Celebrating Black History Month!
The 2024 theme is African Americans and the Arts. According to ASALH, African American art is infused with African, Caribbean, and the Black American lived experiences. Artists from this community have utilized their creativity not only to preserve history and communal memory but as a means of empowerment. Art has also been used as a platform for social justice. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is celebrating Black History Month by featuring 'The Art of Resistance'.
Through an exhibition titled, "Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience", visual arts are portrayed through protests, racial violence, grief, mourning, hope and change. Reckoning is a testament to how artists and photographers have used their voice to pay tribute to those we have lost, lifting up names such as Eric Garner, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at demonstrations and in communities’ online (National Museum of African American History & Culture).
One of the featured artists is Dr. Fahamu Pecou and his painting titled "I'm So Fly". Copyright Fahamu Pecou
Photo Caption: "Grave representations of Black men act like a force of gravity, restricting their mobility. We meet Black youth with fear and loathing, limiting their potential with tragic stats and stories of death. ‘But I’m Still Fly’ offers an alternative narrative, one that locates the tension between aspiration and limitation. This piece asks - What if we believed in the abilities of our Black boys more than we lamented their identity? What if we taught them that they could transcend their so-called limitations? What if we encouraged them to fly?" - Fahamu Pecou
Congratulations to Coach Collier, Coach Powers, Coach Wells, and our Women's Basketball team who finished their regular season with a win over Lassen College on February 14. The Ladies finished with an 18-8 record and placed second in the Golden Valley Conference (GVC).
Congratulations to Coach Heath, Coach Russell, and our Men's Basketball team for clinching the GVC Championship with their win over Lassen College on February 14. The men still have one more game on Wednesday, February 21 vs Feather River College. This is the first Men’s Basketball GVC Championship since 2004!
Both teams will hear about playoffs on Sunday, February 25. Congratulations to our student athletes and coaching staff on a very successful basketball season.
College of the Siskiyous is excited to have Jessany Petricevic lead the College's new Beach Volleyball program, which opened its first season with two matches during a tournament at Monterey Peninsula on January 26.
Petricevic is also head coach of the Yreka High School indoor Volleyball team. She is a 2011 Yreka High School graduate who played volleyball for Shasta College in Redding and was a two-year starting Libero for University of Maine, Fort Kent, where she also served as head coach in 2016-17. Eagle head indoor volleyball coach Lyndi Scholl, is assisting Petricevic as the assistant beach volleyball coach.
The Eagles have no beach volleyball facilities at the Weed Campus and will have no home matches this first season. The team is currently traveling for practices to the Redding Sand Courts or SOU in Ashland two or three times a week.
While Feather River has had a strong beach volleyball team for several years (including a loss in the state championship match in 2022), this is the first year for beach volleyball in the Golden Valley Conference. The conference includes Siskiyous, Feather River, Shasta, and Lassen.
Most of the players on the beach volleyball roster were also members of the Eagles' indoor volleyball team this past fall. Unlike an indoor volleyball roster, there are no positions listed for beach volleyball. In beach volleyball, two-player teams compete in a series of six best-of-three sets, five of which count in the scoring. No coaching is allowed during a game, and each player needs to do all the skills: serving, passing, attacking, digging, being vocal, etc. It is all about ball control, and lot of physical conditioning is needed.
Next up, spring sports… Baseball, Softball, and Track & Field. Check the Athletics webpage for game schedules, scores, and photos from the events.
Stay Connected: it is winter season which means it is a good time to make sure you are signed up and receiving messages from the College’s communication system, COS Connect. This is a free system used to notify students and staff of emergency-situations, campus closures, or general information. To sign up click on the COS Connect button located on the COS homepage and follow the directions to get signed up.
2024-2025 Foundation Scholarship Applications Now Available: Scholarship applications for academic year 2024-2025 are now available for Siskiyou County high school seniors (graduating spring 2024) and current COS students who plan to attend COS during the 2024-2025 year. Scholarships range from $250 to $5,000. The application is due March 31.
Upcoming Activities & Events: Event dates, times, and locations based on information available at the time of publication and are subject to change.
