10/9/25 Putting Purpose Behind Every Dollar: The BC Foundation's Mission

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Thursday, October 9th BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Guys" podcast call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management LinkedIn: Moneywise_Wealth_Management Guest: Cheryl Scott, Executive Director for the Bakersfield College Foundation website: https://supportbc.org/

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Welcome back to the Money Wise Show. 19th and K Street here in Bakersfield. Thank you for bearing with us as we work through a couple of bugs and we are joined by a wonderful guest, Cheryl Scott, Executive Director for the Bakersfield College Fund. Welcome Cheryl.

• 0:17Speaker 01

  Hi, thanks for having me.

• 0:19Speaker 00

  Yeah, do you like that plug? It sounded like we had a little plug for B C on the commercial break there?

• 0:25Speaker 01

  Uh, yeah, was that planned?

• 0:26Speaker 00

  Of course.

• 0:28Speaker 01

  Well done.

• 0:29Speaker 02

  We got love for B C. I actually do a morning show on this station and every week we sit down with Rob Chavez and Kenny Calvin, the voices of the B C Renegades. So we, uh, we're big fans of B C and looking forward to this alumni barbecue.

• 0:45Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, we're excited. We're excited too.

• 0:48Speaker 00

  So tell us about the barbecue coming up.

• 0:50Speaker 01

  Lots of blood, sweat, and maybe a few tears going on around campus today, getting everything set up for the big event. We'll be out in the quad and we'll have two big, um, you know, we were prepared for the warm weather. We're going to have big, two big, huge tents out there, but it's supposed to be just the most perfect weather you can want in Bakersfield. So we're having, um, you know, it starts at 11 and we'll have hundreds of people out here for the barbecue. Tickets are still available if anybody wants to buy their tickets. There, we'll be serving Harris barbecue meals. They're a presenting sponsor again this year.

• 1:29Speaker 01

  And, uh, we'll have all kinds of live entertainment, a beer garden. Uh, if you missed Oktoberfest, maybe this is where you can get your Oktoberfest on.

• 1:40Speaker 00

  Yeah. Awesome. Well, good deal.

• 1:44Speaker 01

  We introduced that last year and it was really a lot of fun. People could sit in the shade and watch the, um, our student performers on the stage. It's pretty awesome.

• 1:54Speaker 00

  Now, this is lining up with the 70th anniversary. Is it of B.C. or the stadium?

• 2:00Speaker 01

  Of the Memorial Stadium, yes. It was, you know, in true renegade fashion, when it came to building the Panorama Campus, the Memorial Stadium was the first thing built. And then all of the other buildings came along behind it. So this is really kicking off a few years of first or of anniversary celebrations on campus. Yep, 70 years of Memorial Stadium. And if you've been there, you know how impressive it is.

• 2:29Speaker 00

  Oh, it's so impressive. I remember, you know, especially when you're a kid going to one of the games and you just, I mean, everything seems big when you're that little, but I mean, I'll never forget those memories of how massive everything looked and then the game is great. You get everywhere's a good seat.

• 2:46Speaker 01

  Everywhere's a good seat and it's still massive. Even when we're big, tall grownups now, it's still amazing how big that place is. In honor of the anniversary, actually, all of the games, home games this season will be free of charge. So if people want to, the barbecue, obviously you have to pay for the food and like I said, tickets are still available, but people can come out and hang out and watch the entertainment, can still buy drinks in the beer garden and spend the afternoon there. And then just go straight, straight over for the four o'clock kickoff in the stadium.

• 3:23Speaker 00

  We just had a, we just had a question pop up for you. Are you ready for it?

• 3:26Speaker 01

  I hope so.

• 3:27Speaker 00

  It says, "Yay Cheryl, we love you." And hey, they're asking, "How much are tickets?" They want to know.

• 3:34Speaker 01

  Well, excellent. Tickets are, it's really a great price, thanks to our support from Harris Barbecue. The tickets for chicken meals or tri-tip meals are $30 each. And that's with two sides and the main dish, or hot dog meals also with two sides is just $15. And that includes a drink, too.

• 3:55Speaker 00

  That's very reasonable and. So you're the director for the Bakersfield College Fund and it looks like the Bakersfield College Fund is, wears a lot of different hats. What can you tell us about that?

