Human Service Club is magnet for students who care
"It sounds kind of corny, but it's true,"? says Buckland resident Tina Peters, president of the Human Service Club. "We come together and try to make a difference locally and more far-reaching."?
Just recently, the Human Service Club delivered 78 pounds of food to the Western Mass. Food Bank in Hatfield, and boxes filled with calculators and crafts supplies to the Federal Street School and the Greenfield Middle School for their After School Programs, thanks to the generosity of the GCC community and local businesses. They sold refreshments at a recent GCC benefit concert for local victims of flooding. They're currently conversing with penpals from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, whose students are still coping with the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and they're "adopting"? a needy family from that college to fill that family's Christmas wish list.
That's a lot of service from students who, themselves, are juggling jobs, families and college studies. But the club, which meets weekly, strikes a chord that reverberates across campus, according to Professor Abbie Jenks, coordinator for the human services program and club adviser. "One of the most gratifying things, from my perspective, is how the club has really gotten a presence on campus now,"? says Jenks, who started the club in 1999. "Some of the club members aren't even in the human service program; just yesterday, a student from another class of mine approached me and said, 'I'm going to join your club!' They want to find a place to volunteer, and that whole idea of civic involvement is really crucial now."?
"It's vital to the community,"? agrees Turners Falls resident Karen Farrington, who plans a career in public advocacy. "Without people working together, we have no community -- just separate individuals with separate goals."?
The students are very tuned in to the needs of the community. Club member Hilda Mercado of Greenfield has been a volunteer for the After School program for three years. When the program's budget was cut, she brought it to the club's attention, resulting in the drive for school supplies. "That is going to help a great deal,"? she says.
For Mercado, Greenfield Community College is a stepping stone to her goal of a bachelor's degree and a career in the human service field. "I really like working with women,"? says Mercado, who also volunteers at the Catholic Women's Center in Turners Falls. "I went into the human service program hoping that I would be a leader someday and give women a chance to be heard and a chance to become something."?
The club offers a good place to practice a premier human service skill: making connections. Members make connections with the community by going out and soliciting support for club projects; they make connections on campus, too, like persuading the Business Club to donate coffee from its Café Academia to women working on the Clothesline Project. Being able to forge connections is important, says Farrington, "because every facet of someone's needs connects with someone else. If you're disabled, that means you require services and those services are funded by the state the local government, so it just kind of branches out into everything."?
Now they're making connections farther afield, building on an emerging "sister college"? relationship with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. First, GCC's Health Occupations program sent 49 cartons filled with clothes, kids' supplies, diapers and more after connecting with a GCC alumna who is now dean of health occupations at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. That inspired Professor Jenks and Club President Tina Peters to visit that college's website where they connected with their counterparts down south. Now members of both human service clubs are forging personal connections through penpal relationships. "Our desire,"? says Peters, "was to reach out to students who were affected by the hurricanes to be witnesses to what they experienced and to see how we might help them."?
For Peters, it has already put a human face on tragedy. "(My penpal) and her family had a lot of damage to their home. She has to get a new roof and she's waiting for the required permits and inspections and things like that. She works three jobs as well as going to school."?
This month, the Human Service Club will "adopt"? a needy family from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College for Christmas. Next semester, club members will participate in The Clothesline Project and the GCC production of The Vagina Monologues, both of which speak to women's issues.
It all adds up to an involvement with issues wider than our individual lives, says Jenks, and a desire to participate in improving the world. "The club provides a forum to be able to do that."?
GCC students pick up, share entrepreneurial tips at conference
"I don't want to be locked into a typical job,"? says Brattleboro resident Ben Riseman, president of the GCC Business Club. ""?I'm trying to empower myself with as much knowledge as I can to have as much financial independence as I can in the future."?
"I've always liked the idea of working for myself,"? says Kane Gallagher, of Hadley. "If you are your own boss, you'll work harder because it's going to benefit you, instead of letting someone else reap the benefits of your hard work."?
Sentiments like these motivated 25 GCC students to spend a day attending the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation's Collegiate Entrepreneurship Conference on Oct. 21. Held at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, 120 students from eight colleges in the Pioneer Valley learned how to get money to make money, the importance of a business plan, and the virtue of persistence. The GCC contingent also inspired their peers with the story of their successful enterprise, Café Academia, a coffee bar serving the college's East Building.
