Week of May 20, 2024

Hi Clovis Fam,

Hi everyone hope you had a great weekend and that you and your family and loved ones are all well. For those of you that I know are dealing with life and health challenges for yourselves and your family members, please know that I am sending prayers and heartfelt sincere wishes to you.

Some of you may know that while we were deep in celebrating Graduation, there were a group of employees and students who due to a conflict in scheduling, were unable to attend. Friday morning as I was coming in, I saw a group of students waiting in the circle drive for a ride with their bags and backpacks. I then saw Coach CJ come up to me to tell me they were on their way to the State Track meet. I recalled how when my own daughters had to choose between prom and the state track meet. Our students may have to choose between attending their graduation ceremony or a state track meet. We chose the state track meet and some of our students also chose the state track meet. This is another reason why our departmental or smaller celebrations are important. Well, to make a long story short, Rhiannon Walker won the 3C2A State Championship in Steeplechase, Clovis’ first-ever individual State Champion in any sport. And, in doing so, she also qualified for the USATF U20 National Championships in Eugene, OR!!!!! This is a big deal y’all. She will be on the campus of the University of Oregon, home of Nike competing against the best. As a track mom, it doesn’t get much better than this. I am so very proud of our student and our coach for this incredible achievement. If I can’t get there I will be watching, glued to my TV, like I do every year. But this year I will be looking for our very own Rhiannon.

Our athletes have been phenomenal. They are rocking it!

  • GV Tamondong placed 2nd in the 800m and was also named All-American and First Team All-State
  • Julia Martinez was named Second Team All-State in the 1500m and Quincy Patton was named Second Team All-State in the 400m.
  • All seven of our entries at the 3C2A State Championship placed in the top-10 in their respective events, and the women’s team placed 9th in the State.

I woke up Monday morning wonderfully refreshed from having one of the best graduation seasons in my entire life. Thank you all for showing your true Clovis Spirit by making sure that our graduates and alumni felt special and that their hard work and their decision to come to Clovis was worth it. The only graduation that I can remember that was this good was the one we did in May 2020; when we did an outside drive-up (at my other college). People had stretch limos and party buses and we even had a graduate who had her Chiwawa dressed in cap and gown 😊. This one, like that graduation, will be ones that I will forever remember because you made our graduates and their families feel important. They stayed and celebrated well into the dark. They felt welcomed, loved, and comfortable at our house. They felt like family. So, for providing that experience I am forever thankful. I want to give a special thanks to ALL the people who were involved in the graduation and to let you know who they were. It truly takes an army.

Students/volunteers

  • Mark Madla
  • Carlos Brito
  • Noah Shwetzer
  • Angel Campa
  • Julianna Madrigal
  • Christian Calvillo
  • Maria Escobar
  • Risham Sharma
  • Lanre Olubeko
  • Abby Hesterberg
  • Alex McMillion
  • Josiefin Perez
  • Melanie Evans
  • Michael Ordaz
  • Linda Padilla
  • Ana Mendoza
  • Jonathan Quintero
  • Dia Baroi
  • Temi Fagbule
  • Nikita Moitra
  • Edith Childs
  • Jadah Wren
  • Gabrielle Yeager
  • Aaron Carillo
  • Classified Professionals
  • David Navarro
  • Amy Yocupicio
  • Dulce Guerrero
  • Erica Jaramillo
  • Sherry Vang
  • Emilee Slater
  • Maricarmen Figueroa
  • Siena Flores
  • Estefania Ponce
  • Bonita Gomez
  • Sasha Fisher
  • Nate Saari
  • Akyia Ervin
  • Edgar Manriquez
  • Gabby Ramirez
  • Jamaal Washington
  • Kizzy Lopez
  • Anna-Marie Miller
  • Caryss Johnson
  • Rebecca Kinlow
  • Debbie Jensen
  • Renee Garcia
  • Diana Salas
  • Jake Rosenbery
  • Leslie Kin
  • Bonnie Boonthavongkham
  • Margee Loya
  • Robert Salinas
  • Mary Margaret
  • Rachel Barcelos
  • Lorraine Walker
  • Katrina Sheets
  • Mary Margaret Tan
  • Roseanne Susoeff
  • Isabel Mendoza
  • Milagros Prado
  • Sergio Salinas and his team
  • Stephanie Babb and her team
  • Reynani Chappel and the Admissions and Records team
  • District Police

