As the school year comes to a close, SFCC welcomes its new president.

On June 3, Kimberlee Messina stepped foot on campus for her first day as SFCC’s new president.

“I always wanted to go to college,” Messina said, touching on her experience as a first generation college student. “It wasn’t that my parents didn’t value education, that’s the thing that’s usually misunderstood, my family just didn’t know (how to pursue it).”

After studying abroad in Brazil for a year during high school, Messina went on to study sociology at CSU Sacramento, later obtaining a master’s degree in Spanish there too. At UC Davis, she obtained her doctorate in educational leadership.

Since arriving on campus, Messina has been busy acclimating and learning her way around the campus.

On her first day, Messina found herself on an unexpected adventure around campus when she wasn’t able to enter the administration suite.

“I figured I would have a look around,” Messina said.

Messina explored every floor of the library, looking at SFCC’s book collection and e-learning rooms.

She found her way to the fine arts gallery where an art show for soon-to-be graduates was taking place.

“It’s really beautiful,” Messina said. “You should definitely go check that out.”

Game plan for the first year

“The first goal and project, as always, in any new place is to really learn the culture and the people’s relationships,” Messina said. “So that’s just, you know, overarching. That’s the backdrop of everything.”

“I know that there are a lot of challenges in colleges right now in terms of enrollment,” Messina added. “SFCC is no exception.”

Messina said she is in the process of working with the district office to maximize SFCC’s presence in the community. She wants the public to be aware of what SFCC has to offer.

“I want to get the middle schools and the high schools on campus early,” Messina said. “That’s something that’s so important, making families aware early on. Planning.”

Once students are on campus, Messina wants to build up an environment in which they can  thrive.

“The other backdrop is student success and equity,” Messina said. “I want to improve that by working with the research team here. I’m confident that, even though we are doing well, we can always do better in terms of increasing student success and completion.”

Messina wants to focus on first generation and underserved students first and foremost.

“We’re having a lot of conversations,” Messina said. “We’re going to start tackling our obstacles and moving forward.”

A new life in Spokane

Messina arrived in Spokane on May 31 with her husband and cat, Dr. Picasso.

“He (Dr. Picasso) was very relieved to be home in Spokane,” Messina said. “We’re all very happy to be here.”

Messina and her husband started an online blog, “Life is Better on the Road”, dedicated to the chronicles of their several month long road trip across the United States last year.

“We put it on hiatus,” Messina said. “We both agreed that we have to get that back on track!”

The blog aided Messina in deciding what area their family may want to relocate to. Messina’s personal connection to the Spokane area also helped her make the decision.

“My husband and I are excited to explore our new city and the beautiful surroundings of Spokane,” Messina said. “This move will bring us closer to our family in Washington.”

This past weekend, Messina and her husband attended Art Fest in Browne’s Addition.

“There were so many different art forms,” Messina said. “And so many different bands playing. It was wonderful.”

Messina is a self-proclaimed “travel-aholic.”

“There’s never enough time to travel to all the places you want to go,” Messina said. “We’re having our 25th wedding anniversary in October, so we’re going to Hawaii for that.”

“Our next big trip is to Vietnam (with a friend who grew up there), but that’s far in the future. It’ll take some planning for sure.”

Messina has hit the ground running as president and is already growing roots in her new home.