Community

School District Highlight: Duarte

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment

Originally published on 14 May 2015 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly

It isn’t a common occurrence for high schoolers to conduct real-life experiments at a nationally recognized research center. For rising 11th and 12th graders at Duarte High School, ‘Home of the Shoulder-Tapped Graduates,’ however, this is just part of their high school experience.

Located at the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley, Duarte High School is one of two secondary schools in the Duarte Unified School District. It has a total enrollment of 1200 students, 90% of whom are minorities; 48% male and 52% female; with a total of 41 teachers. It was recognized as a California Distinguished school in 2007 for its high test scores and academic achievement. Newsweek magazine thrice named it one of the top public high schools in the United States.

According to Mark Sims, principal of Duarte High School, the school provides both college and career pathways. There are three college counselors and one Regional Occupation Program (ROP) Specialist for the 250 seniors. They offer 12 AP courses and have a graduation rate of 98-99%. Over 80% of Duarte High seniors attend college after graduation, one of the highest levels in the San Gabriel Valley. It is also the only institution in the area offering an Early College program. Graduates of the 2011-2012 school year were the pioneers in completing a high school diploma and 30 college credits simultaneously from Citrus College.    

Under the leadership of Terry Nichols, DUSD Superintendent, the district continuously looks for opportunities to collaborate with various organizations in an effort to provide the most enriching academic and learning environment for all their students. Duarte Unified School District was selected as a finalist for the National Health Initiative Grant and has since collaborated with City of Hope to create the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA). Through SEPA, Duarte High School aims to engage more students in science and help create a path to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) jobs in the future. Beginning as early as kindergarten, students at Duarte Unified schools learn and work alongside world-class scientists and instructors in City of Hope’s Community Teaching Laboratory.

SEPA’s summer research program allows accepted students to: collaborate on actual cancer research activities; interact with scientists and learn from college and graduate-level instructors who act as mentors; experience an interactive learning environment focusing on teamwork and emphasizing leadership development; learn to read real scientific paper relating the research topic; take part in an end-of-summer celebration where they are honored for completing the program and present their research work to family, friends, and the community; and have the opportunity to continue doing research with City of Hope scientists during the academic school year.

The district also created the first customized version of the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (PTECH) model in California through a partnership with City of Hope and Citrus College, which launched during the 2014-2015 school year. Calling it the T.E.A.C.H. Project (Train, Educate, and Accelerate Careers in Healthcare), this academy gives the opportunity for 9th thru 12th grade students to graduate with both a high school diploma and a low (or no) cost Associate in Information in Technology degree. It equips students with marketable skills to gain employment in the very competitive health industry.

Students enrolled in the T.E.A.C.H. Project receive mentoring, job shadowing and internships offered by City of Hope. Through it, they interact with scientists, healthcare professionals and educators who are experts in their field, and gain the knowledge and experience necessary to build careers in health information technology. Because of the district’s large percentage of students within underrepresented groups in the science fields, the T.E.A.C.H. program has been customized to meet their needs and engage their interests.    

Photo take from Duarte High School College Acceptances

At Duarte High, College Fairs as well as Career Days are held throughout the year. Presenters at these events represent college and career pathways in the Arts, Media and Entertainment; Business/Support Services; Health and Human Resources; and Technology and Engineering fields. Some of the companies and organizations that participated in this year’s event include:  City of Hope, California Highway Patrol, The Art Institute, Computer Scientists, Ready Pac Foods, and Civil Engineers, to name a few.

The district also has a unique mentoring program called Shoulder-Tapped Empowered Protégés or S.T.E.P. that matches students with local mentors resulting in long-lasting relationships. Forty-five mentors who are community leaders and business owners provide guidance, support and encouragement to students who have been identified as needing additional support to seek college and career choices. These mentors meet with their mentees at the Mt. Olive or DHS  campuses, and through text, email and video conference. Community partners include Caltech, JPL, USC, APU, L.A. Sheriff’s Dept., Youth Activities League, Foothill Federal Credit Union, and others.  

