Published on 11/4/2016.
The College of the Redwoods Del Norte Campus invites the public to attend their Third Thursday Talks. These talks will take place on the Crescent City campus throughout the 2016-17 academic year. The first presentation will be by Bernadette Johnson on November 17 at 7:00 p.m. in Room 29. Her talk is titled Getting On Course with Prison Education. Johnson is a counselor on the CR Del Norte campus, and also a CR Alumni.
Johnson’s talk is going to focus on the following points: data on prison versus education costs (financial and social), CR and a focus on equity, the personal experience as a teacher and that of the students, and a call to action for people wanting to "do something to help".
“The talk will focus on my personal experience teaching face to face college classes inside Pelican Bay” said Johnson. “I want to share my experience and the stories of these unique students and to facilitate a community conversation about the disparities between certain demographic populations who are over represented in prison and underrepresented in college.”
Johnson hopes to build interest and support by exploring the societal and economic value of providing college education to students who reside, not of their choosing, in Del Norte County. “These students demonstrated a deep desire to learn” said Johnson. “They were highly engaged, very motivated to change their lives for the better and gravely concerned for the generations coming after them (including their own children) who might be unfortunately caught up a system that is not equitable.”
This talk is connected to CR’s overall Student Equity Plan, led by their new Equity Director, as well as connected to themes in CR’s Book of the Year, Between the World and Me, and the Building Healthy Communities work related to racial equity issues and systemic reforms.
Here is a schedule of the Third Thursday Talks:
Bernadette Johnson-November 17th: Getting On Course with Prison Education
Ruth Rhodes-January 19th: Literacy, Equity, and the Community College
Phil Freneau-February 16th: The Importance of Positive Communication in Child Guidance
Ken Letko-March 16th: Bright Darkness: New & Selected Poems
Chris Callaghan-April 20th: Sexual Violence Awareness Month
###