Students and staff at the College of Southern Nevada now have expanded access to financial literacy services through a partnership with Operation HOPE.

The organization focuses on helping people increase their FICO scores, decrease debt and increase savings. The Nevada System of Higher Education signed a memorandum of understanding to bring a fulltime financial coach to CSN.

Kisha Wright is available to work with CSN students and staff through group workshops or one-on-one counseling. Wright splits her time between CSN’s three main campuses. Her presence at CSN complements the work CSN has already been doing.

“It is a social responsibility for us to educate others in their own individual financial education,” said Lisandra De Jesus, CSN’s associate vice president of student affairs. “This service helps the individual, it helps the families. We are setting an example for our students that we care about their entire educational journey.”

A big part of Wright’s job is connecting students and clients to resources and to empowering them to make changes on their own, she said.

“The truth of the matter is we’re changing minds, we’re changing habits. It’s small baby steps to getting to a financial goal,” she said. “It’s always easier to give advice than to take it. When it comes to your own personal stuff, it’s hard to apply it to yourself. I’m here to coach, not to take over. You can do it. I want to inspire you that you can do it.”

Wright has already started running workshops on campus for students, including one called “How to Stretch My Dollar,” and is partnering with other CSN departments to put on events appealing to students, like an “Adulting 101” course to give students a crash course in some of the basics.

Kisha Wright can be reached at kisha.wright@operationhope.org

For more information, visit operationhope.org.

The CSN Coyotes athletics program will honor former baseball coach Tim Chambers on Thursday, February 20, with an on-field tribute and ceremony.

Chambers’ wife, Kimberlie, and daughters McKenzie and Chase will throw out the first pitch and will be presented with a bronze plaque in tribute of Coach Chambers. 

Chambers, who coached the team from 2000 to 2010 and led the Coyotes to a 419-195 record, passed away in October. During his tenure the Coyotes won a National Championship, two Western District Championships, three Region XVIII Championships, and six Scenic West Athletic Conference Championships.

The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 5:40 p.m. at Morse Stadium on the CSN Henderson Campus, with the game against the Okanagan College Coyotes beginning at 6.

The College of Southern Nevada wowed a sold-out crowd at the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce’s January business and education luncheon.

CSN’s award-winning Mariachi Plata kicked off the event with an inspiring performance and CSN President Dr. Federico Zaragoza shared key data points highlighting the great gains happening at CSN.

“CSN is going to be at the top of the heap, very, very quickly, absolutely. We are becoming one of the best community colleges in the country, bar none,” Zaragoza said.

Since 2016, CSN’s graduation rates have doubled from 7 percent to 14 percent in 2021 and the transfer rate has increased from 15 percent to 26 percent in the same time period. That makes for a combined student success rate of 40 percent in 2021. CSN has set an ambitious target to reach a combined student success rate — also sometimes referred to as an Aspen rate — of 47.5 percent by 2025.

CSN has also made great strides in closing the achievement gaps between Hispanic students and their white counterparts. At CSN, Hispanic students now graduate and transfer at similar rates to their white cohorts.

But African American students still lag behind in the data, Zaragoza shared with attendees. That is becoming a top priority at CSN.

Relevant to the business community, Zaragoza reaffirmed the important role CSN plays with the business community and discussed several partnerships between CSN and the Chamber to ensure that area businesses will have a qualified pool of applicants to hire coming out of CSN’s doors.

“Thank all of you for letting me work side by side with you to create a community college as good as the community we serve,” he said.

The College of Southern Nevada kicked off the spring 2020 semester by celebrating student success on Monday.

Held in the Nicholas J. Horn Theatre on the North Las Vegas Campus, the event set the tone for the spring semester, with presentations from across CSN. Leaders from the CSN constituencies, including Faculty Senate and Administrative Faculty Assembly, discussed a renewed spirit of support to help propel CSN to success.

“We’re supporting one another to become family,” said Faculty Senate Chair Dr. Arnold Bell.

Student body president Daniel Gutierrez spoke as well, highlighting the CSN transition to a multi-campus model and how the new model is already creating a positive experience for CSN students.

CSN President Dr. Federico Zaragoza reflected on his last 15 months serving at CSN, saying “the state of CSN is strong, and our future is bright.” And he brought the data to back it up.

• The CSN graduation rate has doubled from 7 percent in 2016 and is on track to reach 14 percent in 2021.
• The CSN transfer rate has increased from 15 percent in 2016 and is on track to reach 26 percent in 2021.
• Combined, the student success rate, a combination of graduation and transfer, will jump from 22 percent in 2016 to 40 percent in 2021.

And CSN has set ambitious goals beyond that, aiming to reach a combined student success rate of 49.5 percent for 2025. To do that, CSN will continue expanding on proven programs and double down on closing the achievement gap between subsets of students.

Particularly, Dr. Zaragoza called for a renewed focus on initiatives targeting African American students at CSN, who are graduating at a lower rate than other subsets of students.

“These numbers are certainly not acceptable to me and I know they’re not acceptable to you,” he said.

Dr. Zaragoza called upon the CSN community to craft innovative and creative solutions to help make sure all our students are completing college and graduating prepared to enter the diverse Southern Nevada workforce.

A new, shorter mission statement for CSN was introduced at convocation as well, to better align with CSN’s vision and values. The missions statement reads:

 “The College of Southern Nevada empowers our students and diverse communities to achieve, succeed, and prosper.”

After the event, a poster fair held in the Horn Theatre lobby highlighted innovative work being done across the college, with posters outlining student research, new attendance policies, information on recruiting a diverse pool of candidates and how conference attendance helps shape the student experience.

Classes resume at CSN on January 21. It’s not too late to apply. Visit csn.edu/apply for more information on how to get started.