Head of nation’s largest college system faults two-thirds rule for impeding passage of state budget;  remarks made during visit at Cuyamaca College

August 27, 2010(El Cajon)--Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Chancellor Cindy Miles welcomed California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott to Cuyamaca College on Thursday for a candid discussion with the region’s community college and business leaders. Topics ranged from the state budget crisis to a bill just passed that will smooth transition for students from two-year campuses to state universities.

 
 
July 20, 2010 (Rancho San Diego) – Where can you see a snake charmer and fire dancers, sample foods from around the world, savor music and dancing by top performers, enjoy beer and wine gardens, find face-painting for kids and a mesmerizing magic show—all free? Rancho San Diego-Jamul Chamber of Commerce invites you to the first-ever Summer Music & Culture Festival on Sunday, August 8.

 
July 12, 2010 (El Cajon) – NovaMenco, San Diego’s acclaimed flamenco fusion group, will perform July 24 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the new shaded ampitheater at the Water Conservation Garden. NovaMenco’s flamenco guitar style blends rhythms of pop with echoes of ancient Byzantines for a modern Mediterranean sound. Flamenco dancers will enhance the evening’s excitement. Wines and ethnic foods will also be served.
 
This family of musicians, with a modern flamenco style, fuses together jazz, pop, and ancient Byzantine echoes from Istanbul to Sevilla, Lisbon to Ibiza forming a unique blend of jazz and soft Mediterranean grooves.

 
July 1, 2010 (El Cajon) – Dr. Stuart Savin, currently out on medical leave, will be returning to Pennsylvania with his family and, as of July 1, will no longer serve as president of Cuyamaca College. The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Governing Board and Chancellor Cindy L. Miles express their appreciation to Dr. Savin for his service and wish him a speedy recovery and the best in his future endeavors.
 

Nearly 5,000 students on waiting lists due to 50% cutback in classes;
veterans on G.I. bill and students on financial aid risk losing funds

East County News Service

June 21, 2010 (El Cajon) – Higher education funding cuts due to the California state budget crisis have forced Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District to severely reduce summer course sections, despite growing demands for classes from students seeking to retrain for new careers and complete general education requirements to transfer to four-year universities and colleges.

Despite efforts to keep budget cuts from harming students, the colleges have been forced to slash summer offerings by 50%.

Doyle Dykes and the Kruger Brothers to perform

June 1, 2010 (El Cajon) – The East County EDC Foundation has teamed up with Taylor Guitar, Deering Banjo, and famed musical entertainers to raise funds for industrial arts programs in our region—such as a guitar-making course that gives students hands-on experience crafting musical instruments. Taylor and Deering, based in East County, are among the top instrument makers in the world.
 
On Friday, June 11 at 7 p.m., Doyles Dyles and the Kruger Brothers will headline a benefit concert at the Cuyamaca College Communications Arts Center, where outstanding shop students from each of East County’s high schools and community colleges will also be honored. A live auction will include a Taylor guitar, a Deering banjo, and a 1923 Ford "T Bucket" Roadster—crafted by Valhalla High School's Auto Technology/Design/Fabrication Program. A raffle will also be held, including a chance to win a second Taylor guitar.

Diamond Sponsor Viejas also honored with special award

May 16, 2010 (Rancho San Diego) – Huindreds turned out at the Cuyamaca College Foundation dinner last night to honor past presidents and raise money for student scholarships.

“This place has grown up. It’s a wonderful, beautiful campus that is fulfilling its role in our community,” said former Dr. Samuel Ciccati, one of four former presidents present at the event, titled “Shine On.”

El Cajon, CA – The Cuyamaca College Music Industry Studies program will host the second annual Coyote Music Festival on May 1, from 12-5 pm on the lawn of Cuyamaca College. The free, all-ages event will present a wide range of musical styles including alternative rock, folk, Indie, metalcore, and rap.

This year the festival has expanded to two stages and will feature performances by Silent Lune, Christine Marie, Aghori, Yttrium, Steam Powered Giraffe, January Lights, Steve Stylez, Jester James, and Jesse Lamonaca and the Dime Novels. All of the artists are from the San Diego area, and they all play original music.

April 21, 2010 (El Cajon) -- The San Diego Young Artists Symphony will present a spring concert featuring works by Bach, Brahms and Tchaikovsky.  The event will be held on May 15th at 7:30 p.m. at the Cuyamaca College Theater, 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway in El Cajon.

 
April 14, 2010 (Rancho San Diego) – Heritage of the Americas Museum, in partnership with the Cuyamaca College Ornamental Horticulture Department and the Water Conservation Garden will host the Spring Garden Festival to be held on campus April 24. As part of the festival, the Museum will hold a special event entitled “Artifacts Alive”.

PLUS A VIP PRE-CONCERT PARTY AND OUTSTANDING

CITIZENS AWARDS!

