaion. Congratulations Cathy Butler and team.

This morning I woke up to another great piece by Nick Strobel in the Californian–Astronomers turn the Hubble telescope toward a super-Jupiter exoplanet orbiting the brown dwarf 2M1207. This is the first directly imaged exoplanet. Nick has posted the article on his BC website at http://tinyurl.com/zqc6726.

Yesterday, I was introduced to Stella and John Rous at Starbucks and they just made me so happy with their enthusiastic support for Bakersfield College and all that is happening at the college. Wonderful people. You know my dear friends and colleagues, this kind of support for BC is not an anomaly. It is regular and consistent.

Now you can see why it is so easy to be president of Bakersfield College!

That faith in the future and what we can accomplish in the coming years is also prominent with another group I spent time with recently, the Boys Scouts of America Southern Sierra Council. Attending their 2016 Volunteer Recognition Dinner at the Kern Ag Pavilion, it was reinforced for me how clearly many of the key tenets of Bakersfield College run in sync with the interests of other organizations like the Boy Scouts.

In this case, it was the mutual desire of both groups to extend our connections, increase our interaction and reaffirm our commitment to Kern County’s vibrant rural communities, particularly areas like Arvin and Lamont.

Sonya Christian, Jay Rosenlieb, Pauline Larwood, Tom Larwood

It was a great evening of learning about Boy Scouts, enjoying the numerous volunteers who put in significant numbers of hours to advance this worthy cause, and running into community leaders like Pauline Larwood and Tom Larwood. I am so inspired by what both of them have given to this community. Pauline served as a Trustee on our KCCD Board, and Tom and I were fellow Rotarians in East Rotary Club prior to my time in Oregon. When I think about the research work on Valley Fever, I think Tom Larwood.

President of the Boy Scout Board, Jay Rosenlieb talked about the fundamental principles of scouting and the commitment of the Southern Sierra Council to help spread its message into all four corners of Kern County and beyond.

I appreciated hearing about the focus on service to community, to its neighbors, and to the betterment of each individual scout in their brotherhood. CEO Jesse Lopez is doing great work.

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I asked Jay for his remarks. Here is an extended excerpt:

On August 6, 1945, almost 71 years ago, an event occurred that changed the course of history. On that day, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, bringing about the end days of World War II.

Following the end of the war, the men and women who spent years focused on the coordinated and mission driven efforts on the battle fields and the home front returned to their homes. In this massive homecoming and re-entry to life without war, the soldiers, sailors, airmen, factory workers, and builders brought with them the culture of community and singleness of purpose forged from the fight against tyranny, imperialism, and the horrors of human depravity.

As families were started and raised, the culture of community and singleness of purpose from the war effort continued and infused the very fabric of these United States. Social and civic organizations flourished, places of worship grew without bounds, and movements like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts experienced broad appeal and support. This sense of community, belonging, and involvement came to be expected in nearly every corner. While the post World War II era was not without significant social and moral challenges and failures (for example, the violence and struggles of segregation), it is just as clear that our American culture yearned for and achieved the building of strong communities, families, and lives.

…..

We, as volunteer leaders and supporters must expect Scouting to be front and center in our culture, in our communities, and in our lives. We must expect to see Scouting in all of our areas of influence and in all of our relationships.

We must expect to see Scouting in our schools; if there is not a troop or a pack at your neighborhood school, take those steps necessary to start a pack or a troop at the school.

Expect to see Scouting at your place of worship; if it’s not there, take those steps necessary to form a pack or a troop at your church, temple, or mosque. Expect to see Scouting in the youth programming of your place of worship. Expect to see Scouting on Scout Sunday. Expect to see Scouting in the faith life of your place of worship.

Expect to see Scouting at work– in your conversations with your co-workers. Expect to introduce them to all that is good about Scouting.

Expect to talk about Scouting in your social circles, with your friends, with your colleagues, both professional and personal. Expect that nearly all with whom you have a relationship will have a story of Scouting. Expect to tell them about Scouting today and all that it offers in a world of challenges to individuality, to self-reliance, to decency, to morality.

