{"id":5555,"date":"2021-03-19T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/the-roar.net\/?p=5555"},"modified":"2021-10-04T16:57:38","modified_gmt":"2021-10-04T23:57:38","slug":"san-jose-city-college-centennial-julinda-ledee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-roar.net\/?p=5555","title":{"rendered":"San Jos\u00e9 City College Centennial: Julinda LeDee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Julinda<\/figure>
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Julinda LeDee started working at San Jos\u00e9 City College in the year 2000 as a secretary in the Language Arts Department. She is now City College\u2019s Articulation Specialist helping establish transfer agreements between City College and two-and four-year colleges and universities<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julinda is an in-demand motivational speaker, sharing her experiences and giving advice while empowering and uplifting others. At City College, she established on-campus poetry potlucks, a student food table stocked with free snacks, and Kandace\u2019s Korner bookshelf of donated books for students. In 2015, she reestablished the Classified Senate, and this year she was one of the finalists <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had a chance to catch up with Julinda for City College\u2019s Centennial celebration, where she explains what has made City College her second family for her and her children, two of whom are City College alumni!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I first went to San Jose City College<\/strong> when I was 18 years old right after high school. I was pregnant and I was former foster care in Santa Clara County. I only attended a short while because after the birth of my child, I realized I couldn\u2019t work and go to school at the same time with a newborn under my circumstances.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Julinda LeDee<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eleven years later, I went to a job fair and talked with a lady at the table for City College and Evergreen Valley College who said there was an open secretary position. The Dean of Language Arts at that time, Lois Lund, called me and we had an interview. I was hired at City College in 2000. While working there, she requested that I attend school. She said, \u201cJulinda, I would like you to take some English classes so you can represent the department a little better. If you go back to school, I will support you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, I\u2019m a single mother with three children, a full-time job and she\u2019s asking me to take classes. A year passed and I took her up on her offer taking one class at a time, originally during my lunch time. I took English 1A, 1B, and 1C and from there, I continued. It took me seven years to earn my associate degree while I was working and raising my children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, but spent most of my life here in San Jos\u00e9. I was in foster care and was one of those who bounced around, a runaway, going to four different high schools in the San Jos\u00e9 area, including Milpitas High. So, when my dean said she wanted to support me, I wasn\u2019t used to that. And she did. Everyone at City College did. Faculty paid for my books, they paid for my tutoring, and made sure I had what I needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is a community. This is what a community college is about. I\u2019ve been with the college for 20 years and it\u2019s been an amazing experience. I\u2019m truly grateful.\u201d<\/p>Julinda LeDee<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I chose Sociology as a major. Because of my background, I never went further than arithmetic. When I transferred to San Jos\u00e9 State, my counselor said, \u2018You need to change your major, because you have to take statistics and you\u2019ve never even taken algebra.\u2019 I said was sticking with my major in Sociology with a minor in African American studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was right. I struggled. It took me three semesters to pass statistics. I loved my instructor, an adjunct at San Jos\u00e9 State. The third semester, I went to him and said, \u2018if you put it as a list instead of paragraphs, I can get it. It\u2019s just the way I process information.\u2019 I loved him because he listened to me and taught the whole class that way so I could pass. One of my City College classified staff even supported me with math tutoring. Thanks to them, I was able to earn my bachelor\u2019s from San Jos\u00e9 State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, my coworkers said, \u201cJulinda, now you have to get your masters.\u201d I was an administrative assistant raising three kids, going to work, not looking for anything more. But I saw something about University of San Francisco\u2019s Public Administration program and thought how much I loved being in the public realm helping people. There was a satellite campus in San Jos\u00e9, but you had to complete one semester in San Francisco to get acclimated to the University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first day driving to SF, I got lost! I couldn\u2019t find the school. I didn\u2019t have a phone. I was asking people. One sent me to SF State. It was a mess. I just cried and drove back home. After that, I was always early, because I didn\u2019t want to have any excuse. Missing the first day devastated me, because I felt like I had come so far in my struggle. Education was never a priority. It was never talked about. Now I was embracing this. I wanted to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I graduated from USF, three City College faculty came to the graduation, one who lived in SF had a party for me. They made sure I had everything I needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is my family. I don\u2019t have the mom and the dad. I have the non-traditional family and we come in many shades and backgrounds. I now have a master\u2019s degree. My oldest son has a master\u2019s degree. He did not come from a privileged place. I am super proud of that. It is because of my San Jos\u00e9 City College family that I say that with so much love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That is my family. I don\u2019t have the mom and the dad. I have the non-traditional family and we come in many shades and backgrounds.”<\/p>Julinda LeDee<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

City College not only influenced me<\/strong> as a person and as a mother, but I was able to pass that down to my children. My oldest child graduated from Lincoln High School and attended City College. With him being a Black boy, he finished in two years, received several scholarships, and transferred to UC Santa Barbara. He went on to earn his master\u2019s degree from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. He has been living in Copenhagen for the last seven years. He\u2019s a track athlete and broke records at City College and UCSB. He has run all over Europe. He now works for the Danish Federation Track Team and speaks Danish and French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When my daughter was younger, I was able to get her into a program at Stanford. I chose web design for her. She said, \u2018mom, I don\u2019t know what Stanford is.\u201d I said, \u201cyou don\u2019t, but I do!\u201d She was able to take web design and use it in middle school working on the yearbook. She also went to City College and transferred to an HBCU in North Carolina, because a City College instructor encouraged her to do something outside of herself. Now, she is a designer in San Jos\u00e9 with her own line of clothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My youngest has been doing dance since he was four. He grew up performing and isn\u2019t shy doing it. Now, he writes music, poetry, and is a videographer, model and skateboarder. Because he writes, he encourages me to write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a published writer because of City College<\/strong>. An instructor noticed I was writing poetry and sent me information to submit them for a contest. I wrote a poem about my grandmother, called The Smell of Bacon Grease<\/em>. You know you remember the smell of bacon grease in a house when it\u2019s cooking. As a kid, it was something special. The smell came to me one day, so I wrote a poem about it because it felt like home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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