Jan. 6th, 2022
President Athenea opened tonight's meeting with the club reciting the The Four-Way Test followed by Lee Proimos leading us in the pledge and then Resa Coopat gave the Inspirational Speech. Greeter Mark Alberts welcomed guests and Joel Doss followed by leading us in our Welcome Song. Joel was then awarded his 2nd Paul Harris pin from Rotary International by Bob Vaughn, our in house RI representative.
Jim Hyldahl announced a save the date on Sat., Feb. 12th for our next clean up day at the Swim and Tennis Club. Poway High School is having an E Waste event (check their web site on line for more information) and on Jan. 15th there is a District Membership Workshop. Some of our members chose to attend our meeting on Zoom as did our speaker. It all worked out very well.
Gary Saks had the honor of introducing our speaker, Dr. Star Rivera-Lacey, the new Superintendent/President of the Palomar Community College District. She has over 23 years of progressive administrative and community college experience, with emphasis in Student Services and Instructional programming. She previously held positions including serving as the first VP of Student Services at the San Diego College of Continuing Education, and as the Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Student Services at Palomar College. Dr. Rivera-Lacey currently serves as an adjunct faculty member in the university system.
Her professional accomplishments include being names as an Aspen Institute Rising Presidents Fellow las year, and a National Community College Hispanic Council Fellow in 2018. Her leadership skills and qualifications include developing and implementing specialized programs for traditional and non-traditional student populations. Her commitment to social justice drives her passion for educational reform and her research interests center on student access to educational opportunities, student retention and the completion of educational goals....especially for under-served populations.
She was born and raised in Oceanside and is proud to have started her post-secondary education at a community college. She has a bachelor's degree in Liberal Studies from Cal State San Marcos, a masters degree in Education from SDSU with an emphasis in multicultural counseling, and a PH.D. in Education from the San Diego State/Claremont Graduate University joint doctoral program. She enjoys photography, running, an is a first-degree black belt in Shorin Ryu karate!
Dr. Rivera-Lacey is the new Super Intendant of Palomar Community College serving 25,000 students in a 2500 square mile radius. They offer 150+ programs at their Education Centers in Escondido, Fallbrook and RB Campuses. Their main campus in San Marcos has been given $58 million dollars since May of 2020. She has been one of our most entertaining speakers and loves what she does. They have a new Campus here in Rancho Bernardo and she has offered to give us a personal tour! It should be a very fun event! Terry Heck presented her with a book (virtually) that will be signed on her behalf and given to the middle school in our area.
Submitted by Karen Stelman,
Scribe for the Day
