Cosumnes River College President Ed Bush kicked off the 50th anniversary celebration of CRC in a YouTube video released on Sept. 14.
The 50th anniversary celebration will be a series of videos and will have one video released each month throughout the year, said Public Information Officer Kristie West.
“It gives us an opportunity to reflect, to see how much as an institution we have done and accomplished over the years,” said Bush. “As we look to the future of continuing that legacy of excellence and service to make sure that 50 years from now, people will look back on us during those times to be able to say that we continue to lay a solid foundation for their work.”
West said the celebration video series will include the opening of a time capsule buried 25 years ago.
“There was a 25th Anniversary Committee that put together a time capsule and buried it by the Recital Hall,” said West. “We have now dug that up and we have opened it.”
West said the celebration will continue into the spring, including videos of former presidents, faculty and students who have attended and worked at CRC for several years and have moved on.
“We’ll talk about what they remember about CRC, what it was like back in the day and what they see for the future of the college,” said West.
The committee originally planned on having numerous celebration events on campus, but have converted to video formats because of the pandemic, West said.
“We had a lot of things already in place and it was very difficult,” said West. “We had to move forward with doing something.”
Regional Director of Philanthropy Michele Steiner said funds raised during the 50th anniversary campaign will go to support student needs in the Hawk Cares Program.
“Addressing to help with housing insecurity, food insecurity, cap and gown access,” said Steiner. “Everything that relates to needs above and beyond academics.”
Steiner said the CRC campus has a very strong sense of community.
“I like to refer to us as more of a family than student faculty and staff,” said Steiner. “We really have that sense of belonging that we are all there for each other.”
The committee is excited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of CRC through virtual events this year, Bush said.
The next celebration video will be the opening of the time capsule from 25 years ago in October and can be seen on CRC’s YouTube channel.