The Skyline College Engineering and Robotics Club competed in the seventh annual Sacramento Municipality Utility District (SMUD) Solar Regatta held at the Rancho Secco Recreational Area Southeast of Sacramento on May 5, 2018. The team consisted of 10 students and 4 faculty members who embarked to the Rec area and campsite Friday afternoon.

The competition was to design, build, and race a fully functional solar powered boat through various obstacle courses. A major factor in this competition is sustainability; with limited resources and developing strategies through team collaboration, students used technology accessible through the Engineering Fabrication Lab where they designed and manufactured a solar powered boat. Recycled materials were used, primary boat components including the dual catamaran system were manufactured and assembled all at Skyline College!

Sticking with tradition, the team camped onsite the night before the race, accompanied by other teams from across northern California. The atmosphere was exhilarant: filled with team spirit, and good vibes the evening before the regatta and throughout the competition on Saturday. It was the finale of a 10-month journey for the team and an astounding component to these students’ experience at Skyline College.

Within the competition, the students had to perform in three challenging races, present their work through a poster presentation, and speak to the judges regarding the motor and electrical system, mechanical design, and design sustainability, in which they ranked 3rd place! Throughout every obstacle course, the team left their competitors in the waves. The team was also recognized for their artistic motto: the Cali Bae Laurel, named after the native Californian plant Bay Laurel, which inspired the design of the catamaran boat. The Skyline team made a solid 8th place in the overall regatta ranking.

This is Skyline College’s 4th time competing in the SMUD Solar Regatta.

Acknowledgments must go to the support provided by the SMT Division, SOCC, Kinesiology, and Facilities departments.

Students who attended: Alvarez, Arnaldo; Darmawan, Livia; Fountaine, Anasaniquo; Grelli, Gianni; Hercules, Alex; Iacobacci, Raymond; Lin, Naing; Messier, Daniel; Quintos, Mikaela; Weber, Jonathan; Yu,Clifford

Faculty members who attended:

* Nick Kapp (Bio Technology)

* Maryam Khan (Engineering)

* Nick Langhoff (Engineering)

* Marco Wehrfritz (Engineering)

Thanks for the support of the Facility department of letting us using the truck, the Kinesiology department for the van, the SOCC for the tent and all the other helping hands!

Written by Marco Wehrfritz and Maryam Khan

The Bay Area Entrepreneur Center (BAEC) held its Networking & Resource Summit on May 3, 2018, bringing together a mix of community members, students, entrepreneurs, startup CEO’s, and Skyline College faculty and staff.

Several different types of exhibitors came to showcase their company, from student entrepreneurs to local small businesses such as personal fashion stylists Qloset Queen, SGC Financial & Insurance services, LegalShield, and hand-crafted jewelry by Global Melanin just to name a few. Delicious Mexican food was served, in addition to complimentary hand-made cotton candy that was provided and distributed by Jason Angeles of Sugar & Spun. A custom photo booth was a fun way to spark the venue of over 70 people participating in the Summit.

Keynote speaker Devin Lars, shared his influential story on how his journey of setbacks and failures inspired him to start his two successful companies. He shares a message to “do things differently in all aspects and to start enjoying the process in life.” Lars trademarked this message and now runs Doing Everything Different, a clothing line sponsored by many celebrities, and a media company Kurieo with clients such as Nike, Salesforce and the Golden State Warriors.

The event was charismatically hosted by Steve Bacon, who introduced a panel of guest speakers giving valuable business tips to the audience.

The Guest Speaer Panel included:

• Warren Jones
• Nicole Moreno-Deinzer
• Rod Sarmiento
• Rebecca Williams
• Jason Angeles

BAEC is Skyline’s off-campus business resource center that is located in downtown San Bruno. We offer business coaching, workshops, office space memberships, and student internship opportunities. These Summits occurs every quarter, so if you didn’t get a chance to make this one, stay tuned for the next one!

Special thank you to our Summit Partners, exhibitors, panelists, and BAEC Advisory Board Members: Doing What Matters, SBDC, Chamber of Commerce San Bruno, CITD, Kurieo, BayPro Cleaning & Junk Removal, Epifania Magazine, Toasted Life, Rebecca Williams, and Sugar & Spun.
This event was made possible by the President’s Innovation Fund of Skyline College.

Written by Eva Liang | Photo by Brittney Sneed

Skyline College’s Center for Career and Workforce Programs in partnership with the Biotechnology Department, hosted a lively and informative Bioscience Career Forum to engage Skyline College students beyond the classroom on May 4, 2018.

