ESCC Public Comment to Mammoth Lakes Town Council, Wednesday, May 6, 2015 6:00PM

Good Evening, Councilmembers and Town Staff,

My name is Deanna Campbell and I am the Director of the Eastern Sierra College Center.

I am pleased to announce that this year Cerro Coso Community College’s Eastern Sierra College Center in Mammoth Lakes and Bishop will be graduating 63 local students in a ceremony held on the Bishop campus this Friday evening at 5:30PM. This is an increase of more than 65% over last year’s graduating class. Although the Eastern Sierra College Center comprises only 10% of Cerro Coso’s total enrollment, our graduates comprise 20% of all Cerro Coso graduates! Eastern Sierra College Center graduates are earning degrees and certificates in 17 different fields including kinesiology, child development, administration of justice, computer information systems, business, paralegal, clinical medical assisting, vocational nursing, math and sciences, and arts and humanities.

More than half of our graduates were supported by a full scholarship from either the Mammoth Lakes Foundation or the Eastern Sierra Foundation. Many of our graduates plan to continue their education and are transferring on or have been accepted to universities including UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Cornell University, Cal Poly SLO, Chico State, CSU Fullerton, San Jose State and CSU San Diego. In addition, as a result of the Inyo-Mono Promise initiated by Dr. Terry McAteer, Inyo County Superintendent of Schools, nearly 20% of our graduates are planning to continue on to University of Nevada Reno and will be eligible for the Western Undergraduate Exchange discounted tuition rate. Thirty-five percent of our graduating class is Latino, 23% of our Bishop class is Native American and we are graduating one veteran student. Two students are graduating with honors programs distinction, 8 are honors students with a 3.75 GPA or higher and 16 have been inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa honors society. On behalf of the faculty and staff of Eastern Sierra College Center, I am very honored to congratulate our local students and share their achievements with the entire Mammoth Lakes community. Thank you.