Members of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce and Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce turned out in droves on the evening of Thursday, May 23, 2013 to attend a joint mixer held at the Army and Navy Academy at 2605 Carlsbad Blvd. in Carlsbad. Chamber mixers are fun, friendly and a fabulous opportunity to connect with old friends, while expanding your business network to include new soon to be friends. With a joint chamber mixer the opportunity for fun while meeting new business friends doubles!

Tour of Army Navy Academy

Plus this particular mixer offered an added benefit as part of the evening’s festivities included a tour of the prestigious Army and Navy Academy, which is a military preparatory school for boys. The tour was conducted by Viktor, who is a charming young man from the Admission’s office. During our tour, we learned that Viktor is an academy alum who has also lived in France, Germany and elsewhere overseas who currently enjoys working in the academy’s Admissions Department.

Army and Navy Academy was founded in 1910. There are currently 325 enrolled cadets, 28% of whom are international students. As a preparatory academy, it is evident that the school does a outstanding job as fully 100% of their last year’s graduating class enrolled in college. As several in my tour group noted, this is quite simply a phenomenal statistic and as Viktor clearly articulated, when a cadet leaves Army and Navy Academy he knows what is expected, when and is fully prepared to succeed at the university level.

The academy accepts both day students from the local surrounding communities and boarding cadets. In fact, I learned during our tour that our Oceanside Chamber of Commerce CEO, David Nydegger attended the academy as a day student for 6-years from grades 7 through 12. Obviously, that training has served David well. He is a charming and cordial leader who is well known and highly regarded in the local business and professional communities.

The buildings and grounds were quite striking. The back of the property fronts the ocean and provides an awesome viewpoint. We toured the grounds, seeing the dorms, cottages, church, gym and much more. We also observed the lowering of the flag ceremony, which was quite moving.

Ongoing work to improve the grounds and buildings is underway, as is the addition of a new building across the street. Once finished, the new building will connect to the current grounds via an overpass that will permit students and staff to move easily across campus while avoiding Coast Highway.

Co-Education Summer Programs

During the majority of the year, the academy is a boy’s only facility. In the summer months however girls are welcome to participate in co-education programs geared toward leadership and enrichment known as “Academy by the Sea.” A wide variety of women in my tour group (myself included) stated that we would either love to attend the academy ourselves or to have the opportunity to send a daughter, granddaughter or other special young woman.

Food, Fun, Friendships and Prizes

With respect to the joint chamber mixer, it seemed apparent that people had a good time. Light drinks were served as well as an ample and wide variety of fabulous delicacies.

There were several drawings for wonderful prizes (including a $500 gift certificate, Trolley car rides, dinner at local restaurants, a pet gift basket and much more). We enjoyed a quick welcome from Stephen M. Bliss, Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Retired) who is the President of Army and Navy Academy; took an educational and enlightening tour; and enjoyed a wealth of social interaction with old and new friends.

June Chamber Mixer

Next month a 4-Chamber mixer will be held on Thursday, June 20, 5 to 7 p.m. at Tri-City Medical Center, 4002 Vista Way, Oceanside. Attending chambers will include: Oceanside, Carlsbad, Vista and San Marcos. I and and other members of the Oceanside Chamber office, board and membership hope you will attend and we look forward to seeing you there!

Pam Rumer
Director,  Oceanside Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors
Member, Oceanside Chamber of Commerce marketing and board development committees
Volunteer Blogger for marketing committee on Oceanside Chamber of Commerce blog

Now it’s time for North County to enter into the discussion. Those of us who have dedicated our lives to teaching and learning already know North County is an epicenter of educational excellence, and we need to make sure our community knows as well.

“We have a powerful K-12 system, two excellent community colleges, one of the highest-in-demand state college campuses in California, and we have a number of private institutions and programs, including the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, a premier provider of advanced degrees in physical and occupational therapy programs,” said Dr. Jan Jackson, who chairs the board at the San Diego North Economic Development Council and serves as vice president for community engagement at Cal State San Marcos.