April 9, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – We are delighted to invite our readers to a very special event! Citizen Band is generously donating their time for a very benefit concert to help our citizens’ media outlet, East County Magazine. Come give them a warm welcome, enjoy some of the best rock ‘n’ roll around, and support our independent community media! 

 
Event Friday, April 9 at Cuyamaca College will address language barriers healthcare access

April 8, 2010 (Rancho San Diego) – Refugees from around the world are building new lives in San Diego County after fleeing war and persecution in their homelands. They speak many languages and for some, lack of English language skills or translators also limits their access to healthcare and other services. To address those concerns, the San Diego Refugee Forum is hosting a special conference this Friday, April 9 at Cuyamaca College.

Event highlights water conservation, cultural conservation, and Cuyamaca College’s biggest plant sale of the year

April 3, 2010 (Rancho San Diego) -- On Saturday, April 24, from 9am-4pm, Cuyamaca College’s campus will bloom with activity as three of its on-campus venues—the Ornamental Horticulture Department, the Water Conservation Garden, and the Heritage of the Americas Museum—invite the public to celebrate spring at their 17th annual Spring Garden Festival.

“Conservation in Bloom” is the theme at this family festival that includes tips on green living. Admission and parking are free. A range of crafters and vendors from throughout San Diego County will be featured, in addition to activities ranging from live music to a birds of prey show.

April 3, 2010 (El Cajon)-- KITKA, an Oakland-based ensemble that specializes in Eastern European vocal traditions, will perform at Cuyamaca College on Friday, April 16, at 7:30pm in the Performing Arts Theatre. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for seniors and students. The Cuyamaca College Foundation and the San Diego Center for World Music are co-sponsoring the event.

KITKA, a women’s vocal ensemble, blends a contemporary sensibility with specialized vocal techniques from Eastern Europe that have been distilled over centuries.

 
 

March 16, 2010 (El Cajon) -- The Chris Klich Jazz Quintet with Laura Preble will be performing a concert Tuesday, March 23, 2010, at Cuyamaca College, 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway, from 7:30pm to 9pm.
 
The group will feature Chris on alto, soprano and tenor sax, clarinet and flute; Ed Kornhauser on piano; Brian Wright on bass; Pete Woods on drums; Alan Worthington on guitar; Laura Preble on vocals; and they’ll be playing jazz classics, standards, and original jazz compositions at this performance.

Music Professor Pat Setzer to receive Hayward Award for Excellence in Education

EL CAJON – Cuyamaca College music instructor Pat Setzer, a key player in the planning and construction of a performing arts complex inside the campus’ sprawling $45 million communication arts center, is one of four community college faculty members statewide to win the 2010 Hayward Award for Excellence in Education.

 
February 5, 2010 (El Cajon) -- Cuyamaca College’s $28 million business and technology building has opened, just as students returned to campus for the start of the spring 2010 semester. Once relegated to temporary trailers, shared with a nest of skunks, the various disciplines in the business department are delighted to finally have a building to call their own.

February 4, 2010 (El Cajon)-- Martin Atkins could be the definition of entrepreneurial activity in cultural arts endeavors spanning genres, borders and industries. For over three decades, the producer, drummer, and documentary filmmaker has been at the cutting edge of the entertainment industry, says Pat Seltzer, chair of the performing arts college at Cuyamaca College.

January 14, 2010 (Rancho San Diego)—The Water Conservation Garden, located at Cuyamaca Collegei in El Cajon,  invites the public to enjoy its 2010 winter and spring events. Classes offered help residents save water and money by focusing on water smart landscaping techniques and plants. Classes are taught by experts and topics include lawn removal, water-smart landscape design, backyard composting, irrigation design and gardening for children.

January 12, 2009 (El Cajon)--The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District (GCCCD) is conducting a practice exercise with local public safety agencies on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Cuyamaca College. The GCCCD Police, San Diego County Sheriffs’ Department, San Miguel Fire Department, El Cajon Police Department, El Cajon Fire Department, and other East County agencies will conduct a simulation of an incident involving an active shooter.

 
January 1, 2010 (El Cajon) – Cuyamaca College will host a grand opening of its newest facility, the Business and Technology Building, on January 20th at 11 a.m.Guests are invited to view the "initial public offering" of this new facility on the "Cuyamaca Exchange."

 
Judy Garrett recalls father’s love of teaching in community colleges

December 14, 2009 (El Cajon) – – Honoring a family member’s devotion to community college students during a teaching career spanning more than two decades, Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Governing Board President Bill Garrett and his wife, Judy, have donated $13,500 to a scholarship fund at each of the district’s two colleges, for a total gift of $27,000.

Low-energy holiday lights set garden aglow; children's activities include cookie decorating

December 4, 2009 (El Cajon) – The public is invited to attend this year’s Holiday in the Garden event at the Water Conservation Garden, 12122 Cuyamaca College Dr. West, in El Cajon on Friday, December 4, 5-8pm. The Garden’s meandering paths and exhibits will glow with thousands of energy saving LED lights, courtesy of San Diego Gas & Electric company.

