The Skyline College Learning Communities hosted the annual Learning Communities Career Conversations Night in-person and via Zoom (hyflex) on Thursday, February 23^rd in Building 6. Students were invited to join us for a night of career conversations with professionals in a wide range of fields in four breakout rooms based on our guided pathways:

• Arts, Languages and Communication (ALC)
• Business, Entrepreneurship & Management (BEM)
• Science, Technology & Health (STH)
• Society & Education (SE)

Given the choice to come in-person (on a cold rainy night) or via zoom, over 100 students joined with the majority coming in-person and enjoyed the evening together with career panelists followed by dinner and mingling at the conclusion of the 80-minute career conversations. Students selected which room they would join based on their academic major or interest area and were able to review information about the panelists’ including their LinkedIn profiles provided beforehand via the RSVP form and also provided at the check-in table or main Zoom room. You can learn more about the different speakers by visiting: Career Conversations Night Breakout Room Handout.

Each breakout room discussion featured 5 or 6 professional speakers (many of which were Skyline College graduates!) and was facilitated by two Skyline College faculty or staff who artfully weaved together a list of previously provided questions with the opportunity for students to ask their own questions live and via Zoom. The Arts, Languages and Communication breakout room was facilitated Derek Allenby, ALC Job Placement Coordinator and Jessica Hurless, Communications Professor and Guided Pathways Co-Coordinator. The Business, Entrepreneurship and Management breakout room was Facilitated by Dr. Nate Nevado, Counselor and CIPHER Learning Community Coordinator and Shinna Kim, Counseling Intern. The Science, Technology & Health breakout room was facilitated by Brittney Sneed, STH Job Placement Coordinator and Bryan Swartout, STEM Center Program Services Coordinator. The Society & Education breakout room was facilitated by Alexa Moore, SE Job Placement Coordinator and ECE/COOP Instructor and Michelle Amaral, ECE Program Services Coordinator.

We were delighted to partner with Career Counseling to create a space for the launch of the Career Counseling Explorers program, with tabling and support from Kenny Gonzales, Career Counselor and Judith Martinez, Director of Student Support. The Explorers Program is designed to support students who are undeclared, undecided or exploring and can help with self-discovery and exploration through counseling and events like this. Students who are exploring are invited to seek support in this area by visiting and completing this short interest form. 

Student attendee feedback was overwhelmingly positive with a chance to provide feedback through a short post-event online form. Students shared some of the following comments with the planning team.

I loved the experiences and stories the panelist shared and hearing about their achievements, accomplishments and struggles in their field.

Although I came late, it was a good experience nonetheless to get some insight on what an art career could look like. General tips and advice is more than I can ask for without having to pay. Overall, good experience.

It was a really well planned out and organized event and I really think it was a very productive breakout room discussion. I learned more about the significance of a portfolio and how to handle/organize one in a way that employers will view me as someone to hire. The panelists were all very respectable individuals, and I could tell they were all genuinely passionate and happy about what they do especially when they were answering questions from the audience. One specific thing that stuck to me was probably Talia Taylor’s take on A.I art and how it is currently affecting the art community and how we as artists can counter that. Sandy Frank’s vast experience in graphic design was also incredibly insightful for me since graphic design is my declared major. Overall, all the panelist provided valuable information and insight that I think will definitely help develop me into the artist I want to be.

Very insightful and great communication within panelists conversations

I really enjoyed the closeness of the event and the way interaction was promoted so heavily.

It was very good and very nice to hear what the speaker experience, like how their mentor helped them and that it could be anyone

I enjoyed the variety of people on the panel. Their different perspectives and backgrounds made for an engaging session and supported a good amount of majors in that area.

I thought it was lovely and formal. Got to ask a few personal questions relating to my career field as a concept artist.

They are super cool

I felt like I was not alone, the panelist and everyone else had gone through the same situation as I. Not too old not the only one who constantly changing majors we are all lost and we just need guidance and advice to the panelist and they had given that to everyone and I in the room.

I really enjoyed this event and the questions to the panelists.

