Tag Archives: Paul Beckworth

Memorial Day 2020

Uncategorized May 31, 2020 1 Comment

What a week…. a week of highs and lows. SpaceX launches astronauts from American soil into space for the first time in a decade, we crossed the milestone worldwide of 6 million reported COVID-19 cases, we passed a milestone exceeding 100,00 COVID-19 deaths here in the US, we celebrated Memorial Day even though we were sheltering in place, and George Floyd stopped moving at 8:24 p.m. on Memorial Day on the streets of Minneapolis.

Good morning Bakersfield
It is Saturday, May 30, 2020…A great day to be a Renegade

Six days ago….

George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man died on Monday, Memorial Day, while he was pinned to the ground, face down, in an unlawful knee-to-throat chokehold by a police officer. (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/us/minneapolis-police-man-died.html?referringSource=articleShare, NY Times published May 26, 2020)

          Lift ev’ry voice and sing
          ‘Til earth and heaven ring
          Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
          Let our rejoicing rise
          High as the list’ning skies
          Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
          Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
          Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
          Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
          Let us march on ’til victory is won

The SpaceX launch was certainly a historic moment…check out the video if you did not get a chance to watch the launch live on Saturday, May 30th.

Memorial Day Message from Jenny Frank

Zav Dadabhoy, Armando Trujillo, Paul Beckworth, Sonya Christian and Jenny Frank at the VRC dedication

Jenny Frank, manager of Veteran Services and Programs, sent out a Memorial Day message to our Renegade Community, and I wanted to share it with all of you:

“Dear friends, colleagues and fellow Renegades,

Although technical difficulties prevented this message from reaching each of you yesterday, the sentiment remains.

As the sun sets on another beautiful day in America, we are all acutely aware that this Memorial Day is vastly different than most others. While navigating our lives during these uncertain times, it may be easy to focus on the freedoms that have been disrupted. We must not lose sight of all that we do have and of those who have sacrificed to ensure our way of life.

The brave Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen and women and Coast Guardsmen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country and its values came from all different walks of life. Yet, they stood side-by-side, united in their cause. I can think of no better way to honor them than to live our lives in the same manner they stood; united.

So, my friends, colleagues, fellow Renegades, as you lay your heads down tonight, remember these brave men and women, today and always. Tomorrow, as we rise, let us all strive to live our lives in a way that would honor their them. It is together that we will overcome any difficulties that face us. Together we will soon enjoy all the freedoms that have been gifted to us.“

Please also enjoy Taps played by the Minnesota Orchestra Trumpet Section:

Aging

Here is a great poem from Jack Hernandez:

The body ages
steps hesitant
hair ghostly white
the memory cabinet
filling up,
But love knows
nothing of slowing
only of growing
wider in delight.

Virtual Immigration Clinics

Bakersfield College is partnering with the California Colleges Chancellor’s Office, the Foundation for California Community Colleges, the California Department of Social Services and the UFW Foundation to provide Immigration Clinics for Bakersfield College students, staff and faculty. The services will include general immigration consultations as well as assistance on DACA renewals, citizenship, family petitions, FBI and background checks, adjustment of status, and visas.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, all immigration clinics will be held virtually via Zoom or telephone until further notice. These virtual Immigration Clinics will be held every 2nd Tuesday and 4th Thursday of the month from 9 AM to 6 PM.

Read the full story at Bakersfield College launches free Immigration Clinic.

Letting the Times Guide our Creativity

Last March, Kris Tiner from our Jazz department presented during my Virtual Seminar Series about how he changed his teaching methods when classes moved online. He said we must “let the times guide our creativity.”

This week, Jennifer Garrett, our director of choral and vocal studies and Performing Arts Department Chair, continued that sentiment. She wrote a piece in the Bakersfield Californian about how our performance groups have adapted to social distancing.

“BC’s performing arts programs have shared these positive attributes with the Bakersfield community for generations and focusing on them can guide us all through these challenging times. The BC performing arts faculty will continue to let the times guide their creativity, offering BC students the best experiences possible.“

BC Foundation announces new Executive Director

This past Thursday marked the last BC Foundation Board of Directors meeting of the 2019-20 academic year. In spite of the challenges presented by the impact of COVID-19, the BC Foundation finished strong.

Almost 550 scholarships worth over $500,000 were awarded to our students, an Emergency Student Fund was established to financially help students during unexpected hardships, and over $60,000 was used to support innovative programmatic activities proposed by faculty. In the midst of reflecting on all the good work done during unusual circumstances, we took opportunity to express appreciation for the contributions made by the staff, board leadership, and college administration.