"Entrepreneurship as a discipline is gaining a lot of ground in community colleges across the nation,"? says Thomas Simmons, Professor of Economics and advisor to the Business Club. "It's a really hot topic right now. When you realize that two-thirds of all new jobs that are going to be created in a given year are going to come from small businesses, it gives a different perspective to the need for entrepreneurship. A lot of students, regardless of their particular field of interest, are going to need entrepreneurial skills to get their own businesses up and running."?
There is no shortage of business ideas among GCC students.
Nathan Richardson, of Greenfield, attended a workshop on creative entrepreneurship. "I'm an English major, but at some point I would like to open my own business,"? says Richardson, who will be taking a luthier course in April to learn guitar-building and repair. "I learned that I don't have to open a technology business per se, or something noncreative. I can do something I enjoy, like building and repairing guitars, selling skateboards or maybe starting a record label."?
Gallagher was inspired by the example of Jordi Herald, founder of the Iron Horse Entertainment Group. "I really like music,"? says Gallagher, "so it was just great to hear someone who has been successful in a field that they are really passionate about. It's easy to admire people who are so into what they do."?
Walter McHugh of Greenfield dreams of starting an overseas operation that would manufacture vintage musical equipment for the U.S. market. "Vintage electronics equipment commands very high prices,"? says McHugh. "What I want to do is, essentially, recreate some of this equipment that is no longer made--the electronics, actually. It's a background that I know about; I work in an electronics shop."?
Professor Simmons and students Dawn Walsh and Eli Glace were invited to lead a workshop called " Students in Action."?
"It was very specifically using the Café Academia at GCC as a model for student entrepreneurship on campus,"? says Simmons. "The three of us spoke about the obstacles we ran into, what we did wrong and what we did right."?
Students took home a variety of lessons from the seminars they attended.
The best advice, according to Riseman, came from bankers "because they're the most brutally honest type of people. They're very straightforward about whether or not they think your business is going to survive. It's the realist's attitude. You go to them with your business plan and they can look at it and tell you, 'Yes, this is going to work' or 'No, it's not going to work.' They're not a hundred percent right all the time, but they can be a mirror for you.
"'You're going to hear no a lot,' they told us, 'but you've just got to keep getting back up, hearing why they told you no, making adjustments to your business plan and trying again.'"?
"I learned where to go for financing, and how I really need to work on a business plan,"? says McHugh. "I also learned that life is all about networking. Now I know a lot more names than I did, and I feel like I would like to utilize them."?
"I came away from the whole day feeling like I knew a whole lot more about (starting a business),"? says Gallagher. "I came away feeling like I could do it."?
Back at GCC, students can practice their entrepreneurial skills through Business Club enterprises like Café Academia. New this year is an emerging collaboration with the Women's Resource Center, with plans for a three-part Women in Money workshop series this spring.
The Business Club, says Riseman, "is all about empowering students with knowledge and skills that complement the education they get in the classroom, to try to give them that sense of going through trial and error before they go out into the real world."?
The club meets every Wednesday at noon in East Building Room 126 and all students are welcome to join.
Nov. 30th event will show what GCC's really like
On Wednesday, November 30, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., prospective students of all ages are invited to try out campus life at Greenfield Community College.
"This is as real as college gets,"? promises Admission Counselor Sarah Scarchilli-Janus. "But it's also fun and engaging."?
Like the popular reality shows on TV, "Reality College at GCC"? will place people in the midst of real-life experiences. Following the free continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m., participants attend a class of their choosing, led by GCC faculty, from topics they can really use, like Sports Economics, How To Create Advertising that Delivers, Networking Computers, Sneak Previews of the College Placement Test, Getting To Know Me so I Can Figure Out the Future, and many more.
High school students can learn how to earn college credits at GCC while still in high school, from Tech Prep Coordinator Lynn MacDonald.
At 11 a.m., actual emergency responders will offer the "Ultimate Reality Fair,"? demonstrating real-life public safety techniques used every day in the fields of criminal justice, emergency medical services, and fire science.
Student musicians perform during the free lunch, and members of the Drama Club and other campus clubs will be on hand to offer an inside picture of campus life.
Throughout the day, roaming videographers from GCC's TV studio will capture real-life footage for an instant production of the ultimate reality show, "A day in the life of GCC,"? starring the day's participants.
Breakfast, lunch and all events are free. Anyone interested in participating in "Reality College at GCC"? should register by Nov. 23 by calling Sarah at 775-1261, Lynn MacDonald at 775-1815, or Bob LaPalme at 775-1204.