Today’s event was really helpful. Thanks to this event I get different perspectives from professionals that work in fields that I am consider exploring.

They are a lot of creative and open-minded ideas in California

It was amazing m and I am grateful for being able to attend

Experience is calm & tame. The lunch dinner portion helps network with the panelists after the session.

Hyflex events (in-person or via Zoom) are an important way to help support our students’ needs and can be especially useful with inclement weather as was the case on February 23^rd. The planning team wants to give a special thank you to our new staff member, Joshua Porter, who successfully managed simultaneous hyflex instances in five different spaces with a calmness and specialized skillset that helped put and keep the event on the right track throughout the evening. Kudos to Josh and his student assistant Grace!

This event was generously financially supported by the Strategic Partnerships & Workforce Development Division, a Career Counseling President’s Innovation Fund & the Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Program. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this evening a success!

Please visit the Skyline College Learning Communities Facebook page to view all of the photos from the event: Career Conversations Night photo album.

Article and Photos by: Marisa Thigpen

Skyline College Library celebrated Black History Month with a bang!  In effort to uplift Black culture, we shared wall displays of various Green Book, book covers throughout the library, featured Black Resistance and all about love physical book collections, as well as host the first ever “Mic DROP! Poetry SLAM!!!” event.  

“Mic DROP! Poetry SLAM!!!” was a community lead hybrid event, made possible by the Library Outreach PIF grant, which featured two of our very own Skyline College students Aaron Perez and Jean Paul Dualan and faculty member Arnette Villela-Smith.   

Intermixed with powerful video performances of spoken word artists from around the world, Aaron performed a thought-provoking spoken word poem titled “Fear” that questions God about man’s shortcomings and inspired by Kendrick Lamar’s song titled “FEAR.”  Professor Villela-Smith, instructor for Ethnic Studies, shared a recording of her poem “What kind of knowledge is valid.” Also, one of our community members shared a video of her three-year-old son rapping.  Our attendees and performers enjoyed themselves and wanted more.   

The library would like to thank Pacific Dining for providing food and drink inspired by Black culture — including the Zobo tea; the Bookstore for their donation of the coffee and tea beverage station; and ASSC, BSU, and MCPR for their help in promoting the poetry slam event.  All these collaborative efforts helped make the poetry slam a huge success. 

Article by: Megdi Abebe

The Civic Engagement Initiative

The Skyline College Civic Engagement Initiative cultivates a sense of social responsibility through

service, advocacy, and the building of civic knowledge to empower self, society, and our global community.

Food for Thought provides a weeklong opportunity to better understand how individual, local, national, and global choices and actions interconnect; and how each of us can recognize and take responsibility for our own choices and actions and thus disrupt global inequities.

Tuesday, March 13^th @ 3:30 p.m.

Wasted: The Story of Food Waste

Join the Critical Global Citizen Education community screening of Wasted: The Story of Food Waste. In this documentary produced by Anthony Bourdain, “Wasted!” takes you around the world showing the 1.3 billion tons of food that gets thrown out each year and the people fighting hardest to prevent it. Renowned chefs discuss the economic and environmental costs of global food waste and explore innovations and solutions that involve educating consumers and food suppliers.

JOIN ON ZOOM @ bit.ly/CGCE2023

Wednesday, March 14^th @ 3:30 p.m.

Panel Discussion – Intercultural Center, Building 4

This CGCE Panel discussion will include a discussion of issues and inequities related to food production. The PIF funded event will include welcomes from current Skyline College President, Melissa Moreno and Vice President of Instruction, Vinicio Lopez. The panel will be moderated by Pia Walawalkar, Librarian. Panelists include:

Steven Mayers: Oral historian, author, Professor of English, and editor of Solito, Solita: CROSSING BORDERS WITH YOUTH REFUGEES FROM CENTRAL AMERICA

Nooshan Shekarabi: Poet, political contributor, and Professor of Political Science. Her books include the Seasons series – Twenty-Two Poems From My Heart: Volume One and Twenty-Eight Poems of the Naked Soul: Volume II.

