Love, Peace, and Blessings Bakersfield….I borrow this greeting from Prof. Bryan Hirayama’s student on the “inside.”

In the infamous introductory words of one of my students inside, “Love, Peace, and Blessings”. Everyday regardless of what is going on and before he addressed the class for anything, this student said very sincerely, “Love, Peace and Blessings”. It is clear to me that he shares more than just an obligatory salutation. There is a sense of affection, care, and encouragement embedded into the word “Love” when he says it. The idea of togetherness, shared responsibility to each other, and above all brotherhood is coded into the word “Peace”. Lastly, a touch of hope that all people’s wishes and dreams, goals and aspirations, and will to be free will be met one day is also baked into this seemingly mundane yet deep and meaningful message. I would like to thank this student for sharing this greeting with me and other students on a daily basis. It has kept me grounded. As I am wrapping up grades and looking back on the semester it is moments like this, shared with love, that will keep me motivated to make a difference and keep spreading the “Love, Peace, and Blessings”.

This is a “copy and paste from the May 15th blog of Professor Bryan Hirayama

 Love, Peace and Blessings Bakersfield.  
It is Saturday, October 21st and a fabulous day to be a Renegade

Homecoming 2017

BC Football fought off a second half push by Moorpark and continued with their season-long trend of finishing strong by beating the Raiders 34-10 in front of over 5,000 fans at Memorial Stadium to complete a festive homecoming celebration Saturday and open conference play with a win.

Thank you Trustee Bill Thomas, who came to the game with his grandson William and thank you Trustee Romeo Agbalog.

Our fabulous cheer team with cheer coach Heather Foss.

 

So happy to see Fran Florez and her husband Ray Florez.  Fran is on our Foundation Board of Directors and put in a lot of time helping us with Measure J.

Here is another foundation board member Ken Byrum and his wife.  Ken is a big supporter of BC.

And here is the fabulous Ed Davis with his family. Always supporting Bakersfield College!

Glad to see Jim Darling at the Memorial Stadium supporting Renegade Football

BC employees were out in full force with their families.  I snapped this picture of Wendy Lawson and her husband Ken and here is Dena Rhoades with her husband, daughter, and grandchildren.

So enjoyed seeing Steve’s daughter out with her mom and dad at the game.

Love, Peace, and Blessings all

TailGade

Before the homecoming game, I attended the BC Alumni Association’s first TailGade. It was a wonderful event and a lovely afternoon to welcome home our Alumni to their campus on the hill. The large tent provided plenty of shade for eating and fellowship. The food from Fred’s BBQ was a big hit. We had delicious large, juicy grilled steaks, beans, salad and rolls. The steaks were so gigantic, I couldn’t even finish mine and the dinner was well worth the price of admission. They even offered refreshing la Rosa Frozen Fruit Bars for dessert. Perfect for the weather!

Friends and familiar faces were all around at TailGade and throughout the day it was incredible to catch up with Renegades and Renegade fans.

Bakersfield’s famous ska, reggae, mambo band, Mento Buru, played great music from the stage. Some members of the band are BC Alumni and they performed a modern version of the BC Fight Song. You can see a video of Mento Buru practicing for homecoming: https://www.facebook.com/MentoBuru/videos/10159515917410296/. With such jazzy, upbeat music, alumni couldn’t resist getting up and dancing to the wonderful music.

To the side of the stage, a monitor played footage of games played in 1945. Kids were playing everywhere and there were games of corn hole going the entire time. The cheerleaders gave a great performance of their cheers for the crowd. The Homecoming parade with the BC Renegade Band and Homecoming float came right around the party so we got to see everyone up close. Honored guest Mayor Karen Goh joined us and led us in a “We are BC!” cheer. Thank you to Heather Pennella and the BC Alumni Association for putting on such a fabulous event. What a way to welcome our alumni home!

And not just alumni, I spotted BC faculty and staff celebrating too!  Here is Tom Gelder, Exec Director of the BC Foundation having fun.

