Four teams presented at the Strengthening Student Success Conference in Oakland from October 7- 9, 2015, highlighting Skyline College’s institutional work in teaching and supporting students with a social justice lens.

The Center for Innovative Practices through Hip Hop Education and Research (CIPHER) at Skyline College, led by counselor/coordinator, Nate Nevado, and English Instructor, Janice Sapigao, hosted their workshop titled, “Entering the CIPHER: Fresh Techniques, Hip Hop Elements, and Edutainment in the Classroom” to over 40 participants.  In the workshop, participants were provided with an experiential and transformative learning environment that reflected on current modes of teaching that connects to social justice and Hip Hop pedagogy.  Using concepts such as edutainment and kinetic consumption, we discussed best practices utilized in our Hip Hop learning community and provided participants tools to empower their students to become agents of change in their own communities as well as enhancing their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills.

Testimonials:

“Incorporating Hip Hop in the classroom can inspire more creative learning.”

“Social media can be an effective method in getting information to students in an engaging manner.”

“Kinetic consumption is powerful to build community and for students to participate and take ownership of the class.”

Comprehensive Diversity Framework: Developing Institutional Commitment to Equity through the Practice of Critical Inquiry

SEEED Presenters/ Facilitators:   Angelica Garcia, Lucia Lachmayr, Aaron McVean, David Reed, and Karen Wong

Despite our interactive presentation being at 8:30 in the morning following the main conference, about fifty participants packed into the crowded room to hear about how Skyline College has been developing its institutional commitment to equity through the practice of critical inquiry. This presentation was the second on the Diversity Framework, the first being at last year’s conference. Angelica Garcia and Lucia Lachmayr began by providing the historical context out of which our current efforts arose. In Fall 2012, the Stewardship for Equity, Equal Employment and Diversity (SEEED) committee initiated a comprehensive, structured effort via forging a Diversity Framework, which employed an equity driven systems change model and identified eight domains for investigation, and has since informed our Equity Plan. Lucia and David Reed presented their findings on the student services domain, narrowing the focus to who was accessing services in the Learning Center. The many practitioners in the room helped to brainstorm ways to address the needs of the four groups that were underrepresented in proportion to their enrollment. Aaron McVean and Karen Wong presented on the second domain, leadership, one angle being the campus leadership’s practices as it relates to promoting an equity perspective, and another being on who constitutes our leadership and the factors that encourage or discourage faculty and staff to pursue leadership positions.  Using i-clickers, participants answered some of the questions from our own campus’ survey, which gave participants insights on where their campuses stood in relation to other campuses, and worked in dyads to discuss follow-up questions that modelled how they could engage in such discussions on their respective campuses. The energy was high even after the session ended, which reinforced just how eager people are to participate in such discussions as they implement their equity plans with the hope that their entire campuses will be invested. SEEED committee members have begun dialoging about these results and look forward to engaging our own campus colleagues.

SparkPoint’s Measurement for Mitigating Economic Disparities

“Dr. Angelica Garcia, Heather Smith, and Julie Lamson delivered a presentation in the “Emerging Strategies” strand on Wednesday, October 7^th. The presentation focused on SparkPoint at Skyline College’s innovative approach to mitigating economic disparities in higher education. The greatest predictor of bachelor’s degree attainment in the U.S. is family income, yet not all individuals have equal access to quality higher education. SparkPoint strengthens students’ financial capability and positively impacts persistence by providing free personalized financial education and coaching services, complemented by resources that allow individuals to meet their basic needs while in college. SparkPoint strategically collects data on each financial coaching client using Efforts to Outcomes software, which allows the organization to measure its impact in reducing poverty among its service population.

Participants shared personal testimonies and asked meaningful questions about best practices for replicating the SparkPoint model at their respective campuses. They seemed to agree that not enough is being done collectively by the 113 California community colleges to meet the needs of their changing student populations.

Investigating the “KA”: Strengthening the Bridge from High School to College via the Kababayan Learning Community Strand: Transforming the Pre-collegiate Experience

At the 2008 Strengthening Student Success Conference, Skyline College showcased the Kababayan Learning Community, which pairs English and counseling; assigns culturally relevant curriculum on the Filipino/Filipino-American experience; and reinforces the importance of pedagogical strategies, peer mentoring, and assessment as a means to motivate students. This year Marlboro Aelonar, Grace Burns, Liza Erpelo, and Kent Gomez provided an update of our work, primarily the addition of a college-level counseling course at a local high school, where the student population is approximately 40% Filipino. The presentation highlighted the need for not only culturally relevant instructional materials to facilitate student persistence and success, but also the creation of a stronger pipeline between high schools and colleges to address the unique challenges faced by Filipino and Filipino-American students pursuing higher education.

