As summer comes to a close, I’ve had a very busy week traveling to several of our community colleges.
On Tuesday, I attended the groundbreaking ceremony for student housing at Lake Tahoe Community College. It was inspirational to see so many people come out to support this fantastic project.
Thank you to Pam Haynes for joining from the Board of Governors, LTCC President Jeff DeFranco, the LTCC Board of Trustees, Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil, Chris Ferguson & the CA Department of Finance team, and everyone who was present and who has made this possible.
On Wednesday, I headed down to Chula Vista for an event at Southwestern College. This event focused on the Vision 2030 goal of Equity in Access. Southwestern College showcased two projects – Dual Enrollment and AB 91 – new legislation currently in appropriations that would waive out-of-state tuition for those crossing the border from Mexico to take classes at Southwestern or other San Diego colleges.
Here is a a 2:31-min coverage of the event by KPBS.
On Thursday, I headed to East Los Angeles College for another Vision 2030 event, focused on dual enrollment. Thank you to Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez and President Alberto Roman for hosting this event. Members of the Board of Governors came out in full strength — Vice President Hildy Aguinaldo, Pam Haynes, Adrienne Brown, Joseph Williams, and Paul Medina.
Assembly member Mike Fong was also there and recognized the importance of community colleges.
Before I started my crazy week of travel, I caught Greta Gerwig’s Barbie at the cinema. It was a fun and thought provoking at the same time – a feature of many Gerwig movies. Like some of her past work, Gerwig explores the complexities of female identity and societal expectations. Both Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Ryan Gosling (Ken) are wonderful in the movie. Gerwig’s Ken for the most part is as an accessory to Barbie, existing for the sole purpose of winning her warm gaze, adds comedic elements to the story while also providing opportunities for emotional depth. Check out this 1:30-min “I am just Ken” fun and talented video.
Good morning California.
It is August 12, 2023.
A good day to be a Community College Champion
From California Community Colleges.
Our Time is Now!
Río Hondo College Partners with MIT to Inspire
New Wave of Inventors During Summer Program
Students from Río Hondo College and local high schools created innovative solutions to modern problems, such as using drones for campus security to report suspicious activity or adapting smart textiles to chairs to fix poor posture in office workers, during the College’s inaugural Bridge to Invention Río program.
The program, which ran from July 17 to 28, was created in partnership with Lemelson-MIT (LMIT) to guide students through the disciplines of business and engineering to create and present a product, web app or service. The program was made available at no cost to all college students and local high school juniors and seniors.
» Read more about the program!
College of the Desert Awarded M-STAR Grant Funding by NASA
College of the Desert is one of only nine colleges/universities – and the only CA Community College – to be awarded M-Start Grant Funding by NASA.
Ahmed Elshafie, Michael Gariety, Amira Elsenousy and David Jackson all collaborated on the project entitled: A Penetrolyzer for Extracting Oxygen and Hydrogen from Mars Regolith.
Berkeley City College NOVA Scholars Summer Program Gallery Walk
In July, the Berkeley City College NOVA & RISE team hosted a Gallery Walk in celebration of scholars in our fourth cohort of NOVA, which stands for Networking, Opportunities, Vision, & Action. NOVA is a dual enrollment pathway program designed to support Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) rising 9th graders with their transition into high school. During the event, nearly 40 scholars displayed their culminating projects and shared their stories and dreams in the company of their families and our larger BCC community.
» Read more about the program!
Foster Youth Bicycle Giveaway Brings
Opportunity, Support to Pasadena City College Students
Supervisor Kathryn Barger and One Bicycle Foundation partnered together to gift bicycles to foster youth students at Pasadena City College. The gift of 24 bikes will help them get to class, work, errands, and activities.
In Case You Missed It
Laist: Can Community Colleges Meet the Urgency of the Climate Crisis?
On August 7th, Laist published a piece by Bonnie Ho and Jackie Orchard about the California Center for Climate Changed Education at West Los Angeles College.
“Through its new climate center, West is developing more climate change curriculum for community colleges in California to adapt to their own campuses. Eventually, the plan is for West to educate students of all disciplines on climate change, not just what people might expect of those studying environmental science.”
Fun Photos & Spotted on Social Media
The Community College League of California shared an update from the 2023 Student Trustees Workshop:
This year 60+ student trustees travelled from @CalCommColleges to Riverside
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Fresno Unified School District‘s Tressa Overstreet shared this post:
“Dual Enrollment is rolling in @fresnounified our students CAN!”
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Allan Hancock College shared this photo from their All Staff Day event to kick off the fall semester:
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Madera Community College shared these photos:
“We had a wonderful turnout this afternoon at our President’s Cabinet BBQ! Thanks to our incredible Facilities team, our students, staff, and faculty all got to enjoy hot dogs and hamburgers as we close out the summer!“
And From the Home of the Renegades
Early College Convening
The Bakersfield College Early College team hosted our 4th annual Early College Convening on August 2nd, 2023 and it was a momentous day in setting forth our collective vision for the 2023-2024 school year.
» Read more about the Early College convening!
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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