In 2010, the district passed Measure E, a multi-million dollar bond that led to the construction of facilities designed for a 21st century learning environment. The bond provided for modernization projects at all schools including a brand-new, state-of-the art stadium, cafeteria complex at the middle school, a high school culinary arts classroom and bio-tech laboratory. This measure enabled Maxwell Elementary School to build a digital media library and collaborative classroom outfitted with multiple computer stations. It also expanded the original cafeteria to include an outdoor lunch shelter area and newly constructed central office building. The school is now pursuing authorization to be an International Baccalaureate institution. 

According to Jenny Owen, DUSD Chief Communications Officer, every classroom throughout the district also has a SMART Board and each student from 2nd thru 12th grade is provided with a laptop computer to use in class; 7th to 12th graders even take them home each day. They also provide parents, who are not tech-savvy, with training on computers. The district partnered with the non-profit organization One Million NIU (New Internet Users) to implement the Technology Redeployment Program (TRP), Parent Engagement through Technology Program (PE+T) and Affordable Broadband Internet Service Program for families without access.

Not only are Duarte Unified School students fit for 21st century learning, they are also physically fit for the rigors of daily activities. Last year, Northview Intermediate School opened its new Live Positively Fitness Center as one of three schools to receive a grant provided by the National Champion Schools Campaign run by the national Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils. There were over 200 other schools in California who vied for this competitive grant. The fitness center is open to all Northview students daily during their Physical Education class.

Recently, Duarte High School students competed in SkillsUSA in the Broadcast News competition at the state level and won a Gold Medal. This qualified them to represent California at the Nationals, which will be held in Louisville, Kentucky. This marked the second time in three years that the school’s team earned a gold medal to go on to nationals. The school also had another team which competed in the Business Entrepreneurship competition at regionals and state level and won a Silver Medal at the Regionals to compete in state.  

At a time when schools are cutting back on arts and music classes because of budget cuts, Duarte Unified has made them a priority for the district! Duarte High School and Northview Intermediate School were awarded 67 instruments, worth $97,693, through the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, with support from the Green Foundation (a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting institutions that focus on arts outreach and education). DUSD also formed a long-term partnership with other organizations, including Arts for All, to support the ongoing development of their music education initiative. At Duarte High, band and choir continue to earn awards and championships in their divisions.

The athletic programs at Duarte High continue to excel as do the arts. The girls volleyball team won the Montview League Championship title and went on to play in the final CIF Championship game. The girls basketball, boys tennis and wrestling teams went undefeated this season earning them all Montview League Championship titles. This is the third consecutive year the boys varsity tennis team has earned this honor, and the wrestling team set the record for most members earning a position into CIF with ten. Duarte High School’s girls soccer and volleyball coaches were selected as the San Gabriel Valley’s 2015 Coaches of the Year.

Duarte High School students interested in performance arts joined The Latino International Film Institute (LIFI) “Cinema Project” now on its second year of production. This venture has attracted the interest of actor and director, Edward James Olmos, who runs this endeavor. He is being supported by actress, Jessica Just, and supervising producer of “LA Business Today”, Polo Munoz.  The students participated in a film-making workshop which featured actors and directors, including Miriam Kruishoop, Carlito Rodriguez, Junior Gonzales, Arthur Fishel, Kainoa Kilcher, and Q’orianka Kilcher. 

The Duarte High School video production class assisted in the creation of four episodes of “LA Business Today” and the Culinary Arts class provided the food services for the production team and crew during the shoot. “LA Business Today” is a local 30-minute television interview program broadcast on Channel 35, providing information about business in Los Angeles. It features interviews with economic forecasters, economic policy planners, business educators, and founders, CEOs, CFOs, and managers of important businesses in Los Angeles. 

Students also interned at the Southeast European Film Festival (SEEFest) with Culinary Arts catering; Video Productions filming and interviewing actors, directors, and producers. This collaboration with LIFI gives Duarte High School students the opportunity to work with professionals in the field and exposes them to the craft they are passionate about.   

There is so much going on at Duarte Unified School District! With all the opportunities available for the student population, it’s surprising there isn’t a mass migration into the area!