Now to my weekly activities…

On Saturday morning I came to campus, like Jade and I often do to check out things post-graduation. It was quiet as expected, but then there were people parking and walking toward the college from parking Lot I. Jade and I circled back around and they were coming to a financial planning workshop in AC2. The college that keeps on giving even the morning after graduation! This workshop started at 9 a.m. Thank you to Angel, Robbie, and all those working to clean the college after graduation as there was no trash anywhere. Thank you to whomever it was that set up the workshop. They appeared to be well attended.

Later that morning, I went to the Soroptimist Cottage Tea where I was able to celebrate two of our students getting scholarships from a group of women who support financially and emotionally women heads of household who were told that they couldn’t. While there, we gave a scholarship to a young woman who is finishing law school. She was a meth baby, born addicted, taken from her mother at birth, raised in foster care, abused and became a young mother. She was there with her 16-year-old daughter getting a scholarship to help with law school.

On Sunday, after church, I went to the California Health Science University Inaugural Medical School Graduation Ceremony. The founding president Flo Dunn became an honorary doctor. The class of 67 doctors of osteopathic medicine were hooded and had their degrees confirmed upon them and they cited the Doctor of Osteopathy Oath. As I watched the ceremony in the stands to the left of me was a family of two curly blond teenage boys and two young elementary and/or kindergarten pig-tailed girls. Those boys yelled the entire time, “That’s our Momma!!!!!” They were so very proud. At one point after she got hooded and was coming off the stage, I saw her give them ‘the momma look.’ But she was so proud and so were they. I was sitting next to the registrar and she told me that she and her family had been homeless.

I reflected upon this information as I thought of how many people had been told that they were less than because they had kids early, they were homeless, they were drug babies, they were something that our society sees as less than, and here these two women were excelling, defying the odds and making a difference in the lives of their children and families for generations to come. I reflected on how much we do daily to be there for and with students who have also been told they were not worthy but by their grace are still standing and I wonder if I could have endured all that they go through and still finished. I think about just how resilient some of our students are and how some had to persist through things that we could ever imagine. This is the ‘why’ I am at the community college level to help be the conduit for students to go on, to feel supported, loved, encouraged, and empowered to be all that they dream despite what the world tells them otherwise. The lives of our student medalists and speaker reminded me of all the struggles placed on young people today and our mission to create those opportunities one student at a time.

On Monday, I had the Chancellors Cabinet meeting via Zoom which was a good thing because I was reminded that we will be reporting on the Districts Dedication to Diversity and EEO 2024 Annual Report. In this presentation for the Special Board meeting, we will be talking about our diversification efforts for all administrators, faculty, and classified professionals. Thanks to Ryan, I have the data needed to complete my report. Chancellor’s Cabinet will not meet next Monday due to the Memorial Day holiday and all revisions to the slide deck are due this Thursday. I then left and went to the Clovis City Council meeting where we went from 6:00 to 9:45 p.m. I was dozing off in the very long meeting. There was a budget report from both the Police and Fire Departments and there was a major issue with the residents of Behymer regarding annexation from the county to the city of Clovis. As we were going through the Councilmembers reports, Councilwoman Diane Pearce was ready to give her report and her phone came on with the Clovis Community College graduation. Her nephew graduated Friday night. So, even at the City Council meeting, we were celebrating our graduates. She stated what a wonderful graduation it was.

On Tuesday, we had the VP council where I reviewed the topics from the Chancellor’s Cabinet, and after, I did evaluations.

