Alumni Legacy Walk Grows

The Alumni Legacy Walk grew by nearly 300 pavers as commemorative bricks engraved with the names and degrees of every graduate in the Class of 2020 were installed in December.

HU maintenance workers installed bricks with the names of graduates from the class of 2020.

Started in 2016, the walk gives alumni, their family and friends a way to leave an indelible mark on the university that acknowledges graduates’ accomplishments at Heritage. Bricks are typically purchased for $45, with the proceeds going towards the Alumni Scholarship Fund. However, the university decided to gift each of last year’s graduates with a brick in their honor because of the cancellation of Commencement brought on by the global pandemic.

To watch the installation and hear a message from Heritage president Dr. Andrew Sund go to heritage.edu/walk. page19image3372448

Nominations open for Violet Lumley Rau Alumni Award

Do you know an alumna or alumnus who has consistently lived out the mission and values of Heritage University? This is your opportunity to recognize them!

2020 Violet Lumley Rau Alumna of the Year recipient Magaly Solis.

Established in 1994 in loving memory of Heritage University co-founder Violet Lumley Rau, this award is bestowed annually to an alumnus who embodies the ideals of Heritage in their personal, professional and community life. Ideals include excellence, inclusion, perseverance, leadership, and service to others.

Both undergraduate and graduate degree holders are eligible for nomination. Visit the alumni web page at heritage.edu/alumni and select Violet Lumley Rau Alumni Award at the bottom of the page to make your nomination. The deadline for nominations for this year is Friday, May 28, 2021. All nominations received after that date will be considered for the 2022 award. For questions, please contact alumni@heritage.edupage19image3372448

Computing Success

Computing Success

Computer science students garner national attention for their research in algorithms

From the time he was 15 years old when his grandmother bought her first laptop, Heritage senior Daniel Cruz has loved computers.

After devouring all the classes and robotics opportunities he could get his hands on in high school, choosing a computer science major at Heritage University was a natural for Cruz.

The same was true for Manuel Anaya.

Manuel Anaya

“I just knew I wanted to be in computers,” Anaya said. He came to Heritage in fall 2018 on a full scholarship through the Moccasin Lake Foundation.

Both Cruz and Anaya stand out for their passion and their work ethic – something computer science professor John Tsiligkaridis, Ph.D., looks for in his students. It’s why he urged both of them to complete research projects and to present that research at academic conferences.

Last summer, the pair worked with Tsiligkaridis researching algorithms and a program to access data more easily. They submitted their work for presentation consideration at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) and were among those selected to present in the Computational and Systems Biology. In November, they presented A Projection Tree Algorithm and the Incremental Neural Network virtually.

NEVER STOP LEARNING

It’s a recognized fact at Heritage that small class sizes mean Heritage students get a lot of one-on- one attention from instructors. This is especially true with computer science, where the instructor-to- student ratio is about one to 10.

Tsiligkaridis isn’t just a great teacher, said his students. He’s their guide, their mentor and their biggest cheerleader. He regularly shares opportunities for them outside the classroom, urges their participation, and works with them all along the way.

“John always urges us to join clubs, do internships, go to conferences,” said Cruz. “With COVID here, he preferred us to do conferences.”

When Tsiligkaridis urged Cruz to go ABRCMS conference in San Diego in the summer of 2019, Cruz went. And when Tsiligkaridis encouraged Cruz to attend the conference virtually in 2020, Cruz again enthusiastically agreed.

“John always says if you stop learning over the summer, when you come back, you’re going to have forgotten things.

“He looks at what you like, and he pushes you toward certain fields – like for me, the medical field.”

Tsiligkaridis also encourages upper-level students to mentor younger students. He suggested Cruz work with Anaya, who’s a junior.

Like Cruz, Anaya was used to hearing Tsiligkaridis talk about extra projects. Anaya understood early on the importance of conferences in the computer science field.

As a sophomore, Anaya attended the INFORMS conference in Seattle, a large-scale operations research and analytics gathering.

For the most recent ABRCMS conference, Tsiligkaridis suggested the two students do research on algorithms and a program to access data more easily.