For many adult learners who have just earned their General Educational Development (GED) diploma, higher education can seem like a big leap. Starting in January, Greenfield Community College will help them make that leap with a new program called Next Step Up. Funded by a $60,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Education, Next Step Up bridges the transition from GED to college.
"Our hope,"? says Herb Hentz, Director of Admission at GCC and project supervisor, "is that they will ultimately matriculate as college students."?
"The students themselves are looking to do what so many people do, and that is participate in higher education as a way of enhancing their life choices for themselves, their families, their partners and their community,"? says Hollyn Green, executive director of The Literacy Project.
Higher education can make "a huge difference,"? agrees Jim Ayres, executive director of the Center for New Americans. "It should help them to build job skills that they wouldn't have otherwise, which helps them economically and makes their families much better off."?
The new program is designed to meet the needs of a wide range of nontraditional students. At the Center for New Americans, says Ayres, "we work with immigrants and refugees to the area who come from around the world. In a given year, we typically work with people from about 50 different countries who speak about 30 different languages. Some have advanced degrees from their home countries; some have had very little schooling at all. What we do is try to work with those people so they can gain English and meet their own educational goals. For many of them, their goal is to go on to college here in the United States."?
At The Literacy Project, says Green, "the population that we work with, who are adult learners age 16 and older, have not succeeded in traditional education for a myriad of reasons. For older learners, it's often because of undiagnosed learning disabilities. But more and more, it's almost a lack of social preparation for the structure of traditional schooling. This grant is going to be assisting adult learners to strengthen the skills that allow them to function and flourish in the next level of education."?
For one semester, free, the fifteen GED graduates who are accepted into the program will sharpen the skills necessary to succeed in college and become acquainted with the many student services, like peer tutoring and financial aid, that GCC offers. "Not knowing where to go or how to ask for help is probably the number one reason that people don't come to college or get intimidated and then leave,"? says Lindy Whiton, Coordinator/Counselor for Next Step Up.
Not incidentally, they will form friendships with the other adults in their cohort, "so that when you go into that cafeteria for the first time, you have somebody to sit with. That's important,"? says Whiton, "because people feel alone in this new place. They've got this new routine in their life and they're scared stiff about whether they can do it or not, so having that buddy system is very helpful."?
A key part of the program is the one-on-one counseling that will keep Whiton appraised of each student's progress. Says Dale MacLeod, grants writer for GCC: "The Department of Education knows from their experience that by providing services such as a designated advisor for students, you are able to catch problems early and offer more assistance."?
Greenfield Community College is the perfect "home"? for such a program, according to Whiton. "GCC is like a big family. It's a warm, embracing community where the academics are strong, and the faculty and staff truly see their mission as offering access to education to all community members."?
GCC is working in partnership with other adult basic education organizations to offer Next Step Up. Its advisory board provides representation for an area that encompasses Northampton, Franklin County and the North Quabbin towns.
"My hope is that more people will consider going on to community college,"? says Ayres, "and I think by exposing them to the college, and allowing them to see the support that the college is willing to give them, that more people will consider doing that. I'm then hoping that, of those people who participate, that they'll have a successful transition and succeed once they do come to the college."?
Anyone interested in learning more about Next Step Up may call Herb Hentz at (413) 775-1809 or Lindy Whiton at (413) 775-1828.
"It's like having your own weather station at home,"? says Professor Ted Johnson, coordinator of the engineering program. "Weather stations are anywhere from $500 to $1,000 and here's one that, if you just have a computer, you can hop on and get the most recent data. It's updated every ten minutes right here in Greenfield."?
The Web site is an outgrowth of the weather station installed last year on a pole overlooking GCC's East Building. An array of instruments transmits weather data via radio to a receiving station that uploads the information into a computer which, in turn, feeds it up to the Web site using a software program called Davis Vantage Pro Weather Station.
"You don't go there to get a forecast,"? cautions Johnson. "You go there to get what the weather's doing, or a historical record of the weather."?
However, like Johnson's students, you can use the information you find there to make a simple forecast of your own. "Most weather predictors rely almost exclusively on what's happening with the barometric pressure,"? explains Johnson. "So if you go to the chart that says barometer on the weather index, you'll see a barometric pressure chart there and you can look at that chart and you can see that the barometric pressure, say, is rising. That tells you nice weather is coming our way. Just looking at nothing but the barometric pressure will give you about a 70% accuracy on the weather, which is probably as good as most of the weathermen anyway!"?
