>> Hi, everyone!
To those of you who are in our booth, welcome
to the Black Collegians -- hi, everyone, to
those of you who are in our booth.
Welcome to -- -- [technical glitch] -- to
those of you, we're using a new system, we're
trying it out just like everybody else.
[ Laughter ].
Okay.
So I'm Sherry Bradford, I'm the program leader
for the Black Collegians and Umoja community,
so welcome today.
And you're gonna hear from my colleagues in
a little bit, there's Jocelyn Wynn if she
could just wave, Dr. Tiffany Dowd, and Mr.
Chris Backus.
So you will hear from them in just a little
bit.
And Mr. Baccus is working our slide show today.
So once he can share his screen, then we will
also go ahead and get started as well.
>> Let me just say this, if you're hearing
an echo, log in and log back in, and that
cleared it up for me.
>> Okay, thank you, Chris.
>> I will be muting myself now also.
>> Okay.
So we, the Black Collegians program, we just
finished celebrating our 30th anniversary.
So we are so excited about that.
We are one of the longest standing programs
in this state, it is no easy feat to be around
for this long.
So it's exciting that we could do that.
Chris, you can go ahead to the next slide.
We honor you and honor ourselves and our Black
heritage through family and academic excellence.
So you'll hear a lot about us talking about
family and how we consider ourselves a family,
our students consider ourselves family and
this was a shot from one of our, one of our
activities that we were able to have a year
ago as our welcome activity for our students
in the program.
So we just have to welcome you virtually and
give you a hug virtually and honor the day
when we can be back on ground together.
Okay?
Next slide.
If you are using the chat, that will be where
you can ask some questions and we're going
to try and see if we can address those at
the end of the session.
So definitely go ahead and utilize the chat
for those questions at the end if you feel
like we have not answered something for you.
Okay?
So, as I said, we celebrated our 30th anniversary
last year.
We're one of the oldest African centered programs
in the state.
Our program has been recognized and awarded
for the service that we have provided for
students for so many years.
And we started or the program started in the
Fall of 1989 with one counselor and six students.
And now we are as of this morning at 545 students
and hopefully those of you who are in this
workshop today will be joining us and we will
be increasing those numbers.
At our high point, we have over 600 students
in the program.
And as I said earlier, the program is all
about family.
That is the atmosphere that we create, we
are here to support, all of the people that
you see in this presentation are your mamas,
your aunties, your uncles, your cousins, we're
here to provide that love and support for
you.
Next.
I want to introduce who we have as part of
our family who is here to support you.
Go ahead, Chris, thank you.
So first I'm just gonna introduce who I am.
So, I am the mother of two sons, I know that
the screen is small to see, hard to see.
But that one in the middle who is graduating
from middle school in June is today his birthday.
He's turning 14 in quarantine land.
But that's my two sons.
My husband who I have been married to for
almost 20 years this coming October.
So that's our little family.
And I went to Westchester High School, and
actually, Mr. Baccus and I went to Westchester
together, I went to UCLA from Westchester,
studied psychology and then went to Cal State
LA for my master's program in counseling.
So I have been at SMC for 23 years.
It's been a long time, but it's been amazing.
And I turned the big 5-0 in quarantine land
in April.
So all the gray hair, you may not be able
to see it too well, but it's here.
I put in there that I am an introvert, which
is very true.
It's funny because some of us in this room,
we are introverts.
But that does not mean that we don't like
to be social and, um, love on all of you.
It just means this is who we are.
And I want you to see that even though we
may be introverts, that we are still outgoing
and we reach out and do go above and beyond
to make sure that we provide the best service
for you.
I'm also a political junkie, I am all in to
politics right now.
And I'll just leave it at that.
[ Laughter ].
Make sure you go out to vote if you are eligible,
that's all I'll say.
I love 90s R&B, I love reading about natural
hair care products because since we've been
in quarantine land, I have transitioned to
natural hair.
So I have a whole bunch of products.
It's, like, a disease now.
Like, I just can't stop, like, buying different
things.