Thank you Michael O’Doherty, past president of the Bakersfield College Foundation Board of Directors for coming out to support BC.

Great to see Peter Reyes and the fabulous Becki Whitson

Bob Martin, a Renegade, with his daugther Theresa McAllister and grand daughter.

Heather Pennella, you did a great job organizing the 2017 Alumni BBQ

Check out “Bakersfield College celebrates homecoming with parade, tailgating” by Joseph Luiz at The Bakersfield Californian. It has some incredible photos of Renegade fans celebrating before the big game.

John Harte took some great shots – they are available here. 

April Massirio also provided some lovely photos from TailGade and the parade. Check them out at https://bakersfieldcollege.smugmug.com/2017/TailGade

Homecoming Royalty Court

Homecoming Royalty is an honored and longstanding tradition of Bakersfield College that recognizes outstanding students at Bakersfield College. The Homecoming Royalty Court this year will be comprised of two students who shall represent the College and student body at various campus and community events throughout the year. The selection process for the Homecoming Royalty Court is based upon the candidate’s leadership activities, academic achievement, and campus involvement. Royalty are screened and ultimately selected based on the applicant’s’ ability to articulate and demonstrate academic performance, curricular and co-curricular involvement, contributions to the College as well as the Bakersfield Community, and BC Renegade Spirit. This year there were nine candidates selected.

Elka Desjardins is a Journalism/Agriculture Business Management/Forestry major. She is also the Historian for the BC Agriculture Student Organization and she works as a hairstylist, photographer, and wedding officiant when not in a classroom or on campus.

Evelyn Hernandez is a sophomore here studying Admissions of Justice. She is also the amazing secretary for your student government. Her long-term goal is to work in probation while helping the youth community in Bakersfield.

Ganae Romo-Watson is a fun loving, outgoing person. She enjoys the company of her peers as well as her faculty. She strives for greatness and rises up the people around her as well. She believes that leadership is the key to opening doors of strong bonds and future prospects.

Running to renew his title, Lawrence Salcido is a long time Renegade pushing through his final year. His passion for this school is shown through his involvement on campus. He is involved in multiple student organizations such as the BC Renegamers, the American Sign Language Club, and the Student Learning Alliance. Besides his student organization involvement, he is also a student leader and advocate, involved in student government and activities that involve BC students.

Gisela Campos, a kinesiology major, is from Delano California and in her fourth and final year at BC. She is pursuing her dream of becoming a Physical Therapist when she finishes up at CSU Long Beach. She is currently the president of Korean Culture Club.

While all five candidates are extremely qualified and exhibit the BC Spirit and the Renegade Pride, this year’s recipient of the 2017 Homecoming Royalty Court are: Elka Desjardins and Ganae Romo-Watson.

BCSGA and the Office of Student Life would like to thank Enchanted Bridal Boutique for their donation of the homecoming gowns and Mr. Tuxedo for their donation of today homecoming tuxedos.

The evening ended with BC’s Drumline performing outside the stadium.  So fortunate to have Tim Heasley at BC.

Thank you Mary Jo Pasek for being you!

Gov. Jerry Brown signs AB 19 and AB 705

It’s been an active week for community colleges across California with Governor Jerry Brown’s signing of new legislation to make education more affordable and efficient for students across California’s Community Colleges.

Harold Pierce describes the new bills in an article on the cover of Wednesday’s Bakersfield Californian.

The California College Promise, also known as AB 19 essentially attempts to maximize student success by encouraging full-time enrollment, and we’ve already started on a similar path at our campus with the Kern Promise.  Please note that the Kern Promise is not about “free tuition.” It is a shared responsibility of the college with the student to complete their degree in a timely manner.  For example, with the Associates Degree for Transfer to complete their 60 credits at BC and then transfer to CSUB or another 4 year university.  For more on the Kern Promise see https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/sse/kernpromise

AB 705 legislates the use of multiple measures to determine students’ entry-level math and English placement at College.  BC piloted Multiple Measures three years ago and this year it is fully instituted thanks for the intense efforts on the part of Janet Fulks, Sue Vaughn and faculty in Academic Development, English and Math.  Also, thanks to the great collaboration with KHSD.  The standards for the courses at BC are still the same, the only change is that we are more connected with the high schools in order to provide a seamless transition from high school to college.  This saves the taxpayer money when public sector institutions are working to promote efficiency and effectiveness.

