The Oaklandside Welcomes Laney Journalism Students for Summer Internships

Starting this summer, The Oaklandside will be welcoming Laney journalism student and former Citizen Editor-in-Chief Luke Wrin Piper for a 10-week, full-time reporting internship. This “Lede Reporter in Residence” will join The Oaklandside newsroom full-time for 10 weeks, learning from and working side-by-side with our award-winning team of reporters and editors.

A New Educational Master Plan: Charting the Course of CoA’s Future

On May 5, 2022, College of Alameda held a college-wide forum to embark on the exciting and important work of creating the College’s next Educational Master Plan (EMP). CoA’s 2022-2027 EMP will articulate a long-term, data-driven vision for the College that will include: supporting the College’s Guided Pathways initiative; improving student equity, inclusion, and accessibility; crafting a framework to inform critical decision-making; providing fiscal stewardship; and aligning with the District’s planning themes.

BCC Society of Scholars Graduation Ceremony

Berkeley City college Society of Scholars and the Undocumented Community Resource celebrated their ICONIC Class of 2022 graduates and their amazing accomplishments on Wednesday, May 18th. The celebration included icon shoutouts and graduates sharing some BCC memorable moments.

The following article is written by Brock Drazen, Athletic Director at Merritt College and Head Coach of the Merritt College Track & Field team, and is used by permission from an announcement sent to all Peralta employees on May 23, 2022.

LaNiece Jones, Executive Director of the Peralta Colleges Foundation, is busy - very busy - raising money to help financially support students in the Peralta Community College District. As I write this article, she is extraordinarily focused on preparations for the Foundation's major fundraising event of the spring, the Dr. William "Bill" Riley Golf Tournament which will take place at Sequoyah Country Club on Monday, May 23, 2022.  Visit https://pcfwbrgolftournament2022.funraise.org/ to sign up to participate or to donate. The last PCF golf tournament, on a chilly day in December, raised over $100,000 for student scholarships.  We depend upon the generosity of our community and hope you can join us in person or at least make a donation!

Congratulations to Laney College, winner of Gold Award in the category for Virtual Tours at the the 2021 Collegiate Advertising Awards announced earlier this month. As noted on their website at https://www.collegiateadawards.com/, "The Collegiate Advertising Awards program is an elite national program created to honor today’s most talented marketing professionals for outstanding excellence in all forms of advertising, marketing and promotion specific to higher education products and services."

Update from May 25, 2022 - The Laney College Women's Track Team did well at state!  Congratulations to Shona Christensen for earning the bronze medal for third place in the state of California!  Coach Robert Crawley attended the Board of Trustees meeting on May 24, 2022 and commented, "This past weekend, we just got back from L.A. where we returned from the CCCAA state championship meet. It was the first time the program had been there since 2018 and the first time we had someone representing [Laney] in the throws since 2013. I want to highlight Shona Christensen. She placed third in the state in the shot put...It was really cool to be at the state meet in front of thousands of people. Shona was a great representative for Laney College and all the Peralta Colleges."  You can listen to comments from Coach Crawley, Laney College Athletic Director John Beam, Shona and her brother Joseph here. 

The CCCAA Northern California Finals were back for the first time since 2019, as track programs across the region flocked to compete at Chabot College. The Laney College Women’s Track & Field program had incredible representation, as student-athletes competed in the 100m and 200m sprints, as well as long jump, shot put, and discus. Among the competitors, Freshman Dominique Gaston competed in the 100m final, Freshman Sheelah Carey competed in the long jump final, and Sophomore Shona Christensen competed in both the shot put and discus final.

The following article is written by Brock Drazen, Athletic Director at Merritt College and Head Coach of the Merritt College Track & Field team, and is used by permission from an announcement sent to all Peralta employees on May 16, 2022

Merritt College Welcomes the Return of S.O.U.L.

I am pleased to report that Merritt S.O.U.L. has returned to campus. What is S.O.U.L. you may ask? Well, the acronym stands for Sustaining Oakland Urban Lives, and represents an effort on the part of the college to engage and support our students and the greater community. Led by Doris Hankins, the Director of Student Activities and Campus Life, and working in concert with the Alameda County Community Food Bank, our Natural History and Sustainability Department, our EOPS Program, and the Associated Students of Merritt College, we did a “soft launch” on Thursday, April 28.

Laney College Hosts 100 Black Men Career Expo Event

On Saturday, April 30, the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area organization held its first Career Expo Event at Laney College. The day began with welcoming and keynote remarks from Joseph Frank of Wells Fargo, Julius Robinson of Union Bank, Dorian Giles (Personal Brand Agent for Professional Athletes), and Laney College President Rudy Besikof.