Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
February 22, 2017
NMC math instructor Mary Burget and student Lauren HayesDriven to catch the Soviets in the space race of the 1950 and ’60s, black female NASA mathematicians solved the problem of putting astronauts into orbit, a story told in Hidden Figures, nominated for Best Picture* at this weekend’s Academy Awards.
Driven to offer NMC students more pathways to meet math graduation requirements, the math department solved the problem with Math 120, a class that, a la NASA, turns students into problem-solvers. Not just for the course, but for life.
“Our whole goal is that it’s more than math — they become good problem-solvers,” department chair Deb Pharo said of Math 120, added to the curriculum just two years ago as a way for liberal arts students whose programs don’t require additional math to fulfill graduation requirements.
But now and then a funny thing happens on the way to simply checking off the requirement: A student discovers a hidden passion for figures, and their whole career trajectory changes. Lauren Hayes (above, right) is Exhibit A.
Becoming a problem solver starts with students having confidence in their abilities. When she enrolled at NMC in 2015, Hayes, 27, didn’t. She failed her last math class before she graduated from Traverse City West High School in 2008 and wound up in a developmental math course. Her instructor, Mark Nelson, started building her confidence. In 120, officially titled Math Explorations, it took off.
“Math 120 made me feel proficient, like I could figure things out,” Hayes said. The course teaches students the “beauty and utility of mathematics” by presenting practical problems like personal finance and budgeting.
She enrolled in another math course, Probability and Statistics, which she’d been dreading. Instead, she “breezed” through it. Encouraged by Mary Burget, her 120 instructor, who turned to math herself after a first career in social work, Hayes switched her major from psychology to engineering.
“Once I had in my head that I was good at it, it was almost like I was,” said Hayes, who’s now enrolled in college algebra.
In fact, she’s craving more math than her engineering classes currently offer.
“I don’t really want to build things so much as understand how things work. I feel like math does that for me,” Hayes said.
That’s music to Burget and Pharo’s ears. While Math 120 exists so students can meet requirements, it’s also a practical, real-world course that can help students with lifelong decision making.
“It’s good for everybody. It’s a real class with real benefits,” said Pharo. “We want them to see it not as a math class, but something that’s more useful.”
Probability of Hidden Figures winning Best Picture - 1:25, per OddsChecker.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
November 27, 2018
On Tuesday afternoon, Alex Bernier toured the length and breadth of Africa, from Egypt’s pyramids to the east-central Serengeti renowned for wildlife to South Africa’s Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in prison. And he did it all within his two-hour World Cultures class, inside NMC’s Beckett Building, simply by putting on a virtual reality headset.
“It’s fantastic,” Bernier said of the technology, marveling at the improvement from elementary school, when his teachers rolled in TVs on carts.
Students download Google Expeditions, a free app, to their phones, and place the phones into the headsets, which offer a three-dimensional perspective — standing on the edge of Zambia’s Victoria Falls, for instance, or in the sightlines of a gorilla in Serengeti National Park. Instructor Jim Bensley serves as the guide, choosing where students will explore. This week’s whirlwind African tour also showed them the Namibian desert and slave monuments in Senegal.
“We’re trying to stay on the cutting edge of content delivery by using technology to enhance the subject matter,” Bensley said. “We use it to enhance that learning, to immerse the students into a landscape where those cultures exist.”
Students were unanimously enthusiastic.
“It’s pretty neat to see the places we’re learning about,” said Kaylee Annis.
“It gives you more of the experience you would get if you went to that place,” said Sam Wilkinson.
At $15 per headset, virtual reality is also a cost-effective way to achieve NMC’s strategic goal of ensuring that NMC learners are prepared for success in a global society and economy. Bensley has also used them to “take” World Cultures students to the Islamic world and Latin America. In his Introduction to Humanities class, he’s showed students the Baroque art and architecture of Europe.
Debuting this semester, it’s too soon to say if the headsets are improving academic performance. But Bensley said student engagement is high.
“It’s a great active learning tool. They enjoy looking around themselves,” Bensley said. While he guides the tours, students have a 360-degree field of vision and can zoom in to particular things that interest them.
“It gives you the freedom to look around,” agreed student Lucy Teubner.
