Last in a series
Re “Abu-Ghazaleh to Neighbors: We Are Here to Serve the Community”
If it is not evident by now, you should know that Nabil S. Abu-Ghazaleh, President of West Los Angeles College since last August, owns a wry sense of humor.
His wife of 25 years is a professor at Pasadena City College, where he formerly taught. She joined the faculty just as he was leaving.
Since they are working across town from each other, where could they live so that it would be a geographical compromise?
“We live seven miles from her work and 25 miles from my work,” he said the other day with a wide smile. “We have agreed it is halfway between us,” and Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh laughed heartily.
He is wise, too.
“The point I wanted to make,” he said, “is that my wife is a true teacher. She brings her work home with her all of the time. One of the things she always emphasizes to her students is to consider the audience.
“When I am speaking to a crowd or to an individual, I am not speaking for me or about me as much as I am to that audience.
“If you don’t catch their attention, you are just doing it for yourself, and that doesn’t do anything for your audience.”
Turning to his mission at West Los Angeles College, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh was succinct and direct. He pointed his hand toward a window in his high-ceilinged office.
It Is Not Complicated
“See all of those students out there? My job is to get them out of here. My job is to get them to leave, having reached the goals they came in with, or the goals they developed while here.
“That really is all we do at the community colleges. We build dreams. Or we help students achieve them. That can be from as little as taking one course that a person needed to be more competent or competitive in a job, up to helping those who are not college-ready, get them through the steps they need, and get them out of here with an Associate degree or a Certificate of Achievement in a career area or get them transferred to a four-year institution.
“The idea is to get students towards a goal that involves becoming productive members of the community, to personally empower them to see their value lies not in being just a worker or a cog in the wheel but really to be a citizen.”
It seems like forever, since the college’s 1969 opening, that portable rather than permanent classrooms have been a main identifying mark of the campus.
Building a Real Life Dream
It is dramatically changing.
Through the spring, new buildings have been opening on the West campus, all leading up to a grand celebration on Saturday, May 19.
“We are creating an environment of pride ,” says Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh, “where students can say ‘I go to a higher education institution. I am no longer learning in temporary buildings that have been here for 40 years.
“Our building program is so important because it communicates to our students that they are deserving of an appropriate higher education environment. They feel better about themselves. They see themselves as worthy, and therefore start believing they are members of society worthy of respect.
“If you are living out of a temporary where you are not sure if the floor is going to hold you up, you are not necessarily sure if you are valued that much.
“Building and construction have been a festering issue here for many years. Now that they are moving out of the temporaries and going into modern buildings, a tidy, safe environment where you focus just on the instructor, not on the floor, not on whether you can see well enough on the light.
“You can focus on learning. Now you know you are a valued member of society, expected to take advantage of what you have.”
