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Yvette Vartanian Davis eyes District 4 seat on GCC board of trustees

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In the first election since Glendale Community College adopted voting districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Yvette Vartanian Davis is among three candidates running for the District 4 seat.

The district encompasses all territory south of Colorado Street, and it’s where Davis is getting out the vote.

Davis grew up in Glendale, the oldest of four siblings.

She graduated from Glendale High, Glendale Community College and USC.

If elected, she said she would work to expand the college’s vocational programs that would, in turn, boost enrollment.

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“We have students who are wandering aimlessly. Not everybody’s interested in a four-year university. Not everybody wants to do a transfer.”

Davis works as a tax preparer in Glendale, is vice president of the Glendale Rose Float Assn., treasurer of the Glendale Educational Foundation and immediate past president of Glendale Sunrise Rotary.

I’m a doer. I like making things happen.

— Yvette Vartanian Davis

After learning that the the college would switch from an at-large voting system to districts, she considered running.

“It’s a way to get people who have been kind of overlooked, a little bit [of] a voice,” she said of the districts.

Davis asked her friends and colleagues what they thought about her potential candidacy.

“I got cheerleaded so much that I was like, ‘You know what? … I will do this,” she said.

She cited another issue the college faces — the stalled lab/college-services building that is more than a year behind schedule in opening its doors.

In the past, Davis worked with a commercial developer to negotiate contracts and monitor projects to make sure the work stayed within budget and on schedule.

That experience would be valuable on the board of trustees, she said, as the college prepares to spend funds from its $325-million Measure GC bond that voters approved in November.

As president of the Glendale Sunrise Rotary, Davis’ hand-picked the theme for the year she led the club, which was “We’re the club that’s action-packed.”

At the end of her term, her colleagues framed and signed the word “Pow!” taken from the 1960s “Batman” television show.

For her, the word is a symbol for how she approaches life — with action.

“I’m a doer. I like making things happen,” she said.

kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan

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