The Skyline College Transfer Center hosted the annual Spring Transfer Fair on March 14th, 2018.

This year, the Transfer Center staff was able to organize a large university fair as we welcomed thirty colleges, including five CSU campuses, five UC campuses, eighteen private universities, and one out-of-state university, and a representative from California Community Colleges Transfer Agreement to HBCUs.

The university outreach professionals and admission advisers expressed how impressed they were with our students and their preparation. Also, the representatives were impressed with the participation of faculty and staff in our event. The representatives noted how incredible it was to see a community college that has made transfer a central part of the college’s mission. For example, one representative wrote, “Everyone was so kind and welcoming. It is great to see everyone working in the event and professors who visited, supporting their alma mater!”

Students shared their appreciation through the student evaluations of our event. Students gained valuable insight into the programs, support services, and majors that are available to transfer students.

“It was a very good opportunity. Love it. Have it more often,” one student wrote.  Another student spoke to the diverse array of opportunities available for transfer students, “There is a lot of helpful information out there. This event is very helpful.”

Many thanks to the English, Math faculty, Business Division, Counseling faculty, and Early Childhood Education Faculty and the Learning Center and learning communities, and the TRIO staff who brought their students to the fair. We would also like to thank the staff and faculty on our campus who helped inform students of this opportunity.

A special thank you to our Facilities and Operations team who helped make this event a success during a very busy week of events.

Thanks to those who participated and took the time to talk to students about transfer and their experience attending a four-year university!

Article by Ernesto Hernandez and Lucy Jovel

The Skyline College Transfer Center along with twenty-seven Skyline College students recently visited UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) on March 9. The visit was organized in collaboration with UC Santa Cruz and the UCSC Transfer Preparation Program.

The visit to UCSC began with an admissions presentation facilitated by advisors from International and Transfer student recruitment. The admissions presentation provided students with information and insight into transfer admissions to UCSC. Moreover, it provided students with an insight of how applications are reviewed. The presentation emphasized the importance of becoming a competitive applicant by fulfilling major prerequisites and the significance of volunteer and work experience as well as grade point average.

Students had the opportunity to ask the admission advisors questions such as, “What the retention rates are for transfer students at UCSC?” and “On average, what is a competitive grade point average?”

Overall, the majority of students indicated they felt confident and gained a deeper understanding of transfer admissions and support programs. Students indicated that they felt empowered by the transfer prep program, transfer peer mentoring program, transfer survival workshops, and the transfer housing offered to transfer students. Students were also amazed by the Karl S. Pister Leadership opportunity offered to one Skyline College student.

Following the admissions presentation, students enjoyed a beautiful hour and a half long campus tour on a clear and warm day in Santa Cruz. Students visited all the residential sites at UCSC, as well as their campus facilities, libraries, and their state-of-the-art research labs. Following the campus tour, students enjoyed lunch and were able to observe student life at the Crown & Merrill Dining Hall. The dining common provided students an insight into the life of possibly transferring to UCSC and living in their residential dorms.

The feedback from our students was a joy to read for the Transfer Center Staff. One student wrote in their evaluation, “[T] his is my first UC Tour I’ve done. Very informative and a great way to see what schools best work for me. Please keep doing these!” Speaking on a similar theme, another student wrote, “Please continue these campus tours, they are very informative as well as fun to attend.”

We would like to extend special thanks to Marisa Thigpen, Jorge Murillo, Melanie Espinueva, Michael Stokes, Briana Clay, Jacqueline Espino, Katrina Pantig, Rocio Aguilar-Pedroza and all of our staff and faculty who supported this campus tour

Article by Lucy Jovel

The Skyline College Transfer Center hosted a campus tour to UC Davis for their annual Discover UC Davis event on February 23, 2018. Discover UC Davis is an excellent transfer preparation event that helps students understand the requirements to transfer to the UC System, including UC Davis.

The event is exclusive for community colleges who are part of the Transfer Opportunity Program (TOP) with UC Davis. The TOP program collaboration between UC Davis and Skyline College allows for a UCD transfer admission advisor, Mayra Escobar, to meet with students biweekly in the Transfer Center.

The TOP program continues to be a significant and effective program for our students. Since 2010, there has been a 91% increase in admitted students to UC Davis (UC Info Center, 2018). As of now, UC Davis remains the most popular campus for our students who transfer into the UC System. Similarly, since 2010, there has been 59.4% increase in the number of applications to UC Davis due in part to the Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) workshops and pre-admission advising and transcript evaluation through TAP provided by UCD.

At Discover UC Davis, our students had the opportunity to learn about the hundreds of undergraduate majors and programs offered across the UC system. Shortly after these informational sessions, students were able to connect with a UC Davis student panel.

In the second part of the event, students were able to enjoy a free lunch and participated in the resource fair. Students engaged with representatives from programs at UCD and also had the opportunity to meet with outreach professionals from UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Los Angeles, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz, who also were present for the resource fair.

Soon after the resource fair concluded, students participated in an array of informational sessions. Many students attended the Financing Your Education session as well as both the Pathway to Law School and Pre-Health Career informational sessions. The majority of the students attended the undergraduate research seminar and the engineering and stem careers presentation. Most importantly, all of the students had the opportunity to take a student ambassador-led campus tour across the vast UC Davis Campus. In fact, the UC Davis campus is a 5300-acre campus, and one of the largest within the UC system!

The Transfer Center is grateful to our staff and faculty who helped recruit students for this event. We are also appreciative for all of the efforts of faculty to allow students to participate in the event. Our students were also thankful as they wrote in their evaluations, “I loved this trip, it was a wonderful experience,” and “The whole process was so organized, informative and fun. I wasn’t thinking that UC Davis was going to be a top choice for me, but after today it’s been my favorite campus so far.”

Article by Lucy Jovel

A group of 8 students, 2 staff members and 1 community member spent a full day at the ReStore in San Carlos on February 10, 2018.

The ReStore is a home improvement store with gently used furniture, antiques and appliances. The proceeds from every sale at ReStore go to support Habitat Greater San Francisco’s mission to build and sustain affordable homeownership opportunities in Marin, San Francisco, and the Peninsula.

During this time, the volunteers rotated in shifts of refurbishing furniture, helping unload shipments, cleaning merchandise and assisting customers. It was a tiring but rewarding day; the staff of the ReStore was extremely impressed and mentioned they had never had a group accomplish so much in one weekend.

The Communities of Practice (CoPs) felt that the mission for the ReStore was a harmonious fit into the goal of providing a volunteer opportunity that focused on social justice and sustainability.

In fall 2017, Skyline College launched a new professional development opportunity — Communities of Practice or CoPs. Since the launch, the Social Justice and Sustainability CoP has worked on a variety of projects including sustainability curriculum development, campus-wide events, and guest speakers.

One area this CoP wanted to engage in was connecting the college with sustainability and social justice volunteer opportunities that already existed in the community.

If you are interested in volunteering at the ReStore with a group or as an individual please visit: Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco

or if you are interested in learning more about CoPs at Skyline College, visit: Communities of Practice

Article by Flor Lopez