President Schilling’s Board Report for June 14, 2022

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 June 14, 2022

On April 1, the Cypress College Cybersecurity team took 60 students in our Magnolia High School Cyber Security in Three Program (CS3) on a trip to the University of California, Irvine, to reward those students who successfully passed all their college courses at Cypress College. Students competed in activities such as the UCI Rope Course, in which they had to cross through a variety of rope obstacles as a team. To read more about our CS3 Program at Magnolia HS, our CyberPatriot Program at 13 elementary and middle schools, and our student success stories in cybersecurity, please read the Cybersecurity Center Spring 2022 Edition newsletter.

Charger Fridays 2022 — This spring, the Charger Experience Team broke a new record high as they welcomed high school seniors from our local districts to our campus. Students were represented in all 10 AUHSD high schools, the Garden Grove Unified School District, Los Alamitos High School District, and ABC District. This spring, 1,032 students completed the matriculation process, took campus tours, and connected with Student Services and Academic Programs. This is the highest number of students participating in Charger Fridays since the inception of the program in 2016! A special thank you to the entire Charger Experience Team, Ambassadors, Mentors, Career Center, EOPS, DSS, Legacy, Puente, Associated Students, and all of the Student Support and Academic Programs for their weekly dedication in ensuring a successful transition for our fall 2022 Charger Experience students!

The National Conference on Race & Ethnicity (NCORE) 2022 occurred May 31 – June 4, 2022 in Portland, Oregon. Cypress College was well represented with 23 faculty, staff, and managers attending the conference. They were sponsored by the Student Equity and Achievement Committee (SEA) and Professional Development. Those in attendance represented members of the Equity Framework Committee, Student Equity and Achievement Committee, DEI Committee, Title V Coaches, and Management. Cypress was also represented in a session for the NOCCCD, Future Instructor Training (FIT) Program, presented by Ranmalee A. Perera, Dr. Annette Letcher, and Dr. Christina Chao.  The members of the NCORE 2022 Team included: Virgil Adams, Belinda Allan, Zola Aponte, Maha Afra, Ashley Berry, Dr. Paul de Dios, Janet Owen Driggs, Dr. Temperence Dowdle, Steven Estrada, Dr. Lisa Gaetje, Ruth Gutierrez, Brittany Hamer, Jenelle Herman, Dr. Annette Letcher, Amelia Mosley, Ranmalee A. Perera, Dr. Kathleen Reiland, Alison Robertson, AnnMarie Ruelas, Angela Sardan, Stephanie Tran, Dr. David Vakil, Gisela Verduzco.

The 2022 graduating Student Ambassadors have all been accepted to four-year universities and will be transferring this fall. They persevered through the pandemic, beginning their journey at Cypress College online and finishing strong as student leaders. We thank them for their leadership at Cypress College and congratulate them as they enter the next phase of their academic journey! They are: Aylin Paez, UC San Diego – Business Administration; Nikki Calub, UC Los Angeles – Psychology: Vanessa Hau, UC Berkeley – Business Administration; Skye Thune, Mercy College – Behavioral Science; and Sydney Pike, UC Los Angeles – Political Science.

Our Dual Enrollment team will be presenting in September at the 9th Annual CCEMC Dual Enrollment Summit: Moving Forward: Balancing and Reconnecting, on September 16, 2022. Dr. Henry Hua and his team will be presenting on Leading with Equity in Dual Enrollment Practices. Cypress College will share best practices in developing equitable pathways to reaching underrepresented students in higher education, including innovative approaches to recruiting cohorts of students by establishing relationships with students and their families before they begin their high school journey. We will also share our student support infrastructure which has helped our program maintain over a 92% student success rate. Congratulations to Stephanie Teer, Dr. Hua, and their team!

The Citi* University Partnerships in Innovation & Discovery (CUPID) just wrapped up their Cohort Three projects, and two of the 10 finalists from across the CA community colleges are from NOCCCD – one each from Cypress and Fullerton colleges. This outstanding collaboration between Citi Ventures and the CA Community Colleges has led to students gaining high-level opportunities and experiences. Orange County has yielded 50% or more of the finalists each year, as is the case again in SP2022.

Four Legacy students (Paris Monae, Amara Hodges, Zoe Morgan, and Rachel Andres) completed the Legacy Internship Training Program, which was a collaborative effort between Legacy, CPC, Communications, and Counseling, along with Virtual Care and DSS. The goal of the Legacy Internship Program is for students to move through a career training boot camp where they learn more about their career path, then are placed into that career path to enhance their professional soft skills training, becoming more marketable to future employees. This program is spearheaded by Dr. Troy Davis, Regina Rhymes, and Angela Sardan. Congratulations to our completing students!

Cypress is looking forward to an HBCU Campus Tour in October 2022 where we will take 15 sophomore students to visit HBCU campuses such as Morgan State, Howard University, Bowie State, University of Maryland, and Eastern Shore College, to name a few. Our goal is to empower students to think about attending an HBCU and increase our student transfer rate in 2022-2023.

Dr. Schilling is featured in the LPA Design July edition of their online magazine, Catalyst. This edition focuses on the innovative design work being accomplished at community colleges and features an interview with Dr. Schilling, discussing our new SEM and VRC Buildings. See page 37, titled A Pathway to the Future.

Cypress College welcomed the Citizens Oversight Committee to our campus on June 1. The quarterly meeting was held from 4-5 p.m., followed by an exciting interactive session in our Immersive Digital Classroom (IDC) led by Professor Michael Frey. Participants also had the opportunity for a campus tour of our new SEM and VRC Buildings. Thank you to Vice Chancellor, Fred Williams, and Leslie Tsubaki, for organizing g a great meeting and to Alex Porter, Alison Coburn, and Alejandra Ramirez for leading the tours.

Our STEM(2) Program celebrated the accomplishments of their graduating students on May 27, 2022. Forty-eight students are transferring to a four-year institution; 53 students were admitted to the NASA on Campus program – the most of any of the 12 colleges nationally at NASA minority serving  institutions; five students are featured in our #CYProud campaign on campus;  Bradi Palomerez was the Presidential Scholar of Distinction from the SEM Division as well as the Outstanding Graduate of the Year, and was just accepted into a summer internship program at Boston University; Hillary Calderon was one of only three Seed to Tree Scholarship Awardees, this year from AHSIE (Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators) and the only student from a community college; 82 students applied to one or more summer research programs from Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Fullerton, Boston University, and UC Merced; and two of our alumnus from the program were accepted into Ph.D. programs at Cornell and UNLV respectively. What an impressive group in an impressive program. Congratulations to all!

Buen Cypress! We Take This Journey Together!

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