Commencement caps and gowns
Congratulations to the graduates of 2025! Caps and gowns are available at the NMC Bookstore (located in the Health & Science building) and online at bookstore.nmc.edu. Don’t wait—get yours today!
Listening to the Earth: Environmental Science audiobooks on Libby
Find these audiobooks and more on the NMC Library’s Libby app. If you’re new to Libby, follow these instructions to set up your account.
The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World by Oliver Milman
“[The Insect Crisis] is a somber book, a catalogue of loss and unravelling, but also a lucid homage to the fabulous utility of insects and a critique of our fixation with backbones…If its visions are sometimes mournful, there is also something wondrous in Milman’s revelation of our fragile dependency on insect life as well as its beauty and strangeness.” – The Guardian
Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life by Ferris Jabr
“This exploration of the Earth as a living entity is lyrical, smart, and will make you appreciate our home planet in countless new ways. It’s really a fascinating book.”—Science Friday
Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration by Sara Dykman
“An extraordinary story in which Dykman seamlessly weaves together science, a real love of nature and the adventure and hazards of biking with butterflies from Mexico to Canada and back. They share an epic journey and encounter hardships, but they do not give up. The book is a lament for our thoughtless destruction of nature and at the same time a celebration of the beauty that remains. The migration of the monarch butterflies is one of the wonders of the world—we must save it for future generations.” —Dr. Jane Goodall
How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World by Ethan Tapper
A personal narrative on the importance of forest ecologies by a Vermont forester.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
“Braiding Sweetgrass is instructive poetry. Robin Wall Kimmerer has put the spiritual relationship that Chief Seattle called the ‘web of life’ into writing. Industrial societies lack the understanding of the interrelationships that bind all living things—this book fills that void. I encourage one and all to read these instructions.”—Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper, Onondaga Nation and Indigenous Environmental Leader
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake
“Nearly every page of this book contained either an observation so interesting or a turn of phrase so lovely that I was moved to slow down, stop, and reread… This book rocked me into remembering that nature, especially fungal nature, is big and encompassing and creative and destructive. It reminded me that fungi are, like the Universe, sublime.” — Science
Pow wow honoring our NMC graduates April 26
A dancer in the 2019 graduation pow wow
(download a high-resolution version here)TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College’s Native American Student Organization will hold a traditional pow wow honoring 2025 graduates from 1–4 p.m. Saturday, April 26, on NMC’s Front Street campus. This annual NMC event is open to the public and celebrates vibrant and culturally significant Native American tribes of our region. Ten Native American students are graduating this spring.
The pow wow will take place under the pines on the south side of the Osterlin Building, and feature Native American dancers, drummers, storytelling, music and more. Food and vendors will also be available. Grand Entry is set for 2:30 p.m. Attendees can park in the Aspen or Cedar lots. A campus map is available at nmc.edu/maps.
RELEASE DATE: APRIL 17, 2025
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Nathan Bootz
Native American Student Success Coach
(231) 995-2135
nbootz@nmc.edu
NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY NOTICE
Northwestern Michigan College does not discriminate in admission, campus activities, education, employment, housing, public accommodation or public service on the basis of age, color, creed, disability, gender identity/expression, handicap, height, marital or familial status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, service in the military, veteran’s status, weight, or any other legally protected status under federal, state, or local law. No act of retaliation shall occur to any person making a charge, filing a complaint, testifying or participating in any discrimination investigation or proceeding. nmc.edu/non-discriminationApril mobile food pantry distributions
NMC is hosting a mobile panty on from 3–5 p.m. on Monday, April 21 in the Maple Lot at the Front Street campus.
Menu items include potatoes, apples, carrots, sweet potatoes, cottage cheese, beef stew pouches, granola, juice and a homeward bag to bring it all home!
NMC’s mobile pantry program is designed specifically for NMC students and their families. Mobile pantries provide 7-10 days worth of fresh and shelf-stable goods to supplement family incomes. While this is intended for students, all are welcome. There are no financial requirements or means tests. Drive-thru and walk-up options are both available.
These pantries are made possible in partnership with Feeding America.
Success Story: Second competition for technology solutions to Great Lakes issues underway at NMC
April 16, 2025
Since 2023, Traverse City startup Wave Lumina has advanced from an idea hatched in a spare bedroom to building prototypes of its portable, rapid-response PFAS testing device in an NMC lab, submitting R&D funding proposals.
“A year and a half ago, it was just an idea. Now, we’re building things,” founder Vernon Lalone (right) said from Wave Lumina’s lab in NMC’s Parsons-Stulen Building. PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, threaten lakes and drinking water. The company is also testing real-world field samples and seeking opportunities for onsite pilot demonstrations at locations like military bases and semiconductor manufacturing facilities.
