Your Graduation Wasn’t An Exit Sign, It Was A Group Chat Invite

We launch the CCSD Alumni Association with the Public Education Foundation to turn graduate pride into mentorship, scholarships, and real opportunities for young people across Southern Nevada. Guests share lived stories that show how community, representation, and partnership fuel a true destination district.

• Why formalizing alumni energy matters now
• Mission of a destination district rooted in pride and outcomes
• Honoring alumni and expanding the public narrative of success
• Mentorship as the keystone for access and confidence
• Practical on-ramps for alumni engagement and volunteering
• Partnerships with PEF and cross-sector allies at scale
• Scholarships at volume and sustainable support structures
• Inviting all graduates to contribute, regardless of path

Make sure that you head over to www.ccsd.net/community and sign up. It’s free, it’s only four updates a year, and it’s the easiest way to invest in the future of the Clark County School District and Southern Nevada as a whole

Transcript

Why An Alumni Association Now

SPEAKER_01 0:02

They say you can leave the hallways of your high school, but those hallways never really leave you. Whether you are a centennial bulldog, a Liberty Patriot, a Clark Charger, or a Chaparral cowboy, you are part of a massive living legacy that drives the engine of Southern Nevada. For far too long, that alumni energy has been scattered. Today, we're changing that. In this episode, we are talking about a powerful new bridge between our past and our future. The Clark County School District has teamed up with the Public Education Foundation to launch the CCSD Alumni Association. This isn't just about nostalgia or old yearbooks. It's about mobilizing the incredible talent of our graduates to support the future of public education here in our home, Southern Nevada. I'm Superintendent Joan Ebert, and this is the Destination District Podcast. Hello and welcome back to Destination District, the podcast where we explore the voices and visions shaping the future of the Clark County School District. I'm your host, Joan Ebert. You've heard me talk about our mission to make CCSD a true destination district, a place where students don't just graduate, but they thrive. But a district is more than its current classrooms. It's the legacy of the hundreds of thousands of graduates who have walked our halls. That's why I'm so thrilled about our newest partnership with the Public Education Foundation. Today, we're talking about the launch and expansion of the CCSD Alumni Association. To celebrate our history and invest in our future, we are bringing together generations of graduates from our newest class of 2025 to those who wore the cap and gown decades ago. Joining me today to talk about how we're uniting generations of CCSD alumni, our Latoya Holman, Chief Development and Human Resources Officer for the Public Education Foundation, Carmen West, Executive Manager, Office of the Superintendent, Alex Bibe, founder and principal of Bibi Co., and a 2025 Golden Apple Gala Honoree. And then finally, we have Dr. Tia Mathis Coleman, Deputy Treasurer over College Savings, who also was a 2026 Golden Apple Gala Honoree. CCSD has produced some incredible talent from tech leaders to educators and artists. To get us started, LaToya, will you please tell us why in 2026 it was the right moment for CCSD and the Public Education Foundation to officially formalize the Alumni Association?

SPEAKER_03 2:50

Superintendent, we know that now is the time for our community to show up for our school district. You know, I don't have to say this to you, but record numbers of teachers in the classrooms, absenteeism rate is improving. And we are seeing an increase, increasing interest of public wanting to support our future and build legacy. And so when you think about that, you really do think about where did I come from? And where am I now and where am I headed? And the alumni association is perfect. It's the perfect avenue for people to tap into that.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

It's great. You know, I was just out at another event the other day, and it was the first time that I've really heard people lean into. I graduated from Chaparral, I graduated from Valley. And yes, I love the fact that we're working together in capturing the history.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

It's exciting, it's nostalgic. And what we know to be true is when people tap into where they came from, their high schools, their middle schools, their elementary schools, they understand and they can feel, they can see it, they can smell it, they remember that you know their favorite memories, how they engaged. And it really has shaped who they've become and their worldview, right? But it really all started there.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

That's awesome. And to help join in on the conversation, I just feel so blessed that Carmen West is here with us this morning. Not only is she a CCSD graduate from Western High School, but she will soon be retiring from the Clark County School District after 36 amazing years. And so, Carmen, if you don't mind sharing with us what your journey was like as a CCSD student, how did you experience and prepare for life as an employee within CCSD?

