John Burton Advocates for Youth has invited SparkPoint at Skyline College to be a panelist on Addressing Stigma: Strategies for Facilitating Access to Basic Needs Support at Community Colleges, a webinar highlighting ways in which colleges can structure services to encourage student access and reduce the potential shame or embarrassment that prevents students from accessing available benefits. This free webinar is on September 27, 2018 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. To participate, please register at: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2806412563248964099.

Many post-secondary institutions are developing services to help students address basic needs such as food pantries, benefits counseling, and financial literacy support in response to new data on the prevalence of food and housing insecurity among college students. A significant barrier to accessing these types of services, however, can be the stigma often associated with accessing basic needs resources, making students reluctant to engage with available support.

Students who face hunger, malnutrition, an unstable living situation, or homelessness will struggle to reach their full potential in a classroom. Changing the way we address, interact, and intervene on behalf of students can make a monumental impact in their lives and the lives of their families. We continue to look to improve the way we serve these students and remove the barriers they face to reach their goals.

If you have any questions, please contact Chad Thompson, Director for SparkPoint and Career Services at Skyline College, at thompsonc@smccd.edu.

Article and image by Chad Thompson

The California Community College (CCC) system has created a statewide Undocumented Student Week of Action that will run from October 15-19, 2018 to show support for undocumented students enrolled in CCC’s throughout the state, and who number around 60,000-75,000. In alignment with this undertaking, Skyline College will hold its first-ever UndocuWeek that will feature a different theme for every day, a corresponding webinar facilitated by undocumented professionals from various fields, suggested campus events, and resources. Pamela Ortiz Cerda, Program Services Coordinator for the Dream Center, has been participating in monthly calls with the CCC Chancellor’s Office and other collaborators since early August to help coordinate this week of events.

Article by Pamela Ortiz Cerda

Tropeycalia Club, the installation of paintings, drawings, sculptures and collaborative artworks by John Yoyogi Fortes, Juan Carlos Quintana, and Carlo Ricafort, opens Saturday, September 22, 2019 at the Skyline College Art Gallery in Building 1. There will be a reception for the artists on Saturday, September 22, 2018 from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Both the exhibition and the reception are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served against a backdrop of lively music.

The title of the exhibition is a play on the 1960’s Brazilian artistic movement, Tropicalia. Using a conscious misspelling of ‘tropey’, the show explores myriad tropes associated with everything tropical. Come see for yourself what all the talk is about!

‘Tropeycalia Club’ will be on view in the Art Gallery until October 20, 2018. The Skyline College Art Gallery is open Mondays through Fridays and is located on the ground floor of Building 1. Check our Facebook page for current hours at facebook.com/skygallery. The Gallery is open to all, with free admission.

For information please visit: http://skylinecollege.edu/artgallery or http://www.facebook.com/skygallery

#skylinecollegeartgallery

Article and photos by Paul Bridenbaugh

Seven Skyline College Student Athletes have been nominated to the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Academic All-State Team for Fall 2018. The student-athletes are:

Griffen Bragagnolo, Men’s Soccer

Brittany Gutierrez-Kitto, Women’s Basketball

Toshiaki Hensley, Men’s Soccer

Keri La, Women’s Basketball

Christian Shelley, Wrestling

Raichel Tjan, Women’s Basketball

Morgan Vurek, Women’s Soccer

The criteria for nomination are:

1. Participation in an intercollegiate sport during Fall 2017
2. Successfully completing 24 or more units starting with the Fall 2017 semester through Summer 2018.
3. Achieving a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher for all units attempted starting in Fall 2017.

Students nominated are automatically selected to the All-State Team once the CCCAA confirms that all the criteria have been met. Congratulations to these deserving students on their wonderful accomplishments both in the classroom and on the court, field and mat.

Article by Joe Morello

On September 8, 2018, the Bay Area Biotechnology Education Community (BABEC) held its fall 2018 Kickoff, BABEC 2.0 -Curriculum Classics for the New Era.  Over 90 local high school and community college faculty previewed the new curriculum, which was updated to include NGSS.

Jeff Schinske, PhD., currently at Foothill College and Principal investigator and Co-Director, NSF CCB FEST, gave the keynote address. Jeff is also a former adjunct instructor of Biology for Skyline College.  Jeff’s research focuses on equity and inclusion in the science classrooms.  His talk, Highlighting Diversity While Covering Biology Content, described his work on how Scientist Spotlights can diversify students’ preconceptions about scientists and boost interest and engagement in STEM among underrepresented students.  Learn more about Scientist Spotlights here:  http://scispotlights.hthrperkins.com.  Watch videos of the event here:  http://babec.org/upcoming-events/workshop-resources/

A discussion panel including teachers from across the Bay Area at various stages in their careers followed.  They discussed the new science standards (NGSS) and emphasized that biotechnology lessons can help them in their efforts to align their curricula with NGSS.  They also gave pointers and advice to teachers who are new to teaching biotech, highlighting that the benefits to students are worth the extra effort.