However, the highlight of the meeting was welcoming the new Foundation Executive Director, Cheryl Scott, who will fully come on board July 6th. There was great excitement among the directors, for most have known Cheryl for many years and are acquainted with her community service and economic development work in Kern County. 

You can find out more about the BC Foundation on their website at https://www.supportbc.org/.

Kern Promise Celebrates Transfer Graduates

Kern Promise is celebrating BC class of 2020 transferring to 4-year colleges and universities. You can see a display of these high achievers on the Transfer Celebration page of the BC website.

If you know of a graduate that would like to celebrate transferring, have them submit a Transfer Celebration Form.

Here are just a few of our transfer graduates:

Rotary Club of Kern River Valley Scholarship

Kern Valley Sun announced the Rotary Club of the Kern River Valley’s scholarship recipients including incoming Renegade, Joey Moyer. The article states Joey will pursue a teaching credential and plans to transfer to a four-year university.  Welcome to BC Joey!

Videos from Closing Week

I’m continuing to highlight a few videos from our Closing Week celebration. All our videos are available on our Closing Week 2020 website.

Incoming BCSGA President Gian Gatayao:

Presidential Leadership Awards: Academic Technology:

Manny Mourtzanos, Management Association:

Uplifting student videos from Summer Bridge

BC’s Summer Bridge program is one of our secret student success strategies. Dr. Kimberly Bligh has moved this program to an online format for Summer 2020. Check out these two uplifting videos from our incoming Bridgers

https://flipgrid.com/s/afbcd5ea9d06
https://flipgrid.com/s/d7f3de43dbb9

Thank you Kimberly!

  • Kimberly Bligh and Isabel Castaneda
    Kimberly Bligh and Isabel Castaneda
https://flipgrid.com/s/afbcd5ea9d06

Construction on Campus

While we are not able to be on campus, construction is continuing. Check out this photo from Manny De Los Santos:

Athletics

Sandi Taylor Officially Announces Retirement After 30 Years As A Renegade

This week our fearless Athletic Director Sandi Taylor officially announced her retirement to the community bringing to a close a 30 years career as a Renegade – 23 years as head softball coach and seven as athletic director. As a leader Sandi has consistently kept the Renegade athletics ship on a steady course in the right direction. While she’s ever a kind and gentle soul, she’s also fiercely competitive and was just what Renegade Athletics needed in a leader for the past seven years.

As news of her retirement hit the community, she was immediately was recognized with multiple TV interviews and a front page above the fold article on the sports section of the Bakersfield Californian on Wednesday. The social media posts on her retirement have been swarmed with overwhelming congratulations and well-wishes from former student athletes, coaches, friends and community members. We are glad to have had Sandi for so long and will miss her!

Click below for the stories from our local media on Sandi’s retirement:

Also, as you drive around town, keep your eyes peeled for the billboards honoring Coach Taylor!

And here again is the video of Sandi’s Lifetime Achievement Award

That’s all for now.

Until next time.

With much Renegade Pride and Collegiality.

sonya –
the luckiest and happiest college president ever

Closing week — Spring 2020 pandemic semester

Uncategorized May 16, 2020 1 Comment

Bakersfield College closed out what will go down in the history books as an unusual semester… Spring 2020-the semester of the pandemic. There was much to celebrate this last week… the resilience of our students, the caring nature of our faculty and staff, and much much more. It seemed as it the skies were celebrating the Renegades when the jets flew over the Memorial Stadium this week. Check out the photos capture by 23ABC

Thank you 23ABC photographers Grant Simpson and Javier Posadas. Aircrafts from the 144th Fighter Wing in Fresno flew over the city of Bakersfield in a show of support for nurses and other professionals working to help fight the coronavirus.

Good morning Bakersfield
It is Saturday, May 16, 2020…A great day to be a Renegade

Check out the opening photo roll for Closing Week, Day 1, put together by Dylan Wang

Every spring, we hold a Closing Day celebration on campus to reflect on the academic year and honor the accomplishments of our BC faculty and staff.

This year, we took our celebration online and shifted to a shorter format over 4 days. You can visit the Closing Week 2020 website to see videos from each day’s celebration. As part of the BC tradition, I recognize individuals, departments, and teams for leadership from the previous years.