Formal Launch With PEF

SPEAKER_00 4:40

I absolutely loved being a part of the Clark County School District. I started in kindergarten at Madison Elementary School, which is now Wendell P. Williams Elementary School. I went to Mabel Hogarth, I went to Wingert Elementary School, I went to JT McWilliams Elementary School. I was I was a part of the busing. I was a part of double sessions when we had double sessions. Oh yes. I was a part of sixth grade centers. I went to a sixth grade center. I went to Gibson when it was a junior high school, and seventh grade was seven, seventh, eighth, and ninth grade was junior high school. And then I went to Western High School and graduated from Western. And so I have experienced a little bit of every part of Las Vegas because I've gone to school all over. And and I'll say it just it just helped the different experiences and it helped me become more resilient when it came to being a being a part of this district. Just the, you know, as the district was figuring it out, we were figuring it out as students. But it just encouraged us to, you know, to still do the best that we could do, adapt to whatever changes came, and you know, and then just flow with it like that. So it was it was just a great experience being a student.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

I love how you talk about resilience and you know where you are today. We'll move on to Alex. You hello. You were in the first class, if we will, that was being recognized by the Public Education Foundation, alumni of the year last year. You are also a graduate of Bonanza High School.

SPEAKER_04 6:30

Go Bangles.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Go Bangles. There we go. Tell us a little bit about your experiences and how it came to be. You've got your own, you own your own company right now.

SPEAKER_04 6:40

I do, yeah. So, first of all, I just want to say this year is Bonanza's 50th anniversary, so opened 1976. So I think they're planning a big celebration.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

But you're not 50 yet. No, no, not yet. Not yet.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

So just want to shout out that I, you know, to Latoya's point, I think the community wants to celebrate our schools, wants to celebrate our alumni, but it's creating pathways for them to do that. And so I'm really excited that the Public Education Foundation launched at their Golden Apple Gala last year this notion of lifting up alumni that are doing meaningful things with their lives and their careers and who are also serving our community. So to be honored as one of the CCSD alumni of the year, you know, alongside Dr. Bernhard and, you know, Dr. Tia Mathis Coleman and Kenneth Lynn and Siriwan Singasari, and so many people who have done accomplished things with their lives, shows me that there's a lot to be proud of and there's a lot that we learn through our time in CCSD, not just in the classroom, but in this community, right? Because as a young person, everywhere you go, you're learning. And the adults in this community care about our young people. Um, and so I I'm I'm looking forward to seeing how this grows and looking forward to seeing more young people stand a little taller in the hallways, calling themselves CCSD students, because for too long we've been focused on a set of rankings that, while important in some regards, I think create a false sense of what's possible for a young person because they internalize those narratives. And so I think to balance that narrative with pride and hope of what's possible with this education is a meaningful endeavor, and I'm excited to see where it goes.

Carmen’s CCSD Journey And Resilience

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Thank you. That's wonderful. And our last guest on the show this morning is Dr. Tia Mathis Coleman. She currently serves and love this title, Deputy Treasurer over college savings. How would you like to weigh in on this question and where we're at and where you were at as a high school student?