For at least one student, it was also a preview. NMC is offering a study abroad trip to South Africa next spring, which will include World Cultures student Sunny Charpentier. It’s one of seven experiences scheduled for 2019.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
February 25, 2015
Back in 2012, as one of NMC’s pioneer students in Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Brad Kent found himself with a job offer before he’d even finished his training, and headed overseas for six-figure work as a civilian contractor. Now, as approvals for domestic use of UAS rise by the week, Kent and fellow former NMC students are poised to help guide the industry’s development into its second, commercial phase.
NMC was on the forefront of unmanned aircraft training, offering its first classes in the fall of 2010. Students like Kent (front row, second from right) and Darrell Trueblood (back row, far right) found getting in on the ground floor paid off, literally
“Before I even finished my degree I had placement in industry,” said Kent, 24, of Traverse City. He and Trueblood, 35, are among four NMC pilots now deployed in Afghanistan as civilian contractors with an Arizona-based manufacturer of UAS.
They provide force protection services to military, a job both see as worthy and important. Lengthy deployments and life on a military installation create a trade-off, however. “Balancing the benefits of income vs. the moments you miss with your friends and family becomes the tough part,” said Trueblood, who is married and a father to three. His wife and three children live in Tennessee.
“It puts a strain on relationships, it puts a strain on a social life,” said Kent, who still says it’s an “amazing experience” to work overseas.
UAS industry gets go-ahead to expand
Now, however, the strains and trade-offs are easing as the UAS industry gets the go-ahead to expand domestically.
Until 2014, the FAA strictly limited use of UAS vehicles in U.S. airspace. The first commercial exemption was granted in June 2014, allowing surveillance of oil fields in Alaska. Since December 2014, the FAA has approved more than 20 other exemptions for uses ranging from photography to agriculture.
Kent anticipates returning stateside later this year, to corporate headquarters in Tucson, Ariz. He’ll work on UAS research and development and train other pilots to fill the vast number of openings the industry expects as commercial permissions expand. “With pending FAA regulations for Unmanned Aerial Systems on the very near horizon, growth in this industry will be immense. Activities like movie production, agriculture monitoring, and infrastructure inspection will become an everyday occurrence, requiring trained professionals,” said Tony Sauerbrey, UAS program manager.
“This career field will grow exponentially in the coming years, both with pilots and support staff,” Trueblood agreed. His advice to prospective students is to be open to change.
“What you know today may be different from what you learn tomorrow. Be willing to continuously learn and continue your education,” he said.
It was that kind of attitude that led Kent to enroll in the first UAS classes.
“At the time it was a couple classes that you could add on if you were going through the manned aviation program,” Kent said. “NMC was very cool in the fact that they were willing to offer classes like that, new technologies.”
Sauerbrey said NMC will continue to grow with the industry and plans to offer full UAS pilot certification once the FAA finalizes regulations. NMC will also continue to work with leading UAS companies to provide a conduit for students seeking to enter the industry.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
April 8, 2020
Over the last few months, in between her nursing shifts in a Kalamazoo hospital’s medical intensive care unit, Karissa Havens (right) followed the worsening COVID-19 epidemic as it swept from China to Europe to the United States.
The Traverse City West High School graduate, who attended NMC from 2013-2014 before transferring to Western Michigan University for her nursing degree, knew she had the skills to help both patients and overwhelmed hospitals in COVID-19 hot spots. She felt called to go where they were desperately needed.
Next week, she is. Havens, 24, has accepted a six-week traveling nurse position in a COVID-19 ICU unit at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. She was able to find a job within two days of deciding to leave Kalamazoo.
“I am completely humbled by this opportunity and ready to give everything I can to help fight this terrible virus,” Havens posted on Facebook announcing her move.
She will arrive in New York on the heels of 2015 nursing graduate and adjunct instructor Callie Leaman (left). Leaman, an ER nurse at Munson Medical Center, arrived in the epidemic’s epicenter Tuesday. She is working in midtown Manhattan at New York University Langone Health in a COVID-19 ICU unit.
Havens has not yet cared for any COVID-19 patients at her current hospital, Bronson Methodist, but she and her colleagues have researched how the disease has progressed in countries ahead of the U.S., studying patient presentation and care protocols.
“I don’t know if anything will really prepare me,” Havens said. For instance, Mount Sinai is establishing a tent annex in Central Park, directly opposite its building, to care for patients.
