Dr. Jonathan Gueverra, president and CEO of the College of the Florida Keys, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on at the college.
The Board of Trustees met last week to talk about the beginning of the school year.
Dr. Gueverra said, “Our July meeting is also our organizational meeting. So often, what happens, especially in a year like this, when the state does not get a budget approved in time, we have to do a contingent budget, because we’re still required to send them a budget even though they have not approved one. So we then have to go back and make amendments, make adjustments, and send them something that is updated per the approved budget by the governor at the organization meeting. We also elect officers, and the board operates as a committee of the whole so we don’t have various and sundry committees. So everything is done in the same sunshine with the majority of the board is there. That’s the one meeting of the year I really enjoy, because I officiate the part of the meeting for the officer elections. And Kevin Madok was re elected as chair, and Sheldon Suga was re elected as vice chair. The board chair then gets the opportunity to appoint or voluntold someone to serve also on the foundation board, because the foundation board needs to have a member of the governing board on its board to assure that all board policies are being followed properly, and that the wishes of the board of trustees are being carried out. So that’s kind of the lay of the land at the organization meeting, along with a few other things that we typically do and that person for the liaison is Richard Weinstein.”
A TED talk is coming to the college.
Dr. Gueverra said, “It’s the very first one in Monroe County. So it’s not just inaugural for CFK, it’s inaugural for the entire county. I guess we could call it the southern most TED talk. That will be on Saturday, August 23 at the Tennessee Williams Theater, obviously, on our Key West Campus. A TEDx event, this is an event Dr. Munroe was adamant that she wanted to put one of these on and I said, well, go for it. This is a program where we brought together local individuals. It was self organized, brings people together to share a TED Talk like experience, and it’s branded TEDx, where x is the independently organized TED event and with Doctor Munroe’s guidance and leadership, she brought together individuals from the college and all over the community to plan this event. You’ve got to put out a call for speakers and I know she had well over 100 plus speakers. That then was whittled down to 25 who were invited. They had to audition and after the audition, she whittled it down to 13 speakers, and the theme is Paradise Within, Unlocking Human Potential. There were only 100 tickets sold. And as of yesterday, she told me that there were only about 14 tickets left. The ticket price includes a full course dinner. There will be a cash bar, but she said, if we’re going to get people in here, one, two o’clock, 13 speakers, might as well feed them at the same time. These are very personal stories, and I wish I could, but I can’t entice you with some of the hints I’ve seen of subtitles of some of these things, but I guarantee you, it will be worth every minute of an attendee’s time, and I’m hoping to learn a lot. The event will also be live streamed for those who can’t attend in person, so we encourage people to check it out, because again, we like to talk about firsts at CFK, and this is another first for us.”
CFK also has a Basic Law Enforcement Academy and students graduated recently.
Dr. Gueverra said, “We honored and celebrated those men and women at Academy 91 and we did this in Key Largo and as most people may or may not know, each cadet has to then pass a state certification exam, and our Institute for Public Safety has a very good pass rate, and it’s one of the reasons that we attract so many people. In fact, in addition to serving Monroe County, Key West PD, we also do training for Homestead Florida City, and we’ve been getting some requests, and have actually graduated law enforcement officers that go to Miami Dade public schools to their program as well. One of the cadets, was sponsored by Homestead Police for this academy, and she was sworn in and officially inducted into the rank and her new profession. This is the sort of thing we like to see, that not only do you come in, get the education, but you get the job.”
The Tuga Clinic is another great partnership between the CFK and Department of Health.
Dr. Gueverra said, “Without much fanfare, we reopened again for business. We did all the fanfare last year when we did our inaugural opening, and then we shut it down for the summer. Less business, so less staffing. But this is a great, great service that we all do together to provide this service for the public, the college, the Department of Health in Monroe County, and Rural Health Network with the big bus, the mobile unit that they have, and they’ve got some new hours, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, nine to four. Walk ins are always welcome. But we also have an appointment number you can call, 305-293-7500, just show up at Campus. Somebody’s going to get you there. We have signs all over the place for more information. We have also got some special events this week. Lots of kids, especially the ones in athletic programs, or if they’re new to the school, may need to get physicals to start the school year. So starting tomorrow, August 7 and on Friday, from nine to four, you can go in and get the physicals done, and you don’t have to stand around waiting in line and it might be useful to call ahead, but we’ll definitely get it done for them.”
The fall semester will begin August 19.
Dr. Gueverra said, “There is a lot. My children, my daughters used to say to me, Daddy, it’s a summertime. How come you’re going to work? And my response would be, nothing magical happens the night before you all show up. We spend the entire summer preparing for this so that when you show up here that morning, it looks magical, but there’s nothing magical about it. Folks, like worker bees, we are behind the scenes, continuing the effort to make sure that every student is successful. Our enrollment continues to grow and spaces are filling up in some of the programs, but we still are welcoming students. We still have one scholarship for students graduated from Marathon or Coral Shores, that is still open. It’s open until August 10, and covers literally everything. So if you have not been here yet, if you have not gone through this process, time is running out. The Academy also is preparing to start. I know I’ve seen the teachers on campus already, and they’ve been discussing their new school year, talking about assignments, making sure that they’re bridging the gap between assignments. The CFK Academy has its orientation on August 11, for start of school on August 13, and that also is coinciding with the start for the rest of schools in our school district, so it’s been a lot of work. We also have move in day for the students on campus. They will move in on August 18, and that very evening, there will be a campus life set of sessions for the students who are on the campus, the residential students, followed by a welcome back party for all students. So we’ve got a lot going on.”
The Key West Department of Transportation has helped with getting students around the city.
Dr. Gueverra said, “We’re very grateful, very, very grateful for that because without those stops, the students either have to forego some of their extracurricular activities and tutoring, or they have to walk all the way across College Road, cross US 1 to catch another bus. When we explained that to them, they were very gracious about it in spite of the funding cuts that they’re dealing with. So we are very, very thankful to Director Rogelio Hernandez and the entire staff of folks over there who made this happen. So we’re really looking forward to that. This academic year also kicks off our college’s 60th anniversary celebration. So we’re going to be celebrating lots of milestones, and there’ll be much more to talk about. We will have exhibits that hopefully we will place throughout the Keys, and there’ll be some very interesting artifacts that people may recognize and they may see themselves in, particularly since we have so many alums who still live in the area.”
For more information on the college, click here: https://www.cfk.edu/