This year, NMC Marine Technology student and filmmaker Mark Dragovich hopes to replicate Wave Lumina’s upward success arc with his idea, a Khan Academy-like platform for video-based learning modules on freshwater science.
“My goal is to be the Jacques Cousteau of the Great Lakes. Tell the freshwater stories that need to be told,” Dragovich said.
Lalone and Dragovich, both Traverse City residents, are among more than 30 competitors who’ve entered the NMC-sponsored Great Lakes Blue Tech Challenge. The innovation and pitch competition seeks to accelerate technology-based enterprises and solutions to issues facing the Great Lakes. It’s the successor to 2024’s AquaHacking the Great Lakes, which NMC also sponsored and hosted.
Wave Lumina placed second in AquaHacking, winning a $10,000 prize. Lalone, 34, an Elk Rapids native, said it also gave the company crucial momentum. So far that’s crested in the lab space at NMC’s Parsons-Stulen Building. It’s much larger, outfitted with the necessary safety equipment, like fume hoods and safety showers, and gives the company a professional face.
“This has been the most impactful thing that’s happened to us since we started,” he said. “It’s been monumental to helping us make progress.”
In the lab, Lalone’s working on the third iteration of his prototype testing device, scaling it down from suitcase size to something in between a mobile phone and an iPad. With an estimated 120,000 PFAS-contaminated sites in the U.S. alone, affecting the drinking water of half of all Americans, there’s a huge market for a device that tests in the field, faster and more affordably than the current lab-based testing.
Dragovich’s idea is very different. He aims to combine his 20 years as a filmmaker with his passion for the Great Lakes. Drago Research & Exploration would create long and short-format video-based learning modules for K–12 students. Advertiser-free and student-centric, the licensed or subscriber-accessed video content would pair with an experiential learning activity, such as water sampling.
“I think we’ve got a pretty solid idea. I think there’s a need for it in the market,” said Dragovich, who envisions home schooled students as a primary audience. “The experiential learning I’ve gotten through NMC has really shown me how it reinforces what I learn.”
Ultimately Dragovich hopes to inspire future innovators.
“The idea behind all of this is to protect our Great Lakes. “If we can make people fall in love with the Great Lakes, then maybe more people will be apt to protect them,” he said.
The Blue Tech Challenge offers a top prize of $35,000, and a chance to be showcased at the OCEANS 25 conference to be held in Chicago in October.
Spring textbook rental return and summer rental availability
Summer textbooks are now available. Stop by the NMC Bookstore or check them out online at bookstore.nmc.edu. Looking to use financial aid for your books? Financial aid can be used to purchase books for summer classes April 20–June 23.
Spring textbook rentals need to be returned by May 5 to the NMC Bookstore located in the Health & Science Building on NMC’s Front Street Campus.
Books that have been purchased can be sold back April 27–May 1.
Red tag sale at the Bookstore
Stop by the NMC Bookstore April 28–May 2 and receive an additional 50% off all red tag clearance items.
New books for April 2025
To find these selections and many other new titles, see the NMC library catalog.
Finals flow
Take a break and join the success coaches for a relaxing beginner yoga session! Sessions will be held from 3–4 p.m. on April 14, 21 and 28 in the open space in the Osterlin Building.
Mats & light snacks will be provided.
Fourth annual Experiential Learning Institute Learning Symposium April 26–May 2
The fourth annual ELI Learning Symposium is scheduled to take place from April 26 to May 2. This week-long event, hosted by the Experiential Learning Institute (ELI), will showcase the diverse ways NMC students and faculty engage in high-impact teaching and learning.
The ELI Learning Symposium will feature a variety of student and faculty artifacts, experiences and scholarship. Attendees can expect to see oral and poster presentations on research and community engagement projects, academic courses, service learning experiences and community partnerships. The symposium highlights experiential learning in and/or out of the classroom.
April 26–May 2
Displays and Artifacts
Timothy J Nelson Innovation Center lobby and hallways
April 26
Science & Research Symposium
3–6 p.m.
Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center Rooms 106/107
April 29
Reflective Table Talks
Noon–1 p.m.
Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center hallways
This is an informal session where students and staff will share about their projects and events at tables in the hallways
April 30 (National Apprenticeship Day!)
Kristy McDonald’s BUS 231 Big Little Hero Race student reflections
3–4 p.m.
Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center Room 106
May 1
Charles Macphee’s EGY 105 student final presentations
6–9 p.m.
Aero Park Laboratories Room 101
May 2
nEXt Graduates’ Recognition at Honors Convocation
4:30–7:30 p.m.