The North County region also boasts a long tradition of superb cooperation among local K-12 school districts, community colleges, Cal State San Marcos, and private universities and colleges. No matter where you turn, the focus in local education is to ensure that students get the degrees or skills they need to flourish in the workplace, a fact highlighted in a report produced last year by BW Research Partnership of Carlsbad.

This is an exciting time for education; the connection between K-12 districts, community colleges, universities and industry never has been more important. According to the BW Research Partnership report, North County businesses employed some 22,000 people in the areas of innovation and specialized manufacturing in 2012, accounting for about 8 percent of the workforce. The report anticipates growth of more than 1,400 jobs over the next four years in these fields, which paid an average annual salary of $93,442 in 2011. Jobs in professional, scientific and technical services, meanwhile, are anticipated to increase by more than 8 percent by 2017, with jobs in the government and health care sectors expected to rise by nearly 10 percent each.

In order to prepare our local students for these high-paying local jobs, educational institutions in our area have teamed up with industry to ensure that we offer the types of programs needed so they can grow their workforce. Case in point, MiraCosta College, and Cal State San Marcos offer superb biotechnology programs. In fact, MiraCosta College’s biotechnology facility, built with donations from local industry, has been named a Center of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Labor. The three colleges also collectively prepare hundreds of students each year for jobs in the health care fields. And just last month, MiraCosta College teamed up with the National Tooling and Machining Association, the City of Oceanside, and others to create a program that prepares students for careers as trained machinists.

The Obama administration has made it clear that community colleges are part of the solution to strengthen our economy – a critical role to play in redressing unemployment and in workforce preparation/training. Accordingly, community colleges are at the forefront of getting our community ready for a high-tech economy and ensuring that opportunities are open to all.

Among programs in which MiraCosta and Palomar colleges take part is GEAR UP. Through this federally funded project, colleges work with and track middle school students from disadvantaged areas through their first year of college. With a $7.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, MiraCosta College and Oceanside Unified School District are able to link counselors and tutors with some 1,000 students and their families until the youths get into college. The first Oceanside Unified GEAR UP students will finish high school in 2017. To give them a head start at college, the MiraCosta College Foundation has pledged and has already raised a minimum of $100,000 in scholarships for GEAR UP students attending MiraCosta College.

MiraCosta College also offers Summer Bridge, a six-week program that focuses on getting graduating African-
American high school students to strengthen their academic skills, develop a peer support network and familiarize themselves with the demands of college life. And MiraCosta hosts an array of programs, seminars and workshops geared toward motivating students of all backgrounds to further their education while providing the support to help them succeed.

Meanwhile, MiraCosta College has transfer agreements with several UC and CSU campuses to ensure academic excellence is rewarded. Most of our lower division courses transfer to UC, CSU and other public and private institutions, delivering an excellent value and return on investment. Last year, more than 3,600 MiraCosta College students transferred to nearly every UC and CSU in California and to colleges and universities throughout the country.

In short, our region is home to a system where Oceanside Unified, Carlsbad Unified, and the San Dieguito Unified High School districts work hard preparing students to attend schools like MiraCosta College. We, in turn, prepare those students to attend local universities like Cal State San Marcos, San Diego State University, UC San Diego, and other institutions of higher education, or train them to join our local workforce.

At MiraCosta College you have our commitment to work hard to make certain that our region’s students will realize success. When people think of North County, we love that they think about the beach, the climate and the lifestyle. But we also want them to think about this beautiful area as a bastion of education – and that with a higher education, anything is possible.

Here in North County San Diego, online education has seen an explosion of its own. In just the past three years, the percentage of full-time equivalent students enrolled in a MiraCosta College online course has increased nearly 40 percent. Today, nearly one out of every three students at MiraCosta takes at least one of their college classes online. Online course offerings range from accounting to Spanish, and include unique classes such as Biology 105, Genes and Technology in Society, and Music 114, the History of Rock and Roll.

