Cuyamaca College receives state diversity and equity award

Representatives from Cuyamaca College at the Dr. John W. Rice
Diversity & Equity Award ceremony

Cuyamaca College is one of two California community colleges to be honored today with the 18^th annual Dr. John W. Rice Diversity & Equity Award for its innovative program that markedly increased the number of students who completed their math and English classes.

Cuyamaca College President Julianna Barnes and other representatives from the college received the award from Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Santa Barbara City College was also honored for a program that assists single parent students who are new or returning to college.

 

Open registration starts for fall semester at Grossmont, Cuyamaca colleges

With the start of fall semester Aug. 20, open registration is just days away for almost 30,000 students working toward university transfer, training for high-skill jobs or expanding their horizons at Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges.

The cost of the courses is $46 per unit, with most classes offering three units of college credit. Online registration for regular semester classes opens July 9 for all students and ends Aug. 19.

For first-time college students, the fall semester kicks off the much-anticipated Grossmont-Cuyamaca College Promise, which provides a year of tuition-free classes at either campus with the pledge to complete orientation, assessments and devising an education plan, and maintaining at least a 2.0 GPA as a full-time student.

"Beauty and the Beast: A New Musical" takes center stage at Summer Theatre Arts Conservatory

Beauty and the Beast: A New Musical is coming to the Grossmont College Stagehouse Theatre from July 26 through Aug. 4 as part of the annual Grossmont College Summer Theatre Arts Conservatory.

Adapted by Jeannette Thomas from Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s “La Belle et la Bete,” Beauty and the Beast: A New Musical continues the Summer Theatre Arts Conservatory’s tradition of mixing classic storytelling with modern music. Tickets are selling at a rapid pace and three performances already are sold out.

Now in its fifth year, the summer conservatory allows student performers and technicians to learn what it’s like to work in a professional theatre in daytime and evening classes. Students are taught specialized skills that include acting, costume design, lighting, set design and marketing at one of the most respected college theatre programs in the region. The program is free for the nearly 50 high school and college students taking part.

“The Grossmont College Theatre Arts Department includes a number of working professionals who are well known in the local arts community, and the summer conservatory is a great opportunity for both high school and college students to learn from the best while earning college credit,” said Beth Duggan, chair of the Theatre Arts Department. “We are really pleased with this year’s production, which promises to best one yet.”

DJ travels from Rwanda to Grossmont College to share story

For three years, Olivier Ndacyayisenga, a DJ who lives in Rwanda, has been communicating by Skype with Grossmont College summer students about the culture and heartrending history of his African country. Now, with the help of two faculty members, Olivier will talk in person at Grossmont College about the Rwandan genocide and deliver a simple message: that hope exists even in the face unthinkable tragedy. 

Olivier will be speaking from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 28 at Grossmont College’s Griffin Gate. The public is invited to the free event, sponsored by Grossmont College's World Arts Culture Committee.

Erica Abraham: First graduate of Cuyamaca College's viticulture apprenticeship program

Erica Abraham

Erica Abraham realized her life’s passion while picking Syrah grapes in a Fallbrook vineyard.

“Everything changed that day when I harvested my first 100 pounds of grapes,” she said. “I knew that morning standing in the vineyard that winemaking and grape-growing was what I wanted to do. It made my heart sing.”

On June 4, Abraham became the first graduate of Cuyamaca College’s groundbreaking viticulture apprenticeship program, the only program of its kind in California that equips students with a firm understanding about all aspects of wine production, from growing the grapes to pouring the drink.

“This program completely transformed my career path,” Abraham said moments before she accepted her California Division of Apprenticeship Standards certificate and trade card.

The 3,000 hours of training and 14.5 units of coursework has prepared Abraham for work as an independent consultant to a growing legion of wine makers in the region, including those who have turned to growing wine grapes as a hobby.

Graduating classes set records at Grossmont, Cuyamaca colleges

Grossmont College commencement

Commencement is always a day of celebration and promising futures as students take part in a time-honored processional, while families and friends cheer and beam with pride.

This year’s graduation ceremonies at Cuyamaca and Grossmont colleges were ones for the record books as a highest-ever 2,600 graduates received more than 5,500 degrees and certificates on June 6 and 7. These numbers translate into a 23 percent increase in the number of graduates and a 20 percent hike in the number of degrees and certificates compared to 2017’s record-setting numbers.

Cuyamaca graduate

With many students receiving multiple credentials, more than 800 graduates earned 1,300 degrees and certificates June 6 at Cuyamaca College’s 40th annual commencement. College President Julianna Barnes noted that Cuyamaca’s first graduating class numbered fewer than 40. 

At Grossmont College’s 57th annual ceremony the following day, nearly 1,800 graduates were awarded more than 4,200 degrees and certificates, the most credentials granted among all the community colleges in the region, President Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh noted after welcoming the crowd in English, Spanish and Arabic. 

After 16 years, Grossmont College student reaches graduation

Ricky German and President Abu-Ghazaleh

Born with cerebral palsy, just getting to campus every day was a major undertaking for Grossmont College student Ricky German.

On June 7, after 16 years of arriving at the college at 6:30 a.m. to make it to his classes on time and facing daily challenges that to most are a matter of routine, the 37-year-old business major finally accomplished his dream. 

German joined the 1,800 members of Grossmont College’s class of 2018 in a time-honored processional and the long-awaited tassel turn, signifying his status as a college graduate.

German’s academic progress was impeded by recurring hospitalizations and setbacks, but he remained steadfast in striving for his associate degree.