SPEAKER_02 8:39

I think CCSD really prepared me for life. I always tell people that. Teachers were always pouring into me. They were always, they had high expectations, but they also provided me with the support that I needed to thrive and to grow in CCSD. I think as, you know, a person raising a young woman in CCSD now, the legacy of CCSD continues, right? I think what Alex was saying about really letting our children see great things come out of this school district. And you are great, right? I think is really, really important. And so I'm proud to be a CCSD alumni. I tell people everywhere I go, Cimarron Memorial High School, I learned more than just building balloon arches. I learned how to communicate effectively. I learned how to advocate for myself, and I learned how to pour back into the community. At CCSD schools is where I first started doing volunteer work. And now that's a part of who I am. And so I think CCSD, CCSD is doing some really great things, and I will support the CCSD in any way I can for as long as I can.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Great. So you just kind of let into the next place where I was going with the alumni network. And, you know, how it's great again to say, okay, we're going to put together alumni network, but what does that mean? What do you all see yourselves doing? How do you see other alumni participating?

SPEAKER_03 10:03

So it's so interesting. I'm going to jump in here and then hand it back over. But one of the things that we're really proud of that we're working on is consistent communications, you know, an opportunity for our alumni and our network, which is quite broad, right? We've got alumni who have gone around the country like Bo, you know, graduating from Harvard and then coming back and building innovative opportunities for our students, for our community. But we're going to do consistent newsletters so that all of our alumni have an opportunity to, they have an engagement point, right? Where they can learn and they can figure out how they can contribute. And that might look like showing up and volunteering at the CCSD book bus. Yes. It might look like coming to the Golden Apple Gala to meet their friends that they went to high school with. But we're going to create those low stress, you know, engagement opportunities to get us started. And I'm I'm open to any other any feedback that you have about what you'd like to see this, Alex, like what you'd like to see this engagement as an alumni be for you.

SPEAKER_04 11:05

Yeah, I think one of the most valuable things about building community is number one, the incredible diversity that we have in our community and allowing our alumni to engage with our young people and our young people to engage with our alumni. It just expands horizons. It expands ways of thinking about how to solve issues and it creates community ties and affection. And that's invaluable because when we as a community have to tackle hard issues, we've got to trust each other. And so a way that you build trust is through establishing common ground. And when we can all say, hey, we all are graduates of this system, of the school district, of this community, that creates an instant point of connection from which we can establish common ground.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:48

And I think the other thing, Latoya, that that that I'm looking forward to is just establishing more connections with our current students and our current students establishing connections with a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Well, it's wild that you bring that up because I was actually just thinking about Adrian, who was honored with you.

SPEAKER_04 12:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

That, you know, you were able to meet with a young, recent high school graduate of CCSD who was starting his own business. Yeah. Right. And and recent, you mean what he had just graduated.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

He had just graduated. Absolutely. Literally. Literally.

SPEAKER_04 12:16

Entrepreneurial, hardworking, was finding a way to contribute his gifts to the community.

Elevating Alumni Pride And Narrative

SPEAKER_03 12:21

That's right. And so he connected with Alex. And then the next thing we know, he's on stage at the Golden Apple Gala with Peter Guzman, who is who is the chair of the Public Education Foundation, but also the president of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, who's then offering him a membership, an elevated membership that many can't afford, complimentary, and is now being mentored by Peter Guzman. So this is, I think, a very real example of what Alex and Tia and Carmen and I are talking about. How do we connect our students with the success that has come from CCSD and move forward together?

SPEAKER_00 13:00

I think this is absolutely wonderful. You're going to reach out to people who never thought that they would ever have a voice about CCSD. Their kids are part of the school district now, and they get to, I know at home they probably their children probably hear them talk about the good old days when they were in school. But now they actually get to be a part and share their good old days when they were a part of the CCSD. And it and I think it will encourage their children to have their own good old days in the school in the CCSD. And so I just think those people who may not consider themselves as successful, because you have people who graduated from CCSD who are not Harvard graduates. And so that means that all of the people who have gone through this system need to let everyone know, I did it, I made it, and you can too. So come and be a part of it.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Right. Yeah, you don't have to be a graduate of college. I mean, Harvard, you know, thankful for Bose, you know, coming back home. But there are people that have stayed here in our community, have not left the state. They're very successful. And how how do they engage with our students and lift them up? It's an exciting time. We have three of you that have graduated from the Clark County School District, very successful. Hundreds and thousands of people have graduated who are very successful. What is the one thing that you think, because we want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, what should we stay the course with that we already have in place? And what is the one thing that you would love to see us evolve to for the next generation? And we'll start with you, Tia.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

