On Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, the new Dickson Center Community Board Room opened with a ribbon cutting. The Waubonsee Community College Board of Trustees opened this room with their monthly meeting. 

By: Jay Paulson, Reporter

On Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, the Waubonsee Community College Board of Trustees held its monthly meeting covering a variety of topics including student accomplishments, financial reports, new faculty and student concerns across campus.

Following a ribbon cutting signaling the first use of the new Dickson Center Community Board Room, Assistant Provost of Workforce Development Ne’Keisha Stepney introduced Waubonsee students that won awards in the 2025 Skills USA National Leadership and Skills Conference. These students competed in Career and Technical Education (CTE) skill sets such as professionalism and teamwork. Gold medal winners include Aleah Sauder in Automotive Refinishing Technology; Joshua Stover in Automotive Service Technology and Briana Harris, Ennis Ballines, Sarah Pawlus and Kevin Bustamante Fontanel in Entrepreneurship. Benjamin Swanson won a bronze medal in Collision Damage Appraisal.

“Each of these students embodies our college’s mission to prepare graduates who are not only highly skilled, but ready to lead and make an impact in their industries and the community,” Stepney said.

Next, Student Life Manager Michelle Dahlstrom introduced the 2025-26 school year Student Senate. Students campaigned throughout spring 2025 to determine the new senators who were decided with over 2,000 votes. The new members recently held their Town Hall Meeting on Monday, Oct. 13, and several members attended the Leading Illinois Together Conference on behalf of the college. The Student Senate helped welcome students to campus in August and has been focused on helping the campus and its students.

“Our newly elected officers have demonstrated strong dedication to civic engagement, sponsoring the ‘skills to disagreeing better’ workshop, helping students navigate political dialogue and planning a civic engagement panel on Nov. 3 featuring community leaders from United Way, League of Women Voters and also Dr. Sandy Lopez, Director of the Undocumented Student Resource Center at Northern Illinois University with additional faculty and nonprofit partners to round out the panel,” Dahlstrom said.

The 2025-26 Student Senate includes Student Senate President Michelle Alaniz and Senators Connor Anderson, Luis Baez, Ennis Ballines,Angela Bolanos, Isaac Choe, Briana Haris, Gianna King, Savannah Pearson Fitzsimons, Charis Davidson, Luke Lockwood and Andres Salgado.

Following the introduction of the Student Senators, Stepney introduced new faculty members Instructor of Welding Technology Emmanuel Chavez; Instructor of Nursing Romana Donnelly; Instructor of Human Services Michelle Hawley; Instructor of Welding Dennis Hood; Instructor of Nurse Assistant and Allied Health Audrie Kent, Instructor of Heating; Ventilation and Air Conditioning Amber Keare and Instructor of Health Information Technology M’Kaila Clark.

New full-time faculty introduced by Assistant Provost of Teaching and Learning Sharon Garcia include Instructor of English Tacarra Ford, Instructor of Mathematics Dr. Jordan Hasler, Instructor of Biology Beatrix Kenessein Pollak and Instructor of Chemistry Colleen Budziak.

Lastly for new staff members, Provost and Vice President of Teaching, Learning and Student Success Dr. Kim Chavis introduced Director of Dual Credit and P-20 Partnerships Sharon Rainbolt.

When the introduction of new faculty was concluded, Vice President of Finance and Administration John Bryant gave a summary of Financial Reports. There was a motion carried to hold an auction of the items stored in Akerlow that did not get moved into the new Technical Education Center.

After the financial report, Faculty Council President and Professor of Health Information Technology Patty Saccone gave an encouraging message to the new faculty.

“One thing I think we need to ensure is that for our new faculty, they are not alone,” Saccone said. “Their first years are going to bring challenges. They’re going to have a lot of opportunities to explore.”

Next, Student Trustee Maria Santillan brought problems on campus that she had noticed to the board. The first issue she talked about was the concern for the LGBTQ+ events on campus. Santillan explained that students felt that the college did not promote the LGBTQ+ events as much as they did for other events. She asked that the college have pride in all of their students.

“It is very disheartening to see Waubonsee, an institution that is supposed to support all of its students, chose silence over solidarity,” Santillan said.

Santillan also brought up fears revolving around the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She pointed out how ICE is causing anxiety in many of the college’s students. Santillan requested that faculty have mandatory training to support students, clear protocols if ICE appears on campus and that President Dr. Brian Knetl makes a message to the students.

“Let me be clear,” Santillan said. “These are not abstract issues. These are classmates, and these are your students.”

Following Santillan’s address to the board, Knetl gave a recap of the last month of activities. The college held many events for LGBTQ+ History month and Spanish Heritage month. An interfaith prayer room was recently opened for students where they can take a break during the school day to center themselves. Knetl also thanked the administration and faculty for supporting him as he is being honored with the Education and Champion of Opportunity Award by the Quad County Urban League at their Equality Gala on Oct. 25.

The next Board of Trustees meeting will be held on Nov. 19, 2025 at 6:00 p.m in the Dickson Center Community Board Room.