Dennos Museum Center
For more information, contact elinstitute@nmc.edu.
Success Story: Community invited to ‘Do to learn’ throughout April
April 2, 2025
NMC’s distinguished academic programs and innovative experiential learning style are on full view to the community this month, fittingly National Community College Month.
Starting with the free April 12 “open ship” event aboard the State of Michigan, the training ship for the Great Lakes Maritime Academy – one of just six in the nation and the only one on freshwater – to A Taste of Success April 25, where Great Lakes Culinary Institute students will demonstrate skills from sauteing to baking to cocktail mixing, April offers experiences to engage every community member.
Four concerts featuring a range of musical genres and the tenth anniversary of the Big Little Hero race April 19 also occur this month. All showcase experiential learning, or “doing to learn.” The inverse of the traditional “learning to do” teaching technique, NMC has a strategic goal that every student receive at least one experiential learning opportunity.
“Research shows this technique has a higher impact on learners, increasing their persistence and retention,” said Brandon Everest, co-director of NMC’s Experiential Learning Institute.
In addition to the hands-on style, experiential learning includes problem-solving and reflection. Support for both college and community needs is also built in. Both A Taste of Success and Audio Technology’s “Dollars for Scholars” concert on April 12 benefit scholarships for students in the respective academic areas. The Big Little Hero race benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Michigan. During its 10 years, the race has raised more than $100,000 for the organization, which provides mentors to more than 400 youth in the community.
NMC President Nick Nissley (right) plans to attend all the events. At the Big Little Hero Race, however, he’ll be incognito, running as Captain Hawk Owl.
“Being on campus every day, the singularly outstanding educational experiences NMC students receive are familiar to me,” Nissley said. “I invite all northern Michigan residents to take advantage of the many opportunities this month to experience it themselves.”
National Community College Month has been marked since 1985. Its goal is to raise awareness and understanding of the value community colleges offer.
“Since we were founded by community members, we’ve long been known as the community’s college,” Nissley said. “This time of year we’re thrilled to be able to welcome our community to their campuses, to see for themselves the student accomplishments that we’re so proud of.”
Apply to graduate and RSVP for Commencement
Class of 2025—have you applied to graduate?
If this is your last semester of classes, now is the time to apply to graduate if you haven’t already! All students are required to submit this application to receive their credential. The graduation application is available in NMC Self-Service. Select “Apply to Graduate” under the “Student Records” tab to submit your application. Submit your application before April 15 to ensure your name will be listed in the Commencement program.
Those who have already applied to graduate should check their NMC student email to RSVP for Commencement. The deadline to RSVP for Commencement is April 21. Don’t forget to purchase your cap and gown from the NMC Bookstore!
If you have any questions, email records@nmc.edu or call (231) 995-1049.
Free tax preparation
In collaboration with the Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency, NMC is offering free tax preparation to students and employees with incomes less than $100,000 on Saturday, April 12.
Participants must sign up in advance for appointments that will be held in the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center, room 123. NMCAA will follow up with what the tax filer about what to bring to their appointment.
For more details, contact Marcus Bennett at mbennett@nmc.edu, 231-995-1401 or Justin Marcum on NMCAA, jmarcum@nmcaa.net, (231) 346-2169.
Next Speaker Series to air April 2 on WNMC
The WNMC’s next Speaker Series will feature Doug Luciani, former head of the TC Chamber of Commerce and current VP for Strategy and Community Engagement at the development firm Cunningham-Limp.
Luciani and Eric Hines from the WNMC will discuss the changes that have occurred in Traverse City during his seventeen years at the Chamber and some of the service-oriented projects Cunningham-Limp has been involved with in Northern Michigan over the last few years such as Common Grounds, the Mill in Glen Arbor, several area churches and Cordia Senior Living at Grand Traverse Commons.
This interview will air at 7:30 a.m. on April 2 during Wednesday’s edition of Mornings on WNMC. Tune in at 90.7 FM or stream afterward on the WNMC’s Soundcloud account.
GLMA hosts ‘open ship’ aboard State of Michigan
TRAVERSE CITY — The community is invited to the Great Lakes Maritime Academy’s “open ship” showcasing the training ship State of Michigan from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 12. The day will include:
- Self guided tours of the T/S State of Michigan
- Interaction with current maritime cadets
- An opportunity to learn more about the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, maritime careers, how to become a chef on a ship and U.S. Navy commissioning options
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.
