In the news

Sally Saeger- Part-time Swimming Instructor, FA Board member, and Dean Murakami Advocate of the Year award by the FACCC.

Santa Barbara’s Sally Saenger Has a Lifelong Passion for Fitness

Riding the Wave as a Senior Fitness Ambassador

By Leslie Dinaberg | August 25, 2022

Sally Saenger teaches a swim class at Los Baños during the pandemic. | Credit: Courtesy

Read all of the stories in “Our 2022 Active Aging Guide” here.

With the NCAA allowing college athletes to start earning profits from their likenesses, sponsorship deals have gotten a lot of press recently — but Gen Z doesn’t get all the glory. Santa Barbara athlete and fitness instructor Sally Saenger was named a 2022 Senior Planet Sponsored Athlete at age 66. A competitive surfer and a member of the PE department at Santa Barbara City College since 1982, in addition to teaching both credit and noncredit classes in town, with this award Saenger has added senior fitness ambassador to her résumé.

“I liken it to being Miss America or something because you have to make appearances, so to speak, on their website and do a couple of blogs and lead a couple presentations,” said Saenger of her Senior Planet responsibilities. “My presentation was very successful; they had a lot of people that were interested in it because it was about balance for seniors. And that’s always of interest for older adults.” 

At a recent fitness event, Sally Saenger shows off what could be her motto: “Aging with Attitude.” | Credit: Courtesy

That presentation, which evolved out of a class she teaches for SBCC School of Extended Learning, then evolved into a series of four sessions of online classes that became so popular that  Saenger is now teaching for Senior Planet — a program created and sponsored by the national nonprofit Older Adults Technology Services (OATS), which formally joined the AARP family as a charitable affiliate in 2021 — and working for AARP. 

The importance of keeping both an active body and an active mind is threaded throughout her classes. “It’s about attentiveness,” she explained. “We talk a lot about cognitive health too.” Though she’s been a lifelong fitness instructor, it was the Senior Planet sponsorship and AARP affiliation that inspired  Saenger to finally launch her website — lifelongfitness.org — as a home for information about all of her various classes, blog posts, and other great information for people who want to live an active, healthy lifestyle.

Saenger herself is certainly a great role model. Born and raised in Santa Barbara, she swam as a child and played basketball, softball and swimming in high school. But she wasn’t too into surfing until she went to University of Hawaii (after two years at SBCC) to get her degree in recreation. After that she mostly surfed and swam for fun and fitness, then started entering surf competitions in her mid-forties. She was honored to be invited to surf in the “Lady Legends” division of the Rincon Classic contest this year and told Senior Planet, “I was the oldest female participant in the event and proud of it!”

“I try to get in the water once a week,” said Saenger. “But that’s not always possible during the summer because Santa Barbara doesn’t have very good surf during the summer months, because the islands block swells. So I do go down to Ventura or maybe I’ll go visit somebody up north.” 

To complement that, she also swims on a regular basis. “Swimming is really one of the best activities, especially for seniors; they don’t even have to worry about balance,” said Saenger. Her Swimming for Conditioning class at Los Baños begins August 29. For more information, visit sbcc.edu.

Some of Sally’s Top Tips for Getting and Staying in Shape

Think about what you want to do and then look in the community and see what is available. “There are quite a few free classes or very low cost classes at SBCC, the S.B. Rec Department, Goleta Valley Senior Center, and online.”

If you don’t want a group fitness situation: “Just start being active; start walking, find areas that are a little more challenging, like on the sand or that have hills, or that are a little more interesting. Maybe go on a hike somewhere. Just incrementally increase the recreational physical activity.”

For older adults, the main focus and the main issue is maintaining stability and balance.“And maintaining good cardiovascular and good cardio-respiratory endurance, but balance is probably the main one. And that means strength training. … We lose muscle mass as we age — it’s just natural—unless you’re paying attention to it. So we have to be more attentive to what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it. And strength training will help you be able to do all those ADLs (activities of daily living). You’ll feel better and you’ll want to do more.”

Stretching and flexibility are important too. “You want to be able to give a little bit; you don’t want to just tip over because you’re so stiff — and it makes you feel better. Balance and strengthening and the cardiovascular and flexibility — try to include those on a weekly basis, you know, once or twice a week for each of them.” 

A lifelong athlete, Sally Saenger started surfing competitions when she was in her forties. | Credit: Courtesy



Faculty Association of California Community Colleges honors Sally Saenger with prestigious award

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (March 15, 2022) — On Sunday and Monday, March 6-7, the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC) Advocacy and Policy Conference was held in Sacramento, California. The theme was “Creating Equity Through Policy and Action,” and on Sunday night SBCC Physical Education instructor Sally Saenger was presented with the prestigious Dean Murakami Advocate of the Year award.

Each year, the award is presented to a faculty member who has demonstrated effective advocacy at the state level. Named after former FACCC President and statewide faculty champion, Dean Murakami, this annual recognition is at the core of FACCC's mission, and illustrates the critically important work of faculty advocates. FACCC was honored to give this award to Sally Saenger, who has not only been an effective advocate for faculty in general, but for part-time faculty specifically.

“I am truly honored to receive this award,” said Saenger. “Although teaching is my first priority, the fight for equity and justice is a close second. It's rewarding to be recognized in this way by such a reputable faculty organization.” 

