President Schilling’s Board Report for December 12, 2023
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 December 12, 2023
As we end the fall semester there has been much to celebrate, and we appreciate all the efforts of our faculty, staff, and managers to motivate and support our students. Thank you, too, to our Board and Chancellor for attending so many of our celebrations and being visible in your support. To recap our enrollment for fall and looking ahead to winter and spring, here’s a brief overview:
Fall Semester: We will complete our fall semester with enrollment up 7.2% and FTES up 6.6%. Our classes had an 83% fill rate and course modality was almost equal across online, in person, and hybrid classes. Our enrollment growth continues to be seen in the 18-24-year-old population, with all demographic groups staying mostly the same with the exception of our Latinx population which grew by 2% from fall to fall.
Winter and Spring Enrollment: As of this writing, our winter classes maintain an 86% fill rate and we have added 185 FTES to our enrollment. We are currently assessing classes in Business, SEM, and Visual and Performing Arts, all of which are almost filled. Our highest enrollment are students 24-39, so we will be analyzing which students are enrolling. The CVC is also giving us a small bump, with 15 new students having enrolled as part of the Virtual College. Spring enrollment is also showing a positive trend with a 23% increase compared with spring last year. Right now, with winter and spring together we are seeing a 29% boost in enrollment from last year.
During the last week of classes and finals week, our library has stayed open until midnight Monday–Thursday in order to support students for our Finals Fuel nights. During the week leading into finals, we had over 700 students come in for snacks, a safe place to study, and technology access. During finals week, we have seen an even greater number of students using these services, averaging over 200 students a night. Currently we’ve had over 1,200 students attend Finals Fuel, with one more night to go! Thanks to our L/LRC staff, Student Services managers, and Charger Experience Team for creating this extra space for our students!
For winter break, the L/LRC building will be closed but will have staff scheduled online and on-site who will be actively answering emails/live chat during the December and January Winter Intersession. By special request, students can check out any library item and schedule a personal pick-up time during staff operational hours. Additionally, the items are available through our locker system (located outside our front doors) 24/7. Librarians will be working the Winter Intersession to answer any questions submitted through the librarian chat system. The librarians are also available for students to make personal research appointments. The librarians have spent considerable time on developing LibGuides and instructional videos that allow students to get help with research topics, as well as all potential campus navigation questions. Thank you to Dean Treisa Cassens and our Library staff for these extra services.
During the month of November, we saw a high number of students utilizing the services at our Food Pantry. This takes into consideration the expansion of our newest offerings from Bracken’s Kitchen and Trader Joes, along with Second Harvest. During November there were over 600 unduplicated students served and, with duplications of 1,615 children, 3,523 adults, and 769 seniors served. This includes Cypress and NOCE students. During the winter break the Cypress College Food Pantry will be open its normal operational hours of Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The only exception to that is during the holiday closure of the campus between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Our women’s soccer team had an amazing season, falling one penalty kick short of the championship. After soundly beating Consumes River on Friday, December 1, they faced Folsom Lake for the championship last Sunday, playing them to a 1-1 draw after regulation and overtime and losing on penalty kicks, 5-4. A heartbreaking loss, but our Chargers played with heart and integrity and we congratulate them for an exciting season. Thanks to Trustee Ryan Bent and Chancellor Breland for joining us to cheer our Chargers on!
Students from our Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management Program baked 15 turkeys as part of the city of Stanton’s Thanksgiving celebration which fed over 3,000 people on Thanksgiving Day. Special thanks to students Yash Songu, Cristina Olvera, Kevin Romero and faculty member Amanda Gargano for giving their time to share this act of kindness.
I am also happy to announce the winners of our annual Holiday Card contest. Over 40 students participated in this opportunity to create the Cypress College Holiday Card so this year you will be seeing winner Melissa (Missa) Timperio’s design as we send our greetings out to our campus and local community. Alvin Chen was our runner up, followed by Tyler Tran, Beatrice Broussard, and Ayila Rashid as our honorable mentions. Awards were provided by the Cypress College Foundation, awarding $500 to our 1st place winner, $250 for 2nd place, $100 for 3rd place and a $50 gift card to both honorable mentions. This year we had the best entrants we’ve ever seen as a group and are very excited for you to see their work.
On November 30, our Legacy Scholars enjoyed their 7th annual Cypress Kwanzaa Celebration. This year’s theme was Drumming, Dancing, and Soul Food. Keynote speaker Kenneth Starks, Dr. Byron Breland, and drummer Chazz were our special guests joining our scholars, faculty and families in the celebration. Thank you to Annette Letcher for making her famous banana pudding, and to Regina Rhymes and Virgil Adams for emceeing the event, our students for sharing the seven principles of Kwanzaa, and all our mentors for their year-long support of these engaged and hard-working scholars.
Thank you to everyone who participated in making the first Health Science Career Fair successful! We welcomed a variety of vendors and services to support students participating and interested in Health Science programs. Thank you to the support and effort of the Cypress community, administrators, classified, faculty, and student support programs. Encouraging and supporting students was the goal and we did that together. There were more than 120 students that received support, information, and direction from 13 vendors and services.
Media Arts and Design faculty coordinator, Kati Angelov, was accepted in the Let’s Glow San Francisco light show. This prestigious juried show, where Professor Angelov will be showing her projection mapping, will be shown to thousands of people in San Francisco, and she is credited as the chair of Media Arts Design at Cypress College in the media statement here. Congratulations Kati!
The Cypress College Foundation held our Americana Kick Off for all honorees and guests in the theater lobby on December 7, 2023. Honorees, past Citizens of the Year, their families, Foundation Board members, and community members were in attendance to launch the Americana fundraising. Special thanks to our sponsors led by Total Environmental Management, Title Sponsor US Bank, Forest Lawn, Opportunity Drawing Sponsor, Delight Sittman, and Board President, Curtis Scheetz for their generosity. We appreciate Board members Barbara Dunsheath and Stephen Blount for joining us.
Our annual Holiday Lunch was on December 6 with over 225 attendees in our event tent by the pond. Winners of the dessert and photo contests were: Christina Mix, Lisa Hoang, Jane Jepson, Kristina Oganesian, and Tori Felipe. Each winner received a gift certificate courtesy of Schools First. We will be holding a second holiday party for our evening employees on December 15.
Our Classified Senate is also hosting a Classified Holiday Breakfast on December 12, featuring a hot chocolate station, great food, and raffles donated again by Schools First. They are again raising funds for a Classified Educational Scholarship to assist our classified staff to continue reaching their educational goals. We thank Joshua Smith and his staff at Schools First for their support of our employees.
Our annual EOPS Adopt-A-Family will be held on December 14 from 4 – 6 p.m. in our event tent. This is the day that our EOPS families get to meet Santa, gather for dinner and holiday activities, and receive their wish list presents, generously donated by our employees and community. Thank you to all who donated; please join us for this festive event!
Buen Cypress! We Take This Journey Together!