At NMC Havens took nursing prerequisite courses, including cell plant and ecosystem biology and chemistry. She remembers instructor Greg LaCross’s classes as among her favorites. She was also on the Dean’s List.
“I have no doubt she has made a difference in people’s lives, especially now, when our healthcare workers are so needed,” LaCross said.
She first considered going to Detroit, another hot spot, to help out her home state. But Detroit hospitals weren’t taking first-time traveling nurses. A licensing issue cropped up when she considered Chicago. But her qualifications were welcome in New York.
Havens begins work at Mount Sinai April 14. Her contract runs through May 31, though she expects it will likely be extended. It’s been most difficult to find affordable housing, though she thinks she’s found a temporary place. It’s a half-hour commute from the hospital, so she hopes the city keeps public transit running. She feels as ready for the challenge as she can be.
“I don’t have any kids, I’m not married. It’s just me and a dog. I’m the perfect candidate to go,” Havens said.
Her dog, Zaas, will stay with her parents in Interlochen. As for the general public, “Keep quarantining, and if possible, try and donate blood,” Havens said.
Do you know a helper or hero with NMC connections? Please share stories of students, instructors, alumni and community members stepping up during the COVID-19 epidemic by emailing publicrelations@nmc.edu.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
June 13, 2018
Becky TranchellCulinary students in a new baking certificate program will cap off their studies in delicious fashion, opening the revamped Cafe Lobdell’s at the Great Lakes campus June 19.
Customers can enjoy coffee, pastries and breads three mornings a week through July 26. For the six-week cafe class duration, Lobdell’s Teaching Restaurant, located on the second floor overlooking West Grand Traverse Bay, will be converted from a table-service establishment to a cafe/coffee bar open from 7-11 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Comfortable furniture has been installed and newspapers will be on hand. Outdoor tables will also be available. Culinary instructor Becky Tranchell and service lead Kerry Fulcher will oversee daily operations.
“I’m hoping it’s a spot where people can come in and linger for a few minutes or an hour,” said Patty Cron-Huhta, front-of-the-house coordinator for NMC’s Great Lakes Culinary Institute. “The espresso machine is cranking all morning.”
Also on the menu: croissants, tarts, cookies, cakes, four different kinds of bread and a variety of coffee drinks for take out or dine-in.
The summer season operation will enable Lobdell’s to continue its commitment to use local foods, Cron-Huhta said, including Higher Grounds coffee.
She expects loaves of the multi-grain bread, popular during the restaurant’s fall and spring semester lunch service, to be a hot item. Customers will also be able to personalize cakes.
“This is our first run at this. We’re excited to see how it all turns out,” she said.
The baking certificate expands the offerings of the Great Lakes Culinary Institute, which already offers a comprehensive culinary certificate as well as a culinary degree. Institute director Fred Laughlin said it will serve the needs of a growing number of students interested specifically in baking and pastry.
Cafe Lobdell’s will be open from 7–11 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from June 19–July 26, except July 4.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
March 7, 2018
Thirty years ago, newly-named Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce chairman Kevin Schlueter was preparing to graduate from NMC. Now, as he embarks on his latest leadership challenge, he continues to credit the college and hopes to illuminate the sparkle from the “gem that we have in Traverse City” to the Chamber’s 2,000 member businesses.
“Everything that I have, I owe to NMC,” said Schlueter, 49, also the president and CEO of Kalkaska Screw Products. “It’s just flat-out factual.” Here’s how NMC is woven, both professionally and personally, into Schlueter’s life:
- Scholarship – a Presidential scholarship covered the St. Francis High School graduate’s bills. The scholarship required him to keep up his GPA, which in turn meant he was admitted to the competitive Michigan Technological University, where he earned a bachelor’s in engineering in 1992. A master’s at Central Michigan followed in 1998. Neither degree, Schlueter says, would have happened without first graduating from NMC, in 1988.
- Family – Schlueter met his wife Leana when both were students at NMC. They have two children, son Cameron and daughter Lydia.
- Industry – In the eight years he’s led Kalkaska Screw Products, the company has increased employment more than sixfold, from 19 to 125. In his Chamber role now, Schlueter wants to play a liaison role between the manufacturing industry and the economic development and business community to help boost the skill set of potential employees. He sees NMC as well-positioned to do that. “It’s not just a local college that perhaps is affordable. The education is superior,” he said.