We’re equipping students with the tools they need to be successful, making sure that they’re enrolled full time and completing transfer-level math and English in their first year, which our guided pathways research has demonstrated is crucial for students to successfully make their way through college.

Korean Delegation Visits Bakersfield College

Bakersfield College was honored to host delegates from our sister city, Bucheon, South Korea.  A dozen delegates, including their Vice Mayor, Oh Byoung Kwon, retired KCCD Chancellor Sandra Serrano, KCCD Chancellor Tom Burke, and John Heffner met with faculty and staff to tour our campus and learn about our incredible programs.

Btw, talking about our campus, let me take this opportunity to once again thank Kern County for passing Measure J.

During their first stop, the delegates spoke with our international student services Counselor, Shohreh Rahman to learn about the support we offer to nearly 100 students from all over the world.

After hearing about our, world-traveling choir and theatre arts programs, our guests insisted on seeing the theatre.  They quietly slipped into their seats to listen in to Dr. Jen Garrett’s students for a few moments.  They were thoroughly impressed by the theatre but, more importantly, loved seeing our faculty and students in action.

The next stop was at the best restaurant in town: the Renegade Room. Chef Suzanne Tangeman invited our BC guests to the kitchen where her students were beginning a lesson, chopping vegetables to create a salad.  Chef Suzanne welcomed our guests and describe the program benefits.

Before heading to the Planetarium for a quick show led by Dr. Nick Stobel, the group swung by the Industrial Automation Robotics Lab to learn about our work to meet the demands the technology-driven business model of the 21st century.

Thank you to Manny Fernandez for leading the lab tour and talking with such enthusiasm about the way this program will help our students while meeting an industry demand.

It is customary in Korean culture to exchange gifts upon when visiting someone’s home.

 

To thank our guests, our BCSGA students and Student Life staff created bags filled with BC goodies.

In exchange, Vice Mayor Oh Byoung Kwon presented gifts to BC faculty, staff, and students. The South Korean delegation from Bucheon’s visit to BC was part of a larger trip to Bakersfield.  Read more about an event earlier this week  to honor the sacrifices of Korean War veterans.

A special thank you to Paul Beckworth, Liz Rozell, Stephen Waller, Nicky Damania, Kimberly Bligh, Tarina Perry, for coordinating this visit and sharing BC’s story with our guests.  And thank you Lesley Bonds for being the lead on this. #WeAreBC

Love, Peace, and Blessings 

Washington, D.C.

On Monday, I was in Washington DC to present at the national Grantmakers for Education conference.  This was my first time at a conference of “grant makers.”  In this picture, you see me with the College Futures Foundation, Irvine Foundation, Gates Foundation and the Teagle Foundation.  These individuals are smart and at their core believe in the transformative power of education.  This combination of  passion and intellect along with a keen sense of scalability and return on investment allows them to use the private philanthropic dollars in a very smart way.  Needless to say it was a fabulous experience for an educator like me to hang out with large private philanthropic foundations at this conference.  #WeAreBC

 

Last time I was in D.C., it was Spring 2016 and I can still remember the cherry blossoms. You can visit my blog about that trip here. During that trip, I had attended the AACC Pathways Institute, but also had time to visit some of my favorite places.

During this trip, I rushed over  to the national mall and walked the historical pathways between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.

One of my friends asked me if I ever visited the Jefferson Memorial and the answer is sadly “no.”  So for my next trip I look forward to visiting the Jefferson Memorial.