Moderated by the charismatic Andrea Vizenor, Director for the Center for Career Workforce Programs, the event featured notable bioscience alumni, bioscience professionals as well as current bioscience students.

The goal of the event was for students to learn more about careers in the bio-science industry, gain first-hand information and practical advice on career paths, and opportunities on how to best prepare for a future bioscience career.

A glimpse of the wisdom obtained by Skyline College students includes:

“There is a whole other entrepreneurial side to biosciences that offers job opportunities.” – Chez Verdurco

“Let yourself out there. Keep being curious.” – India Garcia

“Keep an open mind.” – Vincent Gloria

“I learned that one should not get caught up in the moment too much because things always change.” – Yulissa Serrato

“Perseverance and just apply for the job that you might be interested in.” – Wasna Watkins

Through open, honest dialogue with students who attended, panelists shared valuable insight on career trends and their perspectives on what it took to be successful in the world of work. The panelists were fun and interesting, with Skyline College students leaving the Bioscience Career Forum informed and entertained.

This event was made possible through the generous funding awarded to Skyline College from the Genentech Foundation.

More sessions will follow to support students with workforce readiness, internship opportunities and job placement. Please email Hazel Neoh at neohh@smccd.edu for more information.

 Article by Hazel Neoh | Photo by Claudia Paz

The Skyline College Automotive student body held its annual Automotive Olympics on May 3, 2018.

The automotive students and staff took a half day out of education to support a fun event that builds family and encouragement in our program and department. The students competed in groups from each class in events like: Tire toss, creeper race, car push, parts cart race, tire rotation and spark plug exchange.

After the winning class was announced, everyone was fed with hamburgers and hot dogs from the grill.  Ruben Parra teaches Engine Performance and his class won the trophy.

Article by Thomas G. Broxholm

May 5 marked the 10th year that the Early Childhood Education Program at Skyline College hosted the Early Intervention Conference. To make this anniversary memorable the program partnered with the San Mateo County Office of Education and the county’s 4C’s (Child Care Coordinating Council) to put on a full day conference, rather than the usual half day, along with many more workshops to choose from. Sessions included information on dealing with childhood trauma, expert panel discussion on including children with special needs in all classrooms, and equity in relation to inclusion.

The over 250 participants were able to choose from three workshops and attend both outstanding opening and keynote closing remarks from Senta Greene and Sheridan Nicholau. There was also an Intentional Teacher fair set up in the cafeteria that highlighting exceptional curriculum and teaching by early educators in our county.

Article by Kristina Browner

With beautiful handmade flowers adorning the tables, and strings of “testimonios” (testimonies) attached to student pictures as the backdrop, two cohorts of the Puente learning community gathered on May 4, 2018 to celebrate 25 years of Puente at Skyline College. Continuing the tradition, graduating Puentistas, scholarship recipients, students who had completed the first year of Puente, and mentors were recognized. Also recognized were the previous Puente instructors from the last 25 years.

Dr. Angélica Garcia offered the initial welcome, followed by a message from Skyline College President, Regina Stanback-Stroud (read by Puente Counselor, Rocio Aguilar Pedroza). Dr. Cesar Cruz gave a powerful keynote speech, reminding us all of our purpose to ourselves and our community. Grace Ebron, Director of Training at Puente, gave a 2nd keynote that really brought home the passage of 25 years. Finally, Puente alumni, Kimberly Avena, Marjourie Quintanilla, and Cesar Vasquez Chavez spoke of the impact of Puente on their educational trajectory.

This milestone event was a gathering of familia—the love and support from friends and family members, mentors, and colleagues was felt by the students. Special thanks to the Puente team: Rocio Aguilar-Pedroza, Paula Silva, Alberto Santellan, as well as to Learning Community Program Services Coordinator Marisa Thigpen for her assistance in logistics prior to and during the event.

Students from South San Francisco Adult School, Jefferson Adult School, and the greater community participated in the “College Readiness” event on May 5, 2018 by engaging in various workshops to better prepare them for their first semester at Skyline College.

Workshops were collaboratively designed and led by Skyline College’s ESOL Department, The English Language Institute, Skyline College’s Workforce Development, South San Francisco Adult School, and Jefferson Adult School. The 15 students learned strategies to be successful in college and within the classroom—including time management skills and best practices for communicating with professors. Students also dove deeper into Skyline College’s technology platforms, heard about various career technical education pathways, and received advice from their peers (former adult school students currently attending Skyline College).

