Observe NMC dance students and guest dancers cross the campus with improvisational dance on Monday, April 29, 3:10-5:10 p.m. featuring live music by Dede Alder. For more information, contact: Dorothy Eisenstein, project director deisenstein@nmc.edu
TRAVERSE CITY — Tickets are now on sale for the 64th annual NMC Barbecue, set for May 19 on main campus. The traditional spring “Picnic Under the Pines” will raise money for student scholarships and the new West Hall Innovation Center.
The Barbecue Board, a group of community volunteers and NMC employees, has pledged $9,000 this year into its existing endowed BBQ scholarship fund of $25,000 for NMC’s Commitment Scholars Program. With that program, NMC promises a college education with a scholarship that covers 60 credit hours to selected northern Michigan ninth graders who are first-generation students, show academic promise and potential, and have financial need.
The BBQ Board has also pledged an investment of $30,000 over the next 5 years to The West Hall Innovation Center, currently under construction. The multi-million dollar project will renovate and modernize the 50-year-old building to create a 54,000-square-foot, multi-story library and flexible learning space. It will incorporate innovative and transformative learning environments and multiple academic and simulation spaces.
“The NMC BBQ has a long and proud history of investing in the future of our region, whether it’s through the students themselves, or by creating the learning spaces they need to succeed,” said BBQ Board President Heather Jewell. “It’s exciting to know a $6 picnic meal can have such an incredible impact when we all join together to support our college.”
Advance tickets are $6 and available online now through My North Tickets at mynorthtickets.com/events/nmc-bbq-2019 with a $1.25 processing fee. Pre-sale tickets will also be available for $6 at all Oleson’s Food Stores, the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce, the NMC Foundation, and many financial institutions. Tickets are $8 on Barbecue Day.
The late Gerald W. Oleson and his wife Frances, founders of Oleson’s Food Stores in Traverse City, started the annual fundraiser picnic in 1956. Oleson’s Food Stores continues to donate all the food. Several thousand people attend every year, raising more than $1.8 million for college scholarships, programs and equipment over the years.
The NMC BBQ is also a proud “friendraiser” for the college with nearly 500 community volunteers giving back to their community college. To help with the event sign up online or go to nmc.edu/bbq and click “Volunteer at the BBQ.”
In addition to the traditional menu of buffalo steakettes or hot dog, baked beans, potato salad, coleslaw and beverage and ice cream served from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. on May 19 , free live entertainment is provided throughout the day. Classroom displays and program exhibits offer the public a chance to see what’s going on at NMC. Children’s games and activities will also be provided. The Barbecue will once again strive toward zero-waste, with composting and recycling services available.
Diana Fairbanks
Executive Director of Public Relations, Marketing & Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1019
Tuesday, April 16, 12:15-1 p.m.,Come enjoy a guided tour of Orna Ben-Ami’s exhibit, Entire Life Package, and the Inuit art that we have on display at the Dennos Museum. Entire Life in a Package is the story of millions of refugees with millions of packages, suitcases, sacks — “Life packages” that hold the desire to survive. In it, they pack both hopes and pains. Behind every package there is someone looking for a place. The objects that people take, in one package, represent their identity and sense of belonging, their memories and hopes for the future.
The NMC International Club will facilitate this month’s featured discussion topic of mental health, and how it is understood and treated around the globe. What’s Up World is a monthly student-led talk series that investigates current global topics. Join us for complimentary pizza and beverages in a living room setting with enlightening conversation. No prior knowledge on the topic is required.
When: April 17, 8:30-9:30 p.m., East Hall Lower Study Lounge
Join us for a free screening of Line 5, Barton Bund’s three-part series, followed by free refreshments and an informal community discussion in Scholars Hall room 217. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with refreshments following the film.
Tickets for the annual NMC Barbecue, set for 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 19 on main campus, are now on sale online and at the NMC Foundation office on main campus and at the Extended Education offices on the University Center campus.
Volunteers are also being sought to help put on the picnic under the pines, a spring tradition marking its 64th year. Sign up to volunteer here; most shifts are just two or three hours long and every volunteer gets a free commemorative t-shirt!
Monday, April 22, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Presented by the Student Green Team and NMC Green Team
Show some Hawk Owl pride on Earth Day by doing your part to clean up our beautiful campus! Volunteers will be on hand in the Health & Science Atrium and Osterlin Library to assist you with everything you need to lend a hand with on-campus trash clean up! Many hands make light work!
Post a photo on Instagram of your clean up efforts and use the hashtag #NMCEarthDay to be entered into a prize drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card!
Need to use your financial aid to purchase your books for summer?
Summer financial aid is available to use in the bookstore April 29-June 18.
Looking to sell back your textbooks at the end of the semester?
Stop by the bookstore April 29-May 3 to sell your books back for cash.
Spring book rentals are due back to the bookstore by Friday, May 3.
Can’t remember if you rented a book? Contact the bookstore at 995-1285 with questions.
NMC Jazz Groups will be in concert Saturday, April 20 starting at 7:30 p.m. in Milliken Auditorium.
TRAVERSE CITY — The community is invited to the Great Lakes Maritime Academy’s open “ship” showcasing the training ship State of Michigan from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 13. The day will include:
Tours will begin at the pier security gate entrance on the north side of NMC’s Great Lakes campus, 715 E. Front St. Low-heel, closed-toe, soft-soled shoes are highly recommended. The event will occur rain or shine.
Scott Fairbank
Great Lakes Maritime Academy
sfairbank@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1213
TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College announced today it will launch a new institute devoted to experiential learning and community engagement.