“The conventional wisdom about why people turn to online education really holds true at a community college,” said Dr. Jim Julius, faculty director of online education at MiraCosta College. “Online education is convenient. We have students here who are working, who have families, and it is convenient for them to take online courses.”

Take the case of Faith Missler, who lives in San Diego’s Mission Valley, more than 40 miles south of the Oceanside Campus.

“I can make my own hours, I can save on gas, I don’t deal with the headaches of a killer commute, and the education is just as good,” said the 46-year-old who went back to school after the Escondido restaurant she and her husband operated became a victim of the Great Recession.“I enjoy the online lectures more than the in-class lectures because they can be viewed multiple times, paused and replayed. I don’t have to worry about missing information when taking notes.”

MiraCosta College offered its first online education course in 1995. That number grew to 22 classes just four years later. Today, MiraCosta College offers roughly 200 course sections taught solely online and an additional 100 courses that are a hybrid of online and on-campus.

Community colleges across California have followed suit. Statewide, the number of online courses offered in the community college system increased from 21,414 in 2005-06 to 40,038 in 2009-10, a whopping increase of 87 percent, according to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office.

As MiraCosta College has expanded its online course offerings, the success and retention rates of students in online courses have steadily increased as well. In fact, MiraCosta College’s retention rate for students taking online courses is 15 percent higher than the statewide average. This may be because students have become more sophisticated consumers of technology and the systems to support online learning have become more efficient and user-friendly.

This higher success rate is also because of the many years of online teaching experience MiraCosta College faculty have, as well as their continued commitment to instructional excellence, said Dr. Julius. These well-designed online classes may actually provide a better learning environment for some MiraCosta College students, said MiraCosta College math instructor Julie Harland, whose math-based videos posted on her public YouTube Channel have more than 2 million hits.

“Students decide what time during the day or week to learn the material,” Harland said. “If students need to slow down, they can back up and re-read part of a lecture, or watch a video more than once. In a classroom, you can’t put the professor on pause.”

Part of ensuring success in an online course is also making sure that students have the same type of support services afforded to students who are taking the more traditional in-class courses. “It’s very important to have a lot of resources available, and to make sure the students are aware of all the help available to them,” says Harland.

To this end, MiraCosta College has increased the availability of online orientation and online advising, e-tutoring, and even offers live online chatting with librarians, available 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

The success of our students is always our top priority. Whether they are learning online or on-ground, our staff is committed to ensuring that the student experience at MiraCosta College is one of continued rigor and excellence.

Take a tip from our growing number of online students and see for yourself what makes MiraCosta College such an exemplary institution. Visit our virtual tour, an online service that was just recognized as the best of its kind by the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations. Or better yet, sign up for an online class yourself—8-week summer courses begin June 3, with the 6-week summer session starting June 17. You can apply online at miracosta.edu, or call us at 760.757.2121.

Oceanside—What do a banker, an insurance agent, a tax man and an immigration attorney have in common? On Wednesday, March 27, this financial forum will meet in the Liberty Tax Service office at 3784 Mission Ave Suite 149 in Oceanside from 6:30pm-9pm for an evening of answering questions about what’s going on in their area of expertise. It’s rare that this group gets together at the SAME TIME in the SAME ROOM. You won’t want to miss it! There is no charge for this informative event so come, join us and bring a friend and your questions. Liberty Tax Service is the fastest-growing retail tax preparation company in the industry’s history. The Company has over 4100 offices in the United States and Canada, with the majority owned by franchisees, three of which are located in Oceanside. The evening will be conducted in Spanish.

Christie Yorke is earning her doctorate from UC Santa Barbara with plans to either work as a researcher at a university or land a job in the sciences with the government.

Andrew Pinkard is deciding whether he wants to earn his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford, Columbia, or CalTech, all top-flight universities where he has been accepted.

Jonathan Henderson is a senior at Cal State, Dominguez Hills, contemplating whether to earn his master’s and doctorate degrees at USC, UCLA or UC Berkeley.

