Clinical Educator of the Year Award Given to SJVC Coordinator

This year’s Clinical Educator of the year award was given to SJVC’s Fresno surgical technology clinical coordinator, Jennifer Nyswonger.

The Clinical Educator of the Year award recognizes outstanding educators who dedicate their lives towards their job, students and peers.

Jennifer works in a close department that has bonded due to the fact that they all have the same goal; to help their students. If a student needs help she is always willing to help them regardless of if they are her students or not.

“We are more than willing to go above and beyond for our students,” explains Jennifer. She hopes that by winning this award SJVC students realize that there really are instructors that are fully committed to their job. 

 “Ms. Nyswonger exhibits the best and highest possible standards and that her work ethic is above reproach,” explains program director Teri Junge.  “Her dedication to her profession is evident in all she does.” Teri nominated Jennifer for this award and is thrilled that she has won.

Jennifer was announced the winner at a national convention in Washington D.C. Although she was not able to attend the convention, she was sent an award with her name engraved on it as well as five hundred dollars.

Since joining SJVC, Jennifer has made a positive impact on her students and fellow employees. While currently working on receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Education degree, she is able to take what she is learning in her classes into the classroom.

As a result of her commitment to surgical technology education and her enhanced teaching skills, she has increased the CST exam pass rate for our graduates to 94%. She is a self-directed individual who is well respected by her students and peers.

Teri is quick to say that, “Ms. Nyswonger is a self-directed individual who is well respected by her students and peers!”

Visalia Criminal Justice students attend the Hero's Breakfast

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Many job seekers and students have heard that saying time and time again, but SJVC Visalia Criminal Justice students Lizbeth Gomez and Dnae Blow capitalized on the idea.

The two attended a Hero’s Breakfast held at Quail Park; to honor law enforcement members in the community. The ceremony started by thanking the heroes for their commitment to the community. The members of the organizations were presented to the attendees while everyone enjoyed breakfast.

Throughout the breakfast, the students visited with the officers and some of the residents of Quail Park.

“There was a lot of socializing, with different police departments, fire departments, and paramedics from all of Tulare County together laughing while eating breakfast,” explains Dnae.

While meeting different officers Lizbeth said she, “realized how important it is for our Heroes to feel appreciated.” By watching how the officers interacted with one another, the students learned how to present themselves in a professional manner.   

 “I felt special being surrounded by all types of law enforcement, and especially liked the comment that maybe next year we could attend the breakfast again,” said Lizbeth.

“Our two students looked great,” stated Laura Lathrop, director of the criminal justice program. “They had an opportunity to rub elbows with Visalia PD, Fire, Ambulance, Tulare County Sheriff and CHP.”

To show the community’s appreciation for the heroes’ work, baskets were raffled off. The first basket to be raffled off was the one that SJVC donated.

“It took both Sgt. Blow and me to carry it,’ explained Lizbeth, “And they were really grateful for the basket- which happened to be the largest one there!”. Both Dnae and Lizbeth believe the Sheriff Deputy was very lucky to win their basket.

Lizbeth and Dnae feel honored to have been involved with this event. They hope to attend again, and encourage others to get involved and keep appreciating the hard, life-threatening work the heroes do.

Rancho Cordova RT Student Saves a Life

It was just another summer pool party for Rancho Cordova Respiratory Therapy student Marina Zaboltny.

After a long day of finals at SJVC, Marina, her daughter and a few other mothers and kids were enjoying a relaxing pool party – swimming, snacking and enjoying the calm of a summer afternoon. It had been an enjoyable day that was just wrapping up when calm turned into chaos.

One of the mothers came running into the house with a little boy.

“He was completely blue, cyanotic and his eyes were rolled up – he was not responsive to anything,” said Marina. “There was chaos and everything everybody was screaming and there were kids and we sent them to the other room and they were screaming too.”

There was a pause where Marina drew a deep breath and steadied her hands – “It makes me anxious just thinking about it.”

One of the girls started doing CPR “but I saw that she wasn’t doing it correctly,” said Marina. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to do it.’” As a respiratory therapy student at SJVC in her third term, this was the first real life scenario Marina encountered since beginning her program.

“I was like ‘This is my responsibility’ – you kind of freeze in that moment and you’re like ‘Wow, it’s my turn, it’s my time right now.’ I started doing CPR on him and gave him some breaths and he started coming back to life…that feeling when you see his lips turn pink and they were blue, blue blue…when I saw that we just started crying.”

