College of the Siskiyous Celebrates Staff Dedication with Successful Appreciation Event
College of the Siskiyous (Siskiyous) recently hosted its annual Staff Appreciation Event on Thursday, May 29, a day filled with fun, food, prizes, and heartfelt recognitions, underscoring the College's profound gratitude for its dedicated employees. The event also incorporated a special celebration for recent retirees.
The Weed Campus closed at 2:00 pm to facilitate full participation, while the Yreka Campus was closed for the entire day, ensuring all employees had the opportunity to attend the main event held at the Weed Campus. This thoughtful accommodation demonstrated the College’s commitment to ensuring every staff member felt valued and celebrated.
Our staff are the backbone of College of the Siskiyous, tirelessly working behind the scenes to create a supportive and effective environment for our students. This event was a chance to collectively express our immense appreciation for their hard work, adaptability, and dedication. Seeing so many smiling faces and celebrating their contributions, including our valued retirees, truly reinforced the strength of our Siskiyous family.
Celebrating Juneteenth
As Juneteenth approaches, we are reminded of a pivotal moment in American history… June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, finally received word of their freedom, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. This day marks not just the end of chattel slavery in the United States, but also a profound step towards the realization of the nation’s founding ideals of liberty and equality for all.
In acknowledgment of Juneteenth, a Freedom Celebration event is sponsored by The Weed Chamber of Commerce and Mt Shasta Property Guide:
Event: Juneteenth: A Freedom Celebration
Date and Time: Wednesday June 18 from 3:00 to 7:00 pm
Place: Bel Air Park, Weed
What: Music, poetry, farmers market, mobile health clinic, games/prizes and free ice cream will be available.
Additionally, there will be a screening of 'Byrd's of a Feather,'' the story of Charlie Byrd, California’s first Black Sheriff and the birth and loss of the cultural Black neighborhood of Lincoln Heights in Weed, CA. The showing is scheduled immediately after the Juneteenth Freedom Celebration on June 18 at 7:00 pm at the College of the Siskiyous Theater.
In honor of Juneteenth, College of the Siskiyous will be closed on Thursday, June 19, 2025.
ASM Appreciation Week June 16 – 20, 2025
At the June 17, 2025 Board Meeting, the district will be presenting a resolution which designates the third week of June as Administrative Support Management (ASM) week. It is the intention of this annual designation of a week of recognition to celebrate Administrative Support Management employees and their numerous contributions to the College.
A huge thank you to our exceptional Administrative Support Management team. Your dedication, expertise, and tireless work are the pillars of this institution. You ensure smooth operations, anticipate challenges, and provide invaluable support, making a real difference for our students and staff.
We appreciate your hard work and positive attitude!
Graduation 2025 – It Takes a Village (… and then some)
On Friday, May 16 we had a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our students at Commencement. The evening was spectacular, the weather was wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed being there. Each year there is a tremendous amount of planning and buildup for one spectacular evening. That evening goes by quickly but none of it would be possible without the help of many across the entire campus. It truly takes a village to pull off something like this. There are so many things to do and each year I walk away amazed at how everyone pulls together to get it all done leading up to the event and on the day of the event.
Planning a successful event does not happen overnight. Rather, once the event happens planning begins all over again, months before the big day. Like I said, it takes a village and then some. But most of all, we need to remembe… without our students we would not have Graduation.
In case you missed it, you can watch the ceremony or to view photos from the event, visit the College of the Siskiyous (COS) Facebook page.
Congratulations to the Class of 2025… and Congratulations to all of you for another successful year!
Visit us at the Fair
The 2025 Siskiyou Golden Fair will be Wednesday, August 6 through Sunday, August 10. We need help! COS will have an outreach booth and we need people to volunteer and help. The Fair offers us a super opportunity to promote the College, our classes, and the many wonderful programs and services we offer students. Sign up to work a shift by yourself and meet someone new or sign up to work with a campus colleague. The shifts are 2.5 hours long. Sign up is first-pick, first-get.
Those who sign up to help will receive two tickets for free admittance to the fair (one to be used on the day you work - or if you volunteer to work more than one day… a ticket for each day, the other(s) to be used as you like). The sign-up sheet is located in Building 95. Stop by to sign up, send an email (pio@siskiyous.edu), or call extension 5373.
Can’t help out in August… No worries… we will also have a COS outreach booth at the Tulelake Fair in September (9/4-7).
Stay Connected
Sign up today for COS Connect. This is a free system used to notify students and staff of emergency-situations, campus closures, or general information. To sign up click on the COS Connect button located on the COS homepage and follow the directions to get signed up.