Gabriel Thompson: journalist and author who  has investigated how fast food chains received billions of dollars in forgivable loans while failing to protect their workers, an asylum seeker on hunger strike inside a detention center; and what it’s like to feed a nation during a pandemic while being denied any sort of federal relief. Gabriel is editor of Chasing the Harvest:  Migrant Workers in California Agriculture

Lucia Lachmayr: Skyline College Professor and Puente Coordinator

Oscar Ramos: Educator and narrator who wants to free his students from a life in the fields, the fate that once awaited him as a child.

Available in person and online – refreshments at in person event.

Monday, March 20^th @ 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

EMPTY BOWLS – Fireside Dining Room, Building 6

Empty Bowls a worldwide movement by artists to lessen food insecurity, cultivates social responsibility through creative service and encourages participants to

JOIN US for:

• Soup Dinner
  • Student Performances – Featuring entertainment from Skyline College Dance, Drama, and Music
  • Campus & Community Organizations dedicated to lessening food insecurity

Take home a handcrafted ceramic bowl! TICKETS @ bit.ly/EMPTYBOWLS2023

Bowls $15
Soup FREE

Open to All
All Ticket Sales used to Lessen Food Insecurity at Skyline College

Article by: Chris Burwell-Woo

On Thursday February 23, 2023, coinciding with the Learning Communities Career Conversation Night, the Counseling Department launched the Explorers Program. The Explorers Program is aimed at providing support to students who are undecided or undeclared and help them with their meta-major, major, and/or career choices. Students in the Explorer Program will meet with a career counselor to create an action plan and determine the level of support needed to accomplish their goals. The Explorers Program can help students with (1) self-discovery and identifying their strengths, interests, and values; (2) career exploration through aligning their passions with their major and career choices; (3) creating a career action plan that provides a sense of direction, motivation, social capital and a clear focus. If you know of a student that is undecided or undeclared in their major or career and would benefit from the Explorer Program, please complete this short form. 

Article by: Kenny Gonzalez

All members of the Skyline College community are invited to explore critical global citizenship during the month of March through an exhibit, film screenings and panel discussion. 

February 13, 2023 – March 31, 2023: Traveling Exhibit: The Newest Americans. On display at Skyline College Library, Building 5, 2nd floor beginning February 13. 

Monday, March 13, 2023, 4:30pm.: Community Film Screening: Wasted: The Story of Food Waste (virtual)

Zoom: https://smccd.zoom.us/j/82541700536

In this documentary, renowned chefs discuss the economic and environmental costs of global food waste, exploring solutions involving educating consumers.

Tuesday, March 14, 2023, 3:30pm.: Community Film Screening: Bitter Seeds (virtual)

Bitter Seeds: This documentary exposes the tragic impact of the American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation, Monsanto on rural farming communities in India. This is the third film in Micha Peled’s Globalization Trilogy, following the award-winning Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town and China Blue.

Zoom: https://smccd.zoom.us/j/89653028777

Wednesday, March 15, 2023, 3:30pm.: Panel Discussion (Hyflux). Let us know if you will join in person or via Zoom by filling out this registration form today. 

In person: Intercultural Center Lounge, Building 4, 1^st floor.

Zoom: https://smccd.zoom.us/j/87315078015

How are individual, local, national, and global interconnected and co-produced, and how can each of us recognize and take responsibility for our choices and actions? Panelists include activists, writers, artists, journalists and Skyline College faculty. Refreshments will be provided.

Faculty can incorporate the film screenings and panel discussion into their Spring course assignments, with ready to use assignment and reflection prompts available under teaching guides here: Spring 2023 events page.

Find more information on the CGCE project homepage, please visit https://skylinecollege.edu/cgce/events.php or contact Professor Pia Walawalkar, Equity and Outreach Librarian walawalkars@smccd.edu or Professor Rob Williams williamsrob@smccd.edu.

We look forward to seeing you!

