MJC Women of Distinction Awards, 2009

Do you know any women who go above and beyond the call of duty? Is there a woman you admire and respect and want to acknowledge in some way? For six MJC women, and one male mentor, acknowledgement was only a nomination away. The American Association for Women in Community Colleges, AAWCC, has given students, faculty, management and staff at Modesto Junior College the opportunity to recognize exceptional women working at MJC each year since 1988. This year the award ceremony was held on March 12 at a luncheon held in the lobby of the Performing and Media Arts Center. From the management category, honoree Linda Hoile, Marketing and Public Relations Officer with MJC, is responsible for advertising the college to the public through television, radio, and print. She also sends out press releases for MJC events and fund raisers, as well as the President's newsletter and class schedules, and many other duties. Hoile is a former president and currently on the Board of AAWCC. She has made several nominations each year for many years, and has been previously nominated herself, though this is the first time she has won. "It's a great honor to be nominated and to have your work recognized…I don't think there's anybody on campus who operates in a vacuum. Everybody's job…is quite dependent upon a lot of other people doing their jobs…To me it's a big team effort and I'm grateful to be recognized but there's a lot of other people that are really deserving. So I would encourage people…to nominate somebody they think is deserving," said Hoile. From the faculty category, Barbara Adams from the speech department, and Cherrie Llewellyn from the music department were honored. Llewellyn directs opera and musical theater and teaches voice. This semester she conducted the orchestra for "Oklahoma." She holds a doctorate in Musical Arts and Performance from Arizona State University. Like all of the honorees, Llewellyn was surprised to be nominated. Winners were announced two weeks before the luncheon. "When they did the announcement before the luncheon, they took all of the [honorees] over there (auditorium) and they had their pictures hanging in there, and I still didn't get it after I went in and saw my picture hanging there," said Llewellyn. Pictures were taken of the honorees on the sly, by various "photographers" who had to come up with other reasons for taking their pictures without tipping off the honorees. Honorees were then encouraged to attend a photography "exhibit" by friends and coworkers who knew what was going on, and had the task of ensuring the honoree went to the announcement. While Llewellyn is not sure who nominated her, she does know why she was nominated. "Time with the students…things I do extra for…Friends of Music that I help to raise funds for the music department," said Llewellyn. Friends of Music is an organization that Llewellyn helped to restart after it had been defunct for a couple of years. The organization helps bring well known musicians to MJC for master classes as well as providing scholarships to students. Lori Sammis and Claudia Ramirez are two staff members honored this year. Sammis a former nurse and sometime actress, now works as the administrative assistant for the Dean of the Arts Division. Ramirez works as a program specialist in the Career Development and Transfer Center. She posts jobs for students, works with employers, coordinates job fairs, sets up employment interviews on campus. She works on the Spanish Education Conference, which she has been chairing for the last five years. She helps raise money for scholarships with the Hispanic Leadership Council and she is part of the Latino Leadership group on campus that holds fundraisers. "I want to thank the Association, the AAWCC… the people that nominated me. It's a recognition that I value a lot. I was very honored to get that, it just gives you motivation to keep going," said Ramirez. Student Tricia Yarnal, 21, works with the woman who nominated her, Melissa Beach, in Instructional Services. She is in the final semester of the Clinical Nutrition program and will be transferring to University of California, Davis, in the fall. Yarnal was recognized for being upbeat and having a sincere smile for everyone she greets. "It was a great honor…I was in awe…that somebody would nominate me…I expect more of myself now," said Yarnal. Like the other honorees interviewed. Yarnal says she's more likely now to nominate someone else. Melissa Beach nominated Yarnal. Beach has worked at MJC for the last 10 years and has nominated a couple of women in the past. Beach has also been nominated. Yarnal works mostly on a million dollar grant, entering data into the system. "She does an excellent job on that…never misses work, she's never late, very caring of her job," said Beach. "She has this true genuine gift [of] treating everybody so wonderfully, being so helpful, being so kind." Yarnal works 20 hours a week as well as going to school full-time. Bryan Justin Marks, an alumnus of MJC and California State University at Stanislaus who currently works in the EOP&S office, won the award for Male Mentor. Anyone in the MJC community can nominate an MCJ student, staff, faculty or administrator for the award. The nominee should be someone who has earned your respect, whether through their excellence in work, knowledge or team spirit. You can also nominate a man as a male mentor. The AAWCC Women of Distinction award is a way to show women and men who go above and beyond the call of duty, that you recognize their efforts and contributions. But you don't have to wait until next January to do so, and you certainly don't have to keep it a secret. Thank them now. They may just feel the same way about you.

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