In addition to his Chamber leadership, Schlueter also serves on the NMC Foundation Board, the Scholarship Open golf committee, and the Alumni Relations steering committee.
“I’ve got an opportunity to give back, and I like doing that,” he said. “Every time I stretch my comfort zone a little bit, I grow as a human.”
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
September 14, 2016
It was just another day in Anatomy and Physiology class, until instructor Nick Roster told students working in groups that the first group to finish a task would win five points.
The effect was immediate and obvious. Students leaned in across the lab tables, their body language showing focus, intensity and concentration as they worked together. By making the task into a race — a basic gamification concept — Roster simultaneously challenged and motivated students, fostered collaboration and self-directed learning.
It’s those kind of results which led the science instructor to completely rebuild his A & P course on gamification principles. He received an NMC Foundation grant to pilot the idea in 2015, and in spring 2016 moved completely to a gamification structure.
“I’m using some of the game elements and an (online) platform to run the whole class,” said Roster.
While the structure is a natural fit for students who grew up trying to get to the next level on PlayStation or Xbox, Roster said such gamification concepts as leveling up are ideal for learning.
“What this allows for is mastery learning. There’s no 70 percent,” he said. “Student performance is better because they have to get it right.”
They have to get it right — eventually. The level-based structure of his class allows students to practice until they gain the knowledge or skills necessary to advance. Failure is not the disaster that it would be on a midterm or final exam.
“This allows students the opportunity to fail, or get it wrong, or misread the question, and still be successful,” said Roster, whose e-mail signature includes a quote from Einstein: “I never teach my students, I only give them the opportunity to learn.”
Anatomy and Physiology still includes a traditional hands-on lab, though much of what was the lecture format of the class can now be conducted online. That allows students to progress at their own pace, and frees up class time for questions and discussion.
Roster has discussed the potential to apply gamification concepts with colleagues in NMC’s Business, Aviation, Computer Information Technology and other science disciplines. He says he knows one group that hopes the idea spreads: Students.
“My student reviews have never been better,” he said. “They’re hoping or wishing other classes were structured this way.”
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
January 16, 2019
NMC’s board of trustees: Front row: Rachel A. Johnson, Jane T. McNabb; middle row: K. Ross Childs, Michael Estes, Kennard R. Weaver; back row: Douglas S. Bishop, Chris M. BottFine-tuning the qualities desired in NMC’s next president with input from stakeholders, developing a presidential profile and managing the search timeline are among the immediate tasks facing Pauly Group, Inc., the presidential search consultant college trustees selected this week.
Trustees’ selection of Pauly Group, an Illinois firm with extensive experience in Michigan, was unanimous. Current NMC President Timothy J. Nelson will retire at the end of this year after assuming the office in 2001.
“Hiring a president hasn’t occurred for 19 years,” said board chairman Chris Bott, noting that only one current trustee, Ross Childs, was involved with Nelson’s hiring. “They’re a great firm to guide us through this process.
Key to the entire search will be creation of a profile of the desired candidate. Pauly Group will help trustees develop a process to obtain comprehensive input to that profile
“It’s important we don’t do this in a vacuum and alone,” Bott said. “We truly want input from all the stakeholders — faculty, administration, staff, students, community members, alumni, Foundation.”
Trustees cited the depth of Pauly Group’s experience in Michigan as among the factors that set the Springfield, Ill.-based company apart from three other finalists interviewed last week. In its references, Pauly Group cited the placements of the current presidents of North Central Michigan College in Petoskey (2018), Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor (2017) and Mott Community College in Flint (2014).
The search, which is expected to take about six months, comes on top of an already-busy year for the college and Nelson. During his final year leading NMC he has identified the following areas as some of his priorities:
- Completion of the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center.
- Securing key leadership positions including the Dennos Museum Center and Great Lakes Culinary Institute
- Implementation of tools for assessing and analyzing student success initiatives
- Successful completion of accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission and the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing
- Progressing with Experiential Learning initiatives
- Expanding alternate revenue streams including professional learning and fundraising
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
October 11, 2017
NMC welding students Andrew DuBois and Michael StolarczykSome NMC welding students are getting a dose of American history on top of this semester’s classes.
They’re helping to restore Civil War markers placed on the graves of Union Army veterans in northern Michigan cemeteries. Thanks to an instructor’s idea, the extracurricular project is increasing their skills and their citizenship, one cast iron star at a time.
