Leaders of the Diablo Valley College community gathered at the DVC Foundation for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, April 3, to inaugurate the new DVC Alumni Association.

The alumni advisors said they’re seeking to foster stronger ties between past and current DVC students.

“I used to say you can’t throw a rock and not hit somebody who was impacted by this institution,” said DVC’s director of college advancement, Jim Blair, referencing the wide range of people who attended DVC. 

Blair mentioned that he was a high school dropout, and coming to DVC represented turning over a new leaf—and finding fresh direction for his career.

“I say it proudly and people wonder why I say ‘proudly’…[but] when I came to DVC, it actually showed me that I can succeed in education,” he said.

As an alumni advisor, Blair said he hopes to be a source of support to students who struggled in school just like him. Above all, the new association is meant to boost success for current students.

“The design is to help our students connect to the college, put them on a path, [and] help them through the college,“ he said.

The opening of the association is also a new step toward providing opportunities for networking, mentorship and funding at the school. 

“Our alumni can be those mentors, create those internships, [and] come back and help design our programs,” Blair added.

The DVC Foundation, which is located in the Administrative Building (A-110), is using the 360Alumni platform to connect alumni and students by showing upcoming events, discussion boards and job opportunities.

“The main thing is going to be creating a connection,” said Charley Daly, the foundation’s alumni manager.

“And that’s part of what… the 360Alumni platform is all about, creating the place for [DVC alumni] to be able to have those connections.” 

Daly said his main goal as the alumni manager is to gather success stories from DVC alumni that can inspire and connect with other people.

“We are stories, and so I want to gather stories,” Daly said. “I love to sit down and record all the stories and then I put them together in articles, and then we basically keep them as a library of inspirational stories.”

Many community leaders who attended the ribbon-cutting event on campus—such as the president of the Contra Costa County Board of Education, Mike Maxwell, and the chancellor of the Contra Costa Community College District, Mojdeh Medizadeh—are also proud DVC alumni. 

“I am a product of this school. I learned more here than I did anywhere else,” said Maxwell, who is also a member of the DVC Alumni Advisory committee.

“I’m really excited about being on the alumni committee, because it’s groups like this that advocate for education in the community, and get out and help us do programs like workforce housing for teachers and funding for our classes—and keeping our teachers paid.”

Chancellor Medizadeh said she has seen similar alumni associations succeed at other community colleges.

“We have foundation directors at other other colleges as well, and they do some work as well with their alumni organization,” Medizadeh said.

She added, “It’s wonderful to see everyone engaged in this way.”