We’re catching up on a couple weeks of Shoutouts. I hope you’ll read below to see some of the great work by our fellow Cascadians.
As everyone can tell, we have a lot of Future Cascadians on campus. Thanks to the facilities/events team for helping to facilitate the logistics of these summer programs which act as auxiliary income for the college. It’s interesting to watch the little ones as they play, learn, and interact.
These first few weeks of summer have been busy as we wrapped up our Board meetings for the summer, passed the 24-25 budget, and began processing enrollment applications. As of last week, our applications were up 40%. While we hope that trend continues, it also means we will have to manage a lot more folks on campus this summer and fall.
In additions to the Shoutouts below, thanks to Dr. Victor Begay for spending the day with me in Olympia for the Government-to-Government Summit on Tribal Affairs last week. I appreciate the opportunity to sit side-by-side with faculty as they conduct important work outside the classroom. Also thanks to our new Basic Needs Program Coordinator, Ysi Ramos, for joining me at coffee this week. He is working as our Basic Needs Navigator to help students overcome hurdles to their lives. Our Basic Needs program is off and running and I look forward to being able to support our students even more next year.
Today begins as a fun day when I get to introduce Dr. Kerry Levett to the Bothell-Kenmore Chamber of Commerce. She is taking over for me on that board while I turn my attention to the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce. And, a little later today, Brittany Caldwell, Mark Collins and I have lunch with Bob Tjossem, one of the founders of Cascadia who also served as a Trustee and on our Foundation Board in the early days.
Summer is humming along. Enjoy the short week as we celebrate the 4th. The Friday letter will return the following week.
SHOUTOUTS
From the IN Box:
I want to congratulate Aileen on a successful VA Compliance Survey!
The Compliance Officer reported no significant issues and commended Aileen’s excellent work as a School Certifying Official, ensuring proper funding for Cascadia’s enrolled veterans and dependents of veterans.
Aileen had less than two weeks to prepare files for ten randomly [selected] vets who attended Cascadia from Spring 2020 until present. Aileen compiled detailed records documenting each student, documenting their time at Cascadia from application to their last date of attendance. Aileen had to provide quarter-by-quarter records for each student to demonstrate that they had been funded according to VA guidelines.
Aileen had a lot of support to collect all of this documentation and I would also like to thank Vickie Ashe, Erin Blakeney, Stephan Classen, Rachel Druck, Darla Hart, Ginny Jackson, Huda Sarhan and Brett Steiner for helping with this endeavor!
~Gordon
AND
Congratulations to the Finance team for facilitating the “Accountability Audit” by the State Auditor’s Office. The SAO reviewed 4 years worth of data to determine if Cascadia was following proper procedures in all sorts of domains. They gave us an A+ with no findings or recommendations. Way to go Cascadia. Thanks to Steve K and Thais L for getting us through.
AND
I would like to give a HUGE shout out to Becky Riopel for her dedication to our students, particularly our 2024 graduates! Each year Becky puts so much planning and prep work into our largest campus event, while still ensuring that our students are celebrated, recognized, and honored for their accomplishments. You do great Becky!!
AND
Chari [Davenport] – Thank you again for joining us on Tuesday night and accepting the Bothell City Council’s Juneteenth Proclamation. Your personal story and connection to the importance of Juneteenth was powerful and profound.
The City Manager’s Report comes soon after Proclamations, and I often find myself needing to re-center on the business of the agenda after speakers share the impact of the events we are observing. Yours went to the top of the list, and I’m grateful for your leadership here in the Bothell Community and the work you do for Cascadia.
~ Kyle Stannert, City Manager
AND
Dear Kimia [Ghanbeigi],
Congratulations on your acceptance to the Clean Energy Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program! Support for this program is provided by the Clean Energy Institute (CEI) and a generous donor to prepare the next generation of researchers and educators to explore the fields of energy generation, storage and distribution systems.
~ There was more to this letter from UW, but abbreviated here. Congrats to Kimia for acceptance into the program!
AND
I so enjoyed graduation and watching my son receive his Bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Practices. Please know how much our family appreciated Stephan Classen for all his work in keeping this cohort together.
~ Parent of a BASSP student in communication with Dr. Murray
Remember, you can submit Shoutouts to FLShoutouts@cascadia.edu.
Have a great weekend.
Integrate It! 