Adjunct electrical instructor Jeff Morse is a member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, a national group that works to honor the memory of the soldiers killed between 1861-65. A feature of the Union graves the group charges itself with maintaining is a cast iron star flagholder, inserted into the ground with double spikes.
A Civil War marker repaired by NMC welding students“Over the years they became no match to power lawn mowers and brutal northern Michigan winters. Many markers became rusty and either one or both of the spikes had been broken off,” Morse said.
He mentioned it to welding instructor Devan DePauw, who agreed to take on repair as an extracurricular project with student volunteers. Students cut off the double legs, grind and prepare the stars for welding, and then weld one spike in a new, center position.
It’s an opportunity to learn new techniques from the typical steel-to-steel welding they do in class.
“Cast iron is notoriously difficult to weld,” DePauw said. Students are learning a “brazing” technique that uses a bronze filler to weld the spike back on.
It’s also an opportunity to apply their knowledge for a greater good.
“I like doing stuff that matters. This epitomizes that,” said Michael Stolarczyk, 18, of Traverse City.
“I just think it’s a good cause,” said Andrew DuBois, 28, of Flint.
Group member Scott Schwander, who has been cleaning the headstones as well, returns the repaired star flagholders to the graves. He started with Oakwood Cemetery near main campus, where about 300 Union veterans are buried. The Robert Finch Camp of which both Schwander and Morse are members serves 16 northern Michigan counties and estimates that more than 1,000 Union veterans are buried in the five-county Grand Traverse region.
Camp commander Ted Matti, sees the project as a win–win.
“Being they’re in a welding program, they have to work with various kinds of metal,” he said. “Any time you can get involved with anything in the community of historic significance, or helping others, that’s all part of being a citizen in the community, and that’s a good lesson, too.”
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
June 17, 2015
When the National Cherry Queen is crowned next month, Hannah Beaudry will be hoping the luck of the pine tree is on her side.
The NMC student is one of four finalists vying for the 2015 crown. If she wins, Beaudry, 19, will become the fifth queen within the past decade with NMC connections.
“Being able to have a college experience in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan, is such a blessing to me. Hopefully there’s a lucky charm with NMC and cherry queen, but who knows,” said Beaudry, a 2013 Elk Rapids High School graduate who is studying elementary education.
She’ll finish her NMC classes in December and then go on to complete her bachelor’s through Central Michigan University at the University Center.
The Cherry Queen scholarship would cover the remainder of her tuition costs, she said.
“It would be life-changing to earn that scholarship and graduate college debt-free,” she said.
At NMC, Beaudry’s favorite instructor has been history professor Jim Press.
“He made us think in such an amazing way. He really focused on critical thinking,” she said. “The way he lectures is like he’s telling a story, and it just made history so interesting. And I did not love history before that.”
On July 10, Beaudry will hope to make National Cherry Festival history, walking away with the crown first awarded in 1925.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
Adult learner champions inclusion of nontraditional students
April 7, 2021
This Saturday, Amber Marsh will find out if she’ll spend the next year as a vice-president of an organization seeking to advance the success of more than 200,000 community college students in 11 countries worldwide.
It’s a position the Kalkaska County resident, licensed cosmetologist, mother and NMC student never imagined herself seeking two or three years ago. But the difference NMC’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the international community college honor society, has made in Marsh’s own life has compelled her to try and advance its mission still further.
“I know this gives people tools for success,” said Marsh, who’s president of NMC’s chapter. “(PTK) is an organization that has helped me to grow, push me, challenge me.”
It’s been a decade since an NMC chapter member has sought international office, said chapter adviser Kari Kahler. She believes Marsh, one of three finalists for NMC’s district vice presidency, has a good shot at being the first from the college elected to the international level.
“She has embraced the ideals of Phi Theta Kappa. Her heart is service,” Kahler said, adding that under Marsh’s leadership, NMC’s chapter was just named the most distinguished among 31 chapters in Michigan. “She’s just in it for all the right reasons.”
While the conference is mostly virtual, Marsh and other finalist candidates will be in Orlando for the vote.
With this year’s election prioritizing inclusion, Marsh thinks she’s a fitting candidate. She’s studying business administration and hopes to one day start her own business in the beauty industry.
“I want to be a voice for nontraditional students, for trade students,” she said.
