Dr. Schultz Interview

The research/writing team journeyed to the San Jacinto campus to talk with Dr. Roger Schultz, the President of the college. Everything went smoothly and Dr. Schultz had much to offer the group. Gilbert, head writer, gives us his perspective:

Today Sandi, Reta, & myself interviewed the college president, Dr Roger Schultz. The interview was very constructive and most helpful. He communicated a vision for the college that is inspiring and we were all impressed by his commitment to the school. It is very obvious that Dr. Schultz cares deeply for this institution and the faculty. The team looks forward to working with him for future collaboration on the project. 


Dr. Schultz with Sandi Colby, Reta Bidi, and Gilbert van Buskirk

Jerome Billins, one of our illustrious instructors, gave an informative lecture on techniques for interviews. He shared some links to youtube videos and offered these tips for successful interviews:

NEVER ASK A 'YES' OR 'NO' QUESTION
ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
ASK CONTRAST AND COMPARE QUESTIONS
REPEAT LAST THREE WORDS OF ANSWER
BUILD QUESTIONS FROM THE SUBJECT'S ANSWERS
THE LAST QUESTIONS SHOULD BE:
         "Is the anything I have not asked about that you want to share?"

Great stuff to work with and achieve successful interviews.

Dr. Dennis Anderson joined the research team to share his memories about MSJC.  He was interviewed by Danielle Perez and Sandi Colby, two of the writer/researchers on the project.  Here's some thoughts from Dani:

  Pride.

                Forward-looking.

                Tradition.

                Emotion.

                Inspiration.

                These are the feelings that Dr. Anderson exuded as he spoke of the history of Mt. San Jacinto College. “This school is my life. It is the soul of my experiences in education,” he expressed.

                From the moment Dr. Anderson began to speak—dusting off ancient, cherished memories proudly stored like trophies in the display cases of his cognizance—his audience was captivated. He is a unique member of the college’s faculty and an exceptional source of information because of his 41-year connection with this institution. Anderson began as a student of the college in 1967, earning his Associates Degree within the year. He gladly returned to serve as a theatre instructor and eventually became a Vice President of the college. Overall, Anderson conveyed a profound sense of pride in all that Mount San Jacinto has and will accomplish.

                After Dr. Anderson’s departure, the entire multimedia team gushed over all the incredible information we had just received. Research Staff and Art Department alike bubbled over with inspiration. Pride, forward-looking, tradition, emotion, and inspiration—these are the feelings that rose in the room. These are the cornerstones of our project. And this is just the beginning…

Thanks for your heart-felt thoughts Danielle. The school will definitely miss his incredible devotion to the students and institution. Dr. Anderson, you are awesome.

Our session today started off with the team voting on the possible theme of the documentary.  Each student thought about how they wanted the finished documentary to be perceived by viewers. This important step will determine how it is ultimately written and produced.  The top 5 themes were: Pride, Forward-Looking, Traditional, Emotional, and Inspirational.

The art design team will be taking a field trip to the San Jacinto campus to meet with Dorene Holt.  They will be given access to the historical photographs dating from the first days of the school.

On Thursday, June 21, we will welcome Dr. Dennis Anderson as our first interviewee.  His memories and insights will be most appreciated by the research team, as they continue to gather information on the 50 year history of MSJC.

Our second session started with a report from members of the research team.  They spent most of Wednesday at the San Jacinto campus, sifting through huge scrapbooks of newspaper clippings. Sandi Colby had this to say:

And the research begins...

 On Wednesday, Gilbert and I made the first of many trips to the San Jacinto campus to dig into the glorious history of MSJC. Our exploration began in the Administrative Building which houses an extensive collection of newspaper articles that follow the school from the time it was just a concept through the events of today as they unfold. The following information is a very brief outline of the first couple years. The MSJC college district was born in December of 1961 when representatives from the communities of Banning, Beaumont, Cabazon, San Jacinto, and Hemet met and voted to create it. Spring of 1962 saw the election of the original Board of Trustees for the fledgling junior college. In March of 1963 Mr. Milo Johnson left the Imperial Valley district, which he had built, and joined MSJC as President. The first classes were held in September of 1963 and were only offered in the evening at both the Beaumont and San Jacinto High Schools. There was a lot of disagreement within the district over the decision to begin classes without a permanent campus and buildings; some people wanted to rent a peice of land from the San Jacinto High School and set up mobile classrooms, others wanted to wait until the actual campus was built before classes started (which would have pushed classes back to at least 1965), other people were just worried about sending their children to sub-standard classes and wanted to keep sending their children to schools in other districts such as Riverside and San Bernardino. Once the question of when classes were to start was answered, the next bone of contention became where the new campus was going to be permanently located. Mr. Johnson and the Board tried to find the most suitable location that was centrally located for all attending students. Beginning with five locations, various factors such as location, flooding issues and cost whittled the choice down to two 160 acre parcels-- the Wolfskill property and the Quandt Ranch property. The owner of the Quandt Ranch offered the district half of the 160 acres free with the purchase of the additional half. After the initial $3 million bond vote to raise money for the new campus ended with a firm no, the Wolfskill property fell out of the running because the owner of the Quandt Ranch offered his entire property to the district free of charge, and he offered to pay for some of the costs involved with bringing utilities onto the land--a very generous gift! The first couple years in MSJC history can easily be described as turbulent-- many people had different opinions about how each detail should be handled. Fortunatley, Mr. Johnson had the experience and drive to keep pushing forward no matter what happened.  I can't wait to see how the rest of this story unfolds...

Thank you Sandi for a great report. Just to let you know, we have started a Facebook page and invite everyone to check us out and comment if you feel the urge. 

Today was the kick-off on the Anniversary 50 project. Our first class was a combination of introductions (Jerome Billins style), brain-storming, assignments and Documentary Films 101.  The students were all excited and eager to get started with planning the documentary.  Assigned to investigate the history of MSJC, we will all come Thursday morning ready to brainstorm and develop an outline of the project. More to come soon.