Expect Scouting in the lives of the youth around you; if it’s not there; encourage them to join a pack, a troop, a crew, a team, or an explorer post. Encourage them to seek the challenges of leadership and examination of their lives and direction. Encourage them to seek community and the sense of belonging.

Expect to see Scouting in your own life; volunteer, be a part of Scouting. All I can ask you is that you say “yes” when you are asked to do more. This is our charge, this is our work, this is our challenge, this is our privilege.

…..

“Scouting prepares our youth for leadership by teaching them the importance of service to others. The Scouting movement shows dramatically that public service still beckons the best among us to do battles with complacency, neglect, ignorance, and the emptiness of the spirit that are common in a maze of social justice.

“Scouting prepares our youth to live lives based on unchanging values, as an example of what a young person can be and should be. I see the legacy of Scouting, a new generation of worthy leaders for America’s 21^st century – strong leaders, thanks to Scouting. Strong leaders of character, of faith, of skill. And with such leaders, America will continue to be the beacon of hope and decency and justice for the rest of the world.

“Good homes and good parents produce strong boys and girls, but Scouting tempers the steel.

“Resolute and united, this must be our commitment, this must be our oath, this must be our prayer, and this must be our parting pledge to one another. God Bless the Boys Scouts of America.”

(Note: Quoted material is from a 2010 speech by Robert Gates, National President of the Boy Scouts of America)

That’s the same type of cooperative spirit we foster at BC.

Here is a fun picture from last year.

Me and BC Dean of Instruction Manny Mourtzanos….bet you didn’t know HE was a Boy Scout!

Vision for the Valley: Kern County Leaders Look to the Future at BC

Bakersfield College December 13, 2015 Comments: 4

Sonya Christian

Whether you’re titans of industry, learned academics or pre-schoolers on the playground, there’s a simple rule that holds true — talking through problems is usually the most effective path to workable, sustaining solutions.

Unfortunately, we’re all so busy with our daily lives (especially this time of year) that we have a hard enough time identifying the problems, let alone crafting the complex answers needed to settle them.

So how do we as a community solve the multi-layered puzzle of addressing Kern County’s critical infrastructure needs?

Richard Beene (TBC), Nick Ortiz (Chamber), Victoria Rome (NRDC), Tupper Hull (WSPA)

Well, there are few experiences more energizing than listening to a collection of very smart people talk about very important things — so BC was thrilled to host the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Vision for the Valley summit this week.

Nick Ortiz and our friends at the Chamber really outdid themselves, creating a half-day symposium that assembled some of our area’s most knowledgeable business, legislative and analytical minds to examine issues we all face every day (whether we think about them or not) — issues around energy, water, agriculture, housing, transportation and their interlocking impacts on Kern County’s economy.

Before I get into the content of the summit’s multiple panels, a quick congratulations to the Chamber and our team at BC for the great visual presentation on the Simonsen Performing Arts Center stage. From the Scandinavian type furniture to the backdrop to the impressive lighting package, the production crew behind the summit did a phenomenal job.

As for the panels themselves…well, delving into “big think” topics like this can be an enormous challenge, but the summit’s roster of insightful speakers — under the well-orchestrated direction of moderators Richard Beene and Louis Amestoy of the Bakersfield Californian — crystallized the major points around these complex issues, making them all very relatable. Elizabeth Sanchez did a piece in the Californian on the summit which can be found at

http://www.bakersfield.com/news/2015/12/08/thomas-urges-county-to-seek-half-cent-transporation-sales-tax.html

The Energy, Sustainability and the Economy panel, for instance, brought together natural opponents for a spirited discussion of where the oil industry is headed, particularly focusing on its impact on Kern County, the San Joaquin Valley and the rest of the state’s transportation needs.

Much of the conversation with conservationist advocate Victoria Rome with the National Resources Defense Council and Western States Petroleum Association vice president Tupper Hull centered on state regulation, both its impact on oil producers and whether California was going too far — or not far enough — in overseeing the industry’s activities.

While Victoria was encouraged that California’s 140,000 electric and hybrid cars on the road today could hit the 1 million benchmark by 2030, both agreed the state’s need for oil would likely remain strong for years to come.

“We need to stop looking for simplistic answers to complex questions,” Tupper said.