So I love natural hair care products and I
love watching YouTube videos about it as well.
And I am reading, like, four books all at
once.
And it's just, like, crazy.
And I have all of my little books book marked
with notes on them so, I am loving what I'm
reading, especially during this time as it
relates to our Black folks in America.
So that's who I am.
Next slide.
So, our lovely professionals.
You'll hear from Jocelyn in a little bit.
But Jocelyn Wynn is our student services specialist.
And she's been with us for over, a little
over a year.
She started with us last June but she's been
with the college for 10 years now.
And we are just thrilled that she is with
us and super supportive.
Edwin Cruz, our math instructional assistant
is phenomenal.
So those of you who are taking math, he is
the person that you are going to want to be
with in Zoom every day.
So I just wanted you to be able to see their
faces.
The next, we have two mental health therapists
that work within our program providing 36
hours each week of appointments for you and
particularly during this time when we are
in, dealing with COVID, being physically distant,
it has been a challenge for many of our students,
it's been a challenge for us.
And so it is critical that you know that we
have people there, here, who can support you
through this process.
So Miss thea winkler is newest to our program
and started in June and students love her.
She's phenomenal.
I'm gonna talk about a couple of the things
that she's been doing and that she's going
to start this fall.
And Dr. Maria Renosos has been with us since
September '15, she's a long member of our
family and worked for both us and the Latino
center.
So our academic counselors as you can see
Dr. Tiffany Dowd, Dr. Dowd has been with our
program for many years, she and Mr. Baccus
for many years.
And they're the two full-time counseling faculty
that work with both, Dr. Dowd works primarily
for Black Collegians and has some other special
projects.
Mr. Baccus works for both Black Collegians
and the Adelante program.
Mrs. Turner and Mr. Silvers, Mrs. Turner has
been at SMC with Black Collegians as long
as I have.
So we have grown literally grown up together.
And Mr. Silvers has been with us since '99.
Next slide.
Mrs. Destiny Johnson is our career counselor
so for those of you who may be questioning
what career or major you should pursue, if
you have questions about jobs, she's the person
to see.
So she is available for telephone appointments
on Tuesdays and Thursdays, specifically for
our program.
And then our other three counselors, Ms. Linda
Davis who had been a long-standing member
of the Santa Monica College community as a
staff member is now recently hired with us
as a counseling faculty.
And then Dr. Boyd and Mrs. Pitre have been
longstanding members of the department.
They are actually joining us this semester
to round out our counseling faculty.
So now, I'm gonna turn it over to Dr. Dowd
to tell you a little bit about herself and
some of the projects she's been working on.
>> Hello, everyone.
Welcome to [ Indiscernible ] so happy, so
excited to have you all here with us and to
welcome you to our family, our community.
Just to tell you a little bit about myself.
I'm originally from Rancho Cucamonga, California.
And I have three amazing brothers and two
vibrant and thriving nieces that I love dearly.
And I really have a passion for things that
really make me happy, make me laugh, um, really
provide joy and support in my life.
And so, one of the number one things that
I really enjoy and love is the performing
arts.
I love music, live music.
I love dance and the art of dance.
I love the theater.
And going to plays, of course right now I
can't really do that.
But I love the performing arts.
There's definitely something that nurtures
and fills my soul with that.
Also, my village, my support system, my inner
circle.
My family as I shared, my friends, my casework
family, we're just talking about that, Sherry
was just sharing that.
We are a family, we definitely are, we will
feel that and see that when you're around
us and when you're in our community.
And then of course, my passion is my students.
I continued on throughout my education and
gotten advance education degrees because I'm
very passionate about student advocacy and
making sure that students have everything
that they need and that comes from a place
of being a student myself.
Being a lifelong learner.
Going through my challenges and struggles
as a Black woman in higher education and schooling,
and wanting to provide support and accommodations
for our most vulnerable students.
And so I consider myself an advocate and supporter
for student success.
Which leads me to my projects.
I call my passion projects as well.
One of them is really related to centering
Black and Brown students and so for me, it's
very important that I'm able to assess and
find out what is going on with our students.
