Greater Valley Conservation Corps Annual Appreciation Breakfast
Corpsmembers joined together with GVCC staff, partners, and members of the SJCOE
On Friday, Dec. 2, Greater Valley Conservation Corps (GVCC) members from the Stockton and Sonora sites gathered at the San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE) with GVCC staff, partners, and members of the SJCOE for the Annual Corpsmember Appreciation Breakfast.
The morning began with a warm welcome from GVCC Director Nicholas Mueller. “I appreciate everything you do and sincerely thank you for the hard work and dedication you have,” he said. “From the coming in early, the staying late, the working weekends, and just doing all it takes to make this program run.”
Mueller shared that so far this year, thanks to GVCC corpsmembers, the following efforts have already been made:
- 92,000 cubic feet of debris off the streets
- 221,00 square feet of graffiti from the city of Stockton
- 50,000 pounds of CRV (bottles and cans)
- 6,825 tires, most of which were illegally dumped
Next, came the scholarship announcements. Each year during the breakfast, two $1,000 scholarships are presented to corpsmembers who were selected by a committee based on their essay submissions. This year, corpsmembers wrote about how they have paid it forward to their community through volunteering, community cleanups, and more. Mayra Aguinaga and Corynne Bashaw were surprised with oversized scholarship checks, and each took a moment to express their deepest gratitude for having been chosen.
For the first time ever, breakfast was prepared and served by students in the one.Culinary class. Their teacher, Michael Speer, shared that the students usually have Fridays off and that the typical class time during the week begins at 8:30 a.m. “In order to have the food here by 8 a.m., I had to ask a group of 25 students if any of them were willing to meet me at 5:30 a.m. on a Friday,” he said. “These four students showed up with smiles on their faces.”
As attendees enjoyed the meal prepared by the one.Culinary students, the event program continued with more words of appreciation and the announcement of the following awards:
- Best Attendance: Edwin Banuelos
- Outstanding Recycling Division Member: Josh “JJ” Moreno
- Outstanding Natural Resource Member: Gabe Salinas
- Outstanding Sonora Team Member: Joseph Detjens
- Above and Beyond Award: Nuribet Jaurez Santiago
To conclude the morning, everyone reflected on the past year as they enjoyed a slideshow full of pictures and videos of corpsmembers in action. Of course, a new group photo was needed since it is rare to have all corpsmembers and staff together in one location! (Pictured above)
“It’s truly a day to appreciate our corpsmemebers, our staff, our SJCOE family, and our stakeholders that support us each and every day,” said Mueller.