John Burtchaell (Wells Fargo), DeeDee D’Adamo (State Water Resources Control), Lois Henry (TBC), Louis Amestoy (TBC)

That was a theme that held true throughout the day, including a deep-dive look at the impact of California’s drought on our groundwater demand during the Agriculture and Water Resources panel. DeeDee D’Adamo, a board member with the State Water Resources Control Board, defended and explained, and in some cases, commiserated over the state’s water use policies. Lois Henry made the issues clear in a pragmatic and a “let’s cut to the chase” approach of addressing these complex issues.

Water use in California has reduced by 27 percent in the five months since emergency conservation regulations began in June. While there was general agreement that it will be a long-term, multi-year effort to replenish state water reserves, there was a sense that some form of permanent conservation measures would remain in place even once the drought is declared over, helping to protect the state from future water shortage issues.

Louis Amestoy (The Bakersfield Californian), Greg Bielli (Tejon Ranch), Bill Thomas (former Congressman), Dave Cogdill (former State Senator)

The third and final panel of the day, a round-table talk about housing, land use and transportation, was also a strong contender for highlight of the day, particularly thanks to the spirited engagement and effusive charm of panelist, retired congressman and luminary BC faculty emeritus Bill Thomas.

I wasn’t here during Bill’s teaching career on this very campus from 1965 to 1974, but those nine years as a political science faculty were part of the beginnings of one of Kern County’s most storied political careers. Bill’s 27 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, highlighted by his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, grant him a unique perspective on issues that few others could offer.

One of Bill’s political passions is transportation — and like the true statesmen he is, Bill didn’t hold back, crusading for Kern County to keep pushing through apathy and threats of adjudication to complete the scores of local transportation projects undertaken by his namesake Thomas Roads Improvement Program (TRIP).

Ret. Rep. Bill Thomas and former state Sen. Dave Cogdill on the Housing, Land Use and Transportation panel

Ret. Rep.Bill Thomas, former state Sen.Dave Cogdill

For those who don’t know the history, TRIP has been overseeing the use of $630 million in federal funds secured by Thomas in 2005 to tackle Bakersfield’s specific transportation problems.

He repeatedly framed it as transportation issues that arise when an “east-west” county resides within a “north-south” state. The projects include the completed construction of the Westside Parkway, the State Route 178/Fairfax Road Interchange, the State Route 58 gap closure and the State Route 178/Morning Drive Interchange.

Right now, one of TRIP’s top priorities is to begin work on their largest project, the Centennial Corridor, which will ultimately connect State Route 99 and Interstate 5. But Thomas warned about the danger of obstructionist attorneys using CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) statutes to slow Corridor construction via unnecessary litigation.

“Adjudication takes a long time and costs a lot of money,” Thomas said. “That’s their way of trying to control the outcome.”

Bill also made some news during the summit, coming out in support of Kern County voters approving a half-cent tax measure that would mark Kern as a “self-help” county, earmarking funds for future county transportation projects. More importantly, the designation would significantly boost Kern County’s ability to secure state and federal money to carry such projects to completion.

As a staunch Republican acutely aware of Kern County voters’ pervasive anti-taxation stance, Bill told the crowd he understood initial bristling to the idea — but warned the cost of not attaining “self-help” status and losing out on federal transportation dollars to other areas made passing the tax infinitely more cost-effective for the county and its residents.

Talking through water regulations and oil production restrictions and transportation funding can seem like dry policy wonk chatter, capable of making anyone’s eyes glaze over. But at the end of the day, all of these critical conversations come back to some simple questions — how does this affect the people of Kern County and how do we make everyone’s lives better through our collective decisions?

Sonya Christian (BC), Mary Jo Pasek (BC), Karen Goh (Garden Pathways), Michael Turnipseed (Kern Tax)

It was wonderful to see the community out at the college to engage in these discussions. Events like the Vision for the Valley summit help point us toward ways of enriching the life of every single Kern County resident…and we at BC couldn’t be happier to play our part in making events like this happen.

Ramon Puga from BC. Helping with the take down

Life at Bakersfield College

Bakersfield College, Student Success, Uncategorized November 22, 2015 Leave a comment

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.