So I do a lot of research and identifying
specific needs of our Black and Brown students.
And then I have the blessing of being able
to create initiatives and projects and accommodations
for our Black and Brown students.
That specifically accommodate and support
helping you all achieve your educational goals.
Another big piece of what we call equity and
really supporting our students specifically
supporting Black and Brown students is a product
that is called math therapy.
Math therapy was developed with the idea of
getting to the root of the negative connotations
around math.
And all of us have experienced that.
I've experienced that, many of us have experienced
that.
So what we've done is we coupled mindfulness,
math strategies, and community-based tutoring
to support our students.
But most importantly, to really help students
begin to reframe their thoughts and their
perceptions and their feelings around that
and really begin to think of it as a challenge,
but a challenge that's supported and accommodated
and coupled with community support.
So that's definitely a project that I'm continuing
to build and I built that along with Edward
Cruz who's our math specialist as well.
And one of my most current projects is called
Direct Connect and again, centering students.
So this particular project focuses on helping
you all stay connected while we're here in
our distance education experience.
So it really focuses on helping students directly
connect with essential services on campus.
When I say essential, I mean services we know
you need to know about, that you need to connect
to so that you are successful while you're
here at Santa Monica.
We want you to make sure that your time, your
effort and energy is preserved, right?
And that you're utilizing your time and effort
on things that are essential and important
for your success academically, socially, financially,
and professionally.
And so we've created an online program that
helps you make those connections.
And build those relationships that are very
important and needed.
All right.
Well, again, welcome all of you, I look forward
to meeting with you and having some one-on-one
sessions this semester.
Please feel free to reach out to me and welcome.
>> Thank you, Dr. Dowd!
Mr. Baccus?
>> Yes, can you guys hear me okay?
>> Yes.
>> Okay.
My name's Mr. Baccus.
I like to welcome you all digitallily to SMC,
the MOJA community.
It means unity and we're here to unify you
in to a process, in to a program, a variety
of people, as you can see, we're here to help
you in your program of success.
That's how I've gotten everything I wanted
to accomplish in life.
I graduated from Westchester High School,
went to USC for business entrepreneurship,
went to Cal state Dominguez as a masters and
educational counseling student, and I was
a counselor for K-12, I was a teacher at K-12,
substitute teacher at K-12, I've taught in
every single grade there is from college,
from kindergarten all the way to college now.
I've had the experience of, you know, obviously
going to public schools and private schools
as a student, the predominantly White institutions,
unfortunately we all have experience with
that.
So, you know, we understand what it is to
be a student in some of these institutions
that don't see us, especially what we're going
through right now, who don't see us as having
value.
And so it's an interesting time because these
conversations that we've been having over
the last 25 years hopefully we can move them
from conversation to action.
As far as my background goes, outside of education
I love golf, I'm a golf enthusiast.
I'm a sports enthusiast.
I played football, won a city championship
at West Chester, also, have transitioned,
was a coach at one time, football and basketball.
But I love golf now, and I'm a golfer for
the last 20-something years and interesting
game that I've been involved in, I used to
teach it also for a while.
So now, that's one of the passions that I
have.
And one of the other passions I picked back
up in this quarantine situation is my DJ skills.
So I'm working on my DJ skills, I have my
turntables, my digital turntables, I was practicing
last night I picked that back up, that helped
me destress from the stress of the days and
the social justice movement that we're moving
in to and so you know that's one thing I'm
gonna encourage you all to do as you listen
to the resources you have here is start developing
things especially in this environment that
can kind of take your mind in to different
places and so we want to encourage you to
look at your skills and talents as you've
heard from the other colleagues in here and
figure out a way to kind of even in the environment
that you're in to lessen the impact of being
in one place for a large amount of time.
The special projects that I work on at SMC,
I've been at SMC 11 or 12 years, 12 academic
year.
I've taught, you know, counseling, 20 counseling
16 which is for career expansion, counseling
12 also which is for career expansion and
exploration and that's kind of where I've
kind of drawn my passion in bringing experiences
to the Black Collegians program outside of
the classroom.
