Student Support Services Division Council Newsletter
El Camino College
February 2016
Assessment/Testing
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Pre-Assessment Math Tutoring is scheduled through September 2016. The Assessment/Testing
Center continues to work with the Mathematical Sciences Division to provide pre-assessment
preparation for students who wish to take the mathematics assessment test. Supplemental
Instruction (SI) Coaches are assigned to work in the Assessment/Testing Center in the Student
Services Center, Room 218.
Kenya Alvarez and Lorena Garcia assisted with the Math Academy on January 15th. Testing went
well with about 112 students tested in the morning sessions.
Lorena Garcia and Elena Savina will be attending a Common Assessment Initiative Conference on
February 26th 2016 at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport.
Lorena Garcia will be attending an instructional/information meeting for subpoena responses on
February 2nd 2016 from 10am-11:30am.
The Assessment/Testing Center has received notification that twelve colleges will begin to field test
the new Common Assessment Initiative beginning in early 2016. It is anticipated that following the
field test, all colleges will begin to implement the new test in fall 2016 for spring 2017 placement. A
presentation on the latest regarding the Common Assessment Initiative will be done during this
year’s Student Success Conference scheduled for March 2016 in Sacramento. Thankfully, the
Assessment/Testing Center with the support of Student Success & Support Program (SSSP) funds
has purchased sufficient ACCUPLACER test units to last us through this period of transition.
 The recruitment process to replace the Assessment/Testing Office Supervisor is underway. It is
anticipated that the new Supervisor will begin in April 2016.
Foster & Kinship Education & Adult Education Liaising
Operations / Personnel
 The Foster Care Office located in SSVC 240E has moved to Room 214.
 The Part-time Program assistant transferred to staff the Guardian Scholar’s Program. The Program
Coordinator is searching for staff.
Foster & Kinship Care Education (FKCE) Program
 Classes offered:
o December 2015– (16) hours of classes were scheduled and (16) sixteen hours were
completed with 14 students attending.
o We have completed 209 training hours out of the 341 projected for this year.
o January 2016 – (26) hours of classes are scheduled and (12) twelve hours thus far have been
completed with (62) enrolled and (57) students attending.
 January 15, 2016, the FKCE Curriculum & Guardian Scholars Advisory Committees met. Twenty-six
members were in attendance
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Student Support Services Division Council Newsletter
The collaboration with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FASD) Association and Occupational Therapy
Training Program (OTTP) continues to strengthen. Planning for trainings that are co-sponsored is
taking place for this semester.
PS-MAPP
 The program coordinator attends a monthly PS-MAPP update meeting with The Community College
Foundation training regarding the requirements for training.
 Staff continues to prepare for the 3rd and final module for contract year scheduled to begin in April
2016.
Student Advocacy and Support
 There is now a formal program. It is named the Guardian Scholars Program.
 December 2015
o The Foster Care coordinator was approached by the Anthony & Jeanne Pritzker Family
Foundation / Pritzker Foster Care Initiative and is funding forty thousand dollars. These
funds will be administered through the El Camino College Foundation.
o December 10, 2015, the Guardian Scholar Program was introduced to the El Camino and
Community Partners. Thirty-five persons attended representing all sectors of the
community that serve foster youth along with representatives from the campus community.
o Five students received services that supported them with enrollment, financial aid matters
and registration.
 January 2016
o Seventeen students were served in January.
o January 5, 2016 - the Program Coordinator attended the Regional Meeting for Guardian
Scholars Program at Cal-State Dominquez Hills.
o The annual Financial Aid Workshop took place on January 9, 2016. Ten students attended.
o January 15, 2016 - the FKCE Curriculum & Guardian Scholars Advisory Committees met.
Twenty-six members were in attendance.
o On January 21, 2016, the program coordinator served on a panel with three other FKCE
Directors to make a presentation regarding Guardian Scholars at the Academic Senate
Regional meeting in Riverside, CA.
o We continue our partnership with The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS)
Torrance office Transitional Coordinator. Collectively we have been establishing contact with
identified students to assist them in completing the enrollment and registration process for
the upcoming semester. The DCFS Transitional Coordinator is scheduled on campus in SSVC
216 or at the RISE Center to assist students.