The students worked on it all summer, mostly separate from one another because of the pandemic. Tsiligkaridis would explain what they should do, and they’d start researching it. They wrote an abstract. They developed charts.

“We would show him our work, ask him for guidance, and he always gave us great feedback,” says Anaya.

MEANINGFUL OFFERINGS GO VIRTUAL

When an event that’s typically bursting with people from all over the world goes virtual, a lot of things change. The ways attendees experience the event are different, but the offerings remain the same. There are still inspirational keynote speakers and breakout sessions where attendees get a deeper look at cutting-edge research. Students still present their research, with top presenters earning awards. Most importantly, students still interact with their peers from colleges throughout the country, with faculty whose influence could lead

to opportunities with future research or graduate studies; and with leading scientists, programmers and industry professionals who can help connect them with careers after graduation. It’s just all done virtually.

“Even in a virtual situation, you still have speakers and hundreds of exhibitors from nonprofit organizations, grad schools, Ph.D. programs,” said Anaya. “There’s still tons of networking you can do – it’s just done on your screen.

“The experience was incredible,” he said. “It’s an exchange of information and ideas. It gives you a different perspective with these colleagues from around the world, places like China and India.

“I really got a sense of what I didn’t know,” said Anaya. “I gained a lot of knowledge on the subject we chose because we really had to hone in on it and become an expert on it. You go in knowing the basics, and then you have this experience, and it makes you want to learn more.”

John Tsiligkaridis, Ph.D. is one of his students’ greatest cheerleaders. He seeks out experiences that prepare them for their individual goals and often collaborates with them on research projects.

CONNECTIONS ABOUND

“I learned that everywhere you go, there are different types of people and personalities and always someone who knows more than you do who can guide you.

“You can get opportunities at conferences whether in person or virtual because all these people you’re coming in contact with have different backgrounds,” Anaya says.

“I’ve also learned there’s always more to computer science than what I used to think. There are so many different fields we can apply our work in.”

Both students want to be a part of a community where their expertise can help people. They have their ideas – perhaps a hospital setting, perhaps business.

They expect they’ll look to Tsiligkaridis for his guidance then, too – just as they’ve done so far. page19image3372448

Hopping into Med School

Hopping into Med School

Biology major gains valuable experience with a summer spent researching one of the Yakima Valley’s signature crops.

OF PLANTS AND PESTS

Last spring, Karolynn Tom, program coordinator of Heritage’s Center for Indigenous Health, Culture & the Environment, told Serrano about a summer research opportunity at Yakima Golding, a hops farm in Toppenish, Washington. While studying hops seems worlds away from medical sciences, the intensive lab work involved with the project would be great experience, the kind that would give her a leg up on her competition for med school. Additionally, the opportunity came with a stipend from the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Additionally, it was the kind of project that she could present at the Murdock College Science Research Conference (MCSRC) in October. Serrano was quick to take advantage of the opportunity.

Karly Beth Serrano

The summer was busy. In addition to her part- time job as a phlebotomist, she spent three days a week at Yakima Golding to observe hop plants and collect data. She spent the other two days at home studying hops production.

Serrano was supervised remotely by Heritage Associate Professor of Environmental Science Jessica Black. She was mentored by Marissa Porter, research agronomist for John I Haas, Inc., who conducts some of her company’s research at Yakima Golding.

In her research, varying levels of nitrogen were applied to different hops plants, and she observed their growth. Were they taller? Were they shorter? Were there more leaves?

Serrano observed the insects. Were there more? Were there fewer? Were the insects predators or pests?

She learned to interpret data, to understand what’s significant and what’s not, and how to draw conclusions. While she gained understanding, she also learned the importance of coming to understand the research process, even when the subject matter is “not exactly your field.”

POWERPOINT LEADS TO PRIZE

In September, after the lab work was completed, Serrano began putting her presentation together for the Murdock conference. She would need to create a succinct statement of her major conclusions at the beginning, follow it up with supporting text and a brief concluding summary, presenting only enough data to support her conclusions and show the originality of her work.