Experiential learning provides learners real world and hands-on opportunities preparing them for an ever-changing and diverse world. The purpose of experiential learning is to actively engage the learner through relevant and ongoing experience, critical problem solving and reflective practices. Learners who engage in experiential learning are more likely to persist through their college experience, graduate, and become lifelong, self-directed learners.
The Experiential Learning Institute is the next step in more formal college efforts to expand experiential learning college-wide, which began in 2016. It will collaborate with both on-campus and community stakeholders to engage students and the community, locally, nationally and globally. The Institute will connect the community and NMC by seeking creative partnerships, serving ongoing community needs, and preparing learners for future employment.
Kristy McDonald, director, said, “Experiential learning is important because students grow not only in their intellectual capacity but also personally, professionally, and civically. They have a greater capacity for empathy and compassion in the way they see themselves and the world.”
McDonald and several other faculty and staff have earned certification from the Experiential Education Academy, part of the New Jersey-based National Society for Experiential Education.
Sharing his enthusiastic support for this new initiative, NMC President Timothy J. Nelson said, “I’m excited about the outcomes we will see as our students combine doing with learning. The institute formalizes what many of our faculty and staff have done and embeds it through the college.”
Kristy McDonald
Director, Experiential Learning Institute and Business Instructor
kmcdonald@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1059
Godwin Jabangwe says life’s put him in the right place at the right time, taking him from his native Zimbabwe to an NMC classroom to another in Grand Rapids to Los Angeles.
Now the former visual communications student-turned-screenwriter will bring that serendipity full circle, taking Netflix audiences back to Zimbabwe after closing a “monster” sale for his first feature film, Tunga, inspired by the mythology of the Shona culture in that African country.
“Even now, it doesn’t feel real. It’s so crazy and unexpected,” said Jabangwe, 35, who attended NMC from 2007-2010 and discovered screenwriting while working in the Beckett Building computer lab.
“That’s actually how I started writing. I would have eight-hour shifts,” he said. “You reached the end of the Internet.”
Jabangwe’s deal is the first to come out of Imagine Impact, a talent incubator founded by Hollywood heavyweights Ron Howard and Brian Grazer (below, right) and headed by Tyler Mitchell (below, left) in 2018.
“They bring in talented writers who are seeking a breakthrough,” Jabangwe said. He’d been working on the Tunga idea but joining the Impact class, which paired writers with mentors, allowed him to focus. The experience ended in February with a pitch day to potential buyers, which Jabangwe called both “very exciting” and “terrifying.” Netflix won Tunga in a four-way bidding war. (Watch video of Jabangwe celebrating his deal.)
Though he’s a long way from NMC, where he followed his older brother, Succeed, Jabangwe’s path from Traverse City is one of steady progress. He lived in the NMC apartments and took his first film class here. The college was small enough that he could adapt to the U.S., but big enough to allow him to dream.
“I’d always wanted to be in film somehow,” he said. “NMC allowed me to settle into life in the United States without getting too much of a culture shock.”
(Spring international student enrollment stands at 48 students. International students help achieve NMC’s strategic direction of ensuring learners are prepared for success in a global society and economy.)
Following NMC, Jabangwe earned a bachelor’s degree in film from Grand Valley State University. He aspired to UCLA’s prestigious screenwriting program, but didn’t think he could get in. Instead, he enrolled in a master’s degree program in computer science. He got his acceptance from UCLA during class one day.
“I just got up and packed my bags and walked out,” he said. “I packed up my little car and drove to LA.”
Jabangwe will now continue development of the Tunga script. There is no announced release date yet.
Support the Next Generation of skilled workers in the Grand Traverse Area. TBAISD Career Tech construction students v. NMC Construction students in a “shed” sized out-building for auction — 5 tickets for $100 or $20 each.
Tickets are available at the HBAGTA Office. 3040 Sunset Lane, (231) 946-2305, now until the TBAISD Career Tech Spring Expo, which will be held May 1, 4–7:30 p.m. Drawing will be held at 7:15 p.m.
Bringing suicide awareness closer to home, one empty shoe at a time.
Suicide affects nearly every individual, though the signs are not always clear. A panel of local community experts will come together to provide support, resources, and information on this pressing issue. Join us in bringing together a broken community and learn how to help those in need.
Wednesday April 17 at 6 p.m.
Northwestern Michigan College: Scholars Hall (SH) Room 109
Panel Participants:
And more!!
For more information contact Lisa Blackford at lblackford@nmc.edu or call 231-995-1294
The Long Night Against Procrastination returns to Osterlin Library on Thursday, April 25 from 6 p.m.-2 a.m. Advisors, tutors, WRC staff and librarians will be joining forces and burning the midnight oil to help students tackle the end of the semester in festive style. Waves of free pizza will arrive at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. with other free snacks, treats, coffee and soft drinks throughout the night. Come get the fuel, motivation and help you need to crush those final papers and exams!
iDance spring Opera House DanceCome enjoy a night of slow, waltz, salsa, tango, swing and other Latin dancing hosted by NMC’s iDance student group. Costumes encouraged but not required.
The theme is ‘The Greatest Showman’. From 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. we will feature a Mykl Werth Movement (MWM) basics workshop taught by Mykl Werth and dips and tricks workshop taught by Ashley Urbanus and Jon Vanhoose. Open dance then begins at 8 p.m., ending at midnight.
Ticket prices:
General admission- Workshop & Dance- $19, Dance Only: $15
Senior/Student Tickets- Workshop & Dance- $10, Dance Only: $8