Why Am I Running?

By Vincent "Vince" De Vargas

Rancho Santiago Community College District is about the future of our young people and it is about the future of Orange County!

My interest in education goes back to my very roots.

• Both my parents were teachers.
• I was a high school teacher in San Francisco.
• When I lived in San Diego I served on the Community College Insurance Education Advisory Committee.
• For the past 25 years I have regularly taught continuing education classes for insurance licensees.
• I served as chairman of the Project InVest Committee at Santa Ana High School. This is a program that teaches high school students business skills in an insurance agency, company and bank setting.
• My oldest son is an Honor Student at Rancho.
• Two of my younger sons will eventually attend one of the Rancho campuses.

I believe in the concept of community colleges. I believe in the impact they can and do have in the community, particularly THIS district. Rancho Santiago Community College District is in the heart of our county...Santa Ana, Anaheim, Orange, Garden Grove, Villa Park, Tustin... It serves our growing and vibrant Latino and Asian communities. The Santiago Canyon Campus is in an expansion mode.

This District plays vital role in the economy of Orange County that comes from the shear size of its own budget of $130,000,000. But more than that, it plays a continuing role through its graduates who work and will someday own businesses here.

I see a need for our Community College District to improve the effective use of our safety academies. Our District operates both a fire academy and a police academy. I believe we can make better use of these facilities by working with the sponsoring fire and law enforcement agencies to regionalize the training by sharing programs with the other community colleges in Orange County that provide the same programs.

I want this job because I want to keep our community colleges affordable for all residents in our district.

I want to make sure that the expansion of the Santiago Canyon College is done in a responsible, effective and fiscally conservative manner that results in the very best campus we can afford without increasing tuition, fees or taxes.

I want to make sure that our Rancho Community College District remains one of the best in the state, that our teachers are provided the best facilities and environment for educating our residents.

Please help me do that, I need your support, I need your vote!