Maya Gwynn
With KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn with Black Perspectives IE, a show where we learn about the amazing things members of the Black community are doing in the Inland Empire. My guest today is April Dale, Associate Dean of Student Support Services at San Bernardino Valley College. Thank you so much for being here today, April.
April Dale
Thank you for having me.
Maya Gwynn
So I'm very excited to have you on to speak about Black Student Success Week, which is taking place April 21 through the 25th. This year's theme is Lift Up, Level Up: The Rise of Black Serving Institutions. Can you give me a general breakdown of the week and highlight the importance of it?
April Dale
The Black Student Success Week began in 2020 as a dedicated initiative within the California community colleges, and it was led by a coalition of leaders and advocates. And from there, they introduced the webinars every year. It's a different initiative that's presented. So this year, as you mentioned, the focus is on black serving institutions. The reason for that is because there was an assembly bill that was introduced this year that will allow for California Community Colleges and the California Universities to apply for the BSI designation. And actually, San Bernardino Valley College is applying for that designation. There are certain criteria that you have to meet and satisfy, but we are pursuing that process, so we will be pursuing and moving forward with it. But going back to Black Student Success Week, every day there's a webinar where it offers different topics and subjects. We want to invite them to come out as a community. So we will be sending out the invitations. We'll be sending the locations for each webinar, and there's a different topic every day of the week.
Maya Gwynn
And can you tell me more about your personal involvement in the Success Week and overall here at the college?
April Dale
I serve on the executive board of black faculty and staff association. My role currently is the treasurer. I have served as vice president in past years, and so I'm a huge advocate as a black woman for the success of our black students in making sure that our students are at the level of any other student on our campus. And so over the past three to four years, that has been our focus, and making sure that we are putting initiatives and programming and courses to focus on lifting up our black students, specifically black males. And so that has been a passion, I would say, of the campus, of the community, and a passion of mine being and serving on black faculty and staff. But as well as being a mother of two sons and making sure - you know, I want to see the success of our black males and our black students as a whole. Currently, my role with the Black Student Success week has been really just organizing, working with my staff and my team, collaborating with others on campus to have a space. Within that week, we also introduce what we call Black Excellence. So this is an event that we host. Normally, the event is hosted and we invite black students from our local high schools. However, this year we decided to do it a little different, and so we're going to do more in reach opportunities. And this year it’s going to be a STEM focus. And so this will be on Wednesday, and on that day, we will have a STEM truck out and for our students to come and learn more about STEM and also, we'll have that webinar at 12, and then the black excellence event will be from 1-3pm near the gym area.
Maya Gwynn
Each day of the week focuses on a different aspect of black student success. What are some of the sessions, besides the one you just mentioned, that you're most excited about and key takeaways attendees should expect from it?
April Dale
I think what I'm most excited about, as I mentioned with the focus being black serving institutions, it's for the rest of the community to learn more about Black Serving Institutions, the benefits of it, the why and hoping that will kind of encourage and at least motivate others on campus to want to get more involved, or at least to learn a little bit more about what a Black Serving Institution will looks like.
Maya Gwynn
And we're gonna move into the rapid fire portion. If your work had a theme song, what would it be?
April Dale
Squabble Up.
Maya Gwynn
The third person to mention Kendrick, I love it. If you had to teach a master class or give a TED talk on a random skill, you have, silly or serious, what would it be?
April Dale
It would be on fashion. I love fashion merchandising, kind of styling the mannequins and things within the store and things like that.
Maya Gwynn
Well, I'm sure those skills play into designing the success week. And what's your favorite IE restaurant or landmark that reminds you of the Inland Empire?
April Dale
In Redlands, it's a place called Overland. That's one of my favorite restaurants/bars that I like to go to. I just like the vibe of it. When you walk in, you sort of time warp. It has a 70s vibe to it. It has a disco ball. Also the bar, the background of the bar is records. And they even have theme nights, where you can bring your own personal vinyls, and then the DJ will play them.
Maya Gwynn
And how can people sign up for Black Student Success week or find more information about it?
April Dale
We will be sending out the information via email as well as we'll have flyers around campus, and then for those special programs and special populations, we will have that information - basically it will be a link for them, or QR code for the individual to scan if they want to watch it on their own. That's what they would do, because you have to register. However, if they're interested in going to one of our watch parties, then they would just come to one of the locations that will be listed on the flyer.
Maya Gwynn
Awesome. Thank you so much for being here today.
April Dale
Thank you for having me, Maya.
Maya Gwynn
Of course. April Dale is Associate Dean of Student Support Services at San Bernardino Valley College. Support for this segment comes from the Black Equity Fund at IECF, advancing racial equity and supporting long term investments in black led organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Join us again next week for Black Perspectives IE. For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn. Thank you.