A socially distant pandemic year meant a big change in conference presentations. Serrano shared her poster and work digitally as a PowerPoint with a video link.

She built a strategy on how to present to any judges that would “happen by” virtually. Each time, she’d speak for five to ten minutes, then take questions.

“It was both nerve-wracking and exciting, but I was happy I was expanding my horizons.”

She smiled when she recalled one judge’s question, “Are hops microhezia obligates?”

“I acknowledged I did not know the answer to that but that I could definitely incorporate something about that next time. I texted Marissa, ‘Do you know this worm?’” she said.

Porter texted her back that it wasn’t a worm but a fungus that grows in the soil in the plants’ roots and helps them take up phosphorus.

Serrano said she learned to “think ahead to what you might be asked” – even when some questions might be more easily anticipated than others.

Weeks after the conference was all a memory, Serrano learned she was awarded the MCSRC’s Environmental Science Poster Competition award, which included a modest cash prize.

The most significant recompense?

“The work, the presentation, and being able to say I won the environmental competition on my resume,” said Serrano. “That’s really important for a future medical student.”

Karly Beth Serrano in the field

INSPIRED BY HEALTHCARE HELPING

Either this fall or next, following graduation, Serrano will apply to several medical schools, among them Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, University of Washington Medical School and Washington State University.

Her goal ultimately is to help her community. She notes her local Union Gospel Mission and her nine- year-old sister as two of her continuing inspirations.

She started volunteering at Yakima’s Union Gospel about a year and a half ago, doing patient intake and interpreting.

“Seeing how the Mission works with people who don’t have insurance or traditional healthcare or are homeless has really impressed me. I want to be that kind of physician.

“And my sister Aaleyah – I want to inspire her. I want her to think college automatically – like me.”

Serrano has applied for summer work to the Leadership Alliance summer research program and to the Vanderbilt School of Medicine’s undergraduate clinical research internship program in Nashville, among others.

“I would be excited and nervous to be so far from my family,” she said. “But I’m far more excited than I am nervous.”page16image3597248

Conquering COVID

CONQUERING COVID

Heritage nursing students get hands-on doing their part to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Heritage nursing student Viviana Rico remembers the January 2021 day she opened the email from Linda Rossow. “Are you interested in helping at the Toppenish vaccine clinics over the next several months?” it read.

Rossow, an assistant nursing professor at Heritage, was asking her students – the 2022 nursing cohort – to help vaccinate the people of the Yakima Valley against COVID-19.

Rico emailed back immediately: “Count me in.”

What Rico was saying “yes” to would involve traveling to several hospitals over several months, handling hundreds of vials of invaluable vaccine, and injecting it into the arms of hundreds of front-line healthcare workers, the elderly, and first responders.

Each person would walk away a little more immune from the deadly virus than when they had arrived. The people of the Yakima Valley would be a little safer.

Rico’s biggest personal takeaway would be immense satisfaction and positive feelings about her contribution – and an enhanced clarity regarding her place in nursing.

For this Pasco native, knowing immediately that she wanted to help fight COVID was as easy as deciding to follow a half dozen of her family members into nursing.

“I always loved hearing the ways they help people,” said Rico. “In nursing, you meet people, you help them, you put in your little grain of salt to help them get well.

“I just thought, ‘What a unique opportunity!’ I remember thinking it was super cool that I was going to be part of the change back to ‘normal’. That this would be something I would tell my grandchildren.”

Before her work as part of that change could take place, Rico needed to re-focus on something she and her classmates had learned more than a year earlier.

“Review giving shots,” Rossow had told her students.

Because of the pandemic, Rico and her fellow students had been out of direct contact with any patients for almost a year.

READYING STUDENTS

Rossow’s students had learned to give intramuscular injections – what the COVID shot is – beginning their sophomore year. With six semesters, including the summer between junior and senior year, clinical experiences occur beginning with the second semester for sophomores and extend through to their final semester as seniors.

