Local builder Jon Girod and manufacturing executive Brian Taylor joined the Board of Directors at the Clark College Foundation in June. Along with this, Lucy Estrada-Guzman, the principal at Harney Elementary School, joined the foundation’s Alumni Board.
Along with being the parent of a Clark College alum, Girod is a Vancouver real estate developer and owner of Quail Homes. He first volunteered at Clark when his three sons were in middle and high school. His sons then went on to attend and play basketball at Clark College. In a press release, Girod said he appreciated the chance Clark gives students to try different subjects without accruing debt.
“The more I learned about it, the more I thought that this is such an incredible resource for our community,” Girod said. “That’s where I’d like to see our efforts here in the community – bring the kids into all the local businesses. At the end of the day, if you want to have quality jobs in your community, you need to have an educated workforce and education needs to be diverse, it can’t be linear.”
Taylor is the head of international sales at Siemens Industry, a business he joined in 2003. He was promoted to his position in 2019. The board of directors is a volunteer governing board for Clark College Foundation. It includes leaders in business and civic affairs. Ex officios include the president of Clark College, CEO of the foundation, two representatives from Clark’s Board of Trustees, and two foundation leadership executives.
In addition to being welcomed to the Alumni Board, Estrada-Guzman is one of this year’s recipients of the Outstanding Alumni Award. The accolade recognized those who deliver exemplary service to the community and Clark College as well as exhibiting personal and professional achievements. While she was a student at Clark College, Estrada-Guzman got a job at Clark County’s Head Start and Early Childhood Education and Assistance program. She realized then that she wanted to teach. She continued her college studies, eventually earning a master’s in education. While serving as an associate principal at Sarah J. Anderson Elementary School, she piloted a dual-language program for kindergarten and first grade. When she became the principal at Harney Elementary School in 2011, she added her expertise to strengthen the region’s first full-immersion dual-language initiative.
Last June, Estrada-Guzman joined Clark’s Dr. Debi Jenkins and former Vancouver School District teacher Linda Marie Gilliam for a panel discussion called “It Begins with a Child.” The educators spoke before a live audience about diversity and equity, getting parents involved with their children’s learning, dual language programs taking hold, and integrating a curriculum of humor.
– The Reflector
