The Advancing San Diego (ASD) Internship Program, launched in Spring 2020aims to provide up to 100 fully subsidized internships at San Diego-based companies. This program supports companies with 100 employees or less, which comprise 98 percent of all businesses in San Diego, employ nearly two-thirds of San Diegans, and account for 70 percent of job growth. A vital issue for these companies has been a lack of time and resources to recruit the skilled talent necessary to continue their growth.

San Diego Mesa College Athletics has a strong history of sending athletes to the Olympics, and this year, despite the pandemic, is no exception. U.S. Paralympics Track & Field announced that Wesley Williams and Moray Steward, of San Diego Mesa College, will guide T11 athletes Lex Gillette and David Brown, respectively, at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2021. As guides, Williams and Steward are considered full members of the 2020 Paralympic Track and Field team.

For his latest exhibition “Flowers & Fields,” Mira Mesa artist Andrew Alcasid opted to ditch the familiar “white cube gallery” for a nontraditional exhibition space: an 1896 Queen Anne Victorian home. “I’m looking at every surface — of wall space, and also windows — and seeing what can fit,” Alcasid, 34, says. “If there’s a blank wall, that’s them asking for some work. (The house) is just a blank canvas.”

San Diego Mesa College has started their Summer 2021 session, with over 350 on-line and hybrid (online and in-person) courses available. Over 7,500 students are already enrolled, and several courses still have availability. Many classes start this week, with other shorter-term courses starting throughout June and into July. Students can view the schedule at sdmesa.edu/Summer. Mesa College is also offering student support services throughout the summer.

As a new graduate of Mesa College’s Health Information Management (HIM) bachelor’s program, Vicki Dunbar celebrates an educational milestone almost 30 years in the making. While Dunbar originally intended to continue her education immediately after earning an associate degree in Health Information Technology from Cypress College in 1994, life steered her in another direction.

On Friday, May 28, 2021, at 3:00 p.m., San Diego Mesa College will host their Virtual Commencement Ceremony for the 2021 graduating class, with over 600 students participating in the Ceremony. Mesa will be conferring over 2,200 academic degrees and 411 certificates, a 3% percent increase over 2020. The class of 2021 is boasting 75 valedictorians, 560 students graduating with honors and over 400 students who are receiving more than one degree or certificate. The Ceremony will go live on Friday at www.sdmesa.edu/Commencement, and will feature of series of videos to include the Commencement Ceremony and the Presentation of the Graduates, along with program and alumni highlights.

In reminiscing on his time as a student at Mesa College, new graduate Nikolai Kestler recalls the words of Dr. Martin Luther King as fuel for his determination. “If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward,” he quotes.

San Diego Mesa College has announced their 2021 Giving Day campaign that kicked-off on Wednesday, May 12, with match offered by the San Diego Mesa College Foundation. The announcement - made during the 28th Annual Scholarships Awards Virtual Ceremony that anyone who donated by 12:00 a.m. midnight on Thursday, May 13 will be credited with a triple match to their donation – generated donations of approximately $100 per hour. Donations made through May 29th will be matched up to $10,000.