In the clinical experiences Heritage nursing students undertake, each student has a clinical supervisor or a “preceptor” – an individual nurse who oversees the activities of that student, working with them to become proficient in the skills they’ve learned in class and in lab. That work includes accessing meds, ensuring they’re the right ones, given the right way, at the right time, whether it’s a flu vaccination – or, now, a COVID vaccination.

“Everything that student does until senior year is always with a clinical supervisor or a preceptor,” said Rossow. “That training, testing and supervision ensure that once they’re out in the ‘real world,’ they’re adhering to good practices.”

Once Rico reviewed her old notes and watched a video or two, she felt ready to give the vaccine. But the magnitude of the situation was not lost on her.

“Being part of this whole thing as a nursing student – that’s a big deal. I almost couldn’t believe I was doing it. It’s such a big responsibility.

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘You’re helping make a real change.’”

NURSING FAMILY

Like Rico, Camryn Newell counts her role in the COVID vaccination effort as perhaps her most significant clinical experience to date.

It’s reaffirmed her knowledge that she wants to be part of the solution to big challenges.

Newell’s focus on nursing originated with family, just like Rico’s. Her grandmother was a nurse and, as a child, Newell was fascinated with the medical world. By age 15, she knew she wanted to be a nurse.

Once she entered the Heritage nursing program, her coursework set the stage for the real work that takes place in clinicals.

“Sub-Q injections, giving oral meds, assessments – they’re all part of what we do in clinicals,” said Newell. “In every one, you get more experience.”

As they gain experience, students learn more about what settings and situations really appeal to them.

 

Nurse holding a needle

HANDLING LIQUID GOLD

In the early morning hours a couple of weeks after Rossow’s email, Rico, Newell, and another Heritage nursing student, Payton Moore, climbed into a car and headed toward Astria Toppenish Hospital, a few minutes from the Heritage campus.

Walking into a conference-room-turned- vaccination center, the women were greeted by three of the hospital’s nurses leading that day’s effort. The first vaccine recipients – mostly hospital staff – began arriving at 7:30 am.

Newell says she and her fellow students all felt some trepidation when it came to handling the vaccine, in this case, the Pfizer version: “You feel like you’re handling liquid gold.”

Years more familiar with such processes was their supervisor that day, Yvonne Ebbelaar, RN, BSN, director of critical care at the hospital, and adjunct nursing professor at Heritage. She said having the Heritage students there is good for everyone.

“We love having the students,” she said. “It takes a team to keep the whole process going. The students are instrumental in helping us keep the flow moving. Their presence means our staff can stay on their units and do their work caring for their patients.”

As an instructor herself, Ebbelaar says any opportunity a student has to practice over and over helps them gain that “muscle memory” that’s important for a soon-to-be RN.

Altogether, the three students administered a total of about 100 injections that morning.

Five days later, Rico and Newell repeated their work at Prosser Memorial Hospital. Both students had done two clinical rotations there and were specifically requested by a charge nurse they’d worked with.

“As nursing students, that’s a really big deal,” said Rico. “That made us feel really good.”

There, they worked as part of a bigger team, this time giving the Moderna vaccine, with about 300 recipients, in a seven-hour shift.

By the time this story publishes, Rico, Newell and many other HU nursing students are expected to have been part of providing hundreds more vaccines to Yakima Valley residents.

NEW APPRECIATION

Newell said she feels a new appreciation for nurses and other healthcare professionals on the pandemic front lines.

“Thinking what they’ve all have had to go through – they’re putting themselves and their families at risk so that they can help other individuals in their time of need. That altruism is amazing.”

Altruism, supporting their community, gaining needed expertise – all are part of the experience the university’s nursing program works to provide its students.

Rossow names catastrophic events like the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, and the 9/11 attacks as examples of the need for the emergency effort preparedness and activation that’s required as communities come together to treat victims and save lives.

“All their lives, our students will be asked to contribute to emergency efforts in their communities and beyond,” said Rossow.

“The COVID vaccination effort is far bigger than any single event we’ve had. It’s also bigger than any one entity can handle – because it’s affected everyone everywhere.

“The more students who can be involved in this experience, the more valuable they’ll be to their communities.”

