President Schilling’s Board Report for October 12, 2021
The following is a report to members of the North Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees
Presented by Cypress College President JoAnna Schilling, Ph.D.
on October 12, 2021
Cypress College will be holding the second of its two fall vaccination clinics on October 18 to assist students and employees in meeting the November 1 mandate. The second clinic will be held at the Cypress NOCE location from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., providing first and second doses of Pfizer, as well as Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines on request. Any student or employee who receives their second vaccination dose (or first of Johnson & Johnson) by October 18 will meet the November 1 deadline.
Future Built, the Orange County Strong Workforce campaign, featured two of Cypress’ programs in their most recent newsletter: our Aviation and Automotive Technology programs. Click here to read these stories and how Cypress is making a difference in the lives of our students.
Over 40 Cypress College students attended the Huntington Beach Airshow on October 1-3. In preparation for this annual event, Cypress’ Aviation instructor, Ed Valdez, realized a lifelong dream of flying with the Blue Angels, during a practice run on September 29 at the Joint Forces Airbase in Los Alamitos. Ed has inspired so many of our students to reach for their dreams, so it was gratifying to see him realize one of his. Thanks to Kathleen Reiland, Marc Posner, Cypress council member Anne Hertz, and Supervisor Katrina Foley for attending.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and on Wednesday, October 6, the Health Center hosted the inaugural Community Partner Spotlight, inviting the Long Beach Trauma Recovery Center and the Women’s Transitional Living Center (WTLC) to present about interventions and support in observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Additionally, on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, from 12-1 p.m., the college continues our Wellness Wednesdays. This month the topic will be “Negotiating Boundaries with Family and Friends.” This workshop will present tips and tools to negotiating agreements and setting boundaries to create healthy habits in relationships, whether romantic or plutonic. More details to come for this workshop.
Stephanie Teer and Stephanie Flores were selected to present at the California Coalition of Early and Middle Colleges (CCEMC) 8th Annual Dual Enrollment Summit on September 23-24, along with Amanda Bean of AUHSD. Their presentation, titled Dual Enrollment Success Strategies in a Virtual World, featured the best practices to support students in the transition to virtual learning. The collaboration between both institutions introduced new strategies to capitalize on the opportunity to develop an innovative learning environment through the establishment of an online public high school embedded with various dual enrollment pathways. Congratulations to our Dual Enrollment team!
Cypress College Court Reporting was well represented at the National Court Reporter’s Association Annual Convention held in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood this past summer. Two students, Julia Kalina and Shayna Lutsky, were selected to receive convention sponsorship by the Los Angeles County Court Reporter’s Association. In total, Cypress College had more than 15 students in attendance, one of the largest groups of students nationally. In addition, the Los Angeles County Court Reporter’s Association is also sponsoring six Cypress students to attend the virtual California Court Reporter’s Association convention to be held October 15– 17. Our Cypress College Court Reporting students Alissa Legaspi, Alison Kelly, David Wong, Danielle Jones, Monica Ortega, and Nicole Marsalek look forward to attending.
In other news, our EOPS/CARE, CalWORKs & Guardian Scholars programs served more than 850 students during the spring 2021 semester and over 1,000 unduplicated students throughout the year. The program continues to support, engage, and connect with students by providing counseling, textbook assistance, priority registration, workshops, and events; services are now offered both virtually and in-person. The spring 2021 EOPS graduating class was the largest to date, with just over 200 students graduating and transferring.
Cypress College was named a subrecipient to CSUF’s Project RAISER grant. As a subrecipient, Cypress College will be awarded $15,000 per year for five years for a total of $75,000 (October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2026). This grant will focus on providing research opportunities for our students. Congratulations to Yanet Padilla for her application for this grant and dedication to the STEM(2) program.
In other STEM news, a group of 20 students attended the Base 11 Next Frontier Expo and Virtual Conference held October 6-7. Base 11 is a local organization committed to opening industry and career opportunities to underrepresented students in the STEM fields. This opportunity was offered free to our students through a partnership collaboration with Cypress and Base 11.
With continued support from Pathways of Hope, our student services team and campus volunteers effectively maintained operations of the Food Pantry drive-thru service by distributing over 9,300 bags of dry goods, produce, toiletries, diapers, and hygiene products this past academic year. We will continue this drive-up distribution during the fall semester with the expectation of moving operations again to our new food pantry in the spring. Donations are still needed for hygiene goods such as soap, shampoo, deodorant, feminine products, diapers, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and other non-food products.
As previously announced, the annual Look Who’s Dancing fundraiser by Pathways of Hope was postponed until 2022, but our Dance students, under the leadership of Maha Afra, recorded a promotional video to promote our commitment in the fight to end hunger and homelessness. Pathways of Hope Development Manager, Mychael Blinde, visited the campus the last week of September to video the choreographed PSA. We thank our students and Professor Afra for their dedication to this important cause. We will share the video when it is released later this month!
Undocumented Student Action Week (USAW) is taking place October 18-22. The Cypress College Grads to Be Program provides counseling, legal aid assistance, financial aid and scholarship assistance, mental health referrals, and workshops and events. Free legal services are also offered to our undocumented students in coordination with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). Grads to Be served over 50 students this past year.
The Grads to Be Programs across NOCCCD are also partnering to present a vibrant list of virtual workshops and offerings in celebration of USAW. Now in its fifth year at the state level, USAW encourages California Community Colleges to engage in advocacy and support efforts in solidarity with undocumented students throughout the state.
Buen Cypress! We Take This Journey Together