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The Office of Research has recently been compiling the results of the Career & Technical Education Employment Outcomes Survey (CTEOS). This is an annual survey conducted by Santa Rosa Junior College, which collects qualitative data from every community college in the state. The goal is to find out how satisfied Career and Technical Education (CTE) students are with their program after they enter the workforce and how their education has affected their employment outcomes. This information is useful for college funding and determining what programs colleges can offer in the future. From it, we have discovered some interesting points. One instance was the information regarding the satisfaction students had with their education from College of the Siskiyous (COS) in comparison to the State average:
It was great to see that the 'Very Satisfied' point is higher. The other points do not exactly match up, but they do not differ much from the state average.
Another point of interest is those who secured jobs close to their program of study:
It was also interesting to observe that the percentage of COS students finding jobs very close to their program of study was higher than the state average and the jobs that were not close were fewer.
Lastly, part of the survey showed a significant bump from COS students in wages after completing their programs of interest as the average wage went from $18 to $24 per hour. This is seen in the following chart.
Overall, compiling and comparing the CTE survey data from College of the Siskiyous with state averages revealed differences that could be important or useful to look at closer in the future.
CTEOS report for College of the Siskiyous
It is that wonderful time of the year…budget development! We are starting the process for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Banner will be open March 1-25 for budget entry. There will be trainings for budget managers on March 1, 4 and 6 - keep an eye out for more information on times and locations (you will only need to attend one session). We are hoping to have the electronic RAR (Resource Allocation Request - formerly CQIP) form available in time for submissions… fingers crossed.
Removal of dangerous and diseased trees on the Weed campus will begin February 21 and continue until all 13 marked trees have been removed.
Construction of the new Vaporizer replacement began February 9 with Serv Pro deep cleaning the vaporizer shed. Diversified Electric will be on the west side of campus providing the electrical service to our new electric vaporizer.
Due to the power outage on January 14, the District lost the IO Board that runs the Science Building elevator, Otis has located a new IO board and will replace the damaged one as soon as possible. Several relays and control parts to the air handler in ESTC were also lost. New parts have been ordered and will be installed as soon as possible so we may gain control of our air system in that building again.
The automatic transfer switch to our generator has failed and a specialist technician from Schneider has been called on an emergency basis to complete the repair. This does not have an ETA for completion any power outages will need to be handled manually and will take extra time to accomplish.
The Client Services team has deployed new Canon printer/copiers throughout the College. Thanks to everyone for your patience as we made the transition. The CS team will also be implementing the workstation standard on all workstations in Academic Affairs in first half of this calendar year.
The Enterprise Application team expects to open up testing of Self-Service Banner 9 (SSB9) this month. It is anticipated SSB9 will be implemented just before the opening of registration for the fall term. Additionally, the EA team has implemented a new process for importing applications from CCC Apply. This new process will be expanded to include new fields needed for MIS reporting. If no major issues are encountered during the testing phase, this will be deployed by the end of the month.
The EA team has been working with both the Business Office and Admissions & Records departments to implement the Nelnet application, which will give students the ability to establish payment plans. This application will be deployed in two phases by first enabling students to establish payment plans for balances in the current term and then doing the same for past due balances.
The Infrastructure Services team has encountered some unexpected challenges in getting the new 1 GB circuit between the Yreka and Weed campuses but still expect to have it fully implemented this month. The IS team will be performing a refresh of all of the network switches and nearly all of the wireless access points that make-up the College’s network infrastructure throughout 2024.
The department is currently developing its Operational Plan for FY24-25. This plan will be presented to the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) in March followed by presentation to the Board of Trustees and publishing.
The transition from "Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)" to "Safety Data Sheets (SDS)" began in the early 2000s and has continued worldwide. The purpose of both MSDS and SDS documents remains unchanged: they list information pertaining to "occupational health and safety" for various uses of substances and products. However, with the adoption of the "Globally Harmonized System (GHS)", the terminology shifted from MSDS to SDS. Here are some key points about this transition:
GHS: The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) is an internationally agreed-upon standard managed by the United Nations. It was established to replace various hazardous material classification and labeling schemes used worldwide. The GHS harmonizes hazard classification criteria and chemical hazard communication elements globally, aiming to enhance the protection of human health and the environment.