Marsh’s interest in advocacy and policy traces to a 2019 conference she attended at the Roosevelt Institute in New York as a Forge Fellow. She’s now on the national leadership board for the institute founded by the former U.S. president. PTK invited her to present on her trip, and wound up extending an invitation for membership, which requires at least a 3.5 grade point average.
“I didn’t think I could afford the ability to be in a scholarly organization,” said Marsh, who also runs a food and clothing pantry at Forest Area Schools, where she graduated from high school and where her two children now attend, and founded a women’s conference in Kalkaska.
But she’s found PTK dovetails well with her interests in community. One project she led was sewing reusable cloth face masks for residence hall students, to reduce the waste of disposable masks. She’ll be joining the NMC Foundation Board as a student member, and is also a member of the strategic planning steering committee launching this month.
“I just have a passion for PTK and how it grows community at NMC,” Marsh said.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
November 13, 2018
The spirit of Thanksgiving and the holidays is extending out from campus to the community, with several charitable projects now underway. There’s still time to pay it forward with a donation of food or a warm jacket, and mark your calendar to enjoy a free family day at the Dennos Museum Center Nov. 23.
Student Blake Bandrowski, marketing director for NMC Professional Communications students’ sixth annual Food for Thought food drive, said students will take a wallet full of $5,500 in donations on a mega grocery shopping trip this weekend, aiming to fill up a semi-truck before Monday’s distribution.
“On Sunday we will be spending all the money we got through donations,” Bandrowski said.
Since mid-October, students have also collected food on campus and at special events. This year’s drive benefits four pantries that help students and their families. A 2016 Northwest Food Coalition survey revealed more than 2,000 children in the region are food insecure, which can be a barrier to learning.
The food drive is an experiential learning project that enables students to help the community by practicing professional communications skills — like soliciting donations.
“That’s the great thing about the class. Not only are you helping people, but you’re learning the skills by actually using it,” Bandrowski said. “It is legitimate work experience.”
Through Monday, community members can donate non-perishable food and personal hygiene items at red collection bins in the Tanis Building and Osterlin Library on main campus; University Center; Hagerty Conference Center and Parsons-Stulen on Aero Park campus. More info »
In addition to the food drive:
NMC’s Bookstore is leading the third annual Hoodies for the Homeless through November 21. Donate new or gently used outerwear — hoodies, coats, snow pants all welcome — at the bookstore, now located in the Health & Science Building, and get a coupon for 30 percent off one regular priced apparel item. All items donated will go to the Goodwill Street Outreach program for distribution to people in need.- NMC Student Life and Learning Services are teaming up with student leaders to offer Stocking Stuffers to students, a successor to the former Giving Tree program, which offered holiday gifts to students for seven years. In the new program, students will fill out a short application requesting extra assistance to shop for their children/dependents this holiday season. Approved students may choose gift cards from Meijer, Target, Kohl’s or Books-a-Million. Donations to the program are sought by Dec. 3 and can be made online.
- The Dennos Museum will open its doors to the community with free admission on Friday, Nov. 23. Museum hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
September 15, 2015
Record donation makes expansion possible
It was time for something big, Diana and Richard Milock decided.
NMC today announced the largest single gift by living donors in college history, a $2 million gift to expand the Dennos Museum Center. That gift also happens to be the largest ever for the Milocks, stalwart cultural philanthropists whose touch is evident everywhere in northwest Michigan, from Milliken Auditorium to the Bijou Theatre to the YMCA.
“We saw this as an opportunity to have a major impact on a community resource that we think is really important to the life of Traverse City. We’re really just so excited to be able to do this,” Diana Milock said.
The 9,000-square-foot expansion will house two new galleries intended to be named, respectively, the Gene Jenneman Permanent Collection Gallery and the Diana and Richard Milock Sculpture Gallery. The former honors the museum’s founding director. Under Jenneman’s quarter century of leadership the Dennos has built a strong permanent collection of works, but most sit in storage.
“We have wonderful works of art and there just isn’t room to show them,” Diana Milock said.
Art lovers and collectors themselves, the Milocks have supported both the Dennos and NMC’s Great Lakes Culinary Institute for more than a decade. Diana Milock has a special affinity for sculpture, which will be evident in the expansion. Windows lining one wall of the expansion will connect the new sculpture gallery to existing outdoor sculptures that surround the museum.