What do Bolt, Yorke, Pinkard and Henderson have in common? They began their higher education journeys at MiraCosta College. In fact, more than half the students who enroll at MiraCosta College have aspirations to complete a bachelor’s degree or higher.

“MiraCosta College has some amazing professors,” Yorke (pictured left) said in a recent interview with the college. “I did very poorly in high school, and I went into MiraCosta not knowing how to write. I didn’t believe that I was a good student or could be a good student. But my instructors and the college instilled me with confidence, taught me good study skills, and provided the resources to help me succeed.”

Yorke transferred from MiraCosta College to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2009, and two years later earned her bachelor of science degree. She has been in the Ph.D. program at UC Santa Barbara for more than a year.

Bolt, who grew up in Encinitas, saw MiraCosta College’s San Elijo Campus as an obvious choice and began taking online courses while still in high school.

“MiraCosta College was a fantastic launching pad for me to go to Berkeley,” Bolt shared.

“It gave me an opportunity to explore an extremely wide range of subjects. That freedom to explore exactly what you want to do is something you don’t get to do at a four-year college.”

Many of Bolt’s professors had come to MiraCosta College from esteemed universities because they want to focus on teaching rather than research, and Bolt contends that MiraCosta College instructors are as good as they come.

“It’s also economical,” Bolt said. “And with the extreme amount of debt that you take on in getting an advanced degree, or even an undergraduate degree, going to MiraCosta can be invaluable.”

Pinkard (pictured right) agrees. He initially planned on attending a UC campus, “but it was expensive and my family didn’t really save for my college education. So I went to MiraCosta College.”

While at MiraCosta College, Pinkard worked at the Oceanside Campus’s Writing Center and the Tutoring and Academic Support Center. Upon graduating in 2010, he enrolled at Cal State San Marcos, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry two years later. He quickly landed an internship at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. When Pinkard attends graduate school later this year to earn his Ph.D., he is hoping to pursue a career in chemistry, either in research and development or teaching at a university.

Pinkard said that going to MiraCosta College was one of the best decisions he’s made.

“It didn’t limit me at all,” he said. “I got into some of the best universities in the world.”

Henderson (pictured left), also one of our alumni, said he had poor grades in high school, but “at MiraCosta College, I got it right.” His career plans, after obtaining his doctorate, include teaching African American studies or sociology at the college level.

“My mentors at MiraCosta got me into the mindset that I was going to earn my Ph.D.,” Henderson said. “They supported me every step of the way.”

We at MiraCosta College pride ourselves on academic excellence, and this pride is demonstrated through the achievements of our graduates. I often tell students, “start here, and you can go anywhere,” and the accomplishments of our alumni prove this point to be true.

Ultimately, the success of our students is job one. The strength of our college is only possible through our community’s continued support, and you have our collective commitment to make good on this promise of higher education.

Thank you for your belief in our students and in the mission of the college.

A university newspaper in North Carolina recently published an article about a trend they are seeing—bachelor degree graduates eschewing the pursuit of an advanced degree to return to community college, where they can learn technical skills necessary to begin a well-paying career. This is a familiar trend that in California, and one that we experience here at MiraCosta College.

MiraCosta College's Nursing Program educates many students who already have advanced degrees

Take our Registered Nursing Program, for example. The college’s new cohort of nursing students began on January 14, and the group is once again strong with several students holding bachelor and master’s degrees in other fields of study.

Then there are student like Briana McClure, who earned a bachelor’s degree in theatre arts from UC Irvine in June 2012. Just a few short months after graduation, she enrolled in business courses at MiraCosta College.

“In the future I want to create my own theatre production company, so it makes sense to take business classes to learn how the business side of it works,” Briana said.

Briana is not unique; one of every 11 students at MiraCosta College has already earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. Students with four-year degrees who return to a community college run the gamut of experience and interest. Some have come to brush up on the latest developments in their professions. Others have found that a bachelor’s degree in their original field of study isn’t enough. Still others have come for an edge in boosting their chances of getting a promotion at work.

