Spotlight
Supporting, Advising Black Students Is a Labor of Love
By Luciana Chavez Special to Merced College
For Black History Month, we spoke to four individuals—Louis Foy, Joe Serena, Orlando Taylor and Karrie Bullock—who have answered the call to support and advocate for Black students and other students of color at Merced College.
Louis Foy, the college’s Assistant Director of Student Equity & Support Centers, is one of three finalists for the 2025 Black Educator Excellence (BEE) Awards, a statewide acknowledgment sponsored by the African American California Community College Trustees and Administrators (AACCCTA).
Foy has been a major force for Black students and young men of color at Merced College, most recently in promoting and developing the Umoja and A2MEND programs. His drive stems from his youth, when he rarely saw a person of color, like himself, in front of a class or in administration.
Foy was an exceptional athlete back then, but visiting the University of Southern California and popping into a class in session changed him.
“I saw people of every ethnicity with these serious looks on their faces, scribbling in notebooks, asking questions,” Foy said. “I thought, ‘Oh, so this is what it looks like.’
“When you’re an athlete, sometimes that’s all you are. But I started seeing that if you don’t surround yourself with people who can give you guidance and direction, you’re left out in the cold.”
Foy’s role model then and now was his father, Louis Sr., who passed away three years ago.
“He grew up without a father, but he gave me great validation,” Foy said. “He was an awesome dude. My dad was a role model for everyone we knew. I try to emulate that here, to be that person for young people who don’t have what I had.”
Foy’s vigilance also comes from the fact that his current work is his second act. He coached track at Merced College before remaking himself for student services and equity.
“When you’re younger, often you don’t pursue things out of fear,” Foy admitted. “But I was talking to Caroline Dawson here at the college and all of a sudden I wasn’t scared anymore. I wanted to try. I welcome the challenges we face for Black students and students of color. I want more and more for them. I feel every day, ‘Let’s go! We can do this!’”
Joe Serena, Dean of Student Equity and Success, nominated Foy for the BEE award. Serena was named Manager of the Year at Merced College in August 2024 for his work in leading the college’s equity programs.
Serena says his motivation should sound familiar. He grew up one of four children of a single mother who worked two jobs to support the family. Serena picked figs during his teenage summers to help make ends meet for the family, until he was old enough to work at McDonald’s.
He served three years as a combat engineer in the U.S. Army, then got out and worked in the Merced County Juvenile Hall, modeling that discipline for troubled young men.
“You’re more than a correctional officer there,” Serena said. “You’re a mentor. You’re lending an ear. You have to be great at verbal judo. You need patience and understanding. Then when I joined the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Department, it was easy because of what I’d already picked up about how to talk to people.”
Serena earned degrees at Merced College and Cal State Stanislaus, then went back to school for a master’s in counseling and began working part-time positions at Merced College and Modesto Junior College.
“It was a breath of fresh air,” Serena said. “The majority of your contacts in law enforcement are negative, but it’s the reverse in
education. You’re able to support people in a different way.”
He started with Merced College’s Disabled Students Program & Services, and then moved over to equity and student success, eventually earning the dean’s position.
“I don’t know how to describe what I get out of this work,” Serena said. “I really have always seen myself as a servant to people more than anything. I feel excited when I see others do well. I know how hard it was for my family.
“I do share with the students that energy and passion and push and grit and resilience will take them places. When we see students walk across the graduation stage, we feel so excited for them. Because we know what’s next. We don’t have to guess. It’s a better life.”
English Professor Orlando Taylor is on the ground floor of the college’s efforts to support Black students, serving as both an English 1A instructor for the Umoja cohort and an advisor and mentor with both Umoja and A2MEND.
“My motivation is trying to fill a need,” he said. “I want to make available to younger students what I had access to as a student, and what I didn’t have access to growing up. I’m committed to this work outside of myself. No one gets to where they are without help, even if it’s just someone’s tax dollars helping you.”
Taylor, a published poet and writer, realizes how important it was to his growth to have teachers and mentors in the community. For him, it was Mrs. Atkins, his high school English teacher. She saw his potential and gave him lists of books to read, especially writers from the Harlem Renaissance, to prepare him for college.
His empathy for others, and the vigilance to lift others needing help, was planted by his mother. One day, when he was 12 or 13, she asked for his help putting together a bag of food for a neighbor. Taylor could not understand why they were taking much-needed food from their home to give to someone else.
“My mom literally bent down to look me in the face and say, ‘You will find in this world there is always someone worse off than
you. The question is whether you are going to let that happen,’” Taylor said. “I took that bag to the other family, and when the young lady opened her door, I could see inside how bad off they were. I can never remove the feeling of that experience.”
Taylor doesn’t think about what he gets out of the teaching, pushing, cajoling, mentoring, advice-giving, supporting, and advocating for his A2MEND and Umoja students.
“I just understand that it’s personal accountability for me,” he said. “I can’t quantify it. I’m just fulfilling my responsibilities as an adult and an African-American man. It goes back to the Swahili word ubuntu. That means, ‘If I have, we have.’ So I’m not going to let you suffer if I have a way to assist you.”
Karrie Bullock, the college’s reference librarian and a Black Student Union (BSU) advisor, leverages her placement working inside the busiest building on campus to provide students what they need to succeed.
She was inspired to take on advising duties for the BSU after developing a successful series of poetry workshops for the library in Spring 2023.
“Then I was brought in as co-advisor of the BSU by Victor Smith, our advisor, who has been a close colleague of mine over the years,” Bullock said. “I recognized what an important association it was on campus. It needed an extra advisor and extra time and resources put into it. I know I have access to all of that being in the library at the heart of campus.
“The philosophy of librarianship is always about access and always about amplifying important narratives and stories that may be marginalized.”
Bullock began her adivising work by encouraging BSU students to spend time in the library to reclaim the social and networking time they lost while sequestered at home for the pandemic, and to join the Umoja and A2MEND groups.
Helping to bring Black students closer to the help and support they need is a natural process for Bullock.
“I see the same students in the library every day,” she said. “They come to study, relax and hang out with friends. I want to foster that culture of belonging. I want them to feel seen. That’s what motivates me.
“Working with our Black students has been an honor. I want to inspire our students and remind them every day that their journey is important and they have lots of allies along the way.”
“When we see students walk across the graduation stage, we feel so excited for them. Because we know what’s next. We don’t have to guess. It’s a better life.”
Joe Serena | Dean of Student Equity and Success