Prayer Luncheon

I attended the annual luncheon event, hosted by the Thursday Prayer group, for leadership in government. The keynote speaker was Rev. Oscar Anthony who gave a powerful talk on unity and prayer.  Pastor Anthony graduated from BC and still engaged with the work of the college.  Thank you for Jan Lockhard and the Thursday prayer group for all you support for our community.

Love, Peace, and Blessings all

The 2017 Great ShakeOut

At 10:19 on Thursday, the 2017 Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill was held on all BC campuses. The day is a reminder that earthquakes are a part of life in our state and a major earthquake could be on the horizon at any time. When the alarms rang, our whole campus followed the procedure to (1) Drop, (2) Cover, and (3) Hold on! After the two-minute drill, our buildings evacuated and each building was thoroughly checked.

ShakeOut organizers note that many Californians have not experienced a damaging earthquake, such as young people or people who have recently moved to the state. They also warned that while the San Andreas fault could generate a large-scale earthquakes, up to magnitude-8, “there are over a hundred other active faults in the region that can produce smaller earthquakes.”

Our campus responded wonderfully and I reported to the Incident Command Center at exactly 10:23. The ICC immediately sprang into action receiving information from Building Marshalls, Runners, and Public Safety Personnel. Todd Coston, our Planning Chief reported all building clearings on a white board on one side of the room and Chief Counts, our Safety Officer cross checked these reports with our campus map. Each individual in the ICC has a specific role to support the Incident Commander with various responsibilities and key activities. By 10:43, we had all the information we needed to cut the alarms and give the “All Clear” signals.

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We take the annual ShakeOut and all emergency drills very seriously to ensure our students, staff, and faculty are as safe as possible and also to practice responding so that we are well trained and ready in case of an emergency situation. I invite you to share Earthquake Safety for College Students, which is available at https://www.shakeout.org/downloads/2014_College_Student_Preparedness.pdf

Olivia Garcia

While the rest of the media was busy covering the new Assembly bills, Olivia Garcia took the time to write an article about our Digital Delano project in Tuesday’s Bakersfield Californian.

Olivia’s story highlighted this new project, headed by Dr. Oliver Rosales, to document the oral histories of farm workers in Delano and other rural areas in Kern County, preserving all of their amazing stories for generations to come, while providing an archival resource for rural students in Kern County to research their own community’s history.

BC was blessed to be chosen for this funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to even begin work on this project, and it’s great to see it finally starting to take shape.

This Week on Social Media

On Instagram this week, Sequoia Sandwich Company featured Jack Hernandez as a regular and one of their favorite customers! His usual is posted as an oatmeal cookie and a cup of coffee.  That sounds like a winning combo to me!

And then I saw these gorgeous cookies from Arisve & Bianca Pimentel and I couldn’t help but grab a screen capture to share with you all. Check them out at Pimentel Delights. We Are BC and I’m the luckiest and happiest college president, ever!

Corny Rodriguez on Facebook

Pam Boyles with grandson on Facebook

Links Celebration Photos

I shared last week that BC was in full force at The Links, Incorporated’s 40 year celebration of providing important educational resources to the community. I wanted to share a few photos from the event. If you missed my piece last week, check it out here!

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Faculty busy supporting our students and community

Thank you Dr. Oliver Rosales for moderating this panel discussing issues of poverty.

Prof. Olivia Garcia with her students

Pam Gomez tweeted from the CCPT Conf with the BC Team

Renegade Athletics

Women’s Basketball

This week, Coach Paula Dahl sent an email to our campus community and she said,

I am so incredibly excited about this year’s team. I have 19 completely dedicated student/athletes. They are completing a mandatory 5 hours in the tutoring center per week, taking a minimum of 15 units, many also have jobs, and one is even a parent of 2. We have future doctors, nurses, lawyers, police offers, ultra sound technicians, physical therapists and teachers in our midst. This will be a fun team to follow because they embrace hard work and a commitment to being great. Some of these incredible student-athletes do not have great support at home and are struggling to raise the $400.00 we require. This money goes towards travel gear, an exposure showcase where they are seen by 4 year coaches, Synergy a game editing software that helps them improve their game and also allows them to be seen by virtually every college coach across the country. Our program is committed to transferring our athletes.

