Dr. Jonathan Gueverra, president and CEO of the College of the Florida Keys, joined Good Morning Key on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on at the college.
Employee Appreciation week last week was very important at the college.
Dr. Gueverra said, “This is an annual event, and as anyone who has lived here for even a few weeks knows, you have to really, I mean, in every place, you have to really spend time, show gratitude, show appreciation to your employees, but especially here, where the living situation can be a bit of a challenge sometimes. From one end of the Keys to the other, just getting there sometimes is a challenge. But we try at least once a year to recognize our employees, and our employees go through and they do a survey and select these. So this is not selected by me or anybody else. This is all employees have an opportunity to vote, and we do it in different categories. We do one for Career Services employee, one for professional, one for adjunct faculty, who are a big part of the core of our operation.
The Career Services employee was Leslie Pazo.
Dr. Gueverra said, “She was recognized for her outstanding contribution. She works at the front line, where students come in to register for classes. If they have questions, they’ll call in, they’ll stop by. Sometimes they need to pay a bill, but they end up with her first and then she has to redirect them to some place else.”
Mike Jackson who teaches the scuba diving program was also recognized.
Dr. Gueverra said, “He had just sat down to have his lunch when I asked his Dean to read the remarks and call on him to be honored, and he was shocked. He didn’t realize we were talking about him with all the remarks that were being made.”
Nicole Gerrard, the Executive Director for Student Success Services, was also recognized.
Dr. Gueverra said, “She was on the road picking up her daughter from college, and so she wasn’t even at the event. And much to her surprise, I called her on her cellphone, and I had all the other employees who were at this occasion in the background cheering her on. So it was a big surprise. I had to say, Nicole, make sure you keep your eyes on the road, so she can get back here safely. And we will have one more award that we will present at commencement. This is the annual Faculty of the Year. And this individual, and we’ve had, I think, one occasion in the past when we’ve had two people who we had a tie, and the students are the ones who select this individual, and we present that at commencement. So that one we keep in the bag until commencement day itself.”
Two student award banquets were held recently.
Dr. Gueverra said, “We have, over the years, traditionally done one event, but our population in the Upper Keys is growing such that it is much easier to drive up there and with the employees up there to honor those students. And we recognize our students for their achievements. So we have presidents list, we have dean’s list. We also recognize them for leadership and participation in student clubs and organizations. We also have a couple of honor societies, Phi Theta Kappa and Sigma Beta Delta, and they induct their new members, and on commencement day, the students you will see them those who have participated in one or more of those organizations, including SGA, we have everything from the aquaculture club, there’s a gardening club. There is just a series of organizations, and they will be wearing stoles or pins or what people might call sashes at commencement, in honor of their work to support themselves, their peers and the college and the community. And this year, for the first time, we presented a brand new award called the Tuga Spirit Award. We have two students who received that Finn Blum from Key West and Yesenia Bartolome, who is in the Upper Keys center. And both of those are just outstanding individuals who have contributed so much to the college, and we thought that every year we will honor a student who has demonstrated what we really call Tuga pride.”
The senior showcase was held last week as well.
Dr. Gueverra said, “This is in keeping with a tradition. When we started our first Baccalaureate program, the supervision and management program, I had the honor of teaching the capstone course, and one of the things that I said to myself and everyone else involved with this is that I really want this to be a course that showcases the life journey of a student through the program, and that has morphed into so that both the students in the marine resource management and the supervision and management program, they get an opportunity to bring their work almost in a poster presentation fashion. So in the library, the students are all there, and they’ll have poster boards demonstrations. Every year we have a student or three or four who will start a business. Sometimes it’s a business that involves some culinary delight. So there’ll be a student who has eats and treats, or if they’re making something that is a beverage, there will be beverages that are being given away as samples of the product that the students intend to make. There’ll be presentations about the research work that students have done and will continue to do, and their fellow students, those of us at the college employees, sometimes their sponsors, the organization that they worked with or for, we had a student, for example, with a fascinating project on the property appraiser’s office. We have students who have worked with the sanctuary. So it varies from semester to semester, and the type of things that they do are just very exciting and often helps to launch a career or a business or some great innovation.”
