The Vice President of Academic Affairs and his team hosted the Caring Campus Luncheon in the L-Tower Nov. 6th from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Caring Campus Luncheon aimed to allow a space for students, faculty, and staff to voice their feedback about Rio Hondo.
Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Don Moya-Miller, explained that “The concept was to have a little bit of shared experience that we heard from our students.” The audience also got to hear from the team behind Caring Campus. The audience heard from the tri-chairs of the Professional Development Committee. The tri-chairs include Library Media Technician Sandra Hernandez, Counselor Katie O’Brien, and Assistant Director of Human Resources Toni Traster. The audience also heard from President of the Board Oscar Valladares, Vice President of the Board Rosaelva Lomeli, and President/Superintendent Teresa Dreyfuss. Dr. Moya-Miller also explained that Caring Campus is a product of conversations between the Vice President himself and the tri-chairs.
President Dreyfuss said that the team “would like our front runner of the classified employee to get training to see how they handle the issues with students, with the caring and for the student to be very comfortable to come to this college and feel they are cared for and go through the process easily and pick what they want of the classes they wish.” “I am so happy that we’re able to do this through a grant, and I appreciate Dr. Don Miller for initiating this one,” President Dreyfuss said.
ASRHC student Donna Chun shared her perspective with the audience. She explained that this is her first semester as a college student at Rio Hondo. She needed assistance in registering for classes because she did not fully understand the process. “Then I met up with a counselor and she guided me through everything,” Chun said. Chen then described what it means for her to be cared for as a student. “For me, at least, it’s answering like even the smallest questions and explaining everything. I feel like that would get me to understand more.”
O’Brien and Traster shared their perspectives at the Caring Campus Luncheon. O’Brien shared one of the things that struck her was when Dr. Moya-Miller shared the idea with his team. “I think the beauty of this program is building on what we’re already doing. You may be familiar with the appreciative inquiry, but this is really very much related to this because the whole purpose is to tap into those folks who are already doing a really good job of showing students that they care.” O’Brien said.
Traster told her story to the audience about how Caring Campus can make a difference for students. Traster explained that Dr. Moya-Miller had an idea that a person (O’Brien) presented to him. Traster immediately realized that it is important for the students at Rio Hondo. An example given was what a school noticed and how they helped their students. Traster explains that the example described seeing “students in the parking lot, and they went out with water bottles and a cooler just to hand it to them. It’s a new place for them. They feel unsure and confused. And immediately it made me think of my daughter. I remember my daughter told me multiple times that she would just sit in her car and wait for her next class.”
Traster told her that the Caring Campus idea gave her “a little personal touch.” She summarized her perspective with, “I didn’t expect to get emotional about that. But for her, that would have made a difference for her on the campus. And so anything like that, I think we should do that. We should make sure our kids feel good, our students feel welcome. So sorry for that part that just happened right there. It’s near and dear, so thank you for making your part.”
The Caring Campus Luncheon was to, “also just to give employees and student leaders the opportunity to just share a meal with each other, talk to each other, share time together and really reconnect and know that we support and take care of each other,” Dr. Moya-Miller said.
Speech and Communications Professor, Libby Curiel said the Caring Campus Luncheon, “gets us talking and it gives us the opportunity to exchange ideas we might have and learn about things that we might not know about.”
At the luncheon, Lascaris’ Italian food was provided, as well as pastries for dessert. For the participants who attended, there was a fact sheet, created by Dr. Moya-Miller, provided quick facts about Caring Campus.
Another Caring Campus Luncheon is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. In the future, Dr. Moya-Miller plans to launch the full Caring Campus Campaign during the Spring of 2026. He said there will be“multiple professional development training opportunities for employees of the district throughout the spring semester, into summer, and then in the fall.” In addition to the team “looking at opportunity for student leadership to participate.”
There is a website called “Institute for Evidence Based Change” (IBEC). The website explains more about Caring Campus. It includes the framework and perspectives from other colleges and universities that implement the Caring Campus.
