At the October 27, 2021 Board of Trustees meeting, Dr. Liza Erpelo from the Kababayan Learning Community at Skyline College, Doris Garcia from Katipunan at College of San Mateo, and Griselda Paredes representing Cañada College presented “Planting Legaseeds at SMCCCD: Creating Filipinx Learning Communities Collegewide, Districtwide, and Statewide.”
Riding the momentum of Kababayan’s 18 years as a learning community at Skyline College, the pending approval of the Katipunan Learning Community at CSM, and the emerging work at Cañada College, the group presented on the historical work at each campus, current projects, and most importantly, future aspirations for our Filipinx students. The work is predicated on the pillars of LOVE + HOPE = TRANSFORMATION, drawing from concepts in Valerie Kaur’s work on revolutionary love, Jeff Duncan-Andrade’s critical hope, and Carolyn Shield and Newin Orante’s transformative critical leadership.
The asks from the Board of Trustees were for help with systemwide transformation with the creation of a Statewide Filipinx Learning Community, districtwide transformation in building out Study Abroad and Balik Aral programs and partnerships, and campuswide transformation at each school while maintaining each college’s autonomy. And not only did the group get the Board’s full support going forward, the doors are now open for discussion with administrators to start building, creating, and supporting a solid foundation for our Filipinx students across all three campuses.
This presentation was made possible by collaborative efforts of the following administrators, faculty, staff, and students:
Dr. Newin Orante, VP Student Services, Skyline College
Golda Margate, Executive Assistant, VP Student Services, Skyline College
Melanie Espinueva+Aure, EOPS Counselor/Faculty Coordinator
Dr. Nate Nevado, Coordinator, CIPHER Hip Hop Learning Community
Ezekiel John Recto, Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant
Alvin Gubatina, Student Life and Leadership Manager
Francesca Dolor, Counselor, Kababayan Learning Community
Jeremy Evangelista-Ramos, College Recruiter
Alex Guiriba, Counselor and Co-Advisor, Katipunan at CSM
Jairil Pangilinan, Student Ambassador & KLC Student
Caitlin Collantes, Student Ambassador, Filipinx Student Union Co-President, KLC Student
For more information about the work being done at the local level as well as statewide, email Dr. Liza Erpelo at erpelol@smccd.edu and please check out the Padlet links here:
Kababayan Learning Community @ Skyline College
https://padlet.com/skylinekababayan/MeetKLC
FAEAC 2021: Planting LegaSEEDS
https://padlet.com/calberto/PlantingLegaSEEDS
FAHM + More Padlet – What’s going on?!
https://padlet.com/lilyannvillaraza/fv0vr004nckpgnio
Article by Liza Erpelo