I think that CCSD is preparing our next generation for jobs that don't even exist yet, right? And so when I go into the schools, just talking to the young people, they are think they're thinking big and they're dreaming big. And I think that they will have all of those technical skills because of the education that they receive in our district. And I think people need to keep that in mind. But I think the one thing we can do better is we can lean in more on the mentoring aspect aspect. Mentoring matters. Seeing people that look like you, that are successful and doing great things is extremely important. And so even for like career day, when I go in and I'm talking to the students and I'm telling them, you know, college is expensive, but this is how you're gonna get there, right? Because they all want to go to college. They raise their hand. I say, Who wants to go to college? You know, and then they're like, Well, how much does it cost? You know, and so we do math on the whiteboard. And I think the important thing is when students that are little black girls, they'll come over to me and they'll say, Well, what college did you go to? Right? Because they may not have someone at their home that went to college. And so I really want us to lean in on the mentoring piece and I want us to really commute connect alumni with our student, our current students, so that they can inspire them and empower them into their greatness.

Tia On Preparation, Purpose, And Service

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Yeah, I love the mentoring component. I agree with the mentoring, and I also agree with representation. I believe students need to see people who look like them and they need to see people that they desire to be like. They they need they need to be connected to those people. Agreed. I think that is so important there. You, Tia, you mentioned, you know, little girls come up to you and they say, How did you do this? How did you become who you are? I want to be just like that. And and I don't have that at home. And I don't know that it's possible for me to even go to college. And for some of these students, you don't necessarily, depending upon what it is that you want to be, you don't necessarily have to go to college because we offer a lot of the a lot of the programs that these kids want to do. I was sharing earlier, you know, you can learn how to fly an airplane at one of our high schools. You learn how to become a teacher, you learn how to do hair and nails, you know, you learn how to do just the everyday things that people do. You can learn how to do and become that through CCSD. How powerful is that? How wonderful is that? Where you can be connected to someone that knows how to do that. They made it. It's it just it gives kids a reason to dream. It it helps them bring their vision alive. And so I just think mentoring is is key for uh, especially, especially our black and brown kids, because they don't see it. They don't know that it's possible. They they need to see it. And so when they see that we are successful, that we did it, it takes hard work, that you do have help. It is possible. And CCSD, it that CCSD did it for me, and I know that we can and will continue to do it for future students.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

You want to weigh in on this, Ryan? Yeah, absolutely.

What Alumni Engagement Looks Like

SPEAKER_04 18:25

So your question, right? We don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think that's true. I think we we we need to look at what our strengths are and double down on those and then be open to making the changes we need to make to adapt to a changing workforce, as Dr. Mathis Coleman pointed out, and to double down on mentorship and showing kids what's possible with their education. I I would add, you know, one thing that I think the district does well is is partnership and being open to partnership. And what's interesting is I'm actually gonna say that's the thing that we do well and it's the thing we need to do better. So it's it's it's both a strength of the district and an area of I think continued untapped potential and opportunity. And Superintendent Ebert, you are a very partner-centric superintendent, and you have been in your career, and you open the doors and you want to find ways to lift up those strengths and find those assets that aren't being leveraged. And I think that really matters. I think having you as a leader who values that and sees that gives me hope. And I would just say when we use the word student, I think sometimes we opt out and we say, Oh, students are school's responsibilities. Which is which when you call them students, that's true. But when you call them young people, young people is a community's responsibility. And a school district alone can't be responsible for every aspect of a child's well-being. It is a critical partner and a convenient site to co-locate those partners to achieve those, those, those goals and to support kids. But I think we need a comprehensive cross-sector youth development strategy in our community. And I think that the district is well positioned to do that because of its commitment to partnership.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