Pasadena Playhouse Launches Community Organizer Summer Internship Program

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment

Originally published on 28 April 2015 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly

As summer internships come, the one offered by the Pasadena Playhouse is, by far, one of the most challenging and exciting!  This year’s program was made possible through a grant from the Los Angeles National Arts Council, a first for the Playhouse.

The posted job description for this intern is that he or she will report to Seema Sueko, Associate Artistic Director, to activate the Playhouse’s Consensus Organizing for Theatre Methodology and represent the Playhouse through interactions with community leaders and members of the public. If that doesn’t sound daunting enough, the list of duties should give anyone pause.

Some of the intern’s duties include: conducting a dramaturgical examination of the plays in the 2015-2016 season; supporting the CO work by consolidating information, data and spreadsheets from the 2014-2015 season of CO work; brainstorming and activating Consensus Organizing partnership; and participating in the rehearsal prep work for the first show of the 2015-2016 season, among others things.

That the responsibilities are major and varied require this individual to be a self-starter with a tremendous drive and creativity. He or she needs to have a passion for theatre and its community-building possibilities. The successful candidate would be chosen based on his or her application letter that includes a one-page Community Organizer’s Statement telling Sueko his or her core values as an Organizer and/or personal mission.  

A consistent theme in this entire internship program is that of the Consensus Organizer – a concept originated by Sueko when she founded the Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company in San Diego. She based this methodology from Mike Eichler’s principles of consensus organizing for civic environment. When applied in theatre, this means building stakes in several pockets of the community and inspiring them to get involved back. If successful, this Consensus Organizing method should result in ticket sales and funding opportunities, and a more meaningful connection between the theatre and the community.

It is so apt that Sueko is advocating this concept in an environment that is open to such notion. The Playhouse’s history is steeped in community participation and involvement. When its founding director, Gilmore Brown, died in 1969 and the theatre closed its doors, The Pasadena Playhouse Alumni & Associates continued working. 

In 1985, it reopened as a result of a partnership between the local government, businesses, patrons and various philanthropists. The Playhouse went on to inaugurate new works and significant reproduction of American Theatre. Tony Award and Pulitzer-Prize winning plays and musicals of cultural and theatrical diversity have been featured on the Playhouse stage.

Sheldon Epps, who became Artistic Director in 1997, organized the Theatrical Diversity Program in 2005 that gave youths from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to experience theatre through free student performances and arts education events. In 2013, it supported exploratory outreach initiatives to further engage the Hispanic and Asian/Pacific communities.

Under Epps’s helm, the Playhouse launched the national tour of Purlieincoordination with the Goodman Theatre; Sister Act: The Musical, which played at the London Palladium in the West End and at the Broadway Theatre on Broadway, and Baby, It’s You, which was presented at Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway.  He also oversaw the production of A Night with Janis Joplin; Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Story, Can Can: The Musical, and Ray Charles Live. Other performances staged at the Playhouse include: Fences, starring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett, with Epps directing; The Heiress, featuring Richard Chamberlain; Citizen Kane, with Val Kilmer; Above the Fold, starring Taraji P. Henson; Stoneface, with French Stewart; and KissMe, Kate, starring Wayne Brady, and once more directed by Epps.

Sueko’s addition to the Playhouse staff in January underlines Epps’s conviction that diversity and engagement with the community are founding principles of this venerable institution. In a January feature story in American Theatre, she explains consensus organizing for theatre. “A mutual stake is built by surfacing mutual self-interests. The theatre knows what its self-interests are, and it initiates mindful conversations with community members and businesses to bring their self-interests to the fore. Where things align, that’s where the organizing happens – we organize around that.”

The Playhouse has come full circle from its early beginnings as the Pasadena Community Playhouse, when the tremendous local support moved George Bernard Shaw into giving it the sobriquet “the Athens of the West.” 

It is in this scene where the Playhouse’s summer intern will enter to further act on the methodology Sueko pioneered called “consensus organizing for theatre.” For Epps, its success would be a defining moment for The Pasadena Playhouse and solidify its place in history as the State Theatre of California.             