Article by: Jessica Silver-Sharp

On February 10th, 2023, twenty-five Skyline College students and representatives from the Skyline College Transfer Center traveled to UC Davis to attend Discover UC Davis, a free career-planning and exploration symposium for community college students from participating TOP institutions. Activities included campus tours, student panels, a resource fair, workshops, and seminars tailored to students’ program of interest.

This was the first in-person campus tour since the pandemic, and students were eager to engage and participate as indicated by the excellent turnout. The Transfer Center is sponsoring several other tours this semester, including a first gen focused tour co-sponsored with TRiO at San Jose State University on March 3^rd, 2023, and a trip to UC Berkeley for Cal Day on April 22nd.

Please contact the Skyline College Transfer Center at skytc@smccd.edu if you are interested in participating in future events.

On February 10, 2023, the STEM Clubs Boba Social took place at Skyline College’s STEM Center. The event was hosted by Skyline College’s MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement) program and showcased all the many STEM clubs that Skyline College has to offer.

With over 60 participants, the event was well-attended by both new and familiar faces who enjoyed a variety of sweet boba drinks.

The presentations began with Megan White speaking about the BioMedical Engineering Club’s recent achievements and future plans. During the Fall 2022 semester, the club won the best table award at Skylloween and experimented with electrocardiograms (EKGs) and muscle twitching. This semester, there are open roles for the Secretary and Vice President positions, plans for a robotic hand project, and the club hopes to brainstorm more projects and workshops.

Matthew Dacanay highlighted the Computer Science Club’s productive Fall 2022 semester with events including a guest speaker presentation by Tony Hong, an Arduino workshop, and the completion of a heatmap project. Looking ahead, the club has even more opportunities to develop new skills and learn more about the industry as they have another guest speaker coming up with Frank Schubert – an engineering manager at LYFT – and a Coding Interview Prep Series.

John Michael Rada and Leonardo Calle of the Engineering and Robotics Club (ERC) discussed how they’ve successfully reorganized the club and started working on a Solar Boat project. One of ERC’s upcoming events is to use the Solar Boat to compete in the California Solar Regatta on May 6, 2023, while other future events focus on recreation with a Game Day and a Chess Tournament in the works – to be played across students and faculty.

Paul-Frederik Schubert presented about the nEXO program and their research in collaboration with SLAC National Laboratories in pursuit of neutrinoless double beta decay. In his presentation, he covered upcoming workshops for students regarding soldering and 3D printing. Furthermore, the nEXO group will be partaking in the Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) workshop to increase interest in STEM for middle-school-aged girls and would love to have additional volunteers from the community.

Mayra Lopez-Thibodeaux and Gabe Hapin-Aranda of the Skyline Physics and Astronomy Club (PAC) showcased the many activities that will be held for students. The projects being held will have activities such as creating comets and working with telescopes. If you enjoy star gazing, come join their observation nights. Upcoming events this semester they will have are a Field trip to SLAC on April 20, 2023, and an EYH workshop: Scaling the Solar System. Astro lectures, projects, and space movies will help students gain a deeper understanding of astronomy.

Lasheana Dilian Husni, Chel Myint, Florence Thwe, and Jerry Hnin of the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society highlighted several events from the Fall 2022 semester with the most prominent being the PTK Induction Ceremony, the NV/CA Fall Leadership Conference, a Navigating College Workshop, the Samaritan Toy Drive, and their Speech Contest. In addition to this wide range of activities, a PTK Orientation will soon take place on February 21, 2023, from 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

Julia Rogers of the Science and Research Club gave an overview of one of the events they hosted last year which was a guest speaker presentation by Dr. Jing Folsom. Several events for the spring semester were also announced as the club is planning to host an Internship Application Workshop on March 3, 2023, and research exploration workshops in the near future.

Chenran Kang and Mowen Tan of the Skyline Cube Association shared their Fall 2022 highlights as several members learned how to solve a Rubik’s cube, held various cubing competitions, and developed a program to solve a Rubik’s cube. Steps the club wishes to take this semester include hosting competitions across multiple games – like Rubik’s cube, chess, sudoku, and Klotski – as well as teaching members how to cube blindfolded.