• 4:06Speaker 01

  Yes. So first of all, I should scoot back a little bit and let everybody know they can go to support bc.org to buy their tickets in advance. And I would recommend that if people are thinking about coming out. If we have tickets left, we'll definitely be selling them at the event, of course, but it's always a good idea to get them in advance. But the BC Foundation is, we're a separate entity from the college. We're a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. So donations that come through the foundation are tax deductible. And we've been, this is our 50th anniversary. So it's a good year for us, too. And, you know, I'm always proud to say that one of our founding board members, Ken Byram, is still on the

• 4:50Speaker 01

  Board of Directors of the Foundation and he's still super engaged and brings a lot of good perspective to what we do because we're in the business of raising money to support the college, support the students, support programs that might not otherwise be fundable through the state. Maybe it's a new program that hasn't been established, but it's innovative and we see a future in it. So we can help stand it up by providing some funding. But Ken is able to say, what would Dr. Norm Levin say if we told him we were going to be doing this with the money in our endowment? And Dr. Norm Levin, in

• 5:33Speaker 01

  his lifetime, most especially through his estate, donated a total of $20 million.

• 5:38Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  Bakersfield College. I mean, $20 million is a great endowment to have, period. But he was a single donor who gave that much. And then that endowment just continues to grow. I think you guys at Money Wise know about how investments can grow and

• 5:56Speaker 00

  Absolutely.

• 5:57Speaker 01

  and Regina, how all that works. And so he, he really gave the college a huge boost when he donated that money in, I think it was 2014, thereabouts.

• 6:10Speaker 00

  Wow. And then it looks like you guys help support about 300 different scholarships and that that just speaks near and dear to my heart because without a lot of different scholarships, I wouldn't have been able to attend college. And so what can you tell us about those scholarships and how they help your students?

• 6:29Speaker 01

  Well, we award, gosh, about $600,000 worth in scholarships each year. And a scholarship season just opened as a matter of fact. So students have started applying. They started applying on October 1st. And the season goes through early February and then the selection of the honorees happens. And that's a really big process. But we have so many donors that donate specifically to scholarships that are special to them, near and dear to their heart. My friends and I created a scholarship

• 7:08Speaker 01

  in honor of my late husband. And we do an annual fundraiser for that to raise money just for that scholarship. And we got it to the point where it's endowed, which means we only award money coming off of the growth. We never touch the principal. So that scholarship will be in place forever. And there's just nothing like knowing as a single individual in this community that you can put your money together with other people and affect lives moving forward long after we're gone. So

• 7:42Speaker 00

  Absolutely. That's amazing. If we have listeners right now, I guarantee we have a lot of BC alumni. And if they're listening and they want to get involved financially, what direction should they take?

• 7:57Speaker 01

  Give us a call, 395-4800. The first step is typically for us to just sit down with people who are interested in in supporting students and finding out, is there anything in particular you have a heart for? Or is there a program that you went through in college, whether it was at Bakersfield College or some Where else that that is near and near and dear to you, or maybe you're an employer and you know that that the applicants you're getting in the from the workforce don't aren't really coming in prepared with a certain type of skill that you would like to see them know before they come

• 8:39Speaker 01

  knock on your door to apply. So we talk about all of those things and then talk about what we're doing on campus. And we talk about are there natural pathways that we can partner with our donors that is that's meaningful to the donor and impactful for the students and the campus community. And sometimes it means starting up a whole new program.

• 9:02Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  For example, the Levin, when Dr. Levin made his donation, the college created the Levin Institute for Lifelong Learning. And that's geared for people who are 55 and older, but there's really no limit. You don't really have to meet those age requirements. But it's a huge variety of classes that people can take, some of them during the day, some on the weekends, and not your typical college classes. Sometimes there's wine tasting, coffee, for classes for coffee connoisseurs.

• 9:41Speaker 03

  Cheryl, I have to jump in there. This is Chris. I've been running around the office trying to get technology to work. So it's been it's been a fun afternoon. So.