Marina had told this story a few times and she said she often cries in the retelling. “Anyone would do it,” she said. “You learn all the steps [in school], how to do it, everything, you know it but it’s just so different in a real life situation – you step back and it’s a great feeling that you know what to do. It’s not like ‘Oh my gosh, do I do this? Do I do this? Do I push harder? Do I push slower?’ No. It’s knowing what to do.”

As the only person in the healthcare field in attendance that day, Marina felt the pressure of the task but also the joy in knowing she was able and trained to help.

From the start of her school, Marina knew she wanted to go into the healthcare field and help people. After waiting for two years to get into school to be a Registered Nurse, Marina started researching other related fields.

“I want to have a career, not just a job,” she said. “I want my family – my child – to be proud of me that I’m helping other people. Just getting an education is really important to me – getting a career, getting something stable I can rely on.”

But for Marina, helping people was not something that had to wait until her graduation in March. Rather, she was able to put her skills to test and prove successful just this summer. It was confirmation for Marina that she is in the right vocational field.

“After…I just kind of stepped back and thought about it, how amazing it is just to see the reaction of a person come back to life and that you’re able to help them. It was just CPR but being in school in the healthcare field – it just makes you think there’s a lot of other things you can do with your education to help people in that field.”

Have you heard about our newest Online society?

NTHS (National Technical Honor Society) is the acknowledged leader in the recognition of outstanding student achievement in career and technical education programs.

Thousands of schools and colleges throughout the U.S. and its territories have honor society chapters on their campuses. These member schools agree that NTHS encourages higher scholastic achievement, cultivates a desire for personal excellence, and helps students find success in today's highly competitive workplace. NTHS awards an increasing number of scholarships each year to its members.

SJVC is now a proud participant and member of NTHS! Students with a 3.0 GPA or higher will be able to take advantage of several benefits being NTHS members, such as:

• NTHS scholarship eligibility – over $90,000 to be awarded this year.
• Online educational and career services through the NTHS website.
• Award certificates, membership cards, and acknowledgement through the website
• Eligibility to become an NTHS alumni member.

Bakersfield SIFE 'Adopts a Neighborhood'

SIFE volunteers volunteered their Saturday mornings to clean up graffiti, liter and illegal dumping in the Greenfield community area of Bakersfield. With an early commitment to community clean-up, the ten members of the SIFE team were looking for a constructive way to do so when Joseph Johnson, a business instructor on campus, was able to connect them with the event. The event was hosted by Greenfield Walking Group and included food, children’s activities and guest speaks as supplements to volunteer clean up.The students were able to help both with the planning of the event and the event itself. “Working with Bakersfield City Waste Management as well as community leaders, our SIFE team took part in the planning stages of the event,” said Johnson. Its first collaboration with this particular community event, the SIFE team “has committed to be an active partner in future events,” said Johnson.
If the positive feelings of altruism were not benefit enough, the SJVC SIFE team was even thanked for their service by the Bakersfield mayor himself.
“There were many parts of the day that could fit the description of ‘the best part of the day,’” said Johnson. “That being said, I would have to say when the mayor of Bakersfield stopped by our booth to praise the team and their efforts would be the best part. It served as a great reminder of the benefits of working in the community. I was very proud of the SIFE team and their commitment to better their community.”
Great job, Bakersfield SIFE!

Aviation Campus in Fresno Celebrates 20 Years

A fly's eye view of the Aviation Campus' hangar at the Fresno Yosemite Airport.