 December 3, 2015
 January 21, 2016
 January 29, 2016
o We are also continuing to work closely with the Department of Probation and their students
by assisting them in completing the enrollment and registration process for the upcoming
semester.
Student Support Services Division Council Newsletter
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o We continue to work with the John Burton Foundation around Priority Registration.
Commercial Sexual Exploited Children (CSEC)
 This is a special program that is funded by the Chancellor’s Office and part of the Foster & Kinship
Care Education Program. A minimum of three trainings are to be provided to the community to
raise their awareness of the needs of foster and other youth affected by sex trafficking.
 The following provides the scheduled dates, locations and collaborating agencies. Trainings are four
hour in duration.
o January 25, 2016, in collaboration with the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Association. This training
is in collaboration with the FASD organization and other caregivers and providers. The
training will be held on campus in the Distance Learning Center.
o March 8, 2016, in collaboration with the Occupational Therapy Training Program (OTTP). The
training will take place at their organization and the case managers will attend this training
with families on their case load.
o March 17, 2016, the FKCE program will offer the class to existing FKCE participants, the El
Camino campus community, group homes and Foster Family Agencies.
Adult Education Liaising
 We continue to respond to the students who contact us. Their needs vary. The students are
referred by the Adult Schools and they are supported wherever they are in their process to
successfully into El Camino College.
Financial Aid
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Total first spring 2016 disbursements: $5,725,928 to 5,428 student records.
It is time to remind students to renew their 2016-2017 FAFSAs.
Beginning January 22, the Financial Aid Office began downloading 2016/2017 FAFSA information to
the Colleague system.
El Camino College Financial Aid Office has electronically submitted GPAs to California Student Aid
Commission on behalf of 25,147 students with valid social security numbers for the March 2, 2016
Cal Grant deadline. These students met the requirement of completing 16 units degree applicable
at ECC. GPAs were also submitted to the California Student Aid Commission on behalf of 1,049
students without valid social security numbers for the March 2, 2016 Cal Grant deadline.
The Financial Aid Office worked with the Foster Care program to host a Financial Aid Workshop
specifically designed for current and former foster youth on Saturday, January 9, 2016, from 10:00
a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Alondra Room.
The Financial Aid Office working in conjunction with Rene Lozano, Transfer Center Coordinator and
Achieve Higher Education for All Dreamers (A.H.E.A.D.) Club Advisor will be reaching out to AB 540
students in order to remind them to complete the California Dream Act Application for state-based
financial aid consideration for the 2016-2017 Award Year. Application workshops were hosted in
January 2016.
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Student Support Services Division Council Newsletter
The Financial Aid Office was contacted by Higher One in early January 2016 to review the upcoming
changes to the partnership. An extension to the current contract will need to be signed to take us
through June 2016 since the current contract ends next month. Higher One will send Rocky Bonura
a proposed extension to the current contract in the coming weeks. A new contract will be proposed
later in spring 2016 for the 2016-2017 Award Year.
Outreach and School Relations
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Outreach welcomed its newest employee, Brian Hayden, Administrative Assistant. Brian has quickly
settled in to his new role and has assisted tremendously with organizing staff communiques,
contributing to changes on the Outreach webpage, coordination of responses and RSVPs to Space
Science Day, as well as handling the large volume to calls and questions that make their way to
Outreach.
There are 5,260 students (data base was purged of students enrolled this past fall) currently in our
Prospective Student Database. Contact Robin Dreizler if your program wishes to use this database
for program recruitment.
Outreach Counselors have all been assigned their respective high schools. The next couple months
they are contacting seniors at their respective high schools to set up Educational Planning sessions.
Counselors will receive updates of lists of students from Outreach who have completed the
assessment test and are ready to complete their initial ed plan.