If you would like to contact me separately I would be happy to tell you about those athletes that are struggling to meet our fundraising goal and you can adopt them for $60 dollars. This will get you a t-shirt and a team photo. Thank you for all you do to make this an incredible place to work. We hope to see you at our games. The Disneyland Drawing will be Friday November 3 not the 10th.

Paula is right and all our students are absolutely inspiring and incredible. To keep up with our Womens Basketball team, visit Gogades.com

And if you’re interested in any of the fundraisers the team currently has going on, feel free to reach out to coach Paula at pdahl@bakersfieldcollege.edu.

BC Volleyball

Jon Mettus at the Bakersfield Californian published an article featuring BC Volleyball and included this quote from Coach Carl Ferreira.

“Sometimes we get caught up placing so much emphasis on performance and results and all this kind of stuff,” Ferreira said. “It really kind of puts you back a little bit to understand that the most important success we should have is just as grateful people and seeing the human spirit at work. That volleyball match was a therapeutic match for those ladies and for our team.”  Don’t miss this great read located here.

Women’s golf

The Renegades finished third in the WSC match No. 7 at the Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena, on Monday.

Women’s Soccer

The Renegades beat Citrus, 1-0, on October 17th to improve to (5-5-2, 1-1-1).  Odalys Espinoza scored the only goal of the game, her 8th of the season.

Jennifer Garrett and BC Chamber Singers

Bakersfield City School District held the 10th Annual Junior High/Middle School Choir Festival and BC’s Dr. Jen Garrett was the guest clinician and conductor. See the article and all the photos at bcsd.com.

Jen also sent out an email worth sharing this week. She said:

Conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein is often quoted as saying, “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” Never before has this quote struck me more than it did Monday night as I rehearsed with the Chamber Singers. We discussed the happenings of Las Vegas with great sadness, especially as two of our students grieved for lost friends. Then we made some of the most beautiful music of the semester and I watched as the grieving students devoted themselves to the music and in some way began to heal from their loss. One of them approached me after rehearsal and said that singing did not change what happened, but it gave them the ability to think more clearly and deal with it on a personal level. Music truly can be a powerful tool for good in this world.

With that in mind I want to invite every one of our BC family to join the choirs to celebrate the power of music at our fall concert on October 27 in the Indoor Theater. It is called, “The Music of Living” and it encourages people to share in the beauty, peace, and joy that music brings to this world. I know that many today are weighed down with the happenings of all the recent tragedies, but I believe those who attend will leave inspired, and motivated to be part of the change for good. The concert also features 7 incredible local instrumentalists and one of the pieces that Dr. Ron Kean composed for the choir this past spring. I hope that you will join us for a night of celebrating how music helps us live to the fullest. The concert begins at 7:30 and tickets can be purchased from Vallitix or at the door. Faculty, staff, students, administration, seniors, and veterans are $7 and $10 general. We do tend to sell out so you might want to purchase tickets in advance or arrive early.

And, are you saving the date for the annual Culinary Caroling Dinner? I look forward to this festive event each holiday season. The date this year is December 2nd at 5:30PM. Tickets will be available from Jen, any of the Chamber Singers, or at the Fall Concert.

Community Voices by Catherine Jones

BC Professor Catherine Jones had a Community Voices piece published this week where she shared the associate degree program in Occupational Safety and Risk Management. She says, “Kern County is blessed with many types of industry and now there will be an educational pathway for safety and risk management professionals which matches the diversity in industry.”  Read more here at bakersfield.com.

So what about Neo?

October 18, 2017 — 7 months old

 

 

Love, Peace, Blessings to my friends and colleagues

 

That’s all for now.  

Until next time.

With much Renegade Pride and Collegiality.  

sonya —
the luckiest and happiest college president ever