And I just want to touch on something Alex said. First of all, I think the superintendent does an excellent job on partnership. I had a meeting with her, I think I want to say it was like month one when you became superintendent. And I was telling her about how the state treasurer's office wanted to do a perfect attendance, right? We wanted to honor our students who were doing well with attendance. And within days, she had put me in contact with the necessary folks in the district to make sure that we honor those students. And now, ever since, we've been honoring three students every month with perfect attendance. That's great. And giving them scholarships so that they can start saving for their post-secondary education. And so I think one of the celebrating their progress. Absolutely. And it's the little things. Every student is not going to get straight A's, right? But every student can show up every day. And so we want to meet our students where they are. And we also want to let them know that anything is possible. And I think one of the things I've noticed is a lot of families, especially our first generation families, they think, well, I never went, so my student can't either. And we want to let them know that the district is here to partner, but there are so many amazing community organizations that are working in collaboration with CCSD. And my mom used to always say growing up, it takes a village. And I think CCSD is that village. CCSD is that trusted partner that other partners want to collaborate with and make sure that our students have the best, most incredibly supportive village possible.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Yeah, all of you have leaned in on, you know, the potential of what our students, you've leaned in on the potential that sits in our classroom and within the hearts and the minds and who our students are and what they bring to their class every day. And just as a community, we're very young community, you know, back east, there's other states, and they've had universities that are, you know, 200 years old and a lot of history. We're a young state. And so that deep, rich roots in in in And attaining different, you know, pathways that they want to go, that they we're just building those. And how you get there, there is a path. And it is all of us coming together, you know, whether it's filling out a form for an application to get a job down the street, or, you know, they want to attend a college and career. I'm gonna shift us a little bit because, you know, Latoya, I'm so glad you're at the table in leading this work and lifting us up with a whole public education foundation team. And I think of 30 years, it's over 30 years that the public education has been part of the community. You've had the teacher superstore, which I come up to, you know, teachers come up to me all the time. Have you been to the superstore? Yes, I have. And that's just one actually small. I mean, it's very large and it's housed and you know, paid for and all those things, but it's one piece over the years, tens of millions, not just one million, but tens of millions in scholarship opportunities for our students leaning in and the recruitment and retention of educators. Again, there are hundreds of teachers entering our classrooms. How does collaborating with CCSD on the Alumni Association help ensure that this program will be sustainable, that it's not, you know, that it's well beyond Superintendent Ebert and other gener, that it's 30 years from now. Absolutely. How do how do we make sure that that we thrive?

Mentoring As The Keystone

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Well, it kind of for me, it goes back to the mission of PEF, which is we work with you, we work with the district to find out what are the critical needs. And then PEF aligns with that. And we create engagement opportunities for the community to step in and rally right by your side. What stands out to me is what PEF does well, which is to make sure we're in lockstep with CCSD and what the critical needs are, create engagement opportunities. And then, you know, it it what really jumps out is the alignment with this conversation and what PEF does. You know, I'm I'm thinking about all the success around the table. I wish people could just see it, right? We'll have to take a picture and show them. But we read scholarships. We have 16,900 applications coming for the right way. Can you say that again? 16,900 scholarship applications. That's wonderful. And we read them every year. Our community participates and we hear the stories. We hear the young Alexis that are looking for opportunity. We hear the Carmans, we hear the Tia's. And it's important that we bring our alumni together with means, you know, with opportunity, with internship opportunity, whatever it is, because the need is there. 16,900 young people reaching out saying, Hey, I believe in myself. Can you believe in me too? And so your support of this alumni association sends a very clear message to all of those young people that are just saying, Hey, can you meet me where I'm at? PEF is committed to make sure that this is sustainable. We're aligning our human resources at our foundation to make sure that this is structured. We're working in alignment with your team to make sure that the engagement points are realistic and they're low stress. But we are committed because we, in this one little incident, which it, you know, example, which is the scholarships program, we can hear from 16,900 voices that they need a connection. We're here. And, you know, listen, you set a table, you know I'm showing up.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

So and so it doesn't matter if you're leading on, you know, MGM on the strip, your alumni, you have connections. If I'm if I'm now I'm retired, but I'm an alumni, I can still be involved.