Similarly, other measurements aid in making your own weather prediction, like wind direction, wind speed and dew point.
"The dew point is the temperature at which dew will form,"? explains Johnson. "Once dew starts to form, it releases heat energy back into the atmosphere. So by looking at what the dew point temperature is, you can usually tell how cold it's going to get that night, unless there's a new mass of air coming in, or the sky is overcast which prevents nighttime radiational cooling.
"Wind speed and direction tell you that there's an air mass of different characteristics coming in. You can look on the Web site to see if the wind direction is from the south, in which case you've got a wetter and warmer air mass coming in. If you see you've got a strong wind coming from the north, you can expect your temperature's going to drop and things are going to get drier."?
When you type in www.gcc.mass.edu/weather in your browser, you'll view a chart summarizing twelve current weather conditions. Two hyperlinks on that page take you to detailed data and charts about both current and historical weather conditions. For example, the historical information reveals that the hottest it got last summer at GCC was 94.7 and the coldest it got last winter was 16 below.
Webmaster Erica Goleman was putting the finishing touches on the Web site during October's record-breaking weather. "We were having all of this torrential rain,"? says Goleman, "so I found it really useful just to be able to go to the Web site and see exactly how much rain was coming down. That wasn't something I had ever paid attention to before. More than half of this year's rain came in the month of October alone."?
Verne Richardson, Academic Computing, helped Goleman get the site up and running on a shoestring, scrounging up equipment and cajoling the software manufacturer to donate a copy of the program for PC-compatible computers (the college had already purchased the Macintosh version). "I did the legwork and the running around to find the hardware and get it running,"? says Richardson, "and then Erica did the interface of the weather station and its information onto the Web site.
"One of the nice things about working at GCC is it's small enough that you know everybody,"? notes Richardson. "So now you're asking your friends for some help or some information, and that's how this whole thing got started. GCC uses its resources well (by allowing) individuals the chance to be creative. Here, you've got people that say, 'Let's build it and get the others involved and make it happen!'"?
The weather Web site adds a new dimension to Johnson's popular introduction to meteorology course, which lures people of all ages to his classroom every semester and every summer. "There's an excitement to the weather,"? says Johnson. "It's something that everyone is immersed in, but not too many people take the time to really think about or study. It's always in the news, and students see that and want answers."?
They find those answers plus a global perspective on planet Earth from Professor Johnson. "Once you understand weather,"? says Johnson, "you can look at what humans are doing to the planet as a whole by unintentionally modifying the atmosphere. We look at the human impacts on this tiny little layer of air that wraps around this planet that we all have to breathe in and breath out of.
"You can climb a mountain and be above half of the atmosphere and realize how thin a layer of air we actually live in and here we are, dumping out chimneys' full of smoke and everything else into it and wondering why kids get asthma and people get emphysema. It's just a very limited resource and it needs to be treated as such. It's pretty finite and we're able to make some pretty drastic changes in it without even thinking about it. So that's my interest, to bring that knowledge out."?
You can sign up for Ted Johnson's 4-credit meteorology course by calling (413) 775-1801.
Greenfield Community College announces the appointment of Regina E. Curtis as the College's Director of Development. A resident of Warwick, Curtis most recently served as legislative aide for State Representative Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington). Before that, she held positions in area human service organizations and in municipal government, where she was the shared town coordinator for New Salem and Wendell. "Grant funding was an integral part of our revenue sources for these agencies or municipalities that I worked for,"? notes Curtis. "It was very satisfying to help supplement their revenues through grant funding."?
Curtis graduated from Greenfield Community College with an associate's degree in business administration/transfer in 1986, and went on to earn the degrees of bachelor of science in management from North Adams State College (now Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts) and MBA from Fitchburg State College.
At GCC, says Curtis, "I hope to be the person who can help the staff and faculty better understand what funding opportunities are out there, and enable a program to be developed or continue at GCC that might not be possible without this kind of outside funding assistance."?
"We are excited about the opportunities Regina will be seeking for the College,"? says Martha Field, Dean of Institutional Support and Advancement. "In addition to Regina's extensive experience working with the people of western Massachusetts and understanding state agencies, Regina brings optimism and enthusiasm for advancing GCC's mission."?
For more information, please contact Martha Field, Dean of Institutional Support and Advancement, at (413) 775-1421.
Greenfield Community College | One College Drive | Greenfield, MA 01301-5129 | (413) 775-1000 (tel) | (413) 775-5129 (fax)