Roy Boulghourjian Pumps New Blood into the Pasadena Unified School District

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment
Photo by Terry Miller | Beacon Media News

Originally published on 26 March 2015 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly

His is an inspiring immigrant’s success story, which began inauspiciously halfway around the world. Today, he is an elected member of the Pasadena Unified Schools District’s Board of Directors.

Roy Boulghourjian fled Lebanon in October of 1982 to escape the ugly civil war. His early years in his adopted country were spent in the construction industry where he toiled for two years. He later moved on to a better job in the diamond wholesale business and worked as an appraiser, sorter and sales manager.

Profoundly grateful for the new life and opportunity that he had been given, Boulghourjian decided to give back to the community. Through his church in Glendale, he volunteered to teach ESL (English as Second Language) to immigrants on welfare. And this was when the teaching bug bit him.

Boulghourjian left a well-paying post in the jewelry business and proceeded to teach full time. He taught high school Math and Economics in both public and private sector. He then went on to serve as vice principal for two private high schools, in Pasadena and Canoga Park, where he stayed for several years. During this time, he also got involved in Pasadena politics and became a board member of the Pasadena Educational Foundation (PEF). He currently sits on the Finance Audit Committee of PEF and the Measure TT Citizen’s Bond Oversight, and ACT Pasadena.

In 2011, Boulghourjian was invited to be Principal for a Day at Marshall Fundamental School and he saw first-hand the Pasadena high school experience. And he was pleasantly surprised at what he learned! He realized that all the gloom and doom he had been hearing about the Pasadena educational system was unfounded.

This singular experience led Boulghourjian to start visiting various high schools in Pasadena. Everywhere he went, he found teachers who were caring, knowledgeable and capable of educating young minds. He met students who were polite, diligent and ambitious. He started advocating for Pasadena public schools.

Image taken from Pasadena Now

Boulghourjian joined Mt. Sierra College in 2011 as Adjunct Professor of Math and Economics. In two years, he moved up to become Department Chair of the Business and General Education Department.

The eye-opening experience Boulghourjian had the day he served as principal remained in his mind and compelled him to run for a PUSD seat. During a panel discussion among the candidates held before elections, they were asked what the district’s challenges and opportunities were. He said Pasadena’s greatest asset is its wealth, its people, its organizations, and its business community. The challenge, he said, is to promote the idea that a community’s values are reflected in its public schools.

On his website, Boulghourjian lists the following priorities: Increase enrollment and retention rates; ensure the efficient implementation of the common core; and continue and expand the Dual Language Immersion program. 

On March 11, an overwhelming 68% of voters elected Boulghourjian to Pasadena’s District 2. Elated and eager to get started, he says he wants to immediately work on reversing the bad image that has hounded the school district for decades. One of his first courses of action is improving the curb appeal of the schools. He believes that parents would feel better about enrolling their children in public schools if these are clean and safe.  

Boulghourjian says Pasadena is ahead of all the other districts in terms of its investment in curriculum, textbooks and training but he would like to work at getting better parental involvement in their children’s education. He also wants the district not to rely solely on government funds to finance programs. To this end, he aims to build bridges between PUSD and the business community. 

There is much work ahead for this new member of the board. But Boulghourjian is up to the task; he will put all his energy and effort at rehabilitating PUSD’s image. And when he puts his mind to it, there is no stopping what he could achieve!  

School District Highlight: Pasadena

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment
Pasadena City Hall

Originally published on 16 April 2015 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly

In September 2014, Los Angeles Magazine ranked Marshall Fundamental Secondary School  eighth in the county.

This proclamation couldn’t have come at a better time for the Pasadena Unified School District which has been dogged by a not-too stellar image for decades. It was especially gratifying for Dr. Brian McDonald who, in 2011, was hired by then superintendent, John Gundry, as Chief Academic Officer. In that post McDonald led the district’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) initiative, a critical component for student success.

One of four high schools in the district, Marshall Fundamental has consistently maintained a commitment to the highest academic standards. It has the most number of AP classes (English Language and Literature; Human Geography, World History, US History, American Government & Politics; Economics; Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Statistics; Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science; Spanish Language and Literature; Music Theory; and Studio Art) on offer and the highest API score of all the public high schools in Pasadena. 

