"The Symphony's great strength is its intrepid explorations in repertoire, which are often quite courageous for a community group." --San Francisco Classical Voice
We had the great pleasure in once again hosting the Redwood Symphony Orchestra at Cañada College. The PTK volunteers (Jenna Murphy, Said Taibi, Violeta Crow, Aldo Garcia, Isaiah Roggow, and Johnathan Werden) set up, ran, and broke down the concession and ticket stand. In between those duties, when the Orchestra was performing, the volunteers could sit and withness one of the best volunteer symphonies in the country.
By volunteering to perform the logistics of a concert for an all volunteer orchestra, Beta Zeta Nu was able to help bring art to the local population of students and community members. We were also able to build relationships between Beta Zeta Nu members and the event coordinators.
Monday, September 14, 2009
High School Outreach
As part of our effort to connect with local high schools, Rene Rivera represented Phi Theta Kappa during a summer Cañada campus tour for high school students. The purpose of this presentation was to reach out to future students of Cañada and possible future PTK members. It was important to show the incoming students the programs and clubs available to them, including PTK, and show why it was important for them to stay active in their campus and community. The presentation was provided in Spanish to support these first generation immigrant students who spoke very little English. Thanks to Rene, these students have a better knowledge of the possibilities for greater enrichment as college students.
Library Foundation
On August 23rd, Beta Zeta Nu helped the Library Foundation of Redwood City raise money at the North Fair Oaks Festival in Redwood City. The money was intended to help the Library Foundation purchase materials for Redwood City libraries, which would benefit the community at large. We gathered volunteers from the chapter (Aldo Garcia, Violeta Crow and Rene Rivera) and sold raffle tickets to passers-by at our booth in the festival. The foundation was raffling attractive prizes, such as an iPod, soccer ball, tickets for a Giants game and more. The event was fun for the chapter as well as the community and we were able to raise about $400 for a noble cause. We were also able to represent students of Cañada College and Phi Theta Kappa.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
2009 Summer events
This summer, Beta Zeta Nu members, officers and advisers met several times to discuss new and ongoing projects, as well as the Honors Topic in progress. As the summer progressed, we participated in several different events, including a 4th of July Parade, a tree planting project and a leadership event, summaries of which will appear in a later post.
We resolved that every time members create and engage a project make would write reports on these projects summarizing the project, who participated, our goals for the project and the outcome. We’re sure that these summaries will help guide our project design and focus in the future as well as provide inspiration readers and future members.
We also spent time consistently coordinating events supporting this year’s honors topic. We reviewed different books in related to the Honors Topic and possible projects, including but not limited to "The China Study" by Dr. Colin Campbell. After discussing possible projects and events, we decided on several new projects as well as reengaging community partnerships from last year. As part of our ongoing partnership with Garfield school, members will be creating a project for Garfield students to educate them on the stock market, investment and money management, which will ultimately be tied back to economic policy. There will also be a presentation related to education, focusing on whether college is necessary and/or the consequences of a less affluent or unequal education.
The chapter also discussed possible service projects for the upcoming year. So far we have considered several options, some of which include planting a garden and doing volunteer landscaping at a homeless shelter through the Shelter Network in Menlo Park, sponsoring a team for the Project Read Trivia Bee, pruning city trees, hosting events for Be the Change Day and helping with state beach and dune restoration projects in Half Moon Bay. Other events in the future may also include helping collect fish data aboard a research vessel in partnership with SF. We’ll also be using social networking sites to get member feedback on such events and recruit volunteers.
As part of our activities on campus, we’ll be redesigning our PTK information and display case to show recent events through photos, brief summaries and invitations to view our blog. We’re also considering different ways to help ease the impact of the state budget cuts on campus, and offering our assistance in any way we can to counselors and administrators. As such, we’ll be greeting and guiding students through the administrative building for the first few weeks of school to help students avoid lines up to 3 hours long.
We're all excited about a new semester and helping our fellow students and community at large.
We resolved that every time members create and engage a project make would write reports on these projects summarizing the project, who participated, our goals for the project and the outcome. We’re sure that these summaries will help guide our project design and focus in the future as well as provide inspiration readers and future members.
We also spent time consistently coordinating events supporting this year’s honors topic. We reviewed different books in related to the Honors Topic and possible projects, including but not limited to "The China Study" by Dr. Colin Campbell. After discussing possible projects and events, we decided on several new projects as well as reengaging community partnerships from last year. As part of our ongoing partnership with Garfield school, members will be creating a project for Garfield students to educate them on the stock market, investment and money management, which will ultimately be tied back to economic policy. There will also be a presentation related to education, focusing on whether college is necessary and/or the consequences of a less affluent or unequal education.
The chapter also discussed possible service projects for the upcoming year. So far we have considered several options, some of which include planting a garden and doing volunteer landscaping at a homeless shelter through the Shelter Network in Menlo Park, sponsoring a team for the Project Read Trivia Bee, pruning city trees, hosting events for Be the Change Day and helping with state beach and dune restoration projects in Half Moon Bay. Other events in the future may also include helping collect fish data aboard a research vessel in partnership with SF. We’ll also be using social networking sites to get member feedback on such events and recruit volunteers.