Most have come because our tremendous value and our earned reputation for teaching excellence. When compared to the cost of taking classes at a public or private university, $46 per unit for classes at MiraCosta College is among the least expensive in the nation.

Students like Natasha Roark are returning to MiraCosta College to gain skills to find well-paying jobs

“It’s an excellent value,” said Natasha Roark, pictured, a 31-year-old Carlsbad resident with a bachelor of science degree in molecular biology from UC Santa Cruz, who is taking classes at MiraCosta College to brush up on her technical knowledge and skills.

“MiraCosta College has such a great reputation and such a great offering of courses in biotechnology,” she said. “I heard from several people in the biotechnology industry who recommended the college.”

Mike Fino teaches biology at MiraCosta College. He estimates that one quarter to one third of the students in the college’s biotechnology program have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

“Some of the time, it’s just situational. A student may have decided to stay at home after graduating and raise a family, and now they want to get back into the workforce,” he said. “But some of the time, students with bachelor degrees haven’t really developed the skills that are going to get them hired.”

“We’re helping them build employable skills,” Fino said.

Natasha Roark agrees. She and her husband were raising a small child when Natasha decided to work as a tutor, giving high school students lessons in everything from AP physics to calculus and biology. The work afforded her the flexibility to spend more time with their child, but once he began going to school, Natasha decided it was time for her to get a full-time job in her field.

“It had been a few years since I graduated, so I enrolled at MiraCosta to gain some needed skills.”

Natasha now works as a paid intern at Life Technologies Corp. in Carlsbad. “I use everything that I learned at MiraCosta College every single day at work,” she said. “The things they teach you are just invaluable.”

The first course Briana McClure enrolled in at MiraCosta College after graduating from UC Irvine was an Introduction to Business class. She is planning to take classes in entrepreneurship, marketing and finance in the future.

“Nowadays to get to where you want to go in this world you need to have multiple skill sets. You need to know a lot about a lot of different things,” Briana said. “It would be a waste of money to go to grad school when I can come here.”

We’ve always known that community colleges are wonderful places to start your higher education. In fact, a National Student Clearinghouse study showed that 45 percent of students who earned a four-year degree in 2010-11 had previously enrolled at a two-year college. That figure is higher in California, where nearly two-thirds of students who obtained a 4-year degree in 2010-11 had previously taken courses at a community college.

As the needs of the workforce change, community colleges are here to efficiently respond to those needs. Today, more than ever, we are positioned to become a great place for students complete their higher education as well.

Due to the last-minute tax law changes made by Congress under the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA), the IRS has scrambled to update forms and make critical programming changes to its processing systems. They also anticipate that the remaining taxpayers will be able to start filing in late February and early March because of the needed changes on the more extensive forms and processing systems. The IRS provides a full listing of the forms that are currently not being accepted on their web site: IRS.gov.
 
“Liberty Tax is staying in contact with the IRS to keep abreast of the release of these updated forms. And we are fully prepared to move forward and help our customers get their money as quickly as possible,” said Hewitt.
 
The IRS emphasizes that there is no advantage to filing on paper before January 30th. They also reiterate that taxpayers will receive their tax refunds much faster by e-filing their return. More than 80 percent of taxpayers filed electronically last year.
 
January 22nd was the originally planned date the IRS set to open electronic filing this year.
  
As a major leader in the tax preparation industry, Liberty Tax Service will be working alongside the IRS to help the American people with the delays this tax season and to ensure they receive the most current and accurate tax assistance.
 

About Liberty Tax Service
Founded in 1997 by CEO John T. Hewitt, Liberty Tax Service is the fastest-growing tax preparation franchise ever. Liberty Tax Service has prepared over 10 million individual income tax returns to date. Liberty Tax Service and its nationwide network of over 30,000 tax preparers are ready to offer their assistance at any time. For a more in-depth look at Liberty Tax Service, visit www.libertytax.com. CEO and founder, John Hewitt, is available for media interviews starting today.