The Marshall Eagles play in girls’ and boys’ basketball, girls’ and boys’ soccer, girls’ and boys’ tennis, girls’ volleyball, baseball, cross-country, football, golf, softball, swimming, and track & field.

Some clubs on campus include the National Honors Society, Unidos, Key Club, Yearbook, Journalism, and Art Club.

Marshall Fundamental’s college counseling department partners with Naviance, a college and career readiness software provider to help their students with college planning and career assessment tools. Its software aids students with college research, course planning and personality test tools. It also helps teachers and counselors track individual student progress, and communicate with students and their families. It is integrated with the Common Application, which facilitates submitting college applications, transcripts, school forms, and teacher recommendations.

According to Catherine Charles, one of four college counselors at the school, the counseling department meets with students and their parents in 9th grade where they confer on their four-year plan. During the 9th Grade Orientation Night they discuss AP courses and testing. An AP in Human Geography, a very rigorous course, is on offer to qualified students and they need to take the AP exam upon completion.

In 10th grade, counselors assess each student based on their 9th grade transcript and go through the A – G, the requirements for acceptance to the UC system. They also talk about the PSAT, which the district pays for each 10th grader to take. Workshops are available after school to prepare them for the PSAT and CAHSEE exams one week before the tests.

The 11th grade is a busy year. School counselors meet with parents and students to review the four-year plan. They ensure students are on track to take all the AP exams required in English, US History, Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Environmental Science), and Art Elective.  They discuss the college application process, the PSAT and Merit Scholarship, and the Early Entrance Exams for College – which the UCs use to invite eligible students for guaranteed acceptance and for the different scholarships available. In the spring of junior year, workshops on the college application, the personal statement and FAFSA are held after school and on Saturdays through EAOP (for UCLA) and Upward Bound (for CalState LA and PCC).

When students reach 12th grade, they have already been to college campus visits with the school counselors. Several representatives from various colleges come on campus to invite students to apply to their schools. English teachers integrate essay writing to their curriculum using prompts on the college application to help students compose and polish their prose.

Marshall’s counselors make available to students various scholarships to which they can apply.  Last year, Nubia Johnson received a four-year, full-ride scholarship to Yale through Questbridge. The class of 2014 accepted approximately $2.6M in scholarship monies, and an undisclosed amount in scholarship dollars was offered but turned down. Throughout the years, Marshall graduates have earned the Morehead-Cain (the most prestigious scholarship in the United States), POSSE, and National Merit Scholarship.

There were 234 Marshall seniors who graduated in 2014, nine of whom were valedictorians, 14  AP Scholars with Distinction, four AP Scholars with Honor, and seven National AP scholars. They later attended such elite universities as Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, UPenn, University of Chicago, Boston University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Northwestern, Pomona College, and Tulane.

For Dr. Mark Anderson, Marshall Fundamental’s principal, the accolades, awards and distinctions, validate the school’s commitment to providing excellent education and opportunities. As he heads towards his fifth year as head of school, he has expanded the equitable AP program that made every student who is willing to devote time and effort eligible to take an AP course.

Everyday finds Anderson visiting classrooms to see for himself how teachers engage their students in class discussions. He remembers students and addresses them by name as they spill out of their classrooms to go to the next class.

Anderson and Charles are just two of the many caring, dedicated administrators and scholars who are invested in PUSD’s future and success. And Brian McDonald is looking to them to make the district an academic powerhouse. He has an ambitious plan to rehabilitate the district’s reputation and is confident that his strategies will benefit not just Marshall Fundamental but the other three high schools as well. He proudly mentions that Pasadena High School has two National Merit Scholarship semifinalists last year. 

Dr. Brian McDonald, PUSD superintendent | Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News

According to McDonald, PUSD is moving away from guidance counselors to college  coaches – professional staff who provide counseling services – to give students a more rounded approach to college and career preparation. He believes the coaching method gives students a far better support system in getting them ready for college and beyond.

