Countywide : Student Trustee to Recruit at Campuses

As the county’s community colleges attempt to boost enrollment by sending

a recruiter to Paris, Oxnard College student Shawn Brennan is taking a much simpler approach to luring students to the three-campus district.

After being sworn in Tuesday as the Ventura County Community College District board’s new student trustee, Brennan promised to do his share of recruiting by visiting local high schools.

An economics major, Brennan said he began visiting high schools last year to sell the idea of a community college education to local teens.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the district,” he said.

“Recruiters speak an institutional vocabulary that the high school students can’t understand, but I can share my own stories and speak in a manner they can understand.”

Brennan replaces Lance Lewis, who resigned as student trustee last month after taking a post representing community college students statewide. Brennan will complete the end of Lewis’ term, which concludes in May.

Brennan, 21, served as president of the Oxnard student governing body last year and was elected Oxnard College Student of the Year by faculty members.

As student trustee, Brennan has an advisory vote on all issues facing the district, except those discussed in closed sessions, such as personnel matters.