Every once in a while, a meeting reminds you why you raised your hand to volunteer in the first place.
Last week was one of those meetings.
I serve as chairman of the College of the Canyons Foundation board. The foundation helps students who cannot quite bridge the financial gap to attend school. We provide emergency assistance, books and basic needs when life circumstances threaten to derail a promising academic path. We provide hundreds of merit- and need-based scholarships. We build endowments supporting important career programs.
It is meaningful work and we are dedicated to it. Helping students succeed through education is about as rewarding as community service gets.
But every once in a while, something happens that reminds you just how powerful even a small act can be.
At our recent meeting, Dr. Jia-Yi Cheng-Levine from the college’s International Services and Programs department came to speak to us. She had a simple request. Could the foundation raise $8,000 to purchase 20 laptop computers for refugee students beginning their studies at College of the Canyons?
On the surface, that might not sound like a particularly large project. Eight thousand dollars is not a major fundraising campaign for a college foundation.
But the story behind the request quickly changed the tone of the room.
Dr. Jia-Yi, as she’s known on campus, explained that COC has become something of a welcoming place for refugee students trying to rebuild their lives in the United States.
The story began in 2021 when 176 Afghan refugees were temporarily resettled by the U.S. government in hotels here in Santa Clarita. Many of these families had assisted U.S. troops during the war and suddenly found themselves needing to leave their country. They arrived here with almost nothing.
Dr. Jia-Yi stepped forward and began coordinating help across the community. She worked with government agencies and local organizations to provide the basic necessities families needed to stabilize their lives. These included blankets, grocery cards, bicycles and guidance on navigating the realities of life in the United States.
But the most important tool they could offer the young people in these families was education.
By the spring of 2022, twenty-four refugee students had enrolled in 43 non-credit classes at COC. At that time, the COC Foundation helped raise funds for 14 laptop computers so those students could participate fully in their studies.
Those students kept going.
Some eventually moved out of the hotels and into apartments around Los Angeles County as their families began rebuilding their lives. Several continued studying at COC. Two students from that first group earned their associate degrees, and more are graduating this spring.
At our board meeting, Dr. Jia-Yi invited four Afghan students to share their experiences. Within minutes, the room was captivated.
We were struck by their English skills. These young women spoke with confidence, humor and clarity. Then we noticed something even more impressive. Their poise, their determination and their obvious capability. These were young women who had already faced enormous disruption in their lives, yet were clearly determined to succeed.
One of the four had already completed her time at COC, earned her degree at Cal State Northridge and now hopes to become a high school teacher. She is also fluent in four languages. The other students spoke about their studies, their families and their hopes for the future.
You could see immediately that these young women are going somewhere in life. Yet most arrived here with virtually nothing and a great deal to overcome.
In that kind of environment, a laptop computer becomes a very real lifeline.
These basic computers connect students to classes, research, assignments and the broader educational world. In many cases it becomes the family’s primary window to the outside world. The device is shared among siblings and parents as everyone works to adapt to a new country and a new life.
I suspect few computers are appreciated more than these.
So Jia-Yi made her request. Twenty laptops. Eight thousand dollars.
Our board members decided to try something simple. We asked each member to consider making a personal gift outside normal fundraising efforts specifically for this program.
Within two weeks we exceeded the $8,000 request and raised a total of $11,300.
That means this year’s refugee students will receive the laptops they need, and we already have a healthy start toward funding next year’s effort.
COC has hosted international students for nearly three decades. Today 244 international students study at the college, and the vast majority pay full tuition. That rate is much higher than for the college’s local student population.
But the refugee students represent something more powerful than tuition. They remind us what opportunity in education really looks like.
Sometimes opportunity does not require sweeping policies or programs. Sometimes it begins with human concern and compassion. A laptop computer sitting on a small desk in a crowded apartment can connect a determined student to the education that changes the course of a life.
In a time when the world often feels defined by war, division and suffering, it was refreshing to watch a room full of volunteers express the compassion Americans have long been known for.
Our foundation members saw a problem and quickly stepped up. And in doing so, we opened a small window to the world in the best spirit of American generosity.
Gary Horton is chairman of the College of the Canyons Foundation board. His “Full Speed to Port!” has appeared in The Signal since 2006. The opinions expressed in his column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Signal or its editorial board.