• 9:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:50Speaker 03

  But actually, the Levin Institute, just in the last few months, has become, you know, kind of really popular here around money wise. Dustin has actually taught a class there about finances. And I took a class the other night and learned about local options as as the aging population and what they can, you know, find solutions for for aging care. And I was probably the younger one in there and everybody else had their reasons on being in there. But it was really cool because I said, Oh, I'm a financial advisor and I want to be able to help my clients or my clients that are taking care of their parents. And I just thought this was a really neat class that I could jump into and take. And I actually know the. That taught the class. I've talked to him a couple of times, but I thought what a great way to connect and to,

• 10:35Speaker 03

  you know, him shares experiences. And so that's such a neat thing that lifelong learning and we're, we're, we're at Money Wise fans of being lifelong learners. So yeah, that's neat that you could maybe focus in on that if that's more what you're, you're focused on. So.

• 10:52Speaker 01

  That's so funny you say that. I was just watching the Dodger game last night, but that's all I'm going to say about it. With a friend.

• 10:59Speaker 00

  Oh, hold on, hold on Cheryl.

• 11:01Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 11:02Speaker 00

  I'm not a big baseball honk. I guess I would be a Dodger fan, but what are they done? What happened?

• 11:07Speaker 02

  No.

• 11:08Speaker 01

  No, no, no. In fact, oh, we need to make this quick because they're going to do.

• 11:15Speaker 02

  Don't worry, don't worry. Okay, okay. The Dodger game starts right after our show ends. Trust me, we're on a sports station, but just, just relax. It was only one game.

• 11:24Speaker 01

  It was.

• 11:25Speaker 02

  You're still up two one.

• 11:27Speaker 01

  It was really ugly, but I, you know, I think they got all that out of their system.

• 11:31Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 11:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. If we win, then we move on. So.

• 11:36Speaker 02

  I have one more comment before you guys can take over. I just, did, did I hear you write that the, these donors, they, they can actually have their two cents in on where the money goes?

• 11:46Speaker 01

  Oh, yes.

• 11:47Speaker 02

  That is incredible.

• 11:49Speaker 01

  And that's, that is, in fact, that's at the very heart of what we do at the foundation. We, we are charged with the task when a donor says they want their money to be used a certain way. We're, we're the police officers over that fund and we are the ones that make sure, go through the funds on a regular basis and what was the donor's original intent and making sure that intent continues to be met.

• 12:15Speaker 03

  Yeah. You know, it's, there's a, there's a lot of similarities between what we do here at Money Wise for individuals and their families and their investments and, and endowments. I mean, it's, it's focused on your goals. It's focused on what's most important to you. It's making sure your money's going to last. I mean, obviously, like you mentioned, endowments and stuff are meant to last like a long, long time. Or most people are just that that age old concern of, am I gonna outlive my money or not? But, uh, you know, a good financial plan is is the same type of the thing. You're investing for a purpose, for a goal. And, uh, there's so much joy that can be had in that. And sometimes I think people are just so worried and stressed about money.

• 12:58Speaker 03

  Where when you have the focus on a goal and a purpose and what you're doing with it. And and you have that that mindset, then you're not as caught up in the media and the hype. And, you know, we try to break through the junk, we say, and talk about this stuff daily because it can just drive you nuts. And I hate to see people robbed of the some, you know, being able to focus on some really wonderful things in our community and in their own lives. Um, and so it's neat to see, uh, investments being used in that way, pouring back into the community and to students and athletes and everything else that those are going towards.

• 13:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, it it's really amazing. And and we have so many different kinds of scholarships here and so many different. There's something for everybody to support. Did you know we have a rodeo team?

• 13:42Speaker 03

  Really?

• 13:43Speaker 01

  Let me say that again, but more clearly, rodeo team.

• 13:46Speaker 00

  We need some details, Cheryl. Tell us about that.

• 13:50Speaker 01

  We not only have a team, but we have an amazing rodeo that's hosted every year by Bakersfield College and ours is coming up on the eighth and ninth of November and it sells out. So, yeah, radio or rodeo fans, radio fans too, but rodeo fans out there. It's a, it's a great event and, um, so much fun. Saturday night is, uh, Saturday night, the eighth is the evening one and the next day is an afternoon session. But it's just a ton of fun. I went last year and it was like a real true blue rodeo. I mean,

• 14:29Speaker 00

  Where is the, is the rodeo physically, uh, do they cover the grass at the stadium?