George Chamberlin

George Chamberlin – Finances and More

I was fortunate enough to see George at a local Real Estate Summit that was held last week down in Coronado.  He moderated a panel of local real estate brokers, and managed to elicit the very best of these outstandiing men and women.  It remiinded me once again that it’s important for those of us in Oceanside to realize how good a friend and collaborator George continues to be with our community and Chamber.

Last year he donated time to the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce on his radio show to promote the upcoming Business Expo.  Gregarious and generous, he was instrumental in helping the turnout and success of this gathering.  And during the year he gives freely of his time to join with us in Oceanside to celebrate our local business and community successes as well.

A Bit of a Year-End Wrap-Up by George Chamberlin

Could it be the Santa Claus rally began yesterday? Thanks to rumors of progress in the negotiations to deal with the “F.C.” — as I like to call it, stock prices took off late in the session and the Dow Industrials finished up 100 points and have advanced in six of the past nine trading days. The index is now 6.5 percent away from an all-time high set on Oct. 9, 2007 at 14,164. Who knows, a legitimate solution to the budget mess back in Washington could provide the spark to a big rally that would take the markets to new highs, probably in early 2013. Then again, they could blow it and let the economy fall off the cliff.

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The buzz out of Washington is that the Obama team has agreed to keep current tax rates in place for U.S. households with earnings below $400,000. That is a big concession from the much-discussed level of $250,000 Obama seemed locked into. Reports this morning have Speaker Boehner preparing a bill to raise taxes on higher earners with corresponding spending cuts.

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The new Legoland Hotel in Carlsbad is now scheduled to open on April 5, well ahead of the original schedule. No, the three-story, 250-room resort hotel is not made out of Lego bricks but they will definitely be in evidence throughout the facility with more than 3,400 models on display using more than 3 million Lego bricks. The hotel rooms will be family friendly including two separate sleeping areas, one for grown-ups and one for up to three children.

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The confidence of America’s homebuilders has climbed to the highest level since April 2006. That’s according to the latest report from the National Association of Home Builders, which reported confidence rose this month for the eighth consecutive month. “Builders across the country are reporting some of the best sales conditions they’ve seen in more than five years, with more serious buyers coming forward and a shrinking number of vacant and foreclosed properties on the market,” said Barry Ruttenberg, chairman of the NAHB.

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At the same time, RE/MAX is reporting home sales rose 15.7 percent in November compared to the same month in 2011. “If we can get more reasonable regulation from Washington and if mortgage availability improves, 2013 will see a much stronger housing market,” said CEO Margaret Kelly.

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I’ve never heard of this guy but I sure like what he says. Steen Jakobsen, chief economist as Saxo Bank — a Danish financial company — is looking for a big drop in oil and gold prices in 2013. “U.S. crude oil production continues to rise through advanced production techniques and with domestic inventory levels already at 30-year highs combined with limited export options, oil prices come under renewed selling pressure,” said Jakobsen, who sees oil down to $50 a barrel next year. As for gold, “The strong U.S. economic recovery surprises the market and especially gold investors, which flee the traditional safe haven investment.” He sees gold falling from its current level of around $1,700 an ounce to $1,200.

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It is reported McDonald’s is asking its franchise operators to keep their restaurants open on Christmas day. It’s a pretty simple idea: some 93 million people will be traveling that day and will likely need to eat while they are on the road. The company did the same thing on Thanksgiving and it wound up saving the month of November with sales coming in well above expectations. You wonder if the media will make a big deal out of this the way they did when Target and Wal-Mart decided to open their stores Thanksgiving evening. Again, that proved to be a huge success for the retailers. Wal-Mart reported bigger sales that day than Black Friday, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year.

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Americans are not going to make personal finance a resolution this New Year. A report from Allianz Life finds 84 percent of people surveyed say they will not include financial planning in their resolutions for 2013. The main excuse for not making a money resolution: “Don’t make enough to worry about it.” For the second year in a row “health/wellness” topped the list as the most important focus area for the coming year.