So experiential learning is basically learning
from others.
And from experiences.
Not only your experiences, but experience
of others.
So that has to do a lot with mentoring, that
has to do a lot with creating relationships,
with not only people but associations, like,
professional associations that house your,
that are in your particular industry.
So our goal is to put you in the face of people
who can help change the narrative of your
experience in whatever educational and career
pursuit that you had.
And one of the things we try to do now is
really start front loading those conversations
in our counseling sessions about the destination
is not the transfer school, the destination
is your career choice in the career industry.
But to that, we do need to find colleges that
actually align with your destination.
So our goal is to put as many different colleges
and many different college experiences in
front of you and so we have done traditionally
field trips to a lot of colleges and universities
over Southern California.
Our goal there is to expose you to the people
that we want to transfer, that we want to
create the relationship with at those transfer
schools.
And you'll hear me say this word a lot of
what we talk about is networking and relationships.
The advantage of you coming in to a Black
Collegians, Ms. Bradford mentioned this with
30 years in the game, so we have a lot of
vested interest in a lot of these schools.
People understand the work that we used, that
we help you go through and working on yourself
and getting yourself prepared for the next
level.
And they value that.
And so, you know, having that relationship
to speak with you as a part of Black Collegians,
now we can usher you in to other relationships
at the university level.
We also want to do that with industry relationships.
We visit places like AT&T, Activision, really
developing programs now with other industry
opportunities with USC, with the intelligence
community, with the chamber of commerce, Santa
Monica Chamber of Commerce which has over
140 companies that want to be involved in
mentoring you.
And so we're creating these pockets of relationships
that you all can start taking advantage of
and building out your community outside of
SMC too.
And people realize how important that is in
every aspect of your walk is that you got
to start communicating with others and letting
them know what you want to accomplish and
we're there to help you create that narrative
and put you in front of people who can advocate
for you as you advocate for yourself.
I'm gonna enjoy talking to you all, don't
use this time as a way to disconnect, it's
easier now to connect with us, via the phone
and via Zoom.
You don't have to travel to campus for two
hours and get on that bus or train.
So let's use this to our advantage to really
create more lasting relationships even through
this pandemic and this time that we're away
from each other.
That's all I have to say.
And thank you very much.
>> Thank you, Mr. Baccus.
Next is Ms. Jocelyn.
>> I'm Jocelyn Wynn and I am the student services
specialist for the Black Collegians program.
And so what I do is basically I'd be the first
person you contact if you have any questions
about Black Collegians, specifically or about
the SMC campus at large.
So I'm more of your, the say your guide through
SMC.
So if there's any questions that you have,
please feel free to e-mail me.
You can also e-mail our general e-mail address
which is black_collegians@SMC.edu.
Making your official appointments with your
counselors that you see here and all our other
counselors and then via e-mail through the
black_collegians@SMC.edu.
I'm the person that does host all the orientations.
So your next step in joining the program is
I'm So your next step in joining the program
is I'm gonna be filling out the application
and also attending our orientation.
One of the really special projects that I
just took on, and I'll be taking on this fall
semester is coordinating the women of color
mentorship program.
Which I think is really important for a lot
of the students starting at SMC all the way
up to those planning to transfer soon.
Mentorship is something we value greatly and
at SMC and also within the Black Collegians
program.
In that particular program, if you're interested
in it, I will be sending out e-mails to all
people who are members of our programs in
the fall semester.
You'll be matched up with either faculty member
or staff member who works at SMC and based
on what your needs are and what your goals
and aspirations are for that particular semester,
you're going to be working with them to kind
of, you know, meet those goals and aspirations
that you have for this semester.
So it's about encouraging you, it's about
making you understand that you belong at SMC,
that you belong in the career you want to
go in to, that you belong in anything that
you put your mind to.
And so it's about just really encouraging
all of you, if you are new at SMC which most
of you here, welcome brand new at SMC.
