California’s Capitol building is populated every Advocacy Day with constituents, activists, and volunteers meeting to converse with legislators. On Mar. 12, the statehouse was reserved for community college students under the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC), who championed to protect student rights. Early in the morning, two students, Gavin Perez and Jayme Bennett, and two advisers, Wendy Cordova and Jenae Ortega, traveled to Sacramento, California to participate in Advocacy Day and represent Bakersfield College.
As mentioned in the SSCCC website, “[Advocacy Day] brings student leaders from across the state directly to the Capitol to elevate the issues that matter most to California community college students.” From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., numerous groups of students met with lawmakers to discuss pressing topics, such as student housing, funding CalFresh benefits, and concerns about ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) for the safety of immigrant students.
Senator Gavin Perez of BCSGA detailed BCSGA’s goal was to secure basic needs for all BC students.
“As student representatives, our highest priority is always the students because they’re the future of academia, the California workforce, and beyond,” Perez explained.
However, BCSGA was informed right before arriving at the capital city that a scheduling error occurred: despite both students RSVPing for the event, neither student was assigned a group lead, which was required to attend legislative meetings. Spots filled up quickly, and Bakersfield College was unable to address their concerns directly to the state. Other campuses experienced similar issues; it was unfortunate SSCCC was unable to accommodate all community colleges across California.
The day continued with “March in March”, which took place from Southside Park at 1:30 p.m. to the West Steps of the State Capitol at 2 p.m. Students wore blue “March in March” shirts and picketed with “Free Education for All” and “Abolish ICE” signs, shouting 16 unique chants they learned minutes before. Waiting for them at the Capitol building were an array of speakers who hyped up the crowd and echoed the concerns of students. One speaker described her experiences as an immigrant and the injustices her children experienced.
“It was very heartfelt; the whole crowd was quiet at that moment,” said Perez.
Advocacy Day is one opportunity of many for students to fight towards change, and Bakersfield College had the honor to be involved.