Daily Archives: May 21, 2018

GRCC In the News, 5-21-18

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Change Ups: AppleTree & Gilden Woods relocates HQ to larger facility
5/18/18 Grand Rapids Business Journal
… EDUCATION
Grand Rapids Community College was designated by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense. The program’s goal is to promote higher education and research in cyberdefense and train professionals with such expertise.

Inside Track: Educator connects theory and practice
5/18/18 Grand Rapids Business Journal
Born and raised in a small village in Nigeria, Nkechy Ekere Ezeh was shocked when she came to the U.S. as an adult and heard the messages bombarding low-income minority parents.
… Ezeh’s pathway into the education profession started with a practical motivation. She was pregnant and needed to learn how to raise a child, as her family was far away, and she didn’t know anyone here. She enrolled in a child development class at Grand Rapids Community College and never left the education field afterward.

Engineering student who is grandmother will study in Switzerland
5/18/18 GVSU press release
Starting another degree three decades after being in a college classroom would be difficult for anyone.
… She (Andrea Schwallier) took CNC machine courses at the Geek Group, a nonprofit organization in Grand Rapids, and finished a welding class at Grand Rapids Community College. “It seemed if I were going to do this, I should go full time,” she said.

Online Professional Development credit: “Vets on Campus”

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Please set aside 45 minutes to complete the “Veterans on Campus” training found at the link below. Not only do you receive professional development, but GRCC could earn a $500 student veteran challenge grant to support a military-connected student.

As part of the Consortium of Michigan Veteran Educations (CMVE), we have access to this online training module focused on building military cultural competency. It is less than an hour in length and also includes other helpful resources guides. We encourage you to view the training. To login and begin the training, visit www.kognitocampus.com/login using Chrome or Firefox as your browser. Click “create a username and password”, and use the enrollment key: michiganvets to access the training modules. You may also need to disable your pop-up blocker.

To have this professional development added to your training summary, please contact Staff Development at staffdevelopment@grcc.edu.

Phi Theta Kappa Represents GRCC well at Regional Conference

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This weekend, the GRCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (Alpha Upsilon Kappa – AUK) attended their Regional Conference with 18 (of the 28) chapters in the region to participate in leadership building, service opportunities, a college fair, social activities and the awards gala.  2017-2018 has been an exciting year for the chapter and this was very evident at the Regional Awards Gala.

The chapter was able to travel 10 students, an advisor for the weekend and Dr. Pink came for the awards gala.  The 2017-2018 executive board (elected student leaders) were present and recognize for all their accomplishments over the past year.  The 2018-2019 newly elected executive board were there as well to begin to learn the ropes along with an alumni and other chapter members.

 

The 2017-2018 GRCC Executive Board is:

  • President: Morgan Brown
  • Vice President: Marcus Barissi
  • Treasurer: Ernesto (“Ernie”) Farias
  • Secretary: Drewyn Talley
  • Vice President of Hallmarks: Eli Paparella

 

The 2018-2019 GRCC Executive Board is:

  • President: Tikvah Finn
  • Vice President: Stephany Mendez-Ortega
  • Treasurer: Brian Guadarrama
  • Vice President of Hallmarks: Phillip Kamp

 

The Alpha Upsilon Kappa chapter was recognized at the regional conference for all their work over the 2017-2018 year.  See below for the specific awards, scholarships, and recognition they received:

  • Morgan Brown was recognized with the other three Regional Officers for their winning submission for the National Fellowship Award.
  • Marcus Barissi was recognized with the other students in the room who were their campuses Coca-Cola All American Scholarship nominee’s.
  • Morgan Brown & Lynnae Selberg were recognized with the others who had completed the 5 Star Competitive Edge program through PTK.  This is a 5 level comprehensive soft skills/ critical thinking/ leadership development training program for students and advisors.
  • The following students and advisors were recognized for earning a “challenge coin”.  To earn a challenge coin you must exemplify the 4 pillars (scholarship, service, leadership and fellowship) of PTK over the year and be nominated by someone in the region.  There were 15 challenge coins handed out and 5 went to GRCC.
  • Bailey Cummings – Service
    • Ernie Farias – Fellowship
    • Marcus Barissi – Scholarship
    • Erin Busscher – Scholarship
    • Drewyn Talley – Leadership
  • There were 4 regional scholarships awarded and 2 went to GRCC students.  The following students received a regional scholarships based on their essay and submitted letters of recommendation:
    • Marcus Barissi won the Richard Trombley Scholarship Award
    • Morgan Brown won the Thomas Obee Scholarship Award
  • The 2017-2018 Executive Board was 1st runner up in the region for the Distinguished Chapter Officer Team Award.
  • Erin Busscher & Lynnae Selberg were recognized as one of the three recognized Distinguished Advisor Teams.
  • Erin Busscher was recognized with the Paragon Advisor Award (given to new advisors who demonstrate excellence in chapter leadership).
  • Lynnae Selberg won the 1st place in the region for the Distinguished Advisor Award.
  • The chapter was recognized for earning a 5 Star level with all of their work from 2017-2018.  This is their 4th year in a row reaching a 5 star level.  To see all that is involved in earning a 5 star level –https://www.ptk.org/Programs/FiveStarChapterPlan/FiveStarChapterPlanRequirements.aspx
  • The chapter was recognized as 2nd runner up in the region for their 2017-2018 College Project and write up regarding this work.
  • The chapter was recognized as 1st runner up in the region for their 2017-2018 Honors in Action Project and write up regarding this work.
  • The chapter was recognized as 1st runner up in the region for Most Distinguished Chapter for their combined scores from all their work in the 2017-2018.  In 2015-2016 the chapter was 3rd runner up (their best placing prior to this year).