The superintendent of Selma Unified School District told Fresno City College students on Feb. 2 that they should make choices to guarantee themselves a “seat at the table.”

In her speech, “The ABC’s of Success”, Tanya Fisher stressed the merits of planning and education because “Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”

She used the story of her family to illustrate the “ABC’s of success” and about their journey from Selma to Central California in pursuit of a better life. Fisher said her grandparents and uncle put in long hours of work and made huge sacrifices to get their family where they are today.

They came with a willingness to work, and her uncle built up a savings as a migrant worker, later becoming a leading member of the California Teacher’s Association. She describes this kind of work ethic as a necessary ingredient in success.

Dr. Fisher would attribute preparedness to academic success. She used the story of her two sons [one son is a medical doctor while the other rejected the traditional models of success and pursued his dream in music and a CEO of a recording industry] to illustrate that students may follow different routes to their goal and that educators should be accommodating of students’ dreams. Before a room full of students, faculty and other staff, Fisher used her podium to urge her audience to “broaden the perspectives of our teachers and students,” in an effort to reach out and understand different learning styles for students.

For Valerie Jean-Pierre, an instructor of African-American Studies, that approach rang all too true. “Being a black in America, you don’t know what he [black student] feels,” she said about the diverse needs of people in search of education.

“Education is to wisdom as knowledge is to schooling,” Fischer explained, trying to demonstrate that education is something one does for oneself while schooling is something someone does for you.

Dr. Fisher plans to apply the advice she gave to FCC students at Selma Unified by “focusing on the social well-being of students, and not just the academic side.”

“They’re my boys, but to the streets, I don’t know what they look like,” Jean-Pierre explains, “I don’t know what people perceive you as because you have your hoody on.”

Fisher said she wants to push for a broader appreciation of learning, including the arts and music to help break the cycle of the prison pipeline that African American youth are trapped in. Dr. Fischer acknowledges dire situation that many black youth find themselves and stressed the importance of “understanding how to navigate a system that wasn’t designed to benefit [black people].”

Adam Talib, a student ambassador, said he will always remember Fisher’s advice to seek “a seat at the table.”. A business administration major, Talib finds it difficult at times to be included where everyone else may already be, but now, he knows he must plan for his future.

Fisher reminded her audience to strive for their dreams regardless of their background. She said, “DNA does not determine your destiny.”