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of serving pizza to our classified professionals as we were honored to celebrate them all. I had the pleasure of serving pizza to my classified professionals with Kira at the main campus while Monica and Lorrie served our classified professionals at the Herndon Campus. It was actually fun serving pizza to them and watching them sit for a minute and enjoy some time just relaxing and talking to each other. Thank you for allowing me the pleasure of actually putting into practice the action of serving you even if through the simple act of putting pizza on your plates. Thanks to Jake for providing music for our time together. Kira and I were then able to walk around AC2 and AC1 and take pizza to those who we missed. We noticed that you were not there because you are important. Thank you to all our Classified Professionals; enjoy the rest of your week.

YAY! The ISER is done!!! At 2:45 p.m. I got an email from Leslie that it was sent! A big thank you to Leslie and everyone who put in countless hours over the weekend and late nights to make today’s (Wednesday) deadline. I hope you all sleep well knowing that it is done and has been received.

I also received another exciting news at the end of the day. Clovis Community College has been assigned the “Beta Psi Psi” chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. They will be working closely with Dr. David Cao to continue the steps of the chartering process. This is exciting news as this is the largest honor society in the world and most fitting of an honor’s program such as ours to be affiliated with. Congratulations, everyone!

Thursday was a day filled with reports and getting things ready for the Board meeting. I also completed the Clovis Community College Dedication to Diversity & EEO 2024 Annual Report which will be presented during the Special Board meeting. I also saw faculty packing their offices and getting ready for their move to AC3. Some had been here for several years and others not as long but seeing the amount of “stuff” and the time it is taking to clean offices and discard things was surreal. I have especially been seeing Jon Renwick and Roger Hitchcock clearing out their shared office day in and day out (as they are just down the hall from me). They have books all alongside the outside of their office wall, and they have their vac, cords, and moving boxes. I will miss not seeing them as I come in each morning and leave out each evening. Although we have not provided a definite move date (making sure everything is in order with the building) I am comforted in knowing that when we get the official go-ahead from the DO, the building will be finished, the furniture and equipment will be in and the utilities are on, I know that those moving will be ready and able to move with a quick turn around. Looking forward to this exciting new addition and example of our growth.

Friday, once again was filled with end-of-the-semester/year paperwork. We received the Achieving the Dream (AtD) selection for our Leadership and Data coaches. Our team, Gurdeep, Kira, Monica, Ryan, Max, and Teresa approved the selection. I have included the information provided about each coach so you can see the caliber of coaching we will be receiving for the next three years.

Based on our team’s perspectives on institutional priorities and coaching preferences. The AtD coaching team proposed the following two coaches to support us during our first three years with AtD:  

Greg currently serves as the fourth president of Patrick & Henry Community College, after serving as the institution’s vice president of academic and student success services. Greg is an experienced leadership coach supporting colleges in student-centered change, holistic student support, improving transfer and workforce outcomes, and transforming student experiences in and out of the classroom. Greg has also supported colleges and faculty across the country to advance teaching and learning and professional development, specifically related to active and cooperative learning. Miguel is a strong data coach who brings significant experience supporting colleges to build and leverage data capacity and governance, data literacy, and a culture of evidence and inquiry. Much of Miguel’s teaching, scholarship, and leadership roles have focused on educational leadership and policy, and advancing equitable student access, transfer, and success. Miguel and Greg have significant teaching experience and are strong equity-minded practitioners who are adept at supporting colleges to understand and improve the systemic barriers that prevent students from succeeding, use data to drive action and develop and implement high-impact strategies that improve equitable student and institutional outcomes.

It is also the last day before a long holiday weekend. Today, we culminate our celebration of our fabulous Classified Professionals by having their annual barbeque.

May everyone, enjoy your Memorial Day weekend. As you spend time with family and friends and you do things to rest and relax, may we also be reminded of why we have the holiday weekend. As both my grandfathers and father-in-law were army and navy vets, I take a moment to pause and think of them. As all were deployed and I am thankful for their service and I will always remember them now that they are gone.

Take care of your selves and each other and enjoy your time off.

See you next Tuesday and as always I am glad to be in your service.

In service,

Kim E. Armstrong, Ph.D.