Dear Cuesta Community,

Thank you for your amazing effort that has brought us successfully through our first week online. The California Shelter at Home Order remains in effect and we are updating our communication to clarify that all instruction and student support services are available online. To support student completion, we continue to provide access to technology resources in SLO in the Library Open Computer Lab and at North County Campus in the Campus Center. These are the only areas of campus that are open for student access. This reduction of service locations allowed further reduction of the number of employees scheduled to be on campus.

I am working from home this afternoon and appreciate the challenge that it brings. During the Zoom check-in meeting with the vice presidents my doorbell rang, my dogs barked, and the green waste truck backed up with all of its beeping glory! I am thinking of you and the variety of obstacles that you are overcoming as you work remotely. Know that you are appreciated and the enormity of what you are accomplishing while working remotely is allowing students to stay on their educational path. 

While working alone, know you are not alone. As the public service announcement says, we are “alone together.”  

For now, I am making the best of the reality of working from home. I have my laptop perched on top of shoe boxes and am finding smiles along the way. I look forward to the day when we reconvene on campus. Until then, shelter at home, and stay well.  

Jill Stearns, Ph.D.

Cuesta College Superintendent/President