The I.CARE trash derby also happened last week.
Dr. Gueverra said, “The college got third place in the land and shore division. Trash collected on campus over 1,000 pounds, and scuba club collected over 1,300 pounds of debris underwater. And as an important note, we want to let the general public know that all of our activities underwater occurred within the NOAA Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary on the permit with FWC authorization. And again, this is another one of those ways in which our institution and our students give back to the community by assuring that we try to keep our waterways and our land as clean as possible.”
The Basic Law Enforcement Academy graduated cadets on May 1.
Dr. Gueverra said, “We had one for corrections a couple of weeks ago, and last week we had one for law enforcement. I don’t think that people realize we train people for the county, for law enforcement, but we also do work with Florida City Homestead PD, Miami Dade public schools, and several other agencies in the south Florida region, because we have the ability to turn things around on a dime. So many of those agencies, when they’re looking for people, they will come to us. We have another class starting in August, but on May 1, we needed a larger auditorium, so we used the one at Coral Shores High School, and we graduated 19 cadets, and several of them have already been picked up by agencies. I think about half of them had taken their state certification and passed already, and in the season of commencement, we have yet more to go. We have two this year on Friday, May 8, so in a couple of days, this is a first for us, we’re doing two graduations because it has become a little challenging to fit the graduates, our employees and the families who come out and support us, to support the students who are graduating, so we will have one at 11am and then one again at 3pm so that we can accommodate as many people as possible. I’ve heard from our folks that the theater is already full, we cannot handle anymore. So it looks like even with that, we’re going to be accommodating people in an overflow situation. But it’s a great problem to have. Our speakers will include Jessica Rojas, who is in the supervision and management program and Sally Dominguez, Sally is a nursing student in the Upper Keys, and our keynote speaker, again, keeping with our tradition, will be Tim Stockwell, the Papa 2025 from the Hemingway look alike society competition, who’s a great supporter of the college, so we’ll have him speak. And then there’s one more yet to come, the CFK Academy graduation on May 20, at one o’clock. So we’re not done with them yet, even after Friday.”
A 250th year salute to American heroes will happen on May 21 at one o’clock on the Key West Campus.
Dr. Gueverra said, “We will do our salute to American heroes. Every year we do a salute to a fallen soldier, and we honor all veterans. We do it in the fall for Veterans Day, but also for Memorial Day, and this year, on Thursday, May 21 at 1, we’re inviting everyone to come out to the campus in Key West so that we can do in observation of National Military Appreciation Month and Memorial Day, a salute to all fallen soldiers and veterans. And we will honor the lives and legacy of fallen heroes, veterans, active duty military service members and their families. Not having served but having a son in the Navy, I can speak to the sacrifices that they make on a day to day basis and the impact it has on their families so that the rest of us can continue to live with the freedom that we have, so please come out. We will be hoisting a flag that was flown over the nation’s capital for our 60th anniversary gala, and especially for this event.”
The summer semester is coming up as well.
Dr. Gueverra said, “We have that that accelerated six week term gives individuals a chance to get in and do something, if it’s just one class. Some people may take two, but they can do something until the end of June, and then have the rest of the summer so they can kick back. Then we have the 100% online 12 week term that runs May 18 to August 10, but it gives you more time. And finally, the summer kickstart, which is an eight week term that starts June 3 and goes to August 10. So there are multiple options and opportunities if you intend to and are thinking about taking a course at the College of the Florida Keys, online, hybrid, face to face, accelerated, you name it. We’ve got it. It just occurred to me that, we just spoke about veterans and fallen heroes, there is a lady we have been encouraging and trying to find as many of our alums from our very first graduating class, and we received a note recently from a family and the the family of, I think her name is Judith Knowles, she was in our very first and one of the first two women to graduate from the College of the Florida Keys. She served in Vietnam and she was also a nurse, so she covers a lot of territory, and she’s unable to make the commencement ceremony. And I just want to say to her family that we are so very grateful that they reached out to her, and we want to thank her for all the service that she’s put in. She’s not doing well. We want them to know that we are very much in there with them in spirit.”
For more information, click here: https://cfk.edu/