This year, I honored the Academic Technology Department, College and District Information Technology Department, the Public Safety Program Pathway, the Nursing Department, Carlos Barbaran, Student Affairs, the Budget Committee, COVID-19 Response Team, Jennifer Johnson, Todd Coston, and Paul Beckworth (announced in Fall 2019) as recipients of the President’s Leadership Awards.

I also honored retiring Athletic Director Sandi Taylor and retiring Dean Corny Rodriguez with the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Bakersfield College will truly miss both of you, and I am grateful for the years of service you both have given to the college.

Sandi Taylor — Lifetime Achievement Award

Corny Rodriguez — Lifetime Achievement Award

Paula Parks and Faith Bradham were announced as the Norm Levan Faculty Colloquium speakers for 2020-2021.


Gayle Richardson and Phil Feldman received the Margaret Levinson Faculty Leadership Award.

Arnie Andrasian was named the Shirley Trembley Distinguished Teacher Award winner.

And of course, the week would not have been possible without the Closing Week planning team. Thank you to Todd Coston, Nicky Damania, Jennifer Serratt, Tarina Perry, Manny De Los Santos, Shannon Musser, Dylan Wang, and Earl Parsons for the hard work you put into our weeklong celebration.

Additionally this week, Chris Doyen (English), Gina Herera (Art), Javier Llamas (History), Josh Ottum (Music) and Kris Tiner (Music) were announced as winners for the Norman Levan Summer Grants.

Check out last year’s closing day at https://sonyachristianblog.com/2018/05/12/a-commencement-of-firsts/

Early College Virtual Support Events

Early College graduating class of 2019

Early College is holding multiple virtual support events to help onboard students. There are recommended courses lists and information on how to apply/update student applications.

High school students can enroll in tuition-free courses that can be transferred to a 2- or 4-year degree. You can learn more about the Virtual Support Events, or register for the sessions on May 20, May 27, June 3, or June 10, on our website.

You can also visit the Early College website for more information about the program.

Check out last year’s commencement at https://sonyachristianblog.com/2019/05/19/bcs-105th-commencement/

BC Nurse inducted into Nurses Honor Society

Debra Strong, RN, our college nurse at the Student Health and Wellness Center, was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurses Honor Society on May 2. ‘You can check out the induction video below:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/414303531?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0

Nu Upsilon Virtual Induction from Nu Upsilon on Vimeo.

M&O taking care of campus

This week, I received an email from Caroline Walth commending members of our M&O staff, Martha Gonzalez and Ofelia Hernandez, who have been taking great care of our administration building plants while campus is closed.

Thank you Martha Gonzalez and Ofelia Hernandez!

And here is a photo of Caroline Walth from my wordpress photo album. Thank you Caroline for sharing your excitement about your department and staff.

Catherine Rangel, Caroline Walth and Jo Ellen Barnes

Celebrating our students

This semester, our students have risen to the challenges they faced, and they adapted quickly to unexpected changes. I could not be more proud of our student Renegades and all they have accomplished this year. And while we were not able to have our traditional commencement last night, we are finding ways to celebrate our students’ achievements – and we will continue to find more ways. I wanted to share a few of the things we have done so far:

You can visit our BC website to see a page that celebrates our graduates who will be transferring to other institutions.

We have also created a virtual flipbook to celebrate our Honors Students.

Through donor support, 436 students were named for the 545 award opportunities available, and over $500,000 will be awarded for the 2020/2021 academic year.

The Bakersfield College Scholarship program could not be possible without the generous donors that contribute to the Bakersfield College Foundation.

Community Voices

Chris Cruz-Boone from our Communication Department wrote a wonderful piece in the Bakersfield Californian about the shift to online teaching at Bakersfield College, and how how we at BC are continuing to move forward and find innovative ways to serve our students during this pandemic.

“It is a strange moment in history, and I will proudly remember that I was working at Bakersfield College where we are training people for the workforce, to learn a new skill or get credits until they can move on to a university.”

BC Chamber Singers

Performing Arts Department Chair Jennifer Garrett shared this video she put together about the BC Chamber Singers‘ experiences before the pandemic and shelter in place orders.

Amazon presents to Industrial Automation

On May 6th, Career Education welcomed Amazon Representatives to present on their current positions available within their Robotics, Maintenance and Engineering Department. Industrial Automation Students learned about the position qualifications, application process, examination and training opportunities.

Fun Photos

I love this throwback trivia from our Athletics Twitter:

Educational Advisor Isabel Castaneda shared a glimpse into how she spent her last day of the semester:

The library shared their well wishes for our graduates:

And librarian Mindy Wilmot posted this image encouraging us all to keep going:

Nice Facebook post by Matt Garrett about emailing his students.