Amanda Ratti and Rick Hough of the Skyline Sustainable Cooking and Real Food (SCARF) club shared their Fall 2022 highlights and talked about their delicious vegan chili. SCARF’s cooking events promote healthy, sustainable, and affordable foods. 

Florence Thwe of Women in Science and Engineering Represent! (WiSER!) provided some achievements from Fall 2022 such as tabling for the Skylloween event and the LED light workshop in partnership with Kiwanis. This spring semester, WiSER will be hosting a workshop at the Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) conference, volunteering for the STEM Frenzy Festival, and a Fab Lab workshop.

Many of the presenters emphasized that prospective members didn’t need prior experience to join. For those thinking about joining or contacting these clubs, consult the presentation slides shared during the event! And for more information on events from MESA, follow us on Instagram @skyline_mesa.

Please save the date for our annual celebration of March 4^th taking place on Friday, March 3^rd and start planning activities for the day!   

No, we do not get the day off! This is a professional development day to give each of us a chance to pause and focus on our own personal and professional growth – and consider how we are moving forward and “marching forth”!  

The day will begin with a recorded address from our President in the morning. The remainder of the day can be designed by you, your supervisor, or your entire unit. It can include job shadowing, team building activities, conversations, check-ins, or other professional development activities within your unit. We want us all to share our aspirations, career goals, and discuss what we are doing to make those dreams real. We spend so much time in service of others and this is our opportunity to take a day to be selfish – focus on you and your future!

This year, we will have t-shirts available for everyone in the college. Pick up your March 4^th t-shirt on Friday, March 3, 2023, in the Marketing suite, Building 4, Room 4-329. Happy March 4^th!

Featuring exceptional large format photographic portraits by photographer Sam Comen and personal stories of 29 new U.S. citizens, The Newest Americans exhibition encourages us to consider the U.S. immigration process through the eyes of new citizens representing more than 20 origin countries. Interviews and photography were conducted in the moments immediately prior to and following their naturalization ceremonies in February and March of 2017.

The exhibition encourages all of us to actively engage by bringing our own reflections on their citizenship. You can learn more about the photographs and narratives presented both in English and Spanish. This exhibition will remain on view at Skyline College Library (Building 5, 2nd floor) through March 31, 2023. The Library is open Monday through Friday. 

Skyline College Library is pleased to be able to host this exhibition through a President’s Innovation Fund (PIF) award. It also forms part of the College’s Critical Global Citizenship Education Project. Please contact Pia Walawalkar, Equity and Outreach Librarian, with any questions walawalkars@smccd.edu

Article by Jessica Silver-Sharp

Join us for the Mic DROP! Poetry SLAM!!! event on Monday, 2/27/2023, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. which is open to staff, students, and greater community. Want to perform your poem? Please register with your Google account and upload your written or video poetry. The last day for submissions is Thursday, February 23rd. Encourage your colleagues, students, and community to join the fun. Light refreshments will be provided.  

Contact Sherri Wyatt at wyatts@smccd.edu if you have further questions. This event is made possible by the PIF grant for Library Outreach Programs.  

In celebration of Black History Month, the library will hold the following displays until February 28, 2023: 

• Green Book graphic display 

Learn about the Green Book directory used by the Black community between 1936 and 1966 as a guide for safer traveling, which inspired the movie Green Book.  

• all about love book display, featuring works from bell hooks and fellow Black authors. 

Located in the foyer, all about love book display is inspired by bell hooks from “Love as the Practice of Freedom”, “… without an ethic of love shaping the directions of your political vision and our radical aspirations, we are often seduced, in one way or the other, into continued allegiance to systems of domination – imperialism, sexism, racism, classism.” 

• Black Resistance book display 

Inside the library, we honor Black authors’ contributions to the literary form. Books and eBooks are displayed in different locations throughout the library for the public to check out. Each selected text explores themes of black resistance throughout a variety of genres. 

Article by Sherri Wyatt