• 14:33Speaker 01

  It's at the Kern County Fairgrounds.

• 14:36Speaker 00

  Got it.

• 14:37Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 14:38Speaker 03

  So that'd be a pretty interesting to try to pack out that stadium and and put it in the middle of there, but.

• 14:43Speaker 01

  Oh, man. Well, I, yeah, the last time anything like that happened was when the Condors played out on the football field right before.

• 14:50Speaker 03

  Oh, that was awesome.

• 14:52Speaker 01

  Right before the turf was replaced with AstroTurf.

• 14:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, you know.

• 14:56Speaker 01

  The only reason that was allowed.

• 14:58Speaker 03

  I missed your guys. I mean, I heard your guys' conversation earlier as I was getting set up about the the stadium and everything and I am a proud alumni of Bakersfield College. And and even though I played football, I'm a fan, I like sports, I didn't go to my first professional football game until just a couple of years ago. And so I tell people that even though I didn't go to a professional football game for a long, long time, I got the privilege of going to a potato bowl in the late 80s and it's pretty much the same thing. So, I mean, that was at that level. And so hopefully we can, as a community, continue to rally, rally behind our local athletes and a great local community school that we have there for for individuals wanting to better themselves and find a pathway forward for themselves.

• 15:43Speaker 03

  And, you know, I'd love to see more and more people fill those seats.

• 15:47Speaker 00

  I want to give some kudos also. My, my daughter plays water polo at a school here in town and they don't have a pool and BC is so gracious to allow them to practice, you know, it's just wonderful. They wouldn't be able to have a team without BC giving back into the community like a lot of the community gives into them. So that's just, it's just awesome. Lots to love.

• 16:08Speaker 01

  Very synergistic. And speaking of water polo, we have a women's water polo team now.

• 16:14Speaker 00

  I'm trying to edge her in that direction because I think that would be awesome. Save a, save a lot of money, get a great first couple of years out of school, but.

• 16:22Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 16:23Speaker 00

  Yeah. And my, my wife is alumni through the nursing program and it was, you know, world class. I mean, fantastic.

• 16:30Speaker 01

  Yeah. And, you know, if you come up to campus on Saturday, you'll see the campus, it looks really, there are a couple of buildings that are, have been here for decades, but we have so many new buildings as a result of Measure J that was passed in. Twenty sixteen, we have a new science and engineering building. It's phenomenal, state of the art. If you walk through there and you would think that you're in any university across the country, it's it's incredible. We have a new agriculture building going up, that'll be finished in about a year. We have student housing going up also to be done in about a year.

• 17:09Speaker 00

  I saw that, and it's a huge project.

• 17:11Speaker 01

  It is.

• 17:12Speaker 00

  Out where the parking lot is, right? A big parking lot?

• 17:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:15Speaker 00

  That's fantastic.

• 17:16Speaker 01

  Well, it's south of the east side of campus. There's ju- so sometimes it's kind of a pain because there's so much construction happening on campus. But it's all for progress and it benefits the students.

• 17:31Speaker 03

  Yep. You gotta keep growing.

• 17:34Speaker 01

  Yes, well, and we serve about thirty thousand unique students each semester. So.

• 17:42Speaker 00

  Chris may have been the most unique you've ever served.

• 17:45Speaker 01

  Oh, nice.

• 17:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, we, our our claim to fame was, I got to take sign language, which was a wonderful experience and.

• 17:54Speaker 01

  Oh, we have a great, yeah.

• 17:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, I loved it. I loved it. And and I joined the interpretive sign language and we put on like a concert and and Lionel Richie all night long. I I think people still to this day remember our rendition of All Night Long Lionel Richie. So kudos to to Miss Sampley out there and and the fun that I got to have in my college experience with sign language, so.

• 18:20Speaker 01

  That's wonderful. That program's still going strong.

• 18:24Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 18:25Speaker 00

  We were a little choppy when we first started, Cheryl, but if you can tell us real quickly how you how you got involved, if we have time, Steve.

• 18:31Speaker 02

  Exactly. I was just gonna say before before we go, I know the the first part of the the interview while Chris was running around on the second floor. So we have the B C alumni barbecue coming up this Saturday. What time? How can they get tickets?