You know, let me assist you and moving forward
and really making your academic goals and
aspirations a reality.
At the end of the, of this particular presentation,
I will show you how to find our application.
And then actually how to complete the application
for our particular program.
But like I said, reach out to me if there's
questions you have specifically about SMC
and about all the services that we offer here
through the Black Collegians program.
>> Thank you, Jocelyn.
So next we're gonna talk a little bit about
student leadership.
Which is a big component of our program and
it's something that I hope that you will consider
doing as well.
The picture to, that you see is from one of
our banquets that the students put on each
year.
And so that was a year ago.
And those were the officers at that time.
Moving forward in the fall semester, our president,
you will meet SalimaMuwakil, we have three
directors, Michael and Emareyaun, and our
director of publicity who will be handling
our IG account is Alexis Green.
And we are still in need of a position filled,
someone who may be engaging, who is also our
representative for our leadership and our
program through Associated Students.
So if you are joining Black Collegians, you're
gonna find out more about that and so you
could be a brand new officer with us for the
fall semester.
This is just a picture of Ms. Salima.
So today at 4:00, she is going to be facilitating
a session just like this but talking specifically
about the club.
So I hope that you have a chance to join in
and you'll meet Salima as well as Angelina.
Salima is one of the most amazing people I've
met in my life.
She's extremely resourceful, she will tell
you her story, she's so student centered and
wanting to help everybody out.
I hope you can join today at 4:00 as well.
So what is it that Black Collegians offer?
We offer a wide array of services for you.
In order to make sure that we give you space
to be as successful as we know that you can
be.
But everybody in this life needs help and
support to get there.
All of us on this call have done the same
thing and have had people to help us.
And that's why we're passionate about giving
that back to you.
So the crux of what we do, the counseling
component, all of our counselors, we offer
counseling Monday through Friday to help you
get acclimated to the courses that you need
-- [technical glitch] -- and procedures about
SMC.
Maybe you're dealing with a difficult situation
in a class or with someone else and you need
to have a conversation with us, that's what
we offer for you.
I mentioned about our therapy with our two
therapists that we provide for you.
We have workshops and we will not to have
workshops even in a remote environment, we
have an array of different things coming up
for you in the fall, through Zoom.
And the workshops, one of the things that's
consistent month to month -- [technical glitch]
-- sister and that's where we can have those
kinds of conversations related to -- [technical
glitch] -- we face as African Americans in
this society.
Those have been some of the most engaging
-- [technical glitch] -- rewarding kinds of
workshops and conversations that I have seen
through my time at SMC.
We also offer information about transferring
during those workshops as well.
I mentioned about tutoring with Edwin Cruz,
so that's offered Monday through Friday as
well for math subjects.
We have classes that students can take as
part of the Black Collegians program so that
they are blocked off so you can enroll in
them first with some of the best instructors
that we have.
And then where appropriate, it will have an
African American focus to the coursework.
So that's another plus about being in these
classes.
Mr. Baccus talked about field trips, when
we're back on ground, we can offer those back
to you where we're visiting some of the different
universities that are local.
Or some of the different cultural locations
related to African Americans that we can visit.
We talked about leadership opportunities with
a club, the other plus is book vouchers for
fall and spring.
You all know, textbooks are expensive!
And so we have been blessed with some funding
from the Foundation to be able to offer book
vouchers to our students who are enrolled
in the program.
Scholarships are also something that's huge.
We have a pot of money to be able to offer
to students in Black Collegians.
More information will come out about that
in the fall semester and I cannot stress it
enough that we need you to apply.
We do not have nearly enough of our students
applying for scholarships and it's a very
easy process.
And it puts you in the running for not just
Black Collegians scholarships but other scholarships
at SMC that you can qualify for.
And the last thing I will say is support,
support, support, the word that you will constantly
hear from us.
This is what we're here to provide for you.
I never want you to go away feeling, like,
you don't have a question that you might have
answered.
This is what we're here for.
So please make sure to avail yourself of everything
that we offer.
To be on the lookout -- oh for, if you can
go back oh, that's okay.