Athletics

Our talented media intern in the athletics department, Jacob Amado, put together highlight videos for both our men’s and women’s basketball season this last year. Click below to see his excellent work. Great work, Jacob!

2019-20 Renegade Men’s and Women’s Basketball Highlights

2019-20 Men’s Basketball Highlights: 

2019-20 Women’s Basketball Highlights: 

Dasia Wandick is Headed to Webber International University

Fresh off winning the Renegade Athletics Career Achievement Award this year, Dasia Wandick of Renegade Women’s Basketball has signed and committed to continue her academic and basketball career at Webber International University in Florida. Dasia has been an extremely hard worker and leader for Coach Paula Dahl the last two years and we are excited for the next step in her journey!

That’s all for now.
Until next time.
With much Renegade Pride and Collegiality.
sonya –
the luckiest and happiest college president ever

BC… Raising the Bar

Uncategorized December 22, 2019 Comments: 2
Jingle Bells. BC at BSO Dec 6 2019
Sleigh Ride BSO Dec 6 2019
Both photos snapped while walking Neo on Dec 21, 2019

Merry Christmas

Started this week’s blog with Christmas music from the BSO-BC Home for the Holidays concert. Featured below is the fun version of Twelve Days of Christmas performed by our new Mens Choir. See if you can spot some of our faculty and staff and in the video. Going left to right: Nicky Damania, Chris Glaser, Nick Strobel.

Celebrating our BC Foster Youth through the NextUp Program!

NextUp, a Foster Youth Support Program housed within EOPS, had an end-of-the-year celebration this past Tuesday.

  • NextUp Survival Kits
  • EOPS program manager Patty Ramirez laughing with NextUp student Shaquille Hill.
  • NextUp Counselor Jeff Stambook chatting with NextUp student’s Jasmine Gutierrez and Andy Sanchez.
  • NextUp Counselor Jeff Stambook with NextUp student Adrian Cazarez working to finish Human Bingo.
  • NextUp Program Manager Maria Baltazar helping NextUp student Chance Rubalcado finish his human bingo sheet
  • NextUp Student Andy Sanchez with his NextUp survival kit.
  • NextUp student’s and staff playing human bingo
  • NextUp students lining up for dinner
  • NextUp Students Rosemary Wiley and Joshua Crevison with NextUp Educational Advisor Chase Amos completing on Human Bingo.
  • NextUp students socializing and enjoying dinner.

Fun Photos: UMOJA Recognizes June Charles

June Charles being recognized by the Umoja Program. Thank you Andrea Thorson for the photos.

  • June Charles

Fun Photos from the December KCCD Board meeting

Snapped some fun pictures at the Dec KCCD Board meeting. Was great seeing Bill Henry who was recognized by the Board for his tenure at KCCD. Also,Gary Moser and KCCD received an award from Ellucian for the innovative work we are doing statewide. Finally both Romeo Agbalog and Kyle Carter were recognized by KCSOS.

  • Trustee Corkins, Danielle Hillard, Bill Henry
  • Trustee Carter & Chancellor Burke
  • Trustee Agbalog
  • Bill Henry

Sandi Taylor was recognized as Manager of the Month by Manny Mourtzanos this past week. Congrats Sandi! You deserve it!

Manny Mourtzanos and Sandi Taylor

Annual Culinary and Caroling Dinner

Topping Out Party

Steve Anderson, Bill Potter, Sonya Christian

On Friday, S.C. Anderson held it’s “topping out” party for the new Campus Center building.  I joined our very own Bill Potter, Tamara Baker, Zav Dadabhoy, Billie Jo Rice, Nicky Damania, and Pam Kelley, along with KCCD Project Manager Nick Hernandez to celebrate this occasion. 

  • Project Manager Bill Campe

Kurt Hettinger of S.L. Shaw Company, Inc. sent this great explanation of the tradition:

Atop the rust-and-grey steel, a white beam sprouts a green tree from another era.

The “topping out” of a steel framed building with an evergreen tree is an ironworker tradition that originated centuries ago by Scandinavians who believed that gods lived in trees. The evergreen branch is a remnant of a time when builders thought they had to appease the gods whose trees they felled for construction.

Early Scandinavians would place the top-most  branches of trees that were cut for lumber atop their completed buildings. They believed this prevented incurring the wrath of both the tree gods and the souls of men, since man’s soul was believed to originate in trees and return to them.

