The Guided Pathways Exchange

We hope you all had a fantastic Summer sprinkled with at least a little bit of rest, relaxation, and fun!

As we begin the 2025–2026 academic year, let’s take a moment to reflect on our charge shared by President Sokenu in his 25-26 Welcome Back letter:

We need to lean into high-impact practices proven to foster student engagement and success. By embracing innovation and being open to new practices and strategies, we can enhance the student experience and bring even more students to the finish line in their journey at Moorpark College.

After about seven months of innovation and iteration, we have finalized the 2025-2026 Moorpark College student planner. 750 copies were provided to students who attended New Student Welcome. The remaining copies can be found with Claudia Sitlington and the Success Coach team at the Success Center!

Students who join FYE programs report feeling more connected, more confident, and are more likely to stick with their goals and succeed.

As faculty, staff, and administrators, you have a unique chance to help students tap into this opportunity. Just encouraging them to apply can go a long way in helping them feel supported and part of something bigger.

Interested in learning more about our FYE/SYE programs?

Contact: Claudia Sitlington

Email: csitlington@vcccd.edu

Would you like for a Success Coach from FYE/SYE to come and visit your class? Send an email request to mcfye@vcccd.edu or directly to Claudia Sitlington csitlington@vcccd.edu to schedule a visit! We want for your students to take advantage of the resources provided by the Success Coaches and the Student Success Center. Visit our website for more details!

For the first time EVER, Guided Pathways and ASMC are teaming up to host Club Rush + Deciding Day on September 16th-17th from 10am-2pm in the Quad.

Club Rush, held twice a year by ASMC, helps students connect with campus life. This year, we’re adding Deciding Day to help students affirm their academic pathway and goals, and further support their sense of belonging here at MC.

Instructional Faculty, Counselors, and Success Coaches will be available to answer questions and support students in choosing their program of study, joining clubs, and setting personal goals, all captured in a fun, “Pathway Pledge”.

Instructional Faculty stipend opportunity available. See the attached document and application link for details.

If you have found yourself thinking, Guided Pathways was sooooo last season, this one's for you! On top of the Guided Pathways goals detailed in Vision 2030, the Guided Pathways framework has further evolved into the five frontiers. The book, More Essential than ever: Community College Pathways to Educational & Career Success will be released at the end of this month (August), and describes the five frontiers and the changing landscape of community colleges in greater detail. If this sounds like a flex day presentation to you, I think you're on the right track....

We are very excited to announce that MC was one of six California Community colleges selected to be a part of the Program Pathways Mapper 2.0 pilot program. The goal is for us to update Mapper to reflect the 25-26 program of study maps (in accordance with CalGETC and AB 928 implementation) and transition into PPM 2.0 in September. Stay tuned for more details!

As you know, Student Equity & Achievement and Guided Pathways are called to work as a unit. Guided Pathways provides the framework that Student Equity & Achievement, in part, implements with intentionality, specificity, and equity (as explained in ed code 78222 and ed code 88921).

MC is working on an exciting opportunity to enhance this collaborative effort. More on that soon!

• 👀2025-2028 Student Equity & Achievement Plan We are working diligently with many folks from campus to deliver a SEA plan representative of MC's mission and vision. The draft of the SEA plan is coming to an ASMC, Classified & Academic Senate, and IPC meeting near you (in September).
• Career Assessment-- the amazing MC Counselors working on GP efforts this Spring have identified several options for a career assessment moving forward. Similar to what is offered at Rogue Community College, we would like to offer ALL students (prospective included) the opportunity to take a career assessment in which the results also are customized to match students to a program of study offered at MC.
• A brand new- instructional faculty informed- Guided Pathways Data Dashboard! Hold your applause for this one folks--- because this thing is looking AMAZING & there are many important details to discuss. Thanks to Kim Watters for taking in all of the instructional faculty feedback from our Spring 2025 project. The dashboard is not quite ready for viewing just yet, but we will let you know (probably in the form of a flex-day workshop) when it is ready! If you attended the fall flex day GP workshop- you were one of the lucky ones to get a sneak peek! 👀
• SUMMER BRIDGE- that's right folks, Guided Pathways is preparing to offer a robust summer bridge program- set to launch Summer 2026 with an emphasis on providing our students with the necessary resources to start (and complete) successfully here at MC.

We invite you to join us at our next Guided Pathways meeting! Remember- GP is an institutional commitment - so if you're wondering if you have a seat at the table, you most absolutely do. See you there!

Committee Members:

Co-Chairs: John Loprieno & Katie Peña

Members: Dave Anter, Melanie Csellak, Jodi Dickey, DeAnna Grove, Jenna Horn, Mark Huff, Laura Maldonado, Claudia Sitlington

Fall 2025 Meeting Schedule (all meetings take place from 3:15pm-4:15pm) on zoom:

• August 26th
• September 23rd
• October 28th
• November 25th

We are so excited to have Dr. Kristen Robinson leading the Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program here at MC. Make sure you give MESA a follow on Instagram (@moorparkcollegemesa) & also take a few moments to read the MESA webpage to learn more!

Let's help support Kristen as she builds this amazing program!!

Did you know MC is full of amazing left-handedness. The proof is in the pudding:

• Jodi Dickey
• Kimberly Murdock
• Kristen Robinson
• Claudia Sitlington
• Katie Peña

But wait, there's more! Are you a fellow southpaw not on this list? Email Katie and we can get you on here!

As we wrap up this month's newsletter, we can't forget that many of you are parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, legal guardians, supporters, and much more to the many high school, middle school, and elementary school students starting school this week.

We hope they have an amazing first week of classes, and that you, as a major part of their lives, celebrate yourself and everything you've done to help them be the best version of themselves they can be.

Kudos to all of us here at MC for helping to shape the future of not only this community, but our world.

Katie Peña, Director of Guided Pathways at Moorpark College

kpena@vcccd.edu

805-553-4187