Dreaming big: Kelseyville High grad elected to California Community College Trustees Board
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Lake County resident now studying at Mendocino College has been elected to a state board that will give him the opportunity to advocate for community college students.
Leonardo Rodriguez of Kelseyville, who turned 20 in June, was elected on Aug. 12 to the California Community College Trustees Board as its student member for the 2021-22 academic year.
Born in Mexico, Rodriguez’s family came to the United States when he was 5 years old.
He refers to himself as a “Dreamer” — a reference to the DREAM Act that was proposed, but not passed, in Congress to assist young people with immigration status.
He’s lived in Lake County since he was in fifth grade. He’s a 2019 graduate of Kelseyville High School and a first-generation college student.
Rodriguez also is the student trustee for the Mendocino-Lake College District Board of Trustees, a role he was selected to fill last semester by fellow students.
Student trustees have the same general responsibilities as all trustees to represent the interests of the entire community, while also providing a student perspective on the issues facing the board.
Mendocino College Superintendent/President Tim Karas said Rodriguez’s selection to the California Community College Trustee, or CCCT, Board is a first for the Mendocino-Lake College District.
“This is transformational for us. Student Trustee Rodriguez will provide a voice for 2.1 million California community college students. His voice will inform and shape statewide strategic directions. Having an advocate for rural colleges with an equity mindset is critical to deliver higher education to all,” Karas said.
The CCCT Board consists of 21 members elected statewide by the 73 district California Community College governing boards and a student-member elected by the student trustees.
The board takes positions on and formulates education policy issues that come before the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, the State Legislature, and other relevant state-level boards and commissions.
This policy board provides input to the League Board to advance the mission and effectively serve the organization's member colleges.
Rodriguez told Lake County News that he ran for the CCCT Board on a platform of implementing anti-racist and equitable policies, expanding dual enrollment in urban and rural communities, and establishing student retention initiatives.
He wants to see policies instituted that are race conscious and which look at impacts on all student demographics. Making sure classes are culturally relevant and ensuring student success are part of implementing anti-racist policies, he said.
Rodriguez was endorsed by District 5 Supervisor Jessica Pyska and community organizer Luisa Acosta.
An introduction to service
Before he was elected to the college and state boards, Rodriguez served on the Lake County Latinx COVID-19 advocacy group, which started last year when there was an outbreak in the agricultural sector.
The group had urged officials to give out masks and do on-site testing, and it was there he worked with Acosta. He said he also felt then-Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace had valued his voice and ideas as he advocated for the Hispanic community.
Rodriguez felt that if his voice was valued there, he wondered if it would also be welcomed at the college board level.
“Really, it was about representation,” he said, explaining his entry into running for the college boards.
In July, Rodriguez also spoke to the Lake County Board of Supervisors to raise his concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on students, suggesting that with the surge and the fact that only about half of the county was vaccinated, that schools should probably not yet reopen.
Rodriguez told Lake County News that COVID-19 hasn’t revealed new problems in education, but rather has highlighted existing issues, including academic failure, financial insecurity, mental health and inequities when it comes to access to technology.
“Community colleges are often almost a home for a lot of students,” he said. “It really does become their space.”
Having their space taken away by COVID-19 has impacted students both in the short-term and the long-term as they struggled to make the transition from in-person to online courses, he said.
He said some students also are having to give up their dreams of college to help their families stay afloat, an issue he’s been hearing a lot about.
Students are missing the in-person dynamics, discussion and interaction that are part of the full package of what higher education is, Rodriguez said.
This is Rodriguez’s second year in college and he’ll be graduating from Mendocino College soon. He is on track to graduate with associates degrees in three majors — political science, history and liberal arts with a focus on social sciences.
He plans to transfer to Sacramento State University to pursue his bachelor's degree in political science and will then go on to obtain his master’s degree.
Rodriguez plans to do internships in Sacramento so he can meet legislators and continue working with the community to learn about the problems people in society face.
Advocacy for the Hispanic community is a key concern for Rodriguez, noting he looks forward to seeing immigration reform passed.
He said he wants to serve California and its people “in any capacity that will allow me to complete my life dream of being a voice for those who are unheard.”
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