“I love outdoor sculpture. If we have access from the interior to observe the exterior, it’s a natural to fill that in,” she said.
The donation will also fund loading dock and storage improvements and a new classroom space.
“This gift from the Milocks speaks strongly to the support that Northwestern Michigan College has earned from this community and our shared desire to strengthen NMC’s role as a leader in providing cultural opportunities,” said NMC President Timothy J. Nelson.
“I am pleased to see this next step in the direction of the Dennos take place in our coming 25th year,” Jenneman said. “With these permanent collection galleries we will be positioned to make our art collection more accessible on an ongoing basis and to develop more defined connections to the College’s academic programs.”
Preliminary architectural drawings are complete. NMC hopes to bid the project in early 2016, the museum’s 25th anniversary year, and break ground later in the year.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
October 25, 2017
A new food pantry is set to open on campus next week, a local step toward addressing the food insecurity that college students face nationwide.
The NMC Food Pantry operates out of the basement of the Osterlin Building and is available to all active students starting Nov. 1, said Paul Kolak, an NMC counselor and member of the pantry steering committee.
Students won’t have to physically access the shelves, however. Instead, they’ll fill out an online form stating their household size and needs. Student volunteers will fulfill the orders anonymously, and recipients will be notified when their order is ready for pickup — hoped-for turnaround is 24 hours — at the Student Success Center, also in the Osterlin Building.
“We’re just trying to be really discreet with it,” Kolak said, adding that the pantry will aim to feed people for about three days.
“We’re not seeking to be a grocery store. This is a supplement,” he said.
In August, a study released by the Urban Institute reported that 13 percent of community college students were “food insecure” in 2015. Food insecurity is defined as reduced quality of diet and access to nutrition.
In a typical NMC class of 40, that 13 percent translates to five students. Consequently the NMC Food Pantry has dubbed all food drives the Minus Five project. The first was held Oct. 10 with faculty and staff donating during the annual Professional Development Day.
The pantry will also be supplied by other sources, including the NMC Foundation, the Northwest Food Coalition, which supports several dozen regional pantries, and a Grand Rapids-area organization called Feeding America. Besides non-perishable food items it will also stock health and hygiene items such as soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
NMC business students have conducted a food drive as an experiential learning project for the last five fall semesters, and employees have donated food at the annual college holiday party. Now, both those efforts will help keep dignity and convenience right on campus.
“The closer the food pantry is, the better utilized it is,” Kolak said. “It’s an issue of pride, and of transportation in some cases.”
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
June 7, 2017
NMC officials tour the Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute campus in 2014NMC instructors will pioneer NMC courses in Chinese classrooms next week, the culmination of a partnership five years in the making.
They’ll teach two Water Studies courses and two basic construction courses to about 40 students at the Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute in Kaifeng, China. The two-week courses are the first in a sequence to be completed later this year. Scott Swan and Brian Sweeney will teach in English with interpreter support.
“We are delivering our courses there for the ability to augment their training with our coursework,” said Hans Van Sumeren, director of NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, who’s traveled to China twice since 2015 as NMC has nurtured the partnership with the three-year technical school. Van Sumeren and Construction Technology director Dan Goodchild will round out the NMC contingent to plan delivery of the second part of the sequence, set for late fall or early winter.
“They’re very well positioned to do the terrestrial mapping,” Van Sumeren said. “We bring the competencies needed to work in and under the water.”
The June courses are Blueprint Reading, basic carpentry, Underwater Acoustics and Sonar and Great Lakes Research Technologies. Besides connecting with a school with a growing enrollment – Yellow River’s surveying program enrolls about 1,800 students – Van Sumeren said the partnership could afford NMC students both a study abroad opportunity and a chance to apply their coursework in a completely different geographic environment.
China’s large, fast-flowing rivers flood frequently and catastrophically, Van Sumeren said. The Yellow River alone has flooded 1,500 times in last 2,500 years, wiping out millions of people. NMC students could study what the Chinese have done to turn floodplains into protected cities.
“Those are things we can’t show students in Grand Traverse Bay or other Great Lakes waters,” Van Sumeren said.
Both instructors, who are making their first trip to China, said they’re looking forward to the teaching experience.
“It’s going to be incredibly different,” Sweeney said. “I thought it’d be a fun adventure.”
