Legacy Program Attends Umoja Conference
The Legacy Program is one of the various ways that the college helps students reach their dreams of college success. With an emphasis on the African American experience in the United States, the program focuses on assisting educationally underrepresented populations of students. Legacy combines a strong and focused academic curriculum with counseling, mentoring, and experiential learning opportunities. Recently, students and faculty from the program joined with their sister program at Fullerton College, the Umoja Community, to attend the statewide Umoja Community Conference.
Cypress and Fullerton College faculty conference attendees:
Umoja (a Kiswahili word meaning unity) is a statewide community of educators and learners committed to the academic success, personal growth and self-actualization of students with an emphasis on the African American experience.
Legacy students showing pride in their program:
The conference ran from November 6-7 in Oakland with the theme Our Students Matter: Cultural Democracy; Equity As Action, and featured breakout sessions, a College Fair, and guest speakers. At a time of great national discussion of diversity and equity, the Umoja Conference brought together the voices of students, presenters, and other participants to “…explore equity as a verb, an act of doing.”
Legacy student conference attendees:
Programs such as Legacy have helped the college attain several very notable recent recognitions.
In 2015 these include:
– #3 in C.A. | Ranked Top Three California Community Colleges (Schools.com)
– #3 in the Region | Ranked Top Three in Greater Los Angeles & Orange County for Student Transfer and Graduation Rates (EdSmart.org)
– 2/3ds of the Class of 2015 qualified for transfer to a UC or CSU institution.
Thank you to Legacy Program students and faculty for your active participation in discussing these important issues.