President's Friday Message
Dear Colleagues,
It's the end of week seven, and I'm glad to report that things are moving smoothly at our college. Congratulations to Coach John Lango and our football team for winning their season opener against Los Medanos College! It was an exciting back-and-forth game that came down to the game's last play. It felt great to start the season with a win at home. Attached you will find our football and volleyball home schedule. I encourage you to come out and support our teams.
Some quick updates...
Today, we kicked off this semester’s first Enrollment Management Team meeting. We're preparing for our Enrollment Management Academy that will take place in a couple of weeks. Thanks to Brad Stone for leading that effort.
Also, today we visited our Hollister site to do a walk-through and identified areas that need cleaning, signage that needs to be implemented or replaced, and other improvements. We met with students to hear their ideas on what they'd like to see at the new campus. Most want quiet study spaces, a game room, food, and an area where they can congregate. Thanks to Judy Rodriguez for hosting us and to Christina Salvin for allowing us to meet with her class.
We are working with our staffing committee to ensure they have reliable enrollment data to rank the six faculty positions funded by our Emergency Conditions Allowance (ECA). Thanks to Jane Maringer and Wade Grant for their work on this project.
We met with our Measure X consultants to discuss future landscaping and solar projects.
I received a special visit from legendary coach Bob Garcia, father of Jeff Garcia, former 49ers quarterback. As you may know, both Bob and Jeff attended Gavilan. Bob served as a coach and athletic director at Gavilan and won a state championship. Thanks to Celia Marquez for arranging that meeting.
I recently met with Tony Maradanos and Frank Angelino, President, and Treasurer of our Education Foundation, respectively. I'm looking forward to meeting with our Foundation Board soon to strategize on building up our student endowment fund.
Lastly, five areas of focus are rising to the top through my listening sessions with staff and students. Those are (in no particular order):
- Fiscal stability
- Technology
- Shared Governance
- Enrollment Management
- Institutional Effectiveness/Planning
Please continue to reach out to me and share ideas/suggestions. You can email me or contact Lisa Scott to schedule an in-person appointment.
I'm heading over to watch our volleyball team beat Las Positas College. Enjoy your weekend!
Kind Regards,
Dr. Pedro Avila
Superintendent/President
5055 Santa Teresa Boulevard | Gilroy, CA 95020
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