Release date: MARCH 26, 2025
For more information:
Great Lakes Maritime Academy
maritime@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1200
NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY NOTICE
Northwestern Michigan College is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, disability, genetic information, height, weight, marital status or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. nmc.edu/non-discriminationNMC Music presents four spring concerts
TRAVERSE CITY — NMC’s Music Department invites the community to the following spring performances:
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Saturday, April 12 NMC Audio Technology presents Rockin’ Into Spring – Dollars for Scholars. This scholarship benefit concert features Racing Mount Pleasant, formerly known as Kingfisher, and Trillium Groove. Several Audio Tech alumni are among the performers. 7 p.m., Milliken Auditorium. Admission is $20 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets are now available.
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Saturday, April 19 NMC Jazz Bands present the Spring Jazz Ensemble Showcase. Josh Wagner, director. 7:30 p.m. Milliken Auditorium. General admission. Presale tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. ($20 and $15 at the door.)
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Friday, April 25 NMC Concert Band. Pat Brumbaugh, director. 7:30 p.m., Milliken Auditorium. General admission. Presale tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors ($20 and $15 at the door.)
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Sunday, April 27 NMC Children’s Choirs present choral music from around the world at their final concert of the season. Ashley Larimer-Kelly, Stephanie Schall-Brazee, Joanna Aldridge and Jamie Moreland, directors. 3 p.m., Lars Hockstad Auditorium. Reserved seating. Presale tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors ($20 and $15 at the door.)
Release Date: March 25, 2025
For More Information:
Cari Noga
NMC Communications Director
(231) 392-1800 (mobile – call or text)
cnoga@nmc.edu
Library of Things collection: New arrivals for spring/summer 2025
Spring is here, the snow is melting and the NMC Library has plenty of items in their Library of Things collection to help you get back outside after this brutal winter!
Play some outdoor games with your friends – from old favorites like cornhole and disc golf, to NEW additions to the collection like pickleball, kubb, giant chess and portable laser tag!
Have an outdoor movie night with our NEW mini projector and portable screen! Just add blankets, some popcorn and your favorite film for a perfectly cozy evening under the stars.
Have a picnic with your loved ones, with our NEW portable picnic table! You can also check out a bluetooth speaker, board games and a puzzle to make for a lovely day in the sun!
Go stargazing with our NEW telescope, or our NEW stargazing kit – complete with a red filter headlamp and flashlight as well as a pocket guide to the night sky!
Browse our full collection of Library of Things in the online catalog.
Success Story: On the cusp of nursing application season
March 19, 2025
Thomas Russell hasn’t graduated from high school yet, but he can’t wait to become a nurse.
The Traverse City Central senior is dual enrolled in medical terminology and a math class at NMC currently. This summer, following his high school graduation, he’ll take Anatomy & Physiology I, followed by A & P II in the fall. Once he completes all those prerequisites, he’ll be eligible to apply to the nursing program.
Russell’s undaunted by the challenges to a profession which, broadly speaking, is still recovering from the powerful impact of the COVID pandemic. At NMC, he has a lot of company, as nursing remains arguably NMC’s most competitive program. Russell, 18, is among 160 students now in a pre-nursing pipeline, at various stages of prerequisite course completion. April 1, applications will open for the 40 available seats in the associate degree program starting this fall.
Grade point average, prerequisite completion, entrance exam score, prior degree status and veteran status all factor into the admission decision, said nursing program director Betsy Boris.
After completion of his prerequisites, Russell will be eligible to apply this fall for spring 2026 admission. He said “a lot of reflection” led him to choose nursing. He’s worked in construction, and found he wanted more interaction with people. He’s been a caregiver to his mother, who has disabilities, and experienced the patient side himself due to a severe allergy as a child.
“At the base of it, it’s just being able to help people,” he said. “I found a very solid grounding in helping people, and what that made me feel like.”
NMC runs the largest nursing program north of Grand Rapids, and graduates provide skilled, proficient patient care. NMC exceeds both Michigan and U.S. average pass rates on the RN license exam, the NCLEX. In 2024, 97% of NMC nursing students passed.
“Application season is always an exciting time for our students as well as faculty and staff, as we welcome future nurses to this challenging yet rewarding and fulfilling field,” Boris said. “NMC is proud to train many of the nurses who go on to work at Munson Healthcare, at nursing homes and in public health, sharing their skills with the entire region.”
Through a partnership with Davenport University, NMC students can also earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing. The first class of 12 graduated last summer. Another 14 will start this summer.
Right now, Russell is leaning toward long-term care nursing. “Something where I can build a deeper connection with the individual,” he said.
He’ll also be able to take advantage of the Community College Guarantee. As a 2025 high school graduate, the scholarship will cover the cost of his associate degree.
“I’m on top of that,” Russell said. “Very glad and thankful.”