On Oct. 4, the Delta College Foundation held its fourth annual Black and Gold Gala in Danner Hall.
The gala, which started in 2022, happens in early fall and serves as a way to spotlight programs and initiatives at Delta to local partners and potential donors.
“This is a great chance to bring donors and our community partners, just to attract an audience that may not always have the opportunity to see or hear or learn about what we’re doing,” said Joseph Feneck, the executive director of the Delta College Foundation, which serves as a non-profit fundraising arm of the organization.
The night began with a reception, including food and music performed by the Mike Belasco Jazz Quartet, a band made up of students and alumni.
When the clock struck 7 p.m. welcome remarks started with Feneck.
“Tonight is an opportunity to showcase, not only our college and its programs, but also to celebrate the impact that you make,” said Feneck addressing the crowd of 200, including several donors, staff, faculty, and board members, which marked record-breaking attendance for the event.
Following Feneck, several others spoke including President of the Delta College Foundation, Ben Cantu, Superintendent/President of Delta College, Dr. Lisa Aguilera Lawrenson, President of the Board of Trustees, Janet Rivera, and student representative, Dylan Myers.
The evening included presentations by a few programs, starting with the South Campus at Mountain House which began with the announcement that Mountain House would be receiving permanent buildings.
“I’d like to thank Dr. Lawrenson and the board of trustees for keeping that dream alive and pushing for measure K with a lot of hard work, ” said Dr. Pablo Ortega, the Mountain House campus, which opened in 2009, mainly consists of portables despite a full campus being a part of the plans for Measure L.
“We just closed yesterday, at 3 o’clock, the bids for the bridging architect,” said Ortega. “So that’s the first level of architecture that comes out and there’ll be another architect after that.”
Following that there was a showcase from the Cisco Networking Academy located at Mountain House which partners with digital communications giant, Cisco, to provide industry-level training and pathways to careers.
“The fact that we are a Cisco Academy gives us that bridge to make it possible that all of our students graduate within a one year program and obtain a salary in the neighborhood of about $80,000 starting,” said Sergio Calderon, who serves as not only the instructor for the Cisco Networking Academy but also as a liaison to industry partner.
“We have 52 industry partners right now that at any one time, I’ll get a phone call saying ‘we need technicians,’” said Calderon. “I’ll get the resumes put together with the students and send it to them.”
The theme of industry readiness continued as the spotlight shifted to a program from the Stockton campus, Electron Microscopy.
“We have, what we like to call at SJDC, a little hidden gem known as the Electron Microscopy program,“ said Rachaellien Trinh, a professor in the program with nearly 20 years of experience in the field.
That gem did need its fair share of polishing however, with setbacks being apparent to even students at the time.
“I’ve been through the program and I’ve seen its ups and downs,” said Rosemarie Moris, an alumni of the program. “Some of our professors didn’t care much. Things felt unorganized. The resources weren’t always here or available to us.”
Over the course of her time in the program Moris saw it change however, growing into what it is today.
“I saw all the hard work, adjustments and the commitment to the people behind it, everything, everything just started growing,” said Moris.
Trinh said there is still more work to do.
“We’re building really, really fast, and everybody’s knocked on my door, and I don’t have enough students to give them,” said Trinh to the crowd. “We want to continue to build it to a four year degree program. We’d like to invite the support of those who can and are willing to help build this into something great.”
The night ended with Crystal Joy, an ambassador from the DARTE program who spoke about overcoming addiction and getting a career in substance abuse counseling. Joy received a standing ovation for her speech.
“I heard a saying the other day ‘It takes a village to raise a child’,” said Joy “no, It takes a community and resources to help an adult succeed”