The main talks were held in the large conference room in Building 6. In addition, BABEC also hosted biotech workshops in smaller break-out rooms where faculty were able to conduct hands-on laboratory activities such as analyzing DNA and making recombinant proteins.

Finally, there was a science supply give-away.  A big hit at the event was the Bio-Depot, a nonprofit that collects and distributes surplus science equipment to local educators.

Skyline supported BABEC by providing the space for the conference.  We would like to give a shout out to the members of the Skyline community who helped make this a thought-provoking and memorable experience:  kudos to staff in the Science Math and Technology office, Presidents office, Media services, and Facilities. In addition, Skyline Biotechnology students support BABEC by participating in an innovative work-based learning program where they gain valuable biomanufacturing experience while producing educational materials used by participating BABEC high schools.  The Biotechnology Supply Chain Operations Project for Education (BioSCOPE), is funded by the Strong Workforce Program, and it allows Skyline to participate in this exciting regional joint venture of several Bay Area community colleges.

This is just some of the many examples how Skyline successfully partners with our community.

The Skyline Biotechnology Program is supported by NSF funding grant #1502042

Article and photo by Nick Kapp

Simon Enciso (Terra Nova High School) and Justin Gutang (Burlingame High School) are both living their dreams of playing basketball in the Philippines.  Simon is currently playing for the Alaska Aces in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), the nation’s premier league.  Considered one of the top young players, he recently scored 30 points in a Governor’s Cup game.

Justin is currently playing for College of St. Benilde on a full scholarship.  He recently won the nation’s collegiate slam dunk championship.  Justin hopes to join Simon in the PBA after completing his degree.

You can find more information on these, and other, former Skyline College men’s basketball players on the team’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

Article by Justin Piergrossi

The Skyline College Science and Research Club is planning a year of fun science-related activities such as science-related movie screenings, bike rides, producing a quality notebook, and how to do a literature search.  On November 3, 2018, the club will host a booth at the Bay Area Science Festival held in ATT park demonstrating how to isolate DNA from everyday food items to over 200 middle school students.

The club, which is all-inclusive, is looking for new members. Meetings are held every Friday at 1:15 p.m. in Room 7-204.

Article and photo by Nick Kapp

Enterprising students Lumanti Tuladhar, Mario Acua, Carlos Acuna, Yuele Zhang and Kongment Chi have teamed up with Professor Nick Kapp, Ph.D.  to found the Biotechnology Devices Club, which meets every Friday from Noon to 1:00 p.m. in the Biotechnology lab at Room 7-204.   The club focuses on how to use engineering skills and biology knowledge as well as the advice of various Skyline College faculty including the Biotechnology and Fab labs to create items that span both the engineering and biology worlds.

The club is already working on 4 projects:

• Use soy bean urease and alginate beads to make a device that would supplement dialysis.
• Team up with the Berkeley start-up Fiat Lux to test and validate their Fermenter sensors using the Bioreactors and other equipment from the Biotechnology lab.
• The club’s first sensor, built from scratch, as a conductivity meter run by an Adreno processor, hopefully using parts available in the FAB lab.
• Assembling a mind storm robot to facilitate filling of micro centrifuge tubes and very small volumes for the Biotechnology manufacturing program.

If any students are interested in engineering, biology or both, please come and see what the club is about.

Article and Photo by Nick Kapp

The Skyline College Strategic Planning and Allocation of Resources Committee (SPARC) met for their first meeting for the FY 2018-19 on Thursday, September 13, 2018.

Jacque Honda, Interim Dean of Planning, Research and Institutional Effectiveness, led the discussion to review and discuss the committee charge and member responsibilities.  The committee charge is to coordinate, integrate and communicate college wide budget and planning, and to make recommendations to the College Governance Council.

Beginning with this fiscal year, the Comprehensive Program Review (CPR) process will be under the purview of SPARC, previously CPRs were reviewed in the Curriculum Committee. The Program reviews are planned for April 11, 2019 and April 25, 2019.

Paul Cassidy, Finance and Operations Manager, presented an overview of the college adopted budget for FY 2018-19.  The college received $250,000 in District Innovation Funding which will be used toward the following:  Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) replication as part of the Skyline College Promise program, Paralegal Program, Equity Fellow in Residence, SparkPoint Center, Skyline Express Shuttle, and Women’s Mentoring Leadership Project.  Interested parties may refer the 2018-19 Final Budget Report for details.

Next meeting is September 27, 2018 (Thursday) from 2:10 to 4:00 p.m. in Room 4.

Article by Judy Hutchinson