SPEAKER_03 26:06

You absolutely can. And, you know, there's there's an alumni who volunteers with us consistently, doing the classroom in a box program, you know, helping our teachers pick out school supplies. And her mission now in her retired, very comfortable retired life and peace is to give back. Alex and I said it, I think on the news one time. You know, you pull as you climb, right? And so climbing is also retirement and having the peace to have completed her career life and now it's her community life.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

So it's it's gonna take all of us. It is, it is. And I'm I'm so grateful for having all of you here this morning. I want to give you each the opportunity to add peace. I am, since I have the mic and I know you guys could overwrite it, but I'm gonna just take the privilege and honor uh Carmen, who Carmen West, who I've known for a very, very long time. And it is, I am so thankful to have come back as the superintendent and to be with you and watch you work and how much you care deeply about the entire community.

Partnerships As Strength And Opportunity

SPEAKER_00 27:21

I want the audience to know I w I get the privilege of working closely with our superintendents. I appreciate being able to work with Joan, the superintendent in the show. Joan, Joan's fine. I really believe in her vision. I I just I think destination district is absolutely genius. And I was thinking about this earlier. How come nobody else thought about that? We we're in the destination capital of the world. Everybody wants to come to Las Vegas. I don't care what country you're in, people have heard of Las Vegas, Nevada. It's a destination location. So why would our school district not be a destination that parents would want their children to come to? Why not? It's it's such And thrive. And thrive. It is such a great, I just think it's genius. I also will always be connected to education. I love to learn. I am a lifelong learner. I will forever be a learner. I I encourage my children, my children who are adults, my grandchildren, we will always be education-minded. So I will always be connected to education. My husband and I, we take kids away to visit colleges and universities, and we teach them how to apply, how to get scholarships, how to, you know, pursue your career, how to come back and be productive members of your community, how to just be just be productive members of society. And so, yes, education is important. You never stop learning. You never stop learning. And those lessons where you think you failed are the lessons that you need to teach. I firmly, firmly believe in that. Where I thought I failed is where I need to teach. So that no longer is a failure. It is now my success. And I just I just think we need to teach that to children. Those children, I think it's great. We go out and we knock on doors and say, come back. You feel like you failed, but you really haven't. You have another opportunity to get it right every day. Every day is a new day and a new opportunity to get it right and to do it all over again. So you never really have to fail. I love and I love that we are opening, giving this alumni association is giving people an opportunity to give back and to where they thought they may have missed the mark. Now you have an opportunity to put your voice on that mark, put your hand on that mark and leave that staple.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Yeah, and I also want to just call out that this is the narrative of CCSD. Right? When you talk about a destination district, you talk about making sure that our young people in our community are represented in the public, in the media, that the narrative is broad. It's not a failing narrative, it's not a negative narrative. Alex is part of the narrative. Tia Carmen is the narrative. Don Snyder is, you know, as a public school student, is part of our narrative. Ken Lynn and Siri Singaseri are the narrative, right? And so we've got to really focus on how do we provide hope and opportunity for our young people and include that in the narrative of Clark County School District.