• 18:46Speaker 01

  And the barbecue is from eleven until three. And tickets are available at support B C dot O R G.

• 18:56Speaker 01

  Even though we say the barbecue ends at three, people can kind of stick around a little bit if they want to kill some time before the four o'clock kickoff of the football game. We'll have entertainment on the stage and when in between acts, we'll have a DJ, lots of music the entire time, 11 to three. So then there's something for everybody. It's kid friendly. We'll have 150 pumpkins to the first kids to show up and that's for painting and B C art students will be out there painting students with the, or painting the pumpkins, not painting the students.

• 19:36Speaker 00

  I thought you were being serious with like some face paint because a lot of kids will do that.

• 19:40Speaker 01

  Well, you know, yes, we did that last year, but this year we're painting pumpkins.

• 19:45Speaker 02

  I know a friend of our show is a, an alumni, Mr. Chad Hathaway, and he's telling me that they, they tailgate.

• 19:53Speaker 01

  Oh, they tailgate hard.

• 19:54Speaker 02

  They'll tailgate hard before the game.

• 19:57Speaker 01

  Yes. Well, we're, we kind of call this a community tailgate opportunity in the middle of the quad. You don't, no truck required. You can just show up and bring a little cash and get yourself something to eat and drink.

• 20:09Speaker 03

  There you go. Well, Cheryl, thanks for joining us and, and sharing with the listeners all the great things that are going on and giving us the update. Thanks for being a little patient with our, uh, technical difficulties and I hope to have you back on.

• 20:22Speaker 00

  Yeah, first guest.

• 20:24Speaker 03

  We worked our way through it.

• 20:25Speaker 01

  Oh gosh.

• 20:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:27Speaker 00

  That was awesome. Thank you.

• 20:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, that threw a little wrench in trying to get the zoom all dialed in, but you did a great job and thanks for all you're doing for our community and our, uh, wonderful college up there and, and, uh, we look forward to hearing from you next time.

• 20:40Speaker 01

  Look forward to it too.

• 20:41Speaker 02

  All right. We'll take our break. If you, uh, couldn't write down all that information, it'll be in the podcast notes and we'll be right back. If you're a business owner who provides a retirement plan for your employees, contact Money Wise Wealth Management to see if you're maximizing your options and minimizing your liabilities. Money Wise 401k plans are customized to you and your company's needs. 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.

• 21:08Speaker 00

  Welcome back everybody. Chris, you may be muted there.

• 21:11Speaker 03

  I was, I was scared we were gonna have issues again, man. But, uh, we, yeah, we, we're good now.

• 21:19Speaker 02

  Get that bad news out of here.

• 21:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. So that was awesome. I always love getting the update for BC just because my history with BC, going to BC, you know, it was, it was definitely the start of different things, you know, and people have different opinions about education. People have a different opinion about all kinds of different things. And I ended up kind of taking a very weird education route. I did a year out at TAFT. I did about a year and a half or almost two full years at BC still, even though I went to TAFT. One of the things that, that, that all those kind of things did, and this is what people take away from the discussion on education, is I know a million people from a million different walks of life. Some

• 22:06Speaker 03

  I met through BC, some I met through different things. And, you know, it just, it, it, it really helped me set up a foundation to be in the community. And that's why I do love being here at MoneyWise. It's always been a big focus here to be part of our community. We're local advisors. We love our, our community. Even if we weren't born here necessarily, MoneyWise has, has a staff that love our community and, and want to be out there and want to make it just a better place for everybody. And it's a great place to raise a family and, and those kinds of things. And we don't take that for granted. So love hearing all that stuff. Said, wow, 30 bucks for barbecue. That's what we spend at Sonic for lunch. So there you go.

• 22:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly. Right?

• 22:50Speaker 03

  Great price. Yeah. Take advantage of it and support Bakersfield College. And, you know, it, you know, I don't know if it's the COVID thing that kind of kept people from going away, but we do have one of the most impressive community college stadiums up there. We have, you know, an athletic program that's trying as hard as possible. You know, get up there, support athletics and, you know, thank you for making it what it is. Thanks for being

• 23:14Speaker 00

  Thank you, guys.

• 23:15Speaker 03

  Smart. Be MoneyWise.

• 23:16Speaker 00

  MoneyWise.