After two years of online meetings through Zoom and live streaming on YouTube. The Board of Trustees is coming back with another in person meeting at San Diego Mesa College on Nov. 10. The meeting was held in one of the conference rooms of the MC building. There were small snacks and beverages for everyone to enjoy. There were many faculty members that attended along with some of the members of the Associated Students. Representatives from different groups at Mesa College presented updates on how our school is doing and how our school grants have helped us succeed.
President Hands highlighted that the theme this year is “shining light on Equity and Excellence” and explains the meaning behind this theme. Hands said, “We are going to illuminate the path that is consistently leading us to be the college of equity and excellence.” Hands started the presentation by introducing all of our current leaders that are working together at Mesa College. She started first with all of our vice presidents working her way to the next three speakers who were the presidents of the Academic Senate, Classified Senate and Associated Students, all of which spoke very proudly about our school and how we have become a great community that people on and off campus can and have enjoyed.
They also shared some examples made by our faculty and students of how our campus has been shining light on equity and excellence, such as a recent event called the group healing circle which was held by the Associated Students, where students could share their feelings about any recent international events. The presentation then went onto goals and achievements that Mesa College has done. Some examples were about the Mesa2030 plan, olympians earning athletic scholarships and the different art centers that are at Mesa. Dr. Ryan Shumaker, the Dean of exercise and science, highlighted that from the year 2021-2022 for student athletes there were 600+ olympian student athletes, overall all had an average GPA of 3.09 and there was a total of $1.7 million in scholarships earned in the last academic year.
The meeting also went over grants for the STEM and AAPI groups and how they have been utilizing the money they received and other successful achievements they worked for. For the end of the presentation, the adjunct pride center counselor coordinator, Lucio Lira, also gave updates about the Pride Center and why it is important to have one on campus for the LGBTQ+ community to feel welcomed and safe while attending at Mesa College.
The meeting finished in a timely manner and was successful in showing the amazing things done at San Diego Mesa College. Craig Milgram ended the meeting giving his thanks to one of the presenters Alessandra Moctezuma for hosting an art exhibit promoting the LGBTQ+ and showed his appreciation for the community clinic in the child center. He also said “ I wouldn’t be the gay trustee if I didn’t say way to go on the pride center.”
After covid hit and affected how school life functions, Mesa College proved that with time recovery is possible and good things can happen. As colleges continue to adapt to the new ways of learning, it is safe to say that Mesa college is on the road to shining light on equity and excellence.