By the end of the event, students were able to know where to go for help, articulated strategies in overcoming obstacles, and had identified a career goal. The event and these partnerships were made possible through the Adult Education College and Career Leadership (ACCEL) Consortium.

Article by Stacy Nojima

The International Student Program held its first Global Extravaganza on April 30, 2018. This event was organized to celebrate all the talent that Skyline College’s international community has to offer, and to give a platform for a Marimba band named “Maru-A-Pula” from Botswana to showcase their craft.

It was a colorful and festive event with dance and music showcases from all around the world. The audience tapped their feet to the Nepalese, Burmese, American and African style dances, and then the Classical Music Club transported the audience to the 18th century with a composition by Mozart. There were various international student club tables where students were able to play games from different cultures and traditions.

The main event, however, was the Maru-A-Pula group who filled the quad with the sounds of Africa beaming from their drums, triangles, maracas and marimbas. It was a truly magical experience and that was evident in the way some of the audience got up and moved with the music and ended off the event with a standing ovation.

There was genuine joy looming in the air that seemed to be contagious as you saw it reflected on the faces of every person that was present at the Global Extravaganza. The hard work that everybody put in to make occasion a success was undoubtedly worth it.

ISP will continue to conduct events and workshops to improve the services offered to its students and the entire Skyline College community. If you are interested in learning more about future ISP programs and events, contact the ISP office at skyinternational@smccd.edu.

Article by Naledi Mthembu | Photo by Kevin Perez

April was a busy month of outreach for the English language Institute (ELI). The ELI promoted Skyline College to over 90 adult school students at Jefferson, South San Francisco and San Mateo Adult Schools.

The ELI also welcomed more than 100 ESL students from South San Francisco and Westmoor high schools as part of their campus tour organized by Lauren Ford and the outreach department.

Fifty four adult school and high school ESL seniors attended the English Language Institute’s bi-annual ESL Registration Event on April 28.

Based on the feedback, an overwhelming majority of the attendees appreciated the step-by-step assistance with the Skyline College enrollment process all done in one day.

It was great to have ESOL student volunteers, Christine Aguirre, Jessielyn  Pil and Thant Win, assist with the application and registration tables.

ELI student assistants, Khoaula Aissaoui, Thet Thet Aung and Carlos Acuna, skillfully managed the application, orientation and counseling stations.

The ELI also appreciates the excellent team work of our Skyline College ESL Registration Day staff: Erinn Struss, Leigh Anne Shaw, Minerva Velasquez, Kenny Gonzalez, Adriana Johnston, Jacky  Ip, Ursula Rocca, Goldie Lee, Stephen Reichert and Stacy Nojima.

Special  thanks to  the staff  from Sparkpoint, Dream Center, Financial Aid,   ESOL department, South San Francisco & Jefferson Adult school  who hosted resource tables and provided valuable information to the new students.

Article and Photos by Mylene Foo

Throughout April a number of classes at Skyline College participated in the Sustainability Blitz, a curriculum development program designed to infuse sustainability across academic disciplines.

Faculty members collaborate with a pair of recent graduates in the Climate Corps Fellowship Program to develop a lesson connecting sustainability to the course’s specific topic or general discipline. The goal was to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability and its relevance to everyday life, in addition to introducing students to sustainability as a major or career.

Sustainability Blitz founders Professor Carina Anttila-Suarez and SMT Division Dean Ray Hernandez have worked hard to expand the program with the help of Professor Carla Grandy and Sustainability Coordinator Mary Thomasmeyer.

Now in its fifth year, the Sustainability Blitz has spread to other community colleges as well as UCs and CSUs. This year involved 23 faculty members, 40 fellows, and over 475 students in the following departments:

• Art
• Biology/Microbiology
• Business
• Chemistry
• Early Childhood Education
• English
• Ethnic Studies
• Journalism
• Math
• Philosophy
• Sociology
• Spanish
• Surgical Specialties, Medical Assisting, and Health Science

Thank you to all of the faculty members who participated this year and in past years. Your dedication to advancing students’ understanding of sustainability and supporting fellows is deeply appreciated.

If you are interested in participating for the 2018-19 academic year, please contact Mary Thomasmeyer at thomasmeyerm@smccd.edu.

Article and photos by Mary Thomasmeyer