AAPI Heritage Month Celebrations and Events at BCC

May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. To mark the occasion, students with Berkeley City College’s AAPI LEAD club covered BCC’s campus with information flyers highlighting AAPI trailblazers and heroes including Chinese American Labor Organizer Sue Ko Lee and former US Congress Rep. Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink. Other flyers display flags of Asian cultures sharing facts about the many diverse countries that make up the region.

The Laney College Women's Track & Field team began championship season this past week, flocking to the podium and walking away with 4 medals. With the conclusion of the Coast Conference Championship, the Eagles are now headed to the NorCal Championship at Yuba Community College.

On Saturday, April 29th, Laney College hosted its Annual Career and Technical Education (CTE) Open House. We had 437 potential students, parents, and community partners visiting our campus.  In addition, 14 industry and community partners, including labor unions, tabled to demonstrate the pathway of how our certificates and degrees lead to fulfilling careers.  With about 100 Laney College employees supporting the event, students were able to register on the spot. Over the weekend, we gained 122 new students and 236 seat enrollments for the Fall 2023 semester. We also gained 114 new students and 151 seat enrollments for the Summer 2023 session.

The Peralta Community College District is proud to celebrate the granting of tenure to seven members of our faculty by the Board of Trustees in March, with tenure taking effect with the 2023-24 academic year. These seven join the ranks of tenured faculty at our four colleges, adding ever more experience and talent to the core of our distinguished faculty, the foundation of our ability to help our students reach their educational goals. Congratulations to all for earning this distinction and for your dedication to our students.

To view all the photos taken during the event, click here.

Yemisi C. Obalade Jr. tells a personal story of success and accomplishment:

“I wear many hats here on Laney’s campus. For Instance, I am vice president of Laney’s Black Student Union, one of the Senators for the ASLC (Associated Students of Laney College), and an intern at Laney’s Athletics as a student trainer. I am also a part of Umoja-Ubaka, a learning community, where I've got many opportunities, one of them being a participant of the Huston-Tillotson University recruiting visit to Laney.

The University of Alaska, Anchorage women's basketball program has started its 2023 recruiting class with one of the top junior-college prospects in California, as head coach Ryan McCarthy announced Wednesday that Kya Pearson has signed a scholarship agreement with the Seawolves, an event gaining media coverage https://goseawolves.com/news/2023/4/19/womens-basketball-seawolves-start-class-with-california-jc-star-pearson.aspx.

A partnership between Laney Media Studies faculty member and virtual production specialist Koina Freeman and Magicbox (https://www.magicbox.ninja/ ) has led to opportunities for students in the discipline.

College of Alameda's Puente scholars attended Puente Day at the University of California (UC) Berkeley on March 23, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Students received a warm welcome from Puente State Office Executive Director Julia Vergara and heard from a panel of current UC Berkeley students.

On Wednesday, April 19, New York Times Best Selling Author Javier Zamora visited Berkeley City College to discuss his recent book Solito: A Memoir. The event was organized by the Berkeley City College Library in partnership with the Berkeley Public Library. The free, sold-out event filled the BCC Auditorium with over 200 people made up of BCC students, Berkeley High School students, and community members.