In 1991 gas was $1.12 per gallon, the average monthly rent was $495 and air travel was peaking, as travelers clamored to enjoy the benefits of a price war among major airlines. Lots of jets were in the air and it seemed good timing for San Joaquin Valley College to introduce an Aviation Maintenance Technology career training program to the Fresno area with a campus located at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
Twenty years later the campus is maintaining a student population of around 90 and has plenty to celebrate.
“The biggest change we’ve seen at this campus in the past few years is a wonderful and steady increase in both our student population and the aviation industry’s demand for licensed mechanics,” says Jack Macfarlane, Campus Director. “Also, in addition to extensive preparation for the A&P (airframe and powerplant) license, all of our graduates earn an Associate of Science degree, which employers feel is a definite advantage.”
In sharp contrast to the campus’s 20-year anniversary celebration, at its 10-year mark the aviation industry was experiencing its darkest days in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.
“Many planes were grounded and companies weren’t hiring anyone,” says Macfarlane. “Now, however, companies such as SkyWest Airlines, the college’s biggest employer, continually hire from our pool of well prepared graduates.”
Susan Smilie-Janecek, Director of Research and Development has been with SJVC for over 22 years now. She says one of Aviation’s biggest successes is placement rate.
“SJVC aviation graduates have obtained really good jobs in their field of training. In several of the past 10 years, we had a 100% placement rate for graduates that obtained their A&P license.” Even the hiring process for graduates has changed since the beginning of the program.
“The biggest change is that we have gone from struggling to get companies to interview and hire our graduates, to major employers “preferring” to hire our graduates from the aviation maintenance technician program.,” says Smilie-Janecek.
Today, SkyWest remains a top employer with over 70 SJVC graduates hired over the years.
SJVC’s Aviation Campus invited students, staff and faculty to enjoy cake and refreshments and take a moment to revel in 20 years of success and an industry still going strong.
“The culture of the campus has remained committed to success and professionalism for our students and graduates. I am proud to represent our College in the aviation community,” says Janecek.

SJVC Student Turned Staff – Because of the Student Center

Nicky Votaw was one of the many California Valley natives that grew up listening to both her mother and the radio sing the SJVC jingle. In her words, she “heard it all the time, every day.”

After a run around a few schools and a job as a pre-school teacher, Nicky stated, “I knew if I wanted to do something and have my own family, I needed to go out, find a job and get some education and a real career.” But as a Pharmacy Tech student who enjoyed her externship, she never expected to stay in the Student Center after graduation.

What brought you to SJVC?
I actually went around to several colleges in town, looked at a lot of different programs and found that SJVC had not only the certificate but I was also going to get my degree at the same time. I didn’t want just a certificate I wanted to have all my education – I spent all this time and money, I want everything. I want to be marketable, I want to be out there and say “Yes, I can do the pharmacy and I have my degree to back me up at the same time.”

How did you end up with a job in the Student Center – and a passion for it?
I went through the [Pharmacy Tech] program and managed to graduate with a 4.0 which surprised everybody because I wasn’t that great of a student growing up. Halfway through I was introduced to the student center and they had me as a volunteer tutor for math and English and MyLabs. I fell in love with it. I love pharmacy and I love tech-ing and I loved my extern site – I loved doing everything I did - but I truly feel in love with the student center and helping the students. It gave me a sense of accomplishment for them to come back and say “Because of you, I was able to succeed in my algebra class.” I knew I wanted to come back and teach but that just really ran it home for me. So about a month ago, the position opened up and I applied for it, crossing my fingers and hoping and hoping and hoping and I actually interviewed and got the job – so not only did I graduate, I now work here!

What was your first impression of SJVC as a student?
I didn’t expect it to be as big as it is. I thought it was just a little, small, baby community college that offered a couple of things here and there. I was expecting the pharmacy lab but I wasn’t expecting the in depth-ness I got, the education I got –the lab was amazing to me. It was just the things they have on campus, the things they have the ability to do – that was one of the reasons I chose SJVC - they had that opportunity to get more hands on.

What were some of your goals as a student?
I was determined when I went through my first mod and managed to get a 4.0, I wanted that. That was one of the things that I wanted the most. I wanted to see and prove to myself that yes, I could pull the grades and yes, I could do the work. Even though my head wanted to explode most days, I could do it!

Is there anything you wish you had known when you started?
I wish I had known ten years ago to come here and go through the program. I probably wasn’t ready ten years ago but I wish I had known a little bit more… You come to a school like this and they interview and talk to you and they find out your personality and what would fit for you and they help you. They fit you into positions and directions that are going to be beneficial to you – they’re not going to sit you in a business job if you hate sitting in a desk and doing paperwork all day.

Do you have encouragement for other students?
If you can put your mind to it, you can do it. I mean I spent a lot of times building up some of the younger students and dragging them around going come on come on we can do this we can do this. Anybody can do it. I mean I’m 36 years old and I put myself right back through college and got a 4.0. If I can do it at 36, anybody can do it at any age. It’s the determination – the will the drive, what you need to do.

Nicky loves to read books and is a self-described “gamer nerd.” She would love go to Australia because she is in love with the accent – although if she could speak Japanese, Japan might be number one on the list.

We’re so proud of you, Nicky and happy to have you on our team!