 
Pennsylvania community college leader Stuart Savin is unanimous choice
 
December 1, 2009 (El Caj on)– The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Governing Board has unanimously approved appointment of Dr. Stuart J. Savin as Cuyamaca College president, effective April 12, 2010.
 
Savin, who, for the last three years, has been the chief executive officer of Harrisburg Area Community College, Lancaster Campus, in Pennsylvania, was recommended by Chancellor Cindy L. Miles.

  

 
 
 
 
 
 
November 30, 2009 -- East County Roundup includes the most important stories about San Diego's eastern regions, or stories relevant to our readers, that are published by other media. Top stories from the past month include:
 
  

• Bilbray Billing Bilbray: North County Congress member pays his wife from campaign coffers
  
• SD Retailers Pleased with Early Black Friday Results
  
• 70% of Local Sex Offenders Live Too Close to Parks, Schools
  
• Thrift Store to Leave Downtown El Cajon
  
• Anderson Defends Mailer Touting Bill
  
• 'They're Looking at Impending Doom' - If California exacts the worst possible cuts on schools, San Diego Unified literally has no idea how it can balance its budget.
  
• Bankruptcy an Option, Says Mayor's Fiscal Task Force
  
• Cuyamaca College Names Its New President
  
• San Diego State Athletic Director Jeff Schemmel Resigns Amid Controversy
  
• Potrero Preschool Reopens After 2007 Harris Fire

October 26, 2009 ( El Cajon)--The annual wheelchair basketball game--where the sound of squeaking rubber isn’t from the soles of players’ shoes, but from custom-built chairs pivoting and spinning across the gym floor--is set for 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28 at the Cuyamaca College gym. The five-on-five games feature a mix of Cuyamaca’s basketball team playing alongside members of the San Diego Xpress, a National Wheelchair Basketball Association team formed in the mid-‘80s. Most of the wheelchair athletes have suffered spinal cord injuries, but that hasn’t stopped them from playing competitively.

Teams for Cuyamaca’s game are mixed with players from both sides, as well as anyone who wants to join in, so that the wheelchair league athletes don’t completely dominate the scoreboard, said Mary Asher-Fitzpatrick, a learning disabilities specialist in Cuyamaca College’s Disabled Students Programs and Services office.

By Miriam Raftery

October 24, 2009 (El Cajon) – “The biggest thing we’re seeing now is mortgage loan fraud and real estate fraud,” San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said at Cuyamaca College during a breakfast hosted by the Rancho San Diego-Jamul Chamber of Commerce. “One scam had 400 victims.”  The D.A. discussed loan scams and other crime trends in San Diego County during the October 23rd event.

 
September 11, 2009 (Rancho San Diego)--James Thomas, author of Corp of Discovery: Lewis & Clark will be at the Heritage of the Americas Museum for a presentation and book signing on Saturday, September 12 from 1 to 3 p.m. Garbed in period costume, the author will make a presentation about his book and the historic Lewis & Clark Expedition.
 
"Jim is an expert on Lewis and Clark, so the facts are all there. But he novelized the story, so his book is filled with conversation and you really feel like you get to know each person on the expedition," says Kathleen Oatsvall, the museum curator. "We also sell his book in the Museum Store."

Discounts for pre-reservation--RSVP now!
WIN PRIZES:  A pirate for your next party, Padres tickets, private wine-tasting party & more!
 
Like fine wine, the most festive event of the year just keeps getting better! Besides wine-tasting, gourmet foods, live music, art show, and book signings by East County authors , a museum tour and a scavenger hunt through one of the finest university-owned museums in the Western U.S., we now have some truly amazing silent auction items and drawing prizes.
 
The latest “stars” in our lineup? A celebrity pirate impersonator, field-level Padres tickets, a baseball autographed by homerun slugging star Adrian Gonzalez (All Star player, Golden Glove winner, and two-time National League Player of the Week).  Other awesome prizes include: private wine-tasting party for 10 at a local winery, dinner for 6 at a fire station, a Kern River vacation in a cabin that sleeps 14 , spa treatments, dinners, art classes, jewelry, wines, Wild Animal Park tickets, original art, a signed print by famed Western artist Olaf Wieghorst, and much more!

DISCOVER OUR REGION'S BEST KEPT SECRETS!

 
August 7, 2009 (Rancho San Diego) – East County Magazine invites you to savor the best of East County wines, food, music, arts and literature. Join us on Saturday, August 29 from 4 to 7 p.m. for an evening of festivities at Heritage of the Americas Museum, Cuyamaca College in El Cajon’s Rancho San Diego. Find out why the museum is considered among the finest college museums in the U.S.!
 
Reserve space now at early-bird rates--before we sell out!  Festive fun includes: