Week of January 15, 2024

Hi Clovis Fam,

How is everyone this week? I hope you all took advantage of having Monday off to spend time with family and friends and to focus on self-care. You will hear me talking about the importance of self-care a lot as I firmly believe that you cannot give when you are empty. It is because you are so dedicated to our students that you give and give and give. This single attribute is what makes us a great college. As we grow, it will become more important to exercise self-care. It is also important that we model this particular attribute as it coincides with our ILOs of professional and personal growth. Let us demonstrate to our students how we execute a quality work- life balance routine. As we prepare for our 2025 accreditation visit and ISERs report, we will become increasingly busier and we will feel it, so please be intentional about recognizing your limitations and giving yourself permission to take care.

Now as I just said, let us practice self-care. I have been accused at my other colleges for not doing it myself. I assure you that after Saturday’s events I went and got a 90-minute massage and after Monday’s MLK march I went and had a 1-hour foot massage. I am feeling good.

So, on Saturday, I was the keynote speaker for the Clovis MLK Breakfast. I spoke on the history of how the day came to be and recent and current aftermath of the day. I told them about how Stevie Wonder’s song called Happy Birthday was instrumental in the day becoming a federal holiday. I told about my involvement as a college student in helping to make the day a reality and my family’s participation in the march from Selma to Montgomery, the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the right to vote for the negro. Stephanie Babb, Kevin Medeiros, Cindy Stafford, and Bonnie Boonthavongkham did a great job with preparing my presentation documents and the media coverage. We had an overflow table, and the room was full. Thank you to Sasha Fisher and Akyia Ervin, and our student Aaliyah Walker, in addition to the Chancellor, Trustees Ikeda, Parra and Rodriquez for attending the event.

It was after this event that I did my Saturday chores, walked poor neglected Jade, and then went to get a massage.

On Sunday, I gave an MLK presentation in Madera at the MLK Junior High School. I was joined by Akyia again. Talking to kids is always something that gives me joy. I had the opportunity to read the winning essays submitted by elementary, junior high and high school students beforehand. Then I had the opportunity to hear them give their speeches. My very soul beamed with pride. The elementary student talked about the environment and climate change, and he also talked about getting bullied. The junior high school student talked about how he is from a mixed-race family and how just recently they were told that, “their kind wasn’t welcome at a yard sale.” He doesn’t want his younger brother and sister to have to experience this. His stepfather calmly talked to the couple and made him proud of the nonviolent way he handled things. The high school student talked about having a dream and goals and how she has been inspired to be the best. She started by saying, “Today, I stand before you with a heart full of hope; a spirit overflowing with determination, and a vision that knows no bounds. Together, you and I possess the power to ignite change, to shatter barriers and to build a world where dreams become reality.” She also quoted Langston Hughes as she closed, “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” Let us embrace our dreams, nurture them, and watch them take flight, carrying us forward towards a future beyond our wildest imaginings. Imagine having to come after these incredible young people. I was truly full and proud. I was reminded of my experience at Lithop and just hearing the voices of our students also gave my pride in knowing that through these types of opportunities we are giving young people a space to be heard and seen and allowing us not so young people to hear what is not being said in other spaces.

After I finished in Madera, I went to the MLK Gospel Concert. This was a young church, pastor and congregation. It was nice to see the young people praising God and honoring Dr. King. Again, another expression of their voices and creativity. It is experiences like this that absolutely rejuvenate me and keep be going and loving what I do.

On Monday morning, I went to the annual MLK parade in Fresno. Since I got lost last year and could not find my car after the parade; this time I parked at the end of the route at Veteran’s Memorial and walked to the start of the parade. I saw so many people. I talked to all the fraternities and sororities. I ended up at the back of the parade because I was talking too much. So as the march finally started, I was at the very end. This is important because as we marched, a train came through, and the crossing rails came down, which caused us to be separated from the group. When the crossing rails were finally lifted, we continued with the march, and we were actually late for the start of the ceremony at City Hall. In my true fashion, I was still talking and taking pictures with the kids and teens when I heard my name announced and had to run to the front to let them know that I was there lol. Then somehow, I was pulled up front to help carry the MLK banner as we march from City Hall to the Veterans Memorial where we had another presentation. After this presentation, I talked some more and was able to go inside to hear the program. This time when it was over, I came right outside, and my car was parked right on the side of the Veterans Memorial. While others were walking back to where they started, I just got in my car and drove home. I walked Jade and then went to get a much-needed foot massage. I wore my big girl shoes (heels) on both Saturday and Sunday. That’s what I get for trying to be cute lol.

On Tuesday, I had my VPC meeting, with nothing new to present since we did not have Chancellors Cabinet again due to the holiday. I had several other individual meetings and ended my day by attending the Clovis City Council meeting. This time, the meeting ended at 8pm instead of the 10:45pm from the previous week. Progress!

On Wednesday, I was able to catch up on a lot of planning and paperwork.

On Thursday, we had a wonderful Commencement Advisory Meeting. Great progress and organization. I was so encouraged and inspired to see the highest level of quality that Gurdeep Hébert, Emilee Slater and Maricarmen Figueroa, and the advisory group has been bringing up great points for discussion. They made decisions on what things would need to stay the same, due to limited time, and what things to look at for process improvement for next year. Next, I went to Full Council meeting where we continued to discuss the data from the Integrated State Center 2035 meetings. We had College Council later in the afternoon and we had the shortest meeting on record. We reviewed the status of ARs and BPS, and had reports from ASG, Faculty and Classified Senates, and standing committees. Although the meeting was short, I thought it was a productive meeting.

On Friday, I attended the MLK celebration at Fresno State. I am also serving as a reviewer of scholarships for the Fresno Women’s Chamber of Commerce- Women in Business Awards so I will spend time reading and scoring applications. I also had a meeting with Bill Moses, Regional Director of Programs for the Kresge Foundation. They are the funders for our Achieving the Dream initiative. It turns out that he funded the Arkansas Community Colleges State Achieving the Dream initiatives of which I was very much involved. We talked about the funding and reporting requirements. We also talked about having a California and Central Valley group so that we as new members to this national network, can have local colleges that we can build partnerships. It appears that 1/3 of all community colleges in California are members of the Achieving the Dream network. We talked about how Achieving the Dream can help us to increase our ADT numbers. I am excited to have our team join Madera in this transformational national network of student success leaders.

Today is also the deadline for people to let me know their interest in helping select our next Interim Dean of Students. I want to thank you for your interest. Several of you have provided questions, nominations and to be a part of the process. Please note that this is not a formal selection committee, but more of an advisory to help me and Kira develop the rubric and to vet those recommended. Today is the deadline. The next step will be to reach out to those recommended and ask if they are interested, followed by requesting CVs and Bios for us to start having Nico work on the electronic rubric.

This weekend I have been invited by Cameron to help make fleece blankets with the Cultural Arts Rotary Club. The fleece blankets will be for Breaking the Chains for victims of trafficking and then later in the evening I have a Champagne and Tea meeting in Madera. Sunday after church, I will rest and prepare for next week.

As always, to you and your families, I wish you a restful and peaceful weekend. For those of you that have serious and important things to deal with, I wish you strength and comfort and that you remember to take care of yourselves while you take care of others. Some of our families are going through some things, as you see them, please let them know that you care.

Thank you all for who you are and how you are all committed to helping our students be their best.

In service,

Kim E. Armstrong, Ph.D.