Kathy English

Program Specialist for Black Student Success

“Enter to learn and depart to serve”

*Transcript Was Computer Generated*

thank you so much for
agreeing to um be a part of this
interview
so we’ll start off with the questions
and then you can be on your merry way
okay
okay
um so first question can you introduce
yourself my name is kathy english i am
the program specialist for the black
student success group which is part of
the intercultural
student success or iss
and i’ve been here now
a year and a half
and um
i love it
i i love the job i really have been
having a good time with the people that
i’ve been meeting the students the staff
this campus the history
all of it so
that’s me
building on the achievements of your
predecessor what do you see going
forward
in the next five years
wow
that i’ve been looking at that question
since you sent it to me that is a loaded
deep question because
one of the things i’ve learned since
starting this job is
you’re there there are there are
protocols you know there’s
procedures there’s standards and then
there’s every day
and there are things that
happen
every day
there are different thoughts that come
to mind there it’s just
and so there has to it can’t just be
a cookie cutter you know
well this is the way we’ve always done
it or we should do it like this
it it there has to be flexibility
there has to be some
fluidity to it so that
you’re
keeping up
but also
keeping your ear to the ground on what’s
happening and how is whatever is
happening how is it affecting the
students how is it um
you know what what
what is the vibe what’s the undercurrent
of what’s going on so
um
wow five years honey i’m trying to
figure out what i’m gonna be doing five
weeks from now because
i’m serious it’s
ah
the world is still
you know recovering from being turned
upside down
and so a lot has changed in the year and
a half i’ve been here
um
i know that this summer we’re going to
be
looking at
how we do things and how do we want to
do things moving forward and
um
what needs
what needs our attention and all of that
so
i
i said all that to say i don’t have an
answer for you
oh what steps
something that you came up with a
solution
of what might happen in the next five
years
but
yeah yeah i don’t know that it’s really
high answer
yeah um
well but i can say
because you have to have a starting
point right so i can say at least
the steps
will be based on i don’t know what those
steps will be but the steps will be
based on
um
will this
whatever it is will this fulfill or help
the student will this fulfill the
student’s needs will this benefit the
students somehow
will this um
will this give them some guidance or
motivation
so it it’ll start there
so whatever the problem is and whatever
the solution
that we
managed to come up with to whatever
problem it will always start
with and end with
what is in the best interest of the
student
and then for your last question what is
the quote that you want to go under your
picture
to inspire students
i have a lot of quotes but i you know i
thought in in terms of this conversation
mary mcloy bethune has always been one
of my
sheroes
like since high school or junior high
and
something she says to the effect of
enter to learn
and depart to serve
and she was talking about you know she
was an educator so she was talking about
when you’re going to school enter to
learn
all that you can
so that you can leave and go
help someone and go serve and i like
that and i use it
whether i’m in school whether i’m on the
job whatever i’m doing i want to learn
how to be better
so that i can then be better for others
and serve other people so
yeah
that it’s short you know enter to learn
depart to serve
okay thank you so much thank you

Kathy English, Carina Carey, Stockton, April 25, 2022.