Week of May 27, 2024

Hi Clovis Fam,

Before I start my weekly Reflection and Activities report, I want us to take a moment and reflect upon all who have impacted our lives and who are no longer with us. As we took time off for Memorial Day, I was aware of all the loved ones who shared their lives and who are no longer with us. This year, we were met with a lot of loss within our own family. Please be compassionate and kind to those of us who lost loved ones, be it earlier in the year or just this past weekend. Please know that I am not sharing names out of respect for their privacy. Please know that I am holding you close in my heart and prayers and that we as a family will give grace as you mourn. My heart is heavy.

This week’s report will be short due to the Memorial Day long weekend and that it was a quiet week. Wait, that’s a lie! It was only quiet in sound. It was actually a bazaar week.

On Tuesday, I canceled my VP Council meeting since I did not have the President’s Council or the Chancellor’s Cabinet due to Monday being a holiday. I had planned to have time to do a lot of paperwork. And then…ya’ll I got an email from the District Office, an email they received from the CEO of EECU bank saying that the ADA ramp near the ATM at our location is flooded. Sergio, Jerald, and I were communicating via phone to try to figure out what happened. There had been no rain for days. I am confused. EECU wants an answer ASAP as to what we plan to do to fix the problem. Jerald gets there before me and Sergio, and under Sergio’s guidance is checking clocks and sprinklers near the ATM. We are looking at the trench and the water flow from the parking lot. I see no evidence of flooding…and then we touched the leaves in the trench and they were damp. Remember there has been no rain for weeks. We ascertained that there must be something malfunctioning with the timers and sprinkler. So, we proposed to assess timers and sprinklers. In the meantime, the debris in the trench was removed and the trench was re-dug to provide a clear path for water to flow away from the ATM.

I had scheduled to pick up some clothing donations for the Clothing Closet so I had plans to go to Herndon to meet the donor. She had several men’s dress pants, shirts, and jackets. I was excited to be getting men’s dress clothes for our recent male graduates. Prior to leaving, I received notification that Herndon was without electricity. My meeting with my donor was at 4 pm. I got to Herndon prior to 4 pm and by then we had discovered that PG&E estimated the time for the power to be back on would be about 8:30 pm. The generators were providing light; however, they have no internet and it's getting warm in the offices and classrooms. I made the call to close Herndon. I apologized to my donor that I was unable to show her the Clothing Closet due to the electrical issue. Stephanie helped unload several items and then sent out the communication about Herndon being closed for the remainder of the day. Tom locked all the doors once everyone left the buildings. I went to the Mechatronics class to talk with Matthew and his class and I decided to have them go ahead and cancel class. The students made arrangements to get rides. We made sure that everyone had left the campus before Matthew and I left. Kimberly did a great job troubleshooting and providing information. This was a perfect storm as Lorrie was on vacation, Sergio was off on medical, and Kimberly was at Madera. I appreciate her “I Can Do Attitude” as it once again demonstrates our Clovis Spirit.

Tuesday evening, I had the pleasure of joining one of our donors for a fundraiser for a young woman diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. She is the mother of a 4-year-old daughter. The young woman was not able to join us because her white blood cell count was too high and her doctors advised against being in large crowds. We raised almost $18K that all went straight to her. The night ended well.

Wednesday morning, I checked on the ATM issue and the power issue at Herndon before coming into the office. When I was coming in I stopped to talk to Whitney and was telling her about all the strange things that happened on Tuesday. She asked what time did they lose power and I told her about 3 pm. She then told me that her husband was working in that area and caused disruption to the airport, banks, and hospital. Her husband caused the power outage at Herndon! LOL. This is when you truly know, it’s a small world. What are the odds that we would know the person that caused our power outage?????

I then had the honor and privilege to share with my colleagues, students, community members, trustees, and Chancellor the raising of the Pride flag. The program was MCed by Diane, and Kirt and Leslie raised the new flag and Angel helped to lock and hoist the flag. You may recall that we had our flag taken down and stolen last year. We replaced it immediately and put a lick box on the chain so that this could not happen again. The ceremony was beautiful and Tari’s words and those of our GSA President and Chancellor were powerful and supportive of our conviction to make sure that if these brave students can step forward then we as a college community can stand in solidarity and also stand in front in protection. To see the number of people there made me proud. You are all a wonderful group of people to stand in our commitment to creating a safe and welcoming environment for everyone. “ ALL ARE WELCOME HERE!”

I had a lunch meeting with Nico, and we talked about the various projects that he has and will be working on. I returned and completed reports and signed some of the many Adobe signature requests sent by Jake.

Thursday morning, after leaving an early morning dental appointment, I came to campus for a meeting regarding Financial Literacy and the underlying behavioral components. This initiative may be beneficial to our students. I will set up another meeting including others to see if this is something that we would like to bring to our college.

I ended my day by having my quarterly Presidents Community Advisory Meeting. This, as the last meeting of the year; i.e. 4th quarter meeting, will be a joint meeting of all the groups; Asian American, African American, Hispanic/Latinx, LGBTQIA+, Business and Industry members. I presented the following information: The Information Listening Sessions for the SCCCD, The Integrated 2035 Master Facilities Plan for CCC, The 2024 CCC Annual Report, The new DEIA website, the New All Gender Restrooms, and the Belonging Survey Preliminary Results.

Friday, I worked on my 4th quarter newsletter, prepared for the June Board meeting, and worked on my Onboarding Video script. I also am reviewing our website and other documents in preparation for our ACCJC reaffirmation review.

Saturday, I marched in the Pride Parade with my Clovis colleagues and students. Sunday I presented at the African American High School Seniors Scholarship Ceremony where I presented a scholarship to Clovis. Immediately following that ceremony, I attended the 2nd Annual Latinx Recognition Celebracion Graduation.

The weather has been kind to us for the past few days, I hope that although it's scheduled to get well into the 90s that each of you has a good weekend; that everyone stays cool and safe. May each of you take care of yourselves and each other as each of you matter. You bring a sense of community to our college and we are stronger for you working together with the singular goal of putting our students first.

I appreciate you and thank you for yet another incredible year. I look forward to seeing you next week and for serving you.

In service,

Kim E. Armstrong, Ph.D.