To live amiably among the tree gods, these early builders accompanied the topping out with festivity and ceremony, culminating with the pouring of wine at the foot of the building. With this, they thought the building and its occupants would gain good luck since no tree god would wreck vengeance on so devout a believer.

Except for the presence of alcohol on a worksite, the topping out practice remains common in the United States, where the last beam of a significant building is painted and signed by all the workers involved. Then a living tree, or at least leafy branch, is placed on the beam, often with flags and banners tied to it. S.L. Shaw, like any red-blooded company, proudly flies the stars-and-stripes on the final beam every time too.

S.L. Shaw Company is proud to continue this tradition, and is proud to have partnered with SC Anderson and Mechanical Industries for the erection of this noteworthy project.

Congratulations on a job well done!

Kurt Hettinger

S.L. Shaw Company, Inc.

I would like to thank S.L. Shaw Company, Inc. SC Anderson and Mechanical Industries for including us in this unique tradition. Specifically, thank you to project manager Bill Campe of SC Anderson, Lee Shaw and Kurt Hettinger of S.L. Shaw, Bob Varner of Ordiz Melby Architects, as well as crane operator Trent Gardener, Nestor and Jose Ramirez for all of their hard work. I cannot wait to see the finished product next December!

You can see more photos from the event on Bakersfield College’s Smug Mug or the A Better BC Facebook page.

Army vs. Navy Football Game

Paul Beckworth hosted the annual Army vs. Navy football game between the Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, and the Navy Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy (USNA) at Annapolis, Maryland. Check out the pictures!

  • Tony Cordova, Sonya Chrstian, Paul Beckworth, Steve Holmes, Tommy Tunson, Matt Garrett and Lisa Robles
  • Paul Beckworth, Mike Giacomini and his wife
  • Paul Beckworth and his sister Ileen
  • Sonya Christian & Lisa Robles

This game brings out the best rivalries at our campus, and it was a joy to be a part of it! Congrats to the Navy on their well-earned win (sorry Tommy Tunson!)!

Steve Holmes playing middle man between Paul Beckworth (Nacy) and Tommy Tunson (Army)
Tony Cordova (Navy), Tommy Tunson (Army) and Paul Beckworth (Navy)

The Southern San Joaquin Valley Cal-SOAP Consortium held a Winter Training Series!

BC’s California Student Opportunity and Access Program (Cal-SOAP) staff attended a two-day winter staff development series, which was geared towards preparation for the Cal-SOAP work with high school seniors for the spring semester. Tpoics included the Common Application by Nora Dominguez of University of LaVerne, Naviance Career Inventory by Christy Fraley of Kern High School District.

Cal-SOAP is a statewide program designed to increase the number of students attending college. The program serves students who are from low-income families, will be the first in their family to attend college, or are from areas or schools with low-eligibility or college-going rates. Cal-SOAP was established by the state legislature in 1978 and today operates in 14 locations throughout the state. Cal-SOAP is funded and administered by the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC).

Tour of the New Veterans Resource Center

If you weren’t able to join us for the Vernon Valenzuela Veterans Resource Center ribbon cutting on December 10, have no fear! Take a tour of the new facility through the camera lens! 

You can also see the astounding photos that Max Becherer donated to the new VRC. They’re incredibly powerful.

To San Antonio, Christmas 1977

A beautiful Jack Hernandez poem.

PB&J During Finals Week

Thank you BCSGA for providing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches during finals week.

Thank you to the Office of Student Life, BCSGA, and the Renegade Pantry.

Christmas Tree Recycling

This year, we’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of our Christmas tree recycling partnership with the City of Bakersfield. Stop by the southwest parking lot on the  corner of University and Haley to drop your Christmas tree off between December 25 and January 17.

 Image courtesy of KBAK 29/58

If the Panorama Campus is too far to bring your tree, you can drop it off at the Kern County Fairgrounds, the Shafter/Wasco landfill, or any number of locations throughout Kern County. Stacey Shepard of the Bakersfield Californian put together a convenient list of all the Christmas tree recycling locations in our area. 

If you live in the Metro Bakersfield area, you can also place Christmas trees into your green waste container as long as the tree is cut into small pieces and the container lid is able to close completely.

M&O Never Sleeps!