Changes in Terminology:Signal Words: SDSs now include signal words:
Hazard Classifications: SDSs provide hazard classifications based on health and physical properties of the product.
Health Hazard Classes: These relate to the product's impact on health, such as eye irritation, respiratory sensitization, or carcinogenicity.
Physical Hazard Classes: These consider the physical or chemical properties of a product, such as reactivity, flammability, or corrosivity.
In summary, the transition from MSDS to SDS aligns with global efforts to simplify regulations and improve worker safety in the handling of hazardous chemicals.
Access to make changes to the SDS files internally will be assigned through the facilities office. https://siskiyous-keenan.safeschoolssds.com * Access link to our Hazardous Materials Inventory. Please contact Ronnie Rivera at extension 5345 to discuss approval for access to the SDS platform.
Vice President, Student Services
Spring semester is fully underway. Recently at Convocation, we were privileged to hear from Kathy Buckley. Kathy's story impacts each person in a different way but there is not questioning Kathy's love for sharing her message and the positive influence she has upon those that get to hear that message. Kathy wished for me to express how much she enjoyed her time at COS and getting to speak with many of you. Thank you for welcoming her and making her feel a part of our COS family.
In March, a team of Student Services professionals will be attending the CSSO Conference in San Francisco. At this conference, we will hear from the Chancellor's Office, educational leaders, and our colleagues from other California Community Colleges. I am excited to be taking a team this time and for us all to learn together how we can better serve our students.
Later this semester we will be hosting Eighth Grade Inspiration Day and Kinder Caminata. Stay tuned for details on these events.
Lastly, I would like to express my appreciation to Haley LeBoeuf and Virginia Taylor. They are doing a wonderful job of keeping the Financial Aid Department operating smoothly. It has not been easy and their contributions have not gone unnoticed. Thank you! We thank everyone for your patience as we work to fill the vacancies in the Financial Aid Department.
Fire Technology is entering its busiest time of the year. Fire Academy #45 is preparing to start conducting its live burns. The two Fire Towers become a 5-Alarm fire and the cadets will be doing countless evolutions to demonstrate all the skills they have learned in close-to-real-life scenarios. The Tactical Training Facility utilizes propane burners, and the Wilson Tower is a 'Class A' Fire Facility where the cadets will be exposed to temperatures reaching 1000°F. All are welcomed to come catch these cadets in action on February 21 and 22 at the Fire Tower. This marks the end of the Fire Cadets’ Structure Module and they will be moving into Wildland Firefighting until they graduate May 3, 2024.
Fire Technology Program also hosted several Standalone courses including a Confined Space Rescue Technician Course. This course prepares students to enter tight spaces and rescue trapped victims. There were local students in the course with a large number of students from professional fire departments including Stockton, Redding, LA County and Cal Fire.
Hi Everyone.
Well, the spring semester is now in full gear. It is crazy that we are now in the third week of the semester. I love seeing and interacting with students. I think one thing I have learned in my years of teaching is the importance of connection. Students need to feel that you genuinely care about them and their success. When we invest in these connections, we not only enhance their academic experience, but we also provide a supportive framework where students can navigate challenges. Given the isolating effects of social media and the pandemic, I think it is more important than ever to connect with students and see their individual attributes.
I also realize the importance of extending this care and interest to not only my students, but to my work colleagues as well. I would like to express my appreciation for all constituency groups on campus (i.e., administrators, ASM, CSEA, faculty). All of us contribute to the working of this college and are needed for this campus to thrive. I feel lucky that I get to work with individuals who go out of their way to assist students and help them address their issues. This was illustrated last night when I ran into a couple of former students who are currently attending four-year colleges. They both said that they missed COS because they do not feel as much support and care from their current institution. I have heard this refrain from other former students, and I think it is a testament to our kindhearted staff and faculty.
Finally, one of our LVN instructors, Linda Chrisman, wrote an adorable children’s book titled There’s a Hedgehog in My Hair. Linda was inspired to write this book after she would say this fun rhyme to her daughter when she had tangles in her hair, which was a similar story told to her by her Nana. It is a charming book and Linda did the illustrations herself. Congratulations, Linda!
Thanks for listening.
Andrea Craddock, Ph.D.
Academic Senate President
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