Expanding the dual language program in the district has been a focus of McDonald’s action plans. He expanded the program from one Spanish (San Rafael Elementary) and one Mandarin Chinese (Field Elementary), to a unique pairing of STEM and Spanish Dual Language at Jackson Elementary. The first cohort of Spanish and Mandarin students are now 6th graders at Blair IB Middle School and Sierra Madre Middle School, respectively. Pasadena’s dual language schools are so highly regarded that students from as far as Rancho Cucamonga come to PUSD schools to take advantage of this program. That out-of-district parents would willingly fight the snarled traffic on the 210 freeway to drive all this way is testament to the program’s success.

A second initiative that McDonald envisions for the district is offering more innovative schemes.  For one, he looks to strengthening the IB (International Baccalaureate) program that Blair High School has in place. He thinks Blair is a diamond in the rough, with much potential still to be harnessed. He also intends to provide a sufficient level of funding to help sustain the IB program at Willard Elementary, which is highly sought-after.

Proper positioning of the district in the public’s mind is the third priority. McDonald wants to launch marketing campaigns that would showcase all the accomplishments of the schools in the district. He believes that there is a great disconnect between people’s perception and reality. The district needs to trumpet awards and distinctions the various schools receive, like the Los Angeles Magazine’s selection of Marshall Fundamental as eighth in L.A. County. 

Pasadenans are largely uninformed about the local schools’ many programs. He points to the implementation of the linked-learning pathways program, a career-themed system that links rigorous core courses with strong Career Technical Education (CTE) course offerings and work-based learning opportunities. Pasadena high schools have specialty subject offerings to fit varied interests  – PHS offers Law and Public Service, Creative Arts, Media and Design, and the App Academy; Muir HS has Engineering and Environmental Science, Arts and Entertainment, and Business and Entrepreneurship; Blair HS has Culinary Arts and Hospitality, and Health Careers;  and Marshall Fundamental offers the Academy of Creative Industries. 

     

The ‘Principal for a Day’ program is an effective way people can experience a high school and walk away with a different perspective. McDonald also mentions PEF’s (Pasadena Educational Foundation) Realtor Tours that began in 2011 as a positive move in the right direction.   

The fourth plan of action, according to McDonald, is reforming how central office operates in support of school sites. It aims to bring together all departments into one seamless process.  Using the Baldridge Educational Criteria as a guide, he intends to transform the district into an organization that is effective, efficient and high-performing. In order to help employees focus on the mission of the district, a new tagline was adopted – ‘Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow’. This strategy trains teachers to be effective points of contact for students as well as parents. It will also call for parental engagement in all aspects of their children’s school life.

Establishing accountability in the school system is the fifth item on McDonald’s to do list for the district. There should be consequences and rewards for teachers, administrators, and everyone involved.

The sixth concern for McDonald is labor relations. He believes the hallmark of a good district is collaborative relationship between bargaining units and the district’s administration. PUSD needs to be more transparent in what it is able to offer teachers and administrators in terms of salary and raises.

Lastly, McDonald would like to see stability at the superintendent level. Everyone needs the assurance that the official that the board of education has put in place will uphold the duties and responsibilities that come with the office, and stay long enough to accomplish everything he has set out to do. 

McDonald has five school-age children, ranging from elementary to secondary level, who currently attend Pasadena public schools. He is in this for the long haul; he is staying to make sure the district gets the recognition it rightfully deserves. And that’s not a threat, it’s a promise.             

Mt. Sierra College: Educating Through Hands-on Courses

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment

Originally published on 19 March 2015 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, and Sierra Madre Weekly

These days we hear so much about the all too common sad tale of America’s youth graduating from a four-year college course and saddled with several thousand dollars’ worth of student loans but unable to find jobs.

Mt. Sierra College, a Monrovia-based institution founded in 1990, helps students escape this pitfall by offering courses tracked for gainful employment. Geared for working students, flexible year-round class schedules allow for graduation in as few as three years. Many of its instructors are working professionals and leaders in the industry, who help students learn the appropriate skills for a specific career.