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One of the most surprising financial stories of 2012 has been the amazing decline in interest rates. Few thought they could fall much further after plunging in 2011. Consider this: The yield on yesterday’s two-year Treasury note auction was an anemic 0.245 percent. That’s not even a quarter of 1 percent. After taxes and inflation you wind up with a negative rate of return. Yet, the Treasury sold $35 billion worth of the notes. Go figure.

Celebrate the New Year with a Membership in the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce

I want to thank George, the members of the Oceanside Chamber, the businesses, citizens and spirit of Oceanside, CA.  Don’t know if your Christmas shopping is done yet, but if not, then COME JOIN THE OCEANSIDE CHAMBER.  You’ll be a friend to Oceanside, a contributor like George Chamberlin, and a beneficiary of working together with many of the finest people in San Diego County.

By Don Reedy

With sincerity and deep gratitude, I congratulate and thank the staff, faculty, students, board, and community volunteers whose hard work and dedication to this endeavor succeeded in creating awareness of the needs of our students and college district. We also educated the public about the return on their local investment in higher education and of the many ways MiraCosta College serves this region. This collateral benefit is significant and should not be overlooked.

Giving Thanks
Placing the bond on this November’s ballot involved mass doses of planning, collaboration, vision, and courage. Indeed, the college had not asked its local voters for a facilities bond since 1961. It was a tough election that took place in a modestly improving economy. Our local, district voters had much to consider and we appreciate the close to 81,000 voters who supported the bond.

Through this process, the college built some strong alliances from entities that believed the college’s future plan was sound and that support for the bond was warranted. These entities include the San Diego County Taxpayers Association; League of Women Voters North San Diego; San Diego North Economic Development Council; San Diego County Democratic Party; the Carlsbad and Oceanside Chambers of Commerce; Associated Builders and Contractors–San Diego; North County Times and San Diego Union-Tribune; Mexican American Business and Professionals Association; and MiraCosta College’s Academic Senate, Associate Faculty Union, Classified Senate, Academic Administrators, Associated Student Government; and the MiraCosta College Foundation. In addition, we received guidance and counsel from an appointed “Blue Ribbon Leadership Group,” which included a number of North County business, education, and civic leaders.

We thank you and them all for their trust and confidence.

Where Do We Go From Here?
Despite the vote, our mission remains consistent. We will continue to serve our students and community by providing exceptional educational opportunities, teaching and learning excellence, and support services.

To mitigate some of the student demand for science classes, our Board of Trustees has provided the groundwork for our future needs by approving the purchase of modular science laboratories at both the Oceanside and San Elijo campuses. Our goal is to have the science lab at the Oceanside Campus operational for the fall 2013 semester. San Elijo will be delayed as we continue to explore options for the site location.

In addition, we will also look to make more efficient use of our classrooms and labs to maximize opportunities for enrollments throughout the entire week and, where feasible, through online education. Of course, these solutions will not eliminate crowded classrooms on our campuses or solve the problems of an aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance, but they will at least begin to address some of the college’s immediate concerns.

Once the district and board have had the opportunity to analyze the election results, I will facilitate a discussion with the board and then the campus community regarding potential next steps, which may include planning for a potential bond in the 2014 or 2016 election cycles, or holding off indefinitely and exploring alternative solutions.

Moving Forward
We will continue to move forward. MiraCosta College has an operationally balanced budget with adequate reserves, full reaffirmation of accreditation, and improved responsiveness to and support from the community. When coupled with the excellence of our faculty, staff, and administration, I can say with full confidence that the district is well positioned for the future. Our fiscal prudence and methodical, collaborative approach over the last four years, including the monitoring and reduction of expenses and redirection of existing resources, amongst multiple other strategies, have allowed the district to navigate and weather the worst of the financial storm.

A half century ago, the college looked to its community to build a college and serve this region. Today, we strive to build on that legacy and trust and ask for the same confidence to lay the foundation for the next fifty years.