5 Things to Know Weekly Update
Dear Colleagues:
“Eventful” seems like an understatement for last week. On Friday, we were informed that we would be called on to be a shelter for evacuees, and by Friday night, close to 180 people were sheltering in the gym. As I write this, the evacuation footprint was just reduced, but many people are still displaced and our site remains open. This is when our commitment to community is tested, and we met that test, largely due to classified professionals from Public Safety and M&O, who mobilized alongside Rick Hicks, Vince Hernandez, Joe Dowling, Minesh Lakhani and Denice Koen. Shout out especially to Sergio Laris, Jimmy Nguyen, Chad Miller, Vladimir Mucio, Esteban Barrera and everyone else who chipped in this weekend. You all made the College look great and helped many displaced folks.
Meridith
In other news: we had many end of year events last week, and they were all inspiring. On Tuesday, the Foundation facilitated giving out more than $400,000 in scholarships, and this year, students will receive the funds in June. Many thanks to Nexy Gavidia, Ryan Chung, and Jen Mower, plus all the volunteers.
Puente held its graduation dinner with graduates and students progressing to the next level – thank you, Nancy and Jessica – and Fran Farazdaghi was honored as she retires. And EOPS, Veterans and International Students all had programs for graduates as well – so wonderful to see them moving on to their next steps!
We also had our third (how the time flies!) graduation for 56 high school students from Los Amigos Early College Academy – four years from now, we will be adding graduates from Bolsa Grande.
End-of-year performances for dance, instrumental music and vocal music took place as well. I was only able to see Colette’s concert, which was rousing and enjoyable – and a special thank you to Brian Dauterive and Amanda Martin for sending me a video of the finale of Carmina Burana!
Last but not least, I hope everyone enjoyed the end of year BBQ – it was great to honor Kate Green, Chris Krupansky and Andre Manukyan as the EOYs for their respective groups, and everyone who received coins for service (you can see more photos on the GWC Gallery). It’s the first year we have not gotten complaints about the food (yet), so In ‘N’ Out forever. And apologies for my insensitive jokes – IYKYK.
This week, we will continue the rollout of the new logo, have the ELL and Nursing end of year celebrations, and oh yeah – graduation at 3:30 on Friday! See you at one or more of these.