Leading by example: new ACCT chairwoman Brenda Knight points to her own story as evidence of the importance of community colleges - Association of Community College Trustees

Black Issues in Higher Education, August 29, 2002 by Pamela Burdman

With the relatively low rates of minority transfers to UC from the state's community colleges, Knight acknowledges that there's still along way to go.

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

Knight applied herself to becoming an effective trustee with the same rigor that she applied to coaching baseball. In addition to reading, that meant attending orientations and seminars sponsored by the California Community College Trustees, the statewide branch of ACCT.

She stood out early on, says David Viar, CEO of CCCT. "I was immediately impressed with the questions she asked, with her vivacious, outgoing manner and her interest in being a better trustee."

If there's one area in which Knight needed no training, it was public speaking. Honed as a Sunday school teacher in her Baptist church from the age of 12, her engaging and forthright speaking style is clearly one reason for her success as a leader.

In her professional work as a Medicare specialist, she managed to make the intricacies of the system so entertaining for doctors that her seminars were jam-packed. When she set up her own consulting firm doing similar work, she realized her dream of owning a Mercedes within a year.

"I've always had the girl of the gab," she says. "I like speaking before 500 and 1,000 and 7,000 and 10,000 people. Many times I don't have a clue about what I'm going to say. I look up some times and say, `Okay, send it on, Lord.'"

A frequent speaker at community events, she is often heard calling herself "the girl from the hood who done good." And at a recent Laney College graduation, Knight amused the crowd with the line: "Whether you graduate cum laude, magna cum laude, or thank-theLordy, today is your day."

It was one such speaking engagement--at her alma mater, Castlemont High School in Oakland--that convinced Knight to complete her college degree.

She was exhorting students to continue their educations when a student asked, "What (degree) do you have?" The question, Knight recalls, "pierced me to the core. I wanted to not just talk the talk but to walk the walk."

Using her remaining credits from Humboldt, Knight began enrolling in classes at all four of the Peralta colleges, completing her associate's degree two years ago.

By that point, she was already involved with ACCT and had been appointed treasurer. "I did not want to receive the gavel of a national organization before I had my degree. It really became important that I was degreed down, especially because of my African American and minority younger sisters. The message I wanted them to see was that education was important to me."

When she enrolled in a business management program at nearby St. Mary's College, she showed up for the first class in a bright red suit, says classmate Angela Muse, 31, who recalls feeling intimidated. "I was like, `Who is this lady?' Once I started talking to her, she was so down-to-earth, age had nothing to do with it.

"Just her level of confidence has helped me build my confidence as far as speaking publicly, the way I carry myself," Muse says. "I know it's important just from looking at her and seeing the responses she gets. She's like a buddy to me, and yet a mentor, too."