Upcoming Activities & Events:
Event dates, times, and locations based on information available at the time of publication and are subject to change.
June 2025
July 2025
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The Business Office is working hard on the beginning phases of year-end close. The goal is to be completed with year-end by mid-August to ensure a timely audit and submission of the annual 311. Once the year-end processing is near completion, a final visit from the auditors will be scheduled.
The staff is waiting for the Board of Trustees to approve the 2025-2026 Tentative Budget. Once approved, the Tentative Budget will become active and purchase order requests can be entered with a July 1, 2025 date. Purchase Orders will not be made for the new fiscal year until July 1. It is a good time to remind everyone to clearly track when purchases are received as this helps determine which fiscal year to post the activity.
Development of the 2025-2025 Final Budget will start in early July. This phase will be short and based on any missed items during Tentative Budget development. This will include updates to staffing, the approval of any RARs, and alignment with the state budget. More information will be coming soon about this process.
Food service staff is currently working 4–10-hour days like the rest of the staff. Therefore, if you have needs Friday - Sunday, please reach out to Rob Giordanengo during the week so his staff can accommodate requests.
Over the next several weeks, the staff will be working on new menu ideas so you may have the opportunity to try some new items soon. If you have suggestions send an email to foodservices@siskiyous.edu.
Starting this Summer and continuing into the beginning of Fall, the department will be upgrading the operating system on all of the College's employee workstations from Windows 10 to Windows 11. This is an essential upgrade as support for the Windows 10 operating system will end in October.
The Enterprise Application team has successfully completed three projects:
The Enterprise Application team's primary focus is on supporting the Financial Aid department's efforts to improve its business processes and bring them in alignment with legal and regulatory requirements.
The IT department has begun developing its Operational Plan for 2025-2026 and will be sharing it with various governing bodies for input in the Spring.
Projects
Summer Groups
Siskiyou County CTE Day
SiskiyouWorks held its first annual Siskiyou County CTE Day for high school students on April 25, 2025 at the Siskiyou County Fairgrounds in Yreka.
The event was attended by over 450 students who were able to explore 31 career presentations. College of the Siskiyous was well represented by several CTE programs including Nursing, Administration of Justice, and Business Administration. Dr. Mark Fields and several COS representatives were in attendance including Trustees Kathy Koon, Erica Mitchell, Veronica Coots - Interim Dean of CTE, Jaeda Jones - ISS Health Sciences, Dr. Sharice Bellamy - Business Faculty, Kim Peacemaker - Dual Enrollment Coordinator, and Leigh Moore - Administration of Justice Faculty.
Great Teachers Seminar
Congratulations to Brittany Nelson – Nursing Faculty, who was selected to participate in the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges Great Teachers Seminar (GTS) this summer in Monterey, CA. GTS is a "high energy and powerful summer retreat that brings faculty together in search of the 'great teacher' within themselves." This was a highly competitive process which drew applicants from across all community colleges in the state. Congratulations Britany!
Administrative Professionals Day
The Office of Academic Affairs honored our Administrative Professionals on April 23, by treating them to a luncheon at Casa Ramos restaurant in Mt. Shasta. A big thank you to all of our administrative professionals for all of your hard work this year.
EMS/Paramedic
With much literal blood, sweat, and tears (sometimes their own and sometimes inflicted on each other), our Weed Paramedic students reached the end of their didactics with flying colors! They are an exceptionally bright cohort whose camaraderie and laughter have been a joy to experience. Instructor Kirk Thomsen and company traveled to Ukiah in April to join the Mendocino Paramedic students for their final didactic testing. They are a dedicated group of students who will undoubtedly do just as well! Our Paramedic Program student's success is a testament to the skill of instructors who not only bring a high level of knowledge to the classroom, but also a love of teaching and commitment to students, who can make an extremely difficult program fun.
Congratulations to all of them. We wish them the best of luck in their clinicals and cannot wait to see them walk across the stage next year.
Early Childhood Education (ECE)
ECE Instructor Patrice Thatcher-Stephens is breathing new life into the DCDC building on the Weed Campus, creating a beautiful Early Childhood Education Model Classroom for the college and our community partners. It will be a joy to see the space thriving again. Her thoughtful setup will create a warm, hands-on space where students can practice their lab skills on campus and feel truly supported in their learning.
Patrice's passion for early childhood education shines through in every detail, and her commitment to giving students meaningful, on-campus experiences is deeply appreciated. A huge thank you to our Maintenance and IT teams for making the reimagining of this space possible. We are grateful for all their hard work and support!
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