Scholarships, Scale, And Sustainable Support

SPEAKER_02 31:06

I think another thing that we need to focus on is letting our community know that the success of CCSD is everyone's responsibility. A lot of times people will say, Well, I don't have a student. It doesn't matter. I loved what Alex said about them being young people versus students. And so I'm going to start using that because when I go out there and I talk to them and I'm like, we all have to pour into our students. We all have to pour into our next generation, right? We are all responsible for their success. And then the hope is that they will come back and then pour into not just CCSD, but our broader community. And so kudos to you, Carmen, on 36 years. I've I've seen you work in this community, you and Pastor West. You've done some really great things. And the things, the seeds that you have planted will continue to pour into the Las Vegas community. And so I'm just so appreciative for all of your all of your hard work. So congratulations. I hope to God one day I get to say I'm retiring. So congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

Thank you again. Thank you. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04 32:06

Well, this has been a great conversation. I'm excited to see where this all goes. You know, the one thing I would want listeners to to really recognize is just to think about what it must be like to be a young person today. And you know, all of us at this table as adults are in our professional lives and our personal lives trying to navigate incredibly fast seismic change that's happening on so many fronts. And as a young person, to attempt to map a future onto a world that feels like you can't even imagine what that future is going to look like is a daunting task. And our community, I'm I'm gonna issue a challenge to our community, which is the next time that you want to be critical of the school district, ask not what your school district can do for you, but ask what you can do for your school district. Are you helping? Are you signing up for the Alumni Association? Are you going to Carson City and advocating for more funding for our public schools? Are you thanking your teachers? Are you, when a problem arises, partnering with the district to find a solution instead of going toe-to-toe with the district? We have a lot of great things in our community and we also have big challenges. And we cannot expect our school district to solve all those challenges alone. And when our kids show up at the schoolhouse gate, they show up with everything else that's happening in their lives. And then they go home. And I think oftentimes when we look at where we want to be, too often we point the finger at the school district, and we need to be looking in the mirror and looking at each other and finding ways to support the school district in achieving its vision of being the destination district. And I want to just publicly thank LaToya for putting this alumni association together. You have built community. There you go. Round of applause for you know you've you've dedicated, I would say your career, but I would say life, because it's not just a career. You've dedicated your life to building community and lifting people up. And I think that we have the right person and our superintendent. I think we have the right person in LaToya to lead this alumni association to great success.

Lifelong Learning And Giving Back

SPEAKER_01 34:11

This has been such an inspiring conversation. It really underscores a simple truth. Our students' journey doesn't end when they cross the stage at graduation. The graduation cap isn't an exit sign, it's an invitation to stay connected to the heartbeat of Southern Nevada. Whether you graduated five years ago or 50 years ago, your story is part of the CCSD story. By joining the CCSD Alumni Association, you just aren't signing up for an email list. You are helping us co-design a destination district where every student has a network of mentors. You heard that today. Mentors, advocates, and cheerleaders behind them. I want to especially thank our guests today. Latoya Holman, Chief Development and Human Resources Officer for the Public Education Foundation, the incredible work that she's doing to bridge the gap between our classrooms and community. Carmen West, executive manager in the superintendent's office, not only for highlighting her journey as a CCSD student, but as a CCSD employee for 36 years. I know that she will be a strong advocate for public education even after her retirement. Alex Bibe, founder and principal of Bibi Co. Go Bengals, right? For being a leading voice in public education policy and support. And I need to, you know, shout out Alex too, not only for being public education in southern Nevada, but he did go up to that other university in northern Nevada and helped the Washoe County School District as well. And then finally, Dr. Tia Mathis Coleman, a huge force, deputy treasurer over college savings. She is out in our classrooms. She's been in our classrooms, she's out in our classrooms. She helps lead with grace. And you even heard we're all learning today different things that we should be saying our young people, not just students and all of those pieces. To everyone listening, if you're a proud CCSD alum or if you know one, make sure that you head over to www.ccsd.net slash community and sign up. It's free, it's only four updates a year, so we won't be overloading your mailbox, and it's the easiest way to invest in the future of the Clark County School District and Southern Nevada as a whole. This has been the Destination District, a CCSD podcast recorded at the Vegas PBS Podcasting Studio. Remember, the destination is better when we get there together. Have a great day, everyone.