Outreach has a full spring schedule and line up of testing and assessment scheduled with local high
schools, college fairs, and campus tours. However, there will be much more added to the Outreach
calendar as the semester continues.
Outreach has already assessed more than 500 high school seniors through Outreach
testing/assessment sessions offered both on the ECC campus and off site at our local high schools.
Update to 100% of seniors at CVUHSD schools (Hawthorne, Lawndale, Leuzinger and Lloyde)
applying for admissions in fall. The final total shows that about 55% of the seniors were successful in
completing the fall application.
Planning for the 2016-17 Ambassador Program has begun. Information sessions for students
interested in applying will be held in March and April. Applications will be available at the first
information session scheduled for March 22nd. The deadline to apply will be Friday, May 6th at 4pm.
Student Development/ASO/ICC/AGS
SDO
 Linda Lew retired at the end of December and William Guerra resigned from his position.
 Temporary Distribution of Duties: Breanna von Stein is now processing: Club Finances, Club
Chartering paperwork, Club Excursion forms, Officer/Adviser Sheets, Eligibility for Club Presidents
and ICC Representatives, Programing for Club Events, hiring of Student Workers. Rudi will be
processing Calendar Date Requisition forms for the Clubs and scheduling student workers.
 Commencement meetings and preparations are actively taking place.
 We are now in the process of switching over to a program called Maxient to process Student
Discipline.
Student Support Services Division Council Newsletter
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The first two weeks of school ASB (Lawrence Moreno) has had a promo table in front of the
cashier’s office. They also had a promo table and sales at Professional Development Day.
The Social Justice Fair will be on Thursday, March 3rd from 10am-2pm on the Library Lawn.
Associated Students Organization
 ASO held their Mid-Year Retreat on Tuesday, January 12th. They reviewed important training and
went over goals for the semester.
 ASO Senate meetings will now be held in the Alondra Room instead of Admin 131. Their first
meeting was held on January 28th.
 All ASO Committees have been scheduled including Elections Committee. ASO Elections will be held
in the beginning of April.
 ASO Business Division Council is planning on holding an event in the East Lounge on Tuesday, April
16th at 1pm. They have invited different Business Program Reps from local Universities to participate
in an informational session. (This event is still pending approval).
 ASO Publicity is planning a “Meet your ASO Senator /Join ASO” Event on Thursday, February 25th
from 10am-2pm on the Library Lawn. (This event is still pending approval).
Inter-Club Council
 The Student Development Office is currently working on updates to the Club Handbook.
 Club Rush is being held Monday, February 1st – Wednesday, February 3rd from 10am-2pm on the
Library Lawn.
 Spring Club Mixer is being held on Thursday, February 18 th from 5pm-7pm in the East Lounge.
 Club Officer Orientation will be held on Friday, February 26 th from 9am-12:30pm in Art B103.