Nurses tend to be people with compassion, Rossow said, with a strong desire to help, whether that’s in volunteering with a massive event like a pandemic or doing first aid for their child’s soccer team.

“Heritage students’ community-focused altruism – a deep desire to give back to their communities – is extremely strong.

“Heritage nurses are different. They’re bringing something to their work that’s kind of indefinable.

It’s a presence, a compassion that focuses on patient-centered, family-centered care.

“A big part of who we are is that being on tribal land, we reflect those values of taking care of our community.”

FINDING THEIR PLACE

When she graduates, Rico wants to stay in the Yakima Valley. She’s learned from her clinical experiences that she loves the intensity of the emergency department.

“All of a sudden, a crisis comes, and you have to move. I was part of a ‘code’ one day and, when I did that, I felt, ‘This is me.’ I knew it.”

Newell is still deciding. She’d like to stay in the area in “any opportunity that would be a growth experience.”

Both students feel they got more from their COVID vaccination experience than they gave.

“People are so grateful,” Newell said. “They said things like, ‘You guys are like superheroes!’ It was a great experience to feel so needed and so appreciated.”

“Whenever someone sat down, just as they thanked me for giving it to them, I made sure to tell them, ‘Thank you for doing this’,” Rico said.

“I felt really kind of proud of the people willing to get the vaccine. We all have to do our part,” she said. “We’re (nursing students) just doing our part too.”page13image3280544

Heritage University announces return to full in-person instruction for fall 2021 semester

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Heritage University announces return to full in-person instruction for fall 2021 semester

Toppenish, Wash. – Heritage University has announced plans to return to full in-person instruction for the upcoming fall 2021 semester. The plan takes into account the progress Yakima County has made towards preventing the spread of Covid-19 and the increasing number of vaccinated residents in the county. “These trends have boosted our confidence that we can fully reopen campus in time for fall,” said Heritage University President Andrew Sund, Ph.D. “We will continue to rely on the Yakima County Health District, as well as State and Federal authorities, to ensure our plans are consistent with their guidance regarding current Covid-19 protocols.”

Sund applauded the efforts by Heritage University’s employees to support student learning in the face of the challenges created by the pandemic. “I am proud of how our faculty and staff rallied to provide a safe and quality educational experience for the students who chose to learn on campus, while also delivering the tools necessary to students who chose to attend classes remotely,” said Sund.

The Heritage University campus has been partially open since the fall 2020 semester to accommodate students who do not have the conditions in their homes to conduct significant academic work. In being present on campus, students have access to reliable high-speed Internet and plenty of space for studying. A full reopening will allow students to develop camaraderie with other students and interact with faculty and staff. “We are anxious to re-establish our sense of community at Heritage,” said Sund. “The majority of students that choose Heritage University to fulfill their higher education do so because they believe in the value that participating in a campus environment brings.”

For the fall 2021 semester at Heritage University, graduate classes will begin August 2, 2021, and undergraduate classes will begin August 23, 2021. For more information, contact Davidson Mance, media relations coordinator at (509) 969-6084 or Mance_D@heritage.edu.

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Yakima Valley Partners for Education joins United Way of Central Washington to increase access to Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Yakima Valley Partners for Education joins United Way of Central Washington to increase access to Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefit

Toppenish, Wash. – United Way of Central Washington and Yakima Valley Partners for Education (YVPE) will use a grant from the Perigee Fund to help families access Washington state’s new Paid Family and Medical Leave benefit. With help from Grandview-based Taxes-Y-Mas, communities in the Lower Yakima Valley will receive information about the benefit and obtain support through the application process. Almost all Washington workers are eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid family leave for fathers, mothers and guardians to bond with a newborn.

YVPE is a cradle-to-career initiative in Yakima County supported by Heritage University and funded by Save the Children. Suzy Diaz, director of Collective Impact at Heritage University, believes the grant from Perigee will help spread the word about the importance for parents and guardians to use the Paid Family and Medical Leave benefit to bond with their children. “Quality bonding time is essential in the development of healthy families and healthier communities,” said Diaz. “Time to bond and be present with a loved one includes not missing out on precious developmental milestones.”

