Welcome back to the Mt. San Antonio College Podcast! In this special season 10 premiere, hosts Chisa Uyeki and Ivan Sanchez dive into the heart of what makes Mt. SAC — and community colleges in general — so unique: a deep commitment to creative, innovative teaching and ongoing learning.

This season, we're excited to introduce our new producer, Kate Mishkin, who brings her passion for storytelling and curiosity about education into the mix. Season 10 is all about reconnecting to purpose. Tune in on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Run time: 8:24 min

To find the full transcript for this episode, click HERE

Kickoff Episode Transcript

We're going to talk about what creative and innovative ways our colleagues are approaching their teaching in this specific moment. And that for me, is really my core purpose as a librarian. And it connects to what I love about Mount SAC specifically and community colleges in general, which is our commitment to continuous learning and growth. Welcome to the Mount San Antonio College Podcast. I'm Chisa Uweki, a Mount SAC professor and librarian, and I'm pleased to be your host for this season. Our goal is to keep you connected to our campus by bringing you the activities and events you may not have time to attend to share the interesting things our colleagues are creating and innovative ways they are supporting and connecting with Mount Sac students. Join me as we explore Mount Sacred. Hey, Ivan, we're back.

Hey, Chisa, how are you?

I'm doing okay. How about you?

Well, I'm teaching a new course this semester, Social Problems, and it's very apt for the times. And I'm sure you've been in the same situation where you're teaching a new course and it's exciting, but also a little, a little nerve wracking. So that's where I'm at.

A new prep is always a lot. This semester I am not feeling as revved up as I usually do in fall. I love new beginnings and a fresh year. But being honest, this year I just don't feel the same level of enthusiasm. And maybe some of you are feeling the same way. I don't know if it's the world turmoil, I don't know if it's me becoming newly an empty nester with both of my kids away at college, or maybe it's something else. But I was reflecting on this this morning and thinking about my sabbatical research on burnout, which led me to or reminded me that when I'm feeling this way, it's really powerful to connect to purpose. So connecting to purpose really grounds me and it made me think.

This is what I'm really looking forward to in our coming season because we're going to really delve into teaching. We're going to talk about what creative and innovative ways our colleagues are approaching their teaching and in this specific moment. And that for me is really my core purpose as a librarian. And it connects to what I love about Mount Sac specifically and community colleges in general, which is our commitment to continuous learning and growth. So I'm excited for this season. I hope everyone will join us and I'm really excited because we've also grown our podcast team and we have a new producer. So I want to Introduce Kate and we're going to find out a little bit more about her.

Hi, Chisa and Ivan. It's so good to see you both.

Good to see you as well, Kate, and welcome to the team. It's great to have you.

Thanks so much. I love hearing you both talk about your approach to education and continuous learning and everything that goes on behind the scenes that I've never really been privy to. It's really amazing.

Yeah. If you don't mind, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself? I also have some questions for you, just to kind of get to know you.

Yeah, I'd love to. I've been a producer for most of my career. I'm from the LA area, born and raised, and I just love being a producer. One of my favorite things is that it allows me into these different worlds, including in this case, the world of education and, you know, seeing the world through your eyes. It's a real privilege to be able to interview people and kind of help amplify stories in this way.

That's amazing to hear, honestly. And since the theme of this season is teaching as a science and a craft, I want to ask you, is there a professor or a program that you experienced in college that really made an impact, changed your life, or made you look at things differently?

Definitely. I was super involved in the college newspaper. I got in not knowing exactly what I wanted to do, but found fell in love immediately because it was kind of this space where I could be. I could have a little bit of trouble with authority. I could ask tough questions. I could go sniff out information and really kind of get a chance to see the college from all these different angles, from students from faculty to getting a good glance at just the inner workings of the college. And a journalism professor I had was really impactful in helping me, helping shape and guide my approach. And I credit him with where I am now.

That's so cool. Yeah, we. I think we all have that in common, that curiosity for learning and understanding just a little bit better than we did before. And like many of our faculty, it sounds like you found someone in your college experience that played a pivotal role in what you're doing now. So I am glad that we have that in common with our Mount Sac community.

Definitely makes a big difference.

Kate, I'm so excited to have you on the team and I know Ivan is as well because it's going to enable us to be out in the college community more. We are going to have you come to campus. We're excited for you to Attend some events to work with us on capturing more of what's going on, listening to our students, talking with our faculty. And so this is a new stage for us in the podcast, and we're excited about that. We're back for season 10 of the Mount San Antonio College Podcast, and we can't wait for you to hear a bit of what we have in store.

Like a conversation about language, love and liberation and how we're bringing poetry into the classroom.

My grandma would chat with chairs, sing them old songs, dance waltz with them in the kitchen. When she'd say Nino Barrigon, she'd laugh. With my grandma, I learned to count clouds, to recognize mint leaves in flower pots. My grandma wore moons on her dress Mexico's mountains, deserts, ocean in her eyes I'd see them in her braids. I touched them in her voice, smell them. One day I was told she went far away. But still I feel her with me, whispering in my ear, mijito.

And teaching under Ideological Framing for Learning and Science.

What is fascism? It is an ideology that is somewhat reemerging in prominence here in the United States today, which is why they asked.

Me to speak, as well as student perspectives, what they think about how they spend their time and what's on their mind.

I would say what I'm most excited for, definitely, is that now I'm someone who has been here for a significant amount of time. I know where I have lacked as a student. But now, because I've been here for a good period of time, I know where the resources are at. I know where I can seek help. All the professors I've had so far have made me realize all the good clubs we have, programs we have. So I'm just very excited to actually take advantage of everything that we have here at Mount Sac. I think the only thing I'm excited about is, like, the program I'm going to apply to next semester. I'm trying to get into the EMT program, so I'm trying to be competitive as possible.

That's why I'm doing, like, these extra classes and stuff. But, yeah, I'm kind of nervous, but it's.

It's fun.

We're so excited for you to join us and hope you find some reconnection to purpose.

I'm Ivan Sanchez.

And I'm Chisa Ueki.

And I'm Kate Mishkin.

Welcome back to season 10. Follow along on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for listening to the Mount San Antonio College Podcast, brought to you by Mount sac's POD Office and created in partnership with Avant House Media. Original music created and edited by Neera Azira. Be sure to check out our growing library of over 230 episodes and let us know your thoughts. You can reach me Chisa Ueki at C U Y e K I at mountsack Edu Wishing you an amazing year and happy listening.