Chris, you're right.
Fall activities.
These are some of the things that I mentioned
about what we are doing for the semester,
math therapy, Dr. Dowd talked about which
is a weekly workshop for those of you who
are enrolled in math, I talked about sister
to sister and brother to brother.
The black Blackalante healing circle, so our
therapist Dr. Winkler has started this summer
for Black Collegians and Adelante students
where it's a weekly session where she is talking
on topics that are about self-empowerment
and how we can make sure that we are taking
care of ourselves.
That is weekly and that will continue in the
fall.
She's also going to start something on Mondays
called intention-setting Mondays.
So that every Monday you are in the space
with her where you are setting your intentions
for the week.
It is nothing like making sure that you verbalize
and visualize what are the things you need
to accomplish each week, so she's going to
be starting those on Mondays.
Club meetings, the club will be offering weekly
meetings.
So be on the lookout for that information
as well.
Other workshops that we'll have.
We also do something called Canvas chats where
on Thursdays we just go in to our Canvas homeroom
and we just chat, as a way to connect, just
to see how things are going.
And the brand new thing this semester, the
owner of chick-fil-a on Lincoln, near Washington
reached out to us because she wants to give
back and make sure that she is sharing her
knowledge of what it takes to be a business
owner and a leader and so she's actually going
to be doing a series of workshops with us.
She is phenomenal.
I'm really excited about this collaboration
with her.
-- [technical glitch] -- things that we want
to make sure that you know about, I talked
about the scholarship information that will
be coming out this fall.
You will be able to apply for scholarships,
those will be awarded in spring of 2021.
So make sure to be on the lookout for that.
As a member of Black Collegians, you get priority
enrollment.
So your enrollment should you choose to join
with us, would be day two enrollment for winter
and spring.
That is huge!
So that you can get access to the classes
that you want.
And again, I want to remind students about
our Black Collegians classes that will be
available for spring, those will be in the
schedule of classes and so you will easily
be able to see what those classes are.
Can you see me?
I was told my video's gone.
Are you able to see me?
No.
Are you able to see me now?
You still can't see me?
I don't know what's going on.
You can hear me though, yeah?
I'm sorry you can't see me.
I don't know what's going on, but it shows
it's not disabled, but I don't get it.
So anyway, I'll just keep talking, [ Laughter
].
Just information regarding the remote status,
we don't know for sure yet.
But be on the lookout if we're going to be
on ground or remote for winter/spring.
And when you meet with your couselor, we want
you to know that that could very well be a
possibility that we're remote.
So planning classes in a remote environment
is important and crucial.
So you know, it may differ.
So we want to make sure you connect with your
counselor about that.
And then we get a lot of different opportunities
via external sometimes internal opportunities
that we always send out via e-mail.
We want to make sure that you pay attention
to that.
Next.
And these are the things we expect from you.
Attending the Zoom workshops when you can.
Part of our -- [technical glitch] -- in our
programs that you do too, at least and attend
three activities.
So that's going to be crucial that you do
those.
Reach out when you need help.
I talked about that before, I think that's
so important to not have a question unanswered.
Seek academic counseling, make sure to seek
tutoring.
Follow us on Instagram.
Now, I know, I saw in the chat that many of
you have put -- [technical glitch] -- your
handles because you want folks to follow you
back.
I ain't mad at you for that.
-- [technical glitch] -- we also want to you
stay connected with us on Instagram.
So that is our Instagram handle that you'll
see there.
And then read, read, read, read your e-mail.
Okay?
Next.
So -- [technical glitch] -- officially in
our family?
Today is your first step.
This is like your orientation of what we would've
offered to students.
And we'll have several other orientations,
we have friends that may want to join.
We offer orientations via Zoom that Jocelyn
will be doing.
And then completing the application through
Corsair Connect and meeting with one of our
counselors.
I know we only have a few minutes left.
We won't cut off, if you want to stay in for
just a little bit until we get to 45, we'll
do that.