United Way of Central Washington has a long-standing relationship with employers throughout Yakima County and believes improving employee access to Paid Family and Medical Leave can benefit a company through worker retention and satisfaction. “It is important for individuals to know and utilize Paid Family and Medical Leave because so many families are forced to make impossible choices between their financial stability and their families. Paid Family and Medical Leave gives working individuals the time to bond with a new child, care for a seriously ill loved one or recover from one’s serious condition,” said United Way of Central Washington President & CEO Neiri Carrasco.

Olivia Gutierrez and Francisco Vazquez, owners of Taxes Y Mas in Toppenish and Grandview, are long time community and family advocates as well as small business advisors. During this tax season, they will be distributing information about the Paid Family and Medical Leave benefit to thousands of households in the Lower Valley. “Families express relief for the ability to focus on having their newborn, and the excitement they have for the opportunity to bond with their baby,” said Gutierrez.

For more information, contact Jamie Shores at jamie@uwcw.org or Suzy Diaz, director of Collective Impact, at diaz_s@heritage.edu. For complete program information visit www.momentsearned.org.

 

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Heritage University and Yakima Chief Hops celebrate completion of CHIEF ACADEMY management training program by front-line employees

Chief Academy organizers from left to right:Monica Sanchez, John Reeves, Steve Carpenter, Salvador Benitez, Charles Wheaton Ph.D, Erica Tait, Howard Allred, Cesar Silva, Ryan Hopkins

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Heritage University and Yakima Chief Hops celebrate completion of CHIEF ACADEMY management training program by front-line employees

Yakima, Wash. – Heritage University and Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) are celebrating the completion of the first-ever CHIEF ACADEMY management training program by YCH employees. YCH partnered with Heritage@Work, the university’s workforce training and development division to deliver the program that, when completed, earned 16 full time employees a Management Training certification.

CHIEF ACADEMY at YCH consisted of workshops that covered five essential topics determined to be of high importance to the company. They included:

  1. The Art of Communication – a business writing and communication workshop which offered tips on improving existing skills as well as preparing participants for public speaking.
  2. Putting Humanity into Human Resources – a highly-interactive workshop covering the important basics of human resources with role-playing activities.
  3. Data Science – a workshop that helps those in company leadership roles understand the importance of data analytics by identifying, interpreting and summarizing data.
  4. Business Finance – a workshop to help employees understand financial drivers and strategic objectives and realize the connection between strategy and financial success.
  5. The Book of Leadership – a workshop where employees learn the attributes of a leader, the difference between management skills and leadership skills, and what it means to be a leader at YCH.

Experts from each field taught the workshops at the company’s Headquarters in Yakima, Wash. from October through December 2020.  Ryan Hopkins, chief executive officer at YCH, said the curriculum developed by himself, Chief Human Resources Officer Lisa Garcia, and Heritage University will equip participants with the training, skills, knowledge, and tools to enhance some already skilled managers and leaders within the company. “As a company that is 100% grower owned, YCH is built on the philosophies of continuous improvement and empowering employees.  The CHIEF ACADEMY is a proud example of hop growers working with a great local university to empower our employees and in turn empower great leaders within our community.”

John Reeves, director of Heritage@Work, said the curriculum developed for CHIEF ACADEMY is the result of a deep and thorough understanding of the company’s needs. “Our team worked with YCH leaders to learn where they wanted to see their employees grow, and tailored specific curriculum designed to teach those skills,” said Reeves. He went on to explain that companies who “grow their own” as Ryan Hopkins referred to the training, have one of the best ways to hold onto great employees. “It is an investment, but businesses who empower their employees to grow their careers, get to hold onto good people.”

For more information, please contact Heritage University Media Relations Coordinator Davidson Mance at (509) 969-6084 or mance_d@heritage.edu or Yakima Chief Hops Global Communications Manager Cait Schut at (916) 690-4379 or cait.schut@yakimachief.com.