The Maintenance & Operations department has been busy over the winter recess making sure that our campus is beautiful for our return in January! They’ve been replacing the flooring in the FACE building west wing and CDC classrooms.  Instructors in the Humanities building will have new stations when they return, and the Delano campus will have new lighting! Thank you to our entire M&O team for continually working hard to make our campuses beautiful and kept to the highest standards for our students.  We appreciate you! 

  • FACE floor replacement

Measure J: Preparing for New Science & Engineering Building

Over winter break contractors are putting up the construction fence for the upcoming Measure J funded Science & Engineering building.  This new three-story facility will house offices, labs and classrooms for BC’s Science & Engineering department. The 68,300 square foot building has a program value of $65 million and is scheduled to be completed in September 2021.  Mark your calendars for the groundbreaking ceremony to be held on February 4th!   

Fun Photos from the BC Behavioral Science Elves

BC’s Behavioral Science faculty including David Riess, David Rohac, and Jordan Rude wish all their colleagues, friends, students, and president happy holidays!

‘Tis the Season for Giving—

The CARE and CalWORKs parent programs hosted their annual holiday celebration at Rollerama last Friday, a true family friendly affair! Student accomplishments were celebrated along with their children as they skated, enjoyed a meal together, and took family pictures with Santa Claus upon receiving the children’s Christmas gifts from the “Adopt a Family” project.

All the families with a total of 130 children were adopted by our generous BC faculty, staff, and community partners. A big “THANK YOU” for purchasing dinner at our Chipotle fundraiser, providing donations and/or going out of your way to purchase presents for the children! A special acknowledgement goes to Juan Estrada who adopted 12 families!!  I am beyond proud to be the President of such a giving and generous college! 

Fun Photos: Holiday Gifts

Check out the decorations on the cookies from the Grimm Family Ed Foundation.

Pressed flower cookies from Grimm Family Education Foundation

Student Employee Testimonial

Ramon Carriedo says..

Ramon Carriedo

Going to college and having a job can be hard. Balancing work and study is not easy, especially for a full-time student like myself. Fortunately, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be a student employee here at BC, which helps me stay focused on school while earning a paycheck at the same time.

Being a student employee has taught me a lot of skills that can only benefit me in the future. Plus, I get to see all the hard work done behind the scenes to keep the school successful.

In the Marketing Department, I work alongside writers, photographers, graphic designers, web content editors, and leaders. Working around all of these specialists is an amazing opportunity to gather knowledge, which is my favorite part. When I first started working here, I had no clue on how to make documents accessible or work with graphic design. With no experience covering an event, Earl Parsons walked me through the basics of how to take notes and catch a reader’s eye with my writing. He also taught me how to use a digital camera and find the best angles.

My favorite memory of working here had to be the day that I walked in and Monika Scott asked me if I would be willing to help the team present in front of all the new staff. When I asked Monika when this meeting was going to happen, she replied that it was in the next 15 minutes. I instantly started studying the slides, and I walked into the meeting room feeling extremely confident. But when it was my turn to present, everything I thought I was going to say flew right out the window. I started stuttering and I felt frozen.

After the presentation, Monika let me know that this was a great learning experience, and in the future, jobs will ask me to present on short notice. The more practice you get at it, the better you become – just one of the many lessons I’ve learned as a BC student employee.

New Employee Orientation

Holidays are Going to the Dogs

So….. what should I get Neo and Bessie for Christmas? This led me to wonder how many others think about buying Christmas presents for their pets. According to the APPA (American Pet Products Association), American’s are estimated to spend $75.38 billion dollars on pets in 2019! Isn’t that incredible? They estimate that $16.44 billion of that will be spent on “Supplies/OTC Medicine.” DogTime.com had some fun holiday statistics:

· Dog owners are more likely to give their pet a gift than cat owners (but that gap is closing)
· 4 out of 10 pet owners confess to giving presents to others as if it was from their pet
· 54% of pets will have Christmas stockings this year
· 34% have a special pet-safe advent calendar
· 29% of pets will get a Christmas card from their owner (Maybe the pets enjoy having it read to them)
· 16% of owners feature their pets on their Christmas cards (TheNosePrint.com claims this is 43%)
· 3% say their pets are writing a letter to Santa Paws (he exists, you just have to believe)

TheNosePrint.com surveyed people and ranked states according to their expenditure on their pets. While the average was $23.10, California ranked 6th with spending an average of $26.07 per dog for state residents. I’m not going to confess where I ranked for Neo this year.

Here are some fun photos of BC Employee’s dogs. If you would like your pet featured in my blog, do send a photo to Aricia Leighton or me.

Lesley Bond’s Blue