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Today, I do the last of my first official college visits. Thank you to Coastline College and Orange Coast College for the amazing welcome. I look forward to learning more about Golden West College when my tour starts a few hours from now.
What I've seen so far confirms everything I believed to be core strengths of the District. Across academics, student services, and operations there is a shared student-centered mission and legacy of excellence. The other principle I've found is what I would call persistent innovation. Persistent innovation means having a good idea and then putting in the hard work to make that vision a reality.
Coastline lives and breathes the idea of persistent innovation. Coastline pushes the bounds of what is possible for public higher education, with the persistence to follow through and sustain high quality. It's unique, and a source of great pride for the Coast District, to have an entire college dedicated to what comes next.
At Orange Coast, we've seen persistent innovation in different ways. As an example, the OCC Waterfront Campus' Mariners' Mile Bridge symbolically and literally united two sides of PCH. It took 20 or so years of navigating a complicated maze of agency approvals, yet the bridge happened. That's a credit to Orange Coast's relationship with our communities and the persistence at the heart of this District.
As I visit with the community at Golden West, I expect to find many more examples of innovative persistence. It is not happenstance when you see a pattern repeating time and again. That is a sign of something deeply engrained in the culture of a place. I am so excited to be joining in a culture of persistent innovation.
With gratitude,
Whitney
Whitney Yamamura, Ed.D.
Chancellor
National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated September 15 through October 15. This year's theme is Unidos: Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation. Coastline College invites all faculty, students, and staff to celebrate through music, dance, and healing all month.
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