For more than 65 years, FACCC has taken an integrated approach to advocacy, combining expert analysis, grass roots activity, direct lobbying, and strategic campaign work, all in an effort to serve California Community Colleges faculty.

In 2017-18, Saenger, who teaches both credit and noncredit classes, received the Hayward Award for Excellence in Education from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges.

Martha Swanson

Executive Director of Public Affairs and Communications

Santa Barbara City College

(805) 730-4107

mswanson3@pipeline.sbcc.edu  

Interim Superintendent/President, Dr. Kindred Murillo

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Yes to Vaccine Mandate Robby Fisher

COVID-19 Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People


Coronavirus Response and School Reopening Guidance


SBCC'S CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) INFORMATION PAGE

How SBCC is Responding


COVID-19 MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

Negotiated between the Faculty Association & SBCC District


Daisy Gonzales from Foster care to ... 

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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS REGARDING CORONAVIRUS 

and SBCC EMPLOYMENT:


RETURN TO CAMPUS Q&As

Please type in your questions below and check back soon. An FA Board member will respond to your question shortly. We are striving for a <24hrs turnaround time. 


Q1)

Can counselors who provide services to students in their personal offices take off their masks during counseling sessions while a student is present?


Answer: Yes, if the faculty member is vaccinated. The students have to keep their masks on unless they can provide proof of vaccination and the faculty member allows them to remove their masks. 

ADDENDUM: The new health directives from the county are demanding masking indoors in public places. This is overwriting the FA MoU for the time it is in place. 


Q2)

Do all of these apply to faculty at the Center for Extended Learning?


Answer: At this time none of these apply to faculty at the Center for Extended Learning as you are represented by a separate association, the Faculty Association Non-credit (FAN).  I would assume that FAN is now going to negotiate with the District to get a similar MoU in place. Please reach out to FAN president, Sally Saenger, for the most current update. 


Q3)

In the event, a student tests positive for covid, will the entire class have to quarantine?  And/or will they all have to get tested and test negative before we could be back F2F? Or just a standard 14-day quarantine? I apologize if this information is already available and I missed it.


Answer:  Theoretically this information is available, however, it is not easy to find and the FA has reminded the administration of this problem more than once. So, no need to apologize as the SBCC COVID guidelines are 21 (!) pages long.  These guidelines state on page 12 that if there are three or more infections in a class within three days then the entire class has to quarantine, but not with only one or two cases in your class.  This said, you will be informed, if there is a student in your class who tested positive. Section D.2 of the Fall 2021 Return to Campus MoU between the FA and the District “The District will inform faculty immediately if a student who has been on campus for classes, ESD services or other reasons has tested positive for COVID 19, including giving immediate notice to the FA. The District will contact individual faculty members to inform them about their potential exposure under adherence to FERPA and other privacy guidelines.”


Q4)

Is there a deadline for deans to reach out to faculty who have requested to stay remote? If they don’t reach out, can we assume our request has been approved?


Answer: The FA is  expecting that the deans will reach out to you today or tomorrow. Deans will offer you the option to either confirm your request to go/stay remote or to rescind your request given the measures that will be in place (e.g. 65% class size limit etc.). If your Deans do not hear from you within 5 business days it will be assumed that you stick with your request to go/stay remote. It will be approved. 


Question/comment:  Items #5 and #6 of Cornelia’s email:


5. Testing: The District is committed to implementing periodic COVID-19 testing of unvaccinated students. The District has stated that they will explore various approaches to testing and they committed to consult with the Faculty Association over a meaningful student testing program.

 

I’m concerned about this statement since we’ve heard it so many times before without any action.  Athletics has requested on campus testing for student-athletes for months since this is a basic protocol we must follow that complies with the CCCAA (California Community College Athletic Association).  We’ve provided information on Covid Testing vendors that our colleagues are using.  Still nothing.  Can we get a specific date and schedule for on campus testing?  Can we get a Covid Testing Task Force together to move this forward to action?


Answer: We totally share your concern. The first testing proposal (shared with BoT in June) was to test approximately 1% - 2%  of the unvaccinated students per week. The next proposal (CPC) was to test each week appr. 5% - 6%. Today, the District up’d this to 15%. This is still not enough as this still means only 2 tests per semester per unvaccinated student. So, the FA team is still working on this.

 


Is it possible to have “check in” stations at building entrances so that persons entering campus buildings can be screened? 


Answer: These “check in” stations are something the FA has asked to be included in this MoU from Day 1. The District for the longest time just  said “no”.  At this time we were able to secure a commitment by the District to have an officer at the entrance (as well as an officer inside the building) of Student Services as well as the Library (once it opens). We have seen some movement on the District side to work with us on having check ins for the instructional buildings. We are currently waiting for the arrival of the new COVID Coordinator Team as well as Dr. Benjamin (Monday July 26) to see that the new SI/Pres and expert team will follow the FA in this.  


Comment: 

I’d really love to see a CAMPUS COVID Task Force that has representation from all campus groups to move us towards a unified approach to the operation of the college through this pandemic.  Other campuses have taken this approach and it has been effective in solving issues without creating division.


Answer:

The FA could not agree more and a Covid Task force has been established und the leadership of Dean Nevins. The District has hired 3  COVID coordinators. The one who is the liaison for faculty issues is Timothy Fouch. tmfouch@pipeline.sbcc.edu 



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CRDP -Mental Health-Covid-19

Office of Health Equity

California Reducing Disparities Project