Article by Angelica Garcia

Skyline College Library has access to Total Boox ebooks collection for next 6 months from the CALIFA Consortium. Go to this Total Boox website, browse and download a wide range of fiction and nonfiction titles from top publishers to your mobile devices or tablets.

• You never have to wait to download an ebook, and your whole class of students can download the same ebook at the same time.
• You may download as many titles as you want.
• You can keep what you read on your device indefinitely and they are all free during these 6 months!

Article by Kim Lim

While most people were enjoying a day of leisure on Sunday, October 4th, four cosmetology student teams led by Instructor Tammy Calderon packed up their cars and headed for the Faggiano Student Competition at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk’s Coconut Grove. The preparation was rigorous for the Mardi Gras themed event: students worked day and night to create authentic looks that would wow judges, peers, and beauty industry experts.  Madrid of Madrid’s International in Oakland delivered a lecture and demonstration about current beauty trends in hair extension, haircutting, and hair color.  Nicolas of The Nicolas System of Precision Haircutting in San Francisco also shared knowledge and experience that will help students take their haircutting skills to a higher level.

Students were judged in three categories:  Hair, nails, and makeup, requiring them to work both independently and collectively.  They had to be innovative, creative and, flexible, communicating in ways that inspired and fostered the respect of their peers.

“This experience was a good way to learn how to work as a team,” said student Ceci Chavez, who won 1^st prize in Makeup for her work on 2^nd prize winning model and classmate Sam Sorrells.

The competition was a great learning opportunity for students unaccustomed to collaboration. Ceci and her teammates Phoo Han Oo and Maryanne Huezo also won 2^nd place Overall.

For other students, the competition proved to be an occasion for career exploration.

“I was able to look at more options in the makeup industry. After this experience, I am going to apply for a fashion show certification at MAC cosmetics where I work,” said student Bianca Guzman, winner of 2^nd place in Makeup.

She enjoyed applying makeup in new ways and using new colors to create beautiful images.  She now realizes that she has more career options in the field of cosmetology than she previously thought.

Other students who competed included freshmen Victoria Chao, Samantha Law, Katherine Schmolke, and Cheyenne Hassler, as well as juniors Margaret Keselman, Bora Ohk, Jacie Pacheco, Chizy Joy Pagalunan, Adrian Guillory, and recent Skyline College graduate Sebastian Wang.

To see pictures of the students in the Faggiano Student Competition, please visit our Facebook page.

Article by Evette Carpenter

On Wednesday, October 7, 2015 the ASTEP Learning Community at Skyline College hosted its fall 2015 Family Night Celebration. The occasion was under the direction of ASTEP Coordinator, Nathan Jones and Interim Dean of Global Learning Programs and Services, Tammy Robinson. Activities for the evening began with ASTEP announcements and the introduction of ASTEP faculty, staff and campus supporters, all of whom made an effort to inspire students in attendance to get familiar with campus resources and to utilize these resources early on in their college careers.

Jenny Yang of the Financial Aide Office at Skyline College informed the audience about the under-utilization of amazing and far-reaching scholarships such as the Skyline College Scholarship. She did so in hopes that more students will apply for these alternate means of funding to assist in their college journeys.

Next, David Reed, The Learning Center Manager, facilitated an interactive discussion about benefits of using the TLC. He also highlighted resources that students may not realize are available through The Learning Center such as training for using your calculator, and he asked for audience participation to trouble shoot which TLC resources could best assist with such challenges, as well as what options are available when a student wishes to practice their Spanish in a group setting, and so forth. All presenters were an asset to the goals of getting ASTEP in, through and out of college on time.  The importance of growing academically was reinforced by several dignitaries present including President Stanback Stroud.

Before dinner, Counselor Brianna Clay and TLC/TRiO English Instructional Aide Chanel Daniels led a fun game of “Heads Up” where points were accrued and teams were formed to further highlight various support systems on campus, ASTEP related events and activities such as the Umoja Conference, key components of essay writing, and steps in the counseling process that will keep students on track. At the end of this segment, the reward for all was a delicious mix of potluck dishes prepared by the group and served by the young men present in the audience, in harmony with ASTEP tradition. This event was just one of many that we eagerly look forward to from the ASTEP Learning Community during the 2015-2016 academic year.

The ASTEP Learning Community welcomes students of all diverse backgrounds to join its ranks and strives to represent the experience of the African American community within Skyline College. For any questions about ASTEP, please feel free to contact ASTEP at 650-738-7037 or visit the program in Building 4.

Article and Photos by Chanel Daniels