Contributors:
Alexis Estwick, Lorena Garcia, William Garcia, Julieta Ortiz, Ngoc Tran, Carla Velasquez and
Breanna von Stein
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Student Support Services Division Council Newsletter
Calendar of Events – FEBRUARY 2016
Date
Event (Department)
Time
Place
Comments
1
Individual Campus Tours
9:15am-10am
Meet at Information Desk
Tour
2
Information session/FA info session
10am-11:30am
Jonas Salk CCS- School site
Info Session
3
3
3rd Annual Student Success
Conference
Application Workshop
4
Application Workshop
5
Stuff Folders
5
Application Workshop
5
Campus Tour- Hawthorne HS
5
Ambassador Meeting
5
Orientation
5
Individual Campus Tour
4pm-5pm
8
Financial Aid Workshop
TBD
Shery HS
Workshop
9
Placement Test
8am start
West HS
Testing
9
Placement Test
12pm-4pm
Lawndale HS
Testing
9
Campus Tour – Boys & Girls Club LA
3pm-4pm
Meet at Marsee
Tour
9
Community College Info Night
6pm-9pm
Los Alamitos HS
Fair
8am start
West HS
Testing
10 Financial Aid Workshop- Dream Act
10am-11:30am
ITEC 33
Workshop
10 Application Workshop
11am-12:30pm
Da Vinci Science
Workshop
10 Campus Tour-Hawthorne Middle
School
11 Placement Test
11:30am-12:30pm
Meet at Marsee
Tour
11 Application Workshop
10:40am-11:40pm
11 Individual Campus Tour
4:00pm-5:00pm
10 Placement Test
9:30am-3pm
2:15pm-3:15pm
Leuzinger HS
Fair
Hawthorne Math and Science
Workshop
Workshop
9:30am-1:30pm
Humanities and Arts
Academy of LA
SSVC 208
9:45am-10:50am
Alliance Dr. Olga Mohan
Workshop
1pm-2pm
10am-11am
2pm-4pm
2:15-3:15pm
10am-1pm
Meet at Marsee
Alondra Room
Hawthorne Math and Science
Meet at Information Desk
Mira Costa HS
Environmental Charter
Meet at Information Desk
Other
Tour
Meeting
Presentation
Tour
Testing
Workshop
Tour
11 Placement Test
10:45am-12:22pm
Shery HS
Testing
16 Placement Test
10:45am-2pm
Carson HS
Testing
16 Campus Tour- Sherry HS
17 Campus Tour- Hawthorne Middle
School
17 Placement Test
10am-11am
Meet at Marsee
Tour
11:30am-12:30pm
Meet at Marsee
Tour
2:15pm start
Hawthorne Math and Science
Testing
Student Support Services Division Council Newsletter
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Calendar of Events – FEBRUARY 2016
Date
Event (Department)
Time
17 Placement Test
3:30pm
18 Placement Test
8am start
18 Placement Test
9am-12:30pm
18 CTE Days College Fair
18 Placement Test
10am-1pm
10:45am-12:22pm
Place
Comments
Environmental Charter
Testing
West HS
Testing
Da Vinci Design
Testing
John Burroughs HS
Fair
Shery HS
Testing
19 Placement Test- Alliance Dr. Olga
Mohan
19 Placement Test-Alliance Patti &
Peter Neuwirth HS
19 Placement Test-Redondo Union
8:30am start
Basic Skills lab-ECC
Testing
8:30am start
Basic Skills lab-ECC
Testing
8:30am start
Basic Skills lab-ECC
Testing
19 Placement Test-Morningside
8:30am start
Testing
19 CTE Days College Fair
10am-1pm
Basic Skills lab-ECC or
Testing?
Burbank HS
20 TUSD 35th Annual College Fair/Info
Session
23 Placement Test
10am-2pm
North HS
Fair
8am start
West HS
Testing
23 Campus Tour- Lawndale HS
9am-10am
Meet at Marsee
Tour
12:30pm-1:30pm
Los Alamitos HS
Presentation
24 Campus Tour-Mira Costa HS
10am-11am
Meet at Marsee
Tour
24 Placement Test
1:30pm start
24 FAFSA/ CAL DREAM APP
5:30pm-7pm
Alliance Health Services
Academy
DaVinci Design
23 Community College Info Week
Fair
Testing
25 Campus Tour- Carson, Rancho
Dominguez, Banning HS
25 Information Session
9am-11am
Meet at Marsee
Tour
1pm-2pm
Alliance Ouchi HS
Info Session
26 Placement Test - Inglewood HS
8:30am-1:30pm
Basic Skills lab-ECC
Testing
26 Placement Test - Hawthorne HS
8:30am-1:30pm
Basic Skills lab-ECC
Testing
Lawndale HS
Testing
26 Placement Test
26 Campus tour-Dolores Huerta
Elementary
26 Campus Tour – Boys & Girls Club
Harbor City
29 Placement Test
29 College Fair
12pm-4pm
12:30pm-2:30pm
Meet at Marsee
Tour
4pm-5pm
Meet at Marsee
Tour
8am start
North HS - Library
10am-1pm
La Tierra School
Testing
Fair