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Heritage University names new director of Student Life and Engagement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Heritage University names a new director of Student Life and Engagement

Toppenish, Wash. – Heritage University is proud to announce the selection of Isaias Guerrero as the university’s new director of Student Life and Engagement. Guerrero, who was already a staff member at Heritage, and who is a graduate of Heritage, moves to Student Life from the TRIO/Student Support Services department following an exhaustive search which determined the best candidate for the role was already close to home.

Isaias Guerrero, director of Student Life and Engagement at Heritage University

As director of Student Life and Engagement, Guerrero will be responsible for providing support services for the campus student community through events and group activities designed to engage students by promoting participation, service and leadership.

Dr. Melissa Hill, vice president for Student Affairs at Heritage, is thrilled with the committee’s selection of Guerrero. “Isaias brings a wealth of knowledge to the Student Life department, not only with his work through TRIO but his firsthand experience as an alumnus,” said Hill. “He’s been there as a student and knows what it takes to engage students and create positive experiences for students during their time at Heritage.”

Guerrero said the mentorship and guidance he received at Heritage University helped him succeed as a first-generation college student. “The guidance I received in navigating college was so important to my success because I had no one to relate to at home,” he said. “Heritage became a sanctuary of learning for me. Every day I stepped onto campus was a new adventure. I was excited to see my friends and challenge myself in the classroom. This was possible through my involvement with various campus activities. I want to provide these same opportunities to other students.”

As a student, Guerrero was selected to participate in the Act Six scholarship and leadership program which prepares students to become community leaders. He earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from the university in 2019 and began working for TRIO at Heritage as a retention specialist that same year. Guerrero started his new role as director of Student Life and Engagement on January 21, 2021. Guerrero is studying for his M.Ed. in Educational Leadership with a focus in Student Affairs.

For more information, contact Davidson Mance, media relations coordinator, at (509) 969-6084 or Mance_D@Heritage.edu.

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Yakima Valley Partners for Education receive grants to help families impacted by food insecurity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Yakima Valley Partners for Education receives grants to help Lower Valley families struggling with food insecurity

Toppenish, Wash. – Heritage University’s collective impact initiative known as Yakima Valley Partners for Education (YVPE) has received $34,000 in grants to help Lower Yakima Valley families struggling with food insecurity due to the ongoing pandemic.

Eva Lujan of Latino Community Fund, Forbes Mercy of Washington Broadband and Micaela Razo, also of Latino Community Fund, hold check donations.

YVPE received a $15,000 grant from Save the Children to purchase grocery gift cards for families struggling with food insecurity, and this grant was matched by Latino Community Fund at $15,000. YVPE also partnered with Fiesta Foods which provided $3,000 and grocery cards, with Washington Broadband’s Forbes Mercy also contributing $1,000. These grants allowed YVPE to provide more than 600 grocery gift cards for families in need.

Bryan Ketcham, director of Catholic Charities Housing Services in Yakima, says nearly 90 families living in their housing sites in Wapato and Sunnyside are able to feed their loved ones because of YVPE’s efforts. “During this time of the year and with the current pandemic we have seen a significant increase in the level of need amongst our residents,” said Ketcham. “Paying for their rent, utilities and access to food and other emergency services have been among the highest of priorities and needs that our staff has been helping our residents to access. We are grateful for YVPE’s generosity.”

Luis Alberto Moreno, of Fiesta Foods, Eva Lujan and Micaela Razo of Latino Community Fund, and Alexis Magallon, also of Fiesta Foods, hold grocery gift cards.

Micaela Razo, program director at Latino Community Fund says she is humbled to work within the community to be a voice and resource to the most in need during the pandemic. “We continue to hear the need and work effectively to network with multiple organizations, school districts and businesses to bring relief to the families in need,” said Razo, “Our goal is to make sure we can be a beacon of light in time of darkness to our community. Together we can do more for each other.”

Distribution of the grocery gift cards made possible through these grants began last month in time to help families during the holidays, and will wrap up later this month. For more information, contact Suzy Diaz, Heritage University Collective Impact director at diaz_s@heritage.edu or (509) 480-9354.