But to the next slide, Jocelyn's gonna try
to give a little bit of instruction to do
the application through Corsair Connect, so
you can see that.
I think you're muted, Jocelyn.
>> I was, I'm sorry.
So, to find our application, you are going
to go on to SMC's website and then log in
to Corsair Connect.
Let me share what Corsair Connect is going
to look like.
Let's see.
And as you can see, this is Corsair Connect.
Our application is located here on the left
side of the screen.
Under Black Collegians program application.
You'll click there.
And then that will take you in to 
our application.
So you'll launch our application here, just
make sure that the phone number that you have
here is the phone number that you would like
our counselors to give you a call on.
Very important that this number is correct
because all of our appointments during the
remote period of time are always going to
be over the phone.
So make sure that phone number is correct.
Also, be sure to use however your name actually
shows up on your application is how SMC refers
to you in our system.
So at the bottom of this application, when
you sign the application, you must sign it,
just sign the application exactly as it shows
here.
The application is pretty self-explanatory.
You're gonna go and let us know whether or
not you're a first time freshman or continuing
student.
And just so you know, the application is only
gonna be viewed by Black Collegians academic
counselors when they do your intake interview
session, which is a 30-minute appointment
that they'll have over the phone to determine
whether or not you'd be a great candidate
for our program.
You'll fill out the application based on what
your personal answers are.
It is important whether or not your goal is
to get an associate's degree and transfer,
because your counselor is gonna want to reference
the right articulation agreement to guide
you through so we can get you through SMC
as quickly as possible and on to the four-year
university of your choice.
If you have gone to other colleges, so up
here if you stated you're a continuing student
and this is, you've gone to other colleges
other than SMC, please list those colleges
prior to SMC that you've attended because
what we're gonna need to know is whether or
not you have transcripts that need to be brought
over that we can see so that we can make sure
we're not having you double-take classes that
you've already taken in the past.
Majors wise, we have every single major you
can think of, even the majors that you don't
think of, which is unknown or undecided, which
is very common major at SMC.
Most students are undecided, I know you'll
figure that out while you're here at SMC.
So please fill out whatever major you are
right now, just so that we can make sure that
we're advising you on the right classes.
If you do not know your major yet, you can
put in this box that you're undecided.
We're asking you your first employee choices
before your universities that you'd like to
transfer to.
In the dropdown, you'll notice, if you want
to go to USC like Mr. Baccus, that college
is not gonna show up here.
So what you can do, if that's your first choice
and it's not here, you'll only see California
colleges and UCs on this particular application,
you can state it's undecided or all of them
if none of the colleges that you would like
to transfer to are on here.
And you can type in whatever college you'd
like to go to.
So if you want to go to USC, if you want to
go to Howard University, you can type that
in as HBCU and if you want to go out-of-state
to another school.
Maybe Oregon State University.
You can type that in there.
We need to know this information so we're
providing you and taking the right classes
to transfer to the school of your choice.
If you know what your career is, please set
that aside and indicate that.
If you're participating in any other programs
here at SMC, please let us know that.
That will be with receiving book vouchers
for the spring semester, if you're a part
of two different programs, and say you're
part of Adelante program and Adelante program
has already given you a book voucher, we cannot
give double book vouchers.
So we like to know if you're participating
in other programs as well.
Financial aid-wise, we like to know that you're
already taken care of your financial aid,
your FAFSA and that kind of thing.
If you're having [ Indiscernible ] with that,
please let us know so you can indicate that
so you need help completing your FAFSA, we
also want to know if you're receiving the
California promise grant, if you know, you
can let us know if you don't know, you can
also let us know.
One of the questions on the application program
is if you're employed.
If you are employed, you're gonna make sure
you only put something in numeric value in
this particular box.
If I put in I put five hours in that way,
when I try to sign the application at the
bottom and submit it, it will give me an error
message.
Only numbers in this box.
If you work 5, 5.
15, please indicate that as well.
The only reason we want to know how many hours
you're working, we want to make sure we're
advising you on the proper amount of unit
load you should take on the semester, making
sure you have time with your studies and that
kind of thing.