As part of our activities on campus, we’ll be redesigning our PTK information and display case to show recent events through photos, brief summaries and invitations to view our blog. We’re also considering different ways to help ease the impact of the state budget cuts on campus, and offering our assistance in any way we can to counselors and administrators. As such, we’ll be greeting and guiding students through the administrative building for the first few weeks of school to help students avoid lines up to 3 hours long.
We're all excited about a new semester and helping our fellow students and community at large.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Upcoming Events
Meetings
• Tuesdays at 2 PM
Immigrants Day Festival
• Saturday, May 16th throughout the day
• It will be at the History Museum (2200 Broadway) and Courthouse Square in Redwood City
• It will have great music and food
• We are looking for volunteers
• If you are interested please contact Kayla at BetaZetaNuNews@yahoo.com for more information
Afternoon of Academic Excellence
• May 30th at 2 PM at Cañada College Main Theater
• Looking for volunteers for event
• If you would like to volunteer or need more information please contact Kayla at B€etaZetaNuNews@yahoo.com
Friday, May 1, 2009
Former President Honored
Beta Zeta Nu's former president and active member, Alex Garcia, has been honored with winning a $60,000 Jack Kent Cooke scholarship. Below is an amazing story of his life by Canada's Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Robert Hood.
High School Dropout, Jailbird, Earns $60,000 College Scholarship to Pursue Economics Degree at UC Berkeley
Redwood City’s Alex Garcia will be honored on May 7 at a ceremony at Cañada College.
Alex Garcia spent his 20th birthday in the San Mateo County Jail, a high school dropout addicted to drugs. On Thursday, May 7, - nearly five years later - Garcia will be honored as one of only 50 community college students nationwide to receive the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.
Garcia, 24, will be recognized at the annual Transfer Reception at Cañada College. It starts at 2:30 p.m. in the Main Theater Foyer, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd., in Redwood City.
“I was arrested six times and was headed to prison,” Garcia said. “I was sitting in jail, my mom had maxed out her savings to pay for a lawyer to keep me out of prison and a guard came up to me and said I was nothing but a no-good gang-banger and I would spend the rest of my life in prison. It was at that point I said ‘no way, it’s not going to play out this way.’ ”
Garcia was released into a drug rehabilitation transition house in Redwood City and decided to enroll at Cañada College. “I hated school with a passion,” he said. “But I knew I needed more than a GED to succeed in life.”
It was at Cañada that Garcia met Paul Roscelli, professor of economics. He had scored an A on an economics test in Roscelli’s class and went to visit the professor during office hours. It was there that Roscelli challenged him. “He told me I was too smart not to pursue a first-class education,” Garcia said. “I was considering transferring to a university but he challenged me to apply to Stanford, Cal and other top schools. It was a verbal slap in the face.”
Roscelli recruited Garcia to be part of Beta Zeta Nu, Cañada’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the national honors society for two-year colleges. Garcia became co-president of the club and spearheaded several community activities including planting more than 50 trees in Redwood City, organizing debates on the Iraq War, and talking to potential students about the value of education.
“He told his story to about 500 of our students and they were absolutely mesmerized,” said Linda Haley, director of Cañada’s Community-Based English Tutoring (CBET) Program. “You could have heard a pin drop. They saw how it was all about the decisions one makes - decisions to join gangs and continue that lifestyle, or the decision to achieve an education and open doors in that direction. Alex's decision and steadfast commitment to his goals have gotten him where he is, and his audiences take note of that and are inspired by his story.”
Roscelli calls Garcia one of the most gifted students on campus. “He has earned A’s in all three of my economics classes as well as an A in my financial accounting course. The average grade in these courses is a C. His talents are enhanced by his life experience and together you get a student that is mature, accomplished, and a proven contributor to the college community.”
Garcia said he was surprised to receive the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. “So few students receive it,” he said. “My plan is to major in economics at Berkeley and then go straight to grad school. My goal is to attend an Ivy League school.”
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship makes it possible for the nation’s top community college students to complete their bachelor’s degrees by transferring to a four-year college or university. The foundation provides up to $30,000 per year to each of approximately 50 deserving students selected annually, making it the largest private scholarship for two-year and community college transfer students in the country.
Garcia is the second Cañada College student to receive the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Viviana Alcazar received the scholarship in 2004, graduated from Stanford University, and is currently working on her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Highschool Outreach
Beta Zeta Nu, honoring our commitment to scholarship and service activities, decided to organize activities to promote Canada College new Honors Program. Four of our members went to Wood high school,Sequoia High School, Carlmont High, San Mateo High School. Rene Rivera, Jonathan Werden, Ashley Cohen and Sofia Lozano helped the out reach embassadors to explain en encourage high school seniors to join our new honors program!
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