“It’s an opportunity that not only can further the goals of the college, but for me to expand as an instructor, branch out beyond the comfort zone,” Swan said.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
January 30, 2019
Faculty and administrators from a Chinese technical school traveled to NMC for training earlier this month, another milestone in a one-of-a-kind international partnership that is now rounding the midpoint of its first stage.
NMC and the Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute have an agreement under which NMC instructors teach construction and marine technology classes to three cohorts of Chinese students in China. The first cohort of about 50 earned their NMC degrees in spring 2018, the first time a community college had delivered a technical, applied program internationally.
The second cohort will wrap up this spring. After the third cohort completes in 2020, NMC will consider whether and how to move forward with student exchanges.
“These first three years, we’re just focusing on getting this initial delivery done, so we can build toward what it would take to have our students going there, or perhaps their students going here.” said Hans Van Sumeren, director of NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute. “This has never been done. It’s kind of like going to the moon, but we’re just orbiting the Earth a few times first.”
Key to advancing the partnership is joint professional development. On this month’s orbital pass, Yellow River instructors visited NMC’s Aero Park campus for training on marine technology and construction technology equipment.
On the marine technology side, Yellow River recently purchased the same underwater ROV that NMC owns for their campus in Kaifeng, China. NMC instructors will be able to use the ROV when they return to China in April for the fourth of six planned instructional delivery sessions.
NMC facilitated shipment of equipment within China for the previous cohort. Yellow River is also investing in sonar equipment and software. Instructors will return to Traverse City in June for additional training.
“They are really taking our support and building out a degree,” said Van Sumeren. He added that NMC’s new land surveying degree, offered beginning this fall, was informed by Yellow River. The Institute has the largest surveying program in China.
“Building an international team like this, we’re able to broaden our perspective,” Van Sumeren said. “We’re highly focused on integrating the land component into our degree to make much stronger graduates, industry-ready.”
On the construction side, the Chinese group was introduced to both hand and power tools used in basic carpentry.
“Most of their equipment all has to do with concrete,” said Dan Goodchild, Construction Technology coordinator.
Instructor Brian Sweeney will make his third trip to China this spring to teach construction courses. He says the challenge of teaching internationally has made him a better teacher at NMC.
“I go with the assumption they will not understand anything I say. Everything has to be presented visually or hands-on,” said Sweeney, who teaches in English with the support of a team of four interpreters.
That habit has translated back to his classes in Traverse City.
“I put a lot more pictures in my presentations, because that seems to be the best way to transmit information,” Sweeney said.
NMC began the partnership with Yellow River in 2012 as part of the strategic directions determined by the college Board of Trustees to prepare learners for success in a global society, establish international competencies in the area of freshwater and deliver learning through a networked workforce.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
September 25, 2019
Marine Technology student Max CroweA pair of conferences at the Great Lakes campus over the next week will advance national dialogue in two key program areas, showcase NMC’s top-tier marine technology (pictured) and culinary programs and facilities, and offer students an early glimpse at career prospects.
Great Lakes TechSurge: Lakebed 2030, a regional conference of the Marine Technology Society (MTS), will convene at NMC’s Great Lakes Campus Oct. 1–2. Internationally recognized for its conferences and technical symposiums, host cities for other upcoming MTS events include Houston, Seattle and Rio de Janiero, Brazil. The Traverse City event is held in parallel with a global initiative, Seabed 2030, which aspires to map the bottom of the world’s oceans by 2030.
Great Lakes Water Studies Institute Director Hans Van Sumeren, the Great Lakes section chair of the MTS, said he proposed the conference here to be sure the lakes weren’t left out of that initiative.
“Mapping in general provides multiple users the ability to better understand impacts,” said Van Sumeren, including fisheries, invasive species, navigation and coastal resiliency, or changes due to climate impacts and water levels.
“Things that are real in the Great Lakes today,” said Van Sumeren, who estimated less than 10 percent of the Great Lakes lakebed has been mapped at high resolution. The conference will allow MTS members from academia, government and industry to discuss and prioritize what data to collect and how to do so.
“It won’t happen unless we have the conversations about prioritization and collaboration,” Van Sumeren said. “It furthers the opportunity for everyone to help shape what we’re doing.”
Great Lakes TechSurge comes on the heels of Farms, Food & Health, set for Thursday–Sunday