And the program eligibility questions are
just us getting to know what brought you to
the Black Collegians and how we can help you.
The first question is, are there any factors
you would like us to know that might impact
your ability to do well in college?
You can list all kinds of things there.
If you've already been a student diagnosed
with dyslexia or maybe you're a single parent
or maybe you're food insecure or housing insecure.
We want to be able to connect you with the
services that are gonna help mitigate those
particular issues.
Please list whatever they are.
No one else will see this application again
but your academic counselor.
And then we want to know what you're hoping
to get out of the Black Collegians program.
List why you're interested in our program
specifically, there are students who are interested
in our program thinking that this is a program
that's just gonna enhance their transfer application
or that kind of thing.
We want to know that just in case our program
may not be the right choice for you and we
want to be able to suggest the programs that
might be best for you.
Some issues that students are having, some
reasons students are coming to our program
are not necessarily what the program was designed
to do.
We want to make sure you're understanding
why you're signing up for this program, so
we both get what we want out of this relationship.
The last question, how do you think that you
can contribute to the Black Collegians program?
And when I'm saying, how do you think you
can contribute, all of us have talents and
abilities that are naturally given to us and
we're born with those things.
You can use those talents to enhance our program.
Over the 30 years as you can say, Ms. Bradford
said the program started with one counselor,
many years ago.
Over the years the feedback the students have
given us, them staying connected with us has
allowed us to make this program in to the
supportive program that it is and the success
that it is.
At the very bottom of the application, you're
just gonna sign your name just as it appears
in this box.
You have to type it, even though it shows
there, it is not signed yet until you've typed
it in and then you will submit it.
When you submit the application, I will get
an e-mail stating that you have applied for
the program.
And then I will send you the links to the
orientations.
You will have to attend an orientation where
I can give you more information about the
program and then we will set you up with your
intake appointment with the counselor.
So I hope you understand how to find the application
and I hope that was really helpful to you.
>> Thank you so much.
And I know we're at the end of our workshop.
Mr. Baccus, if you could just put the contact
info slide up for me, this is just a way for
you to be able to e-mail us if you have questions
and while Jocelyn was talking, I just want
you to know that we have now reached 800 Instagram
followers that followed us right away.
I have been told by our social media specialist
that this is where we are right now.
So thank you to those of you who have already
started to follow us.
That is my information as well, feel free
to contact me at any point.
And the Black Collegians e-mail is listed
there.
I just want to say that I, um, I thank you
for being in this space with us today.
I'm giving you a virtual hug, we are all here
to make sure that you are successful and I
cannot thank you enough for giving us your
valuable time today.
Thank you to my colleagues who I enjoy seeing
at least in this virtual environment.
And we wish you well.
Take care.
>> Questions in the chat.
>> Were they?
I thought Jocelyn had answered, no?
>> Couple that they were asking about, is
there a deadline for the application?
>> Yes, I answered that one.
The answer is our last orientation is September
18th so we'll need you to definitely get your
application done by then.
Because then we close our enrollment period.
>> Okay.
And one other question, I don't know if it
was answered: Where can they find orientation
schedule?
>> Yes, either on our web page or you can
e-mail us and say that you're interested and
I will send you a link to all the registration
links where all the orientations that are
going to take place for the fall semester.
>> Okay.
All right.
There was another question that they put the
number of programs that they're also joining
in the application?
The need to reveal that?
>> Yes, please.
>> Okay.
And then Ana just asked, can you join as many
programs as you like, just know that you have
requirements to fulfill in some of those programs,
and there is some overlap too.
>> Yes.
And I will go over what that means when you
go in to orientation and you guys can actually
ask questions.
It's a Zoom meeting, we can have more of a
discussion.
It won't be one-sided like this.
You can ask all the questions you need at
orientation.
>> Okay.
And that looks like it that I saw.
I think that's it.
>> Okay.
I'm going to stop recording, stop broadcasting.
>> All right, thanks for coming, everybody!
>> All right, bye!
>> Thank you.