From its humble beginnings in Pasadena, with two classrooms and four paying students, Mt. Sierra College today occupies over 30,000 square feet of school space in its present site, with over 430 students. In October 2014, Wellsland LLC, owned by Chinese businessman, George Jie Zhao, acquired Mt. Sierra College and installed Dr. Bill Kakish as President. Together, this dynamic duo hopes to position the school at the forefront of technological learning in Southern California.

Zhao is a product of Mainland China’s automotive manufacturing family that counts Volvo and the London taxicab companies as part of its vast holdings. As a businessman with Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, he was instrumental in that company’s, restructure that established two venture associated companies in Ningbo and Shanghai. He further achieved record international sales volume for Geely and the firm’s recognition as a major player in the European market as it established the Geely franchise distribution network in over 60 countries.

However, Zhao’s true passion has always been education. He was one of the founders of Beijing Geely University, which has over 50,000 students. In 2012, he established Wellsland LLC intending to expose both American and international students to the cultures of the world. Wellsland aspires to foster an understanding of cultural standards and business practices in a global workforce and provide support to students in developing fluency in English and world languages.

Enter Kakish, who has an extensive background in postsecondary education in various capacities as a faculty member, administrator, accreditation liaison officer, state regulatory staff and campus president. Kakish holds a B.A. in Modern Languages from Notre Dame, an M.M. in Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, a PhD. and M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. Such employment accomplishments and academic achievements make him more than qualified for his post as Mt. Sierra’s head.      

Together, Zhao and Kakish are embarking on an ambitious five-year plan that would catapult this school as a leader in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship, Media Arts and Design with concentration in Visual Effects, Digital Video, and Game Arts and Design, Information Technology with concentration in Computer Information Technology and Information Security, and Telecommunications Technology.   

Kakish’s first step in meeting this grand scheme was to hire ten full-time faculty who are experts in their field, and invite recognised professionals onto its board. In mid-February, Mt. Sierra announced the appointment to its Board of Directors, screenwriter and director Xiaolu (Lulu) Xue. She is concurrently Associate Professor and Graduate Study Program Supervisor in the literature Department of Beijing Film Academy and the Director of Beijing Film and China Television Screenwriters’ Committee.    

In February, Mt. Sierra College vied in an international weekend global game jam competition that saw over 77,000 contestants creating video games. Mt. Sierra mounted the second largest contingent of participants in Southern California with over 100 student entrants, second only to the Southland’s USC, which had over 300 contestants, and had more student aspirants than Chapman.

Mt. Sierra’s career counselors help place graduates with a variety of outstanding employers including Apple, IBM, ABC, CBS, NBC, Disney, WB, Caltech, JPL, Parsons, Universal Studios, SEGA, Boeing, Blizzard, Obsidian, etc. Mt. Sierra College has been in conversations with a Nigerian university and Costa Rica’s Department of State to establish international partnerships to build educational and career opportunities for their students.   

In the works is a plan to build a larger campus in Monrovia that will house twice the number of classrooms, a subterranean parking structure and which will be made from sustainable building material with solar paneling that will power the school’s entire edifice. 

Zhao and Kakish want to ensure that all of Mt. Sierra’s graduates succeed as employees and entrepreneurs. Indeed, there is such bright future ahead for Mt. Sierra College and its students!

Introduction to A San Gabriel Inquirer

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment
The Chinese Garden at the The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, October 2020 | Photo by Brianna Chu

I have lived in Pasadena for four decades and though I’m not a native, I proudly call it my hometown. It’s a city steeped in history and tradition and rich with art and culture. It is as much a center of education as it is a seat of commerce in the western San Gabriel Valley. Resting at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, it has an abundance of natural beauty.

All these offer a writer fascinating material for articles and stories to share with readers. There are so many events worth capturing in words and pictures. There are countless individuals and organizations who make Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley a great place to live and raise families in. I want to shine a light on these wonderful people and their causes so they can get the recognition they deserve. And I hope that in the process, their accomplishments influence others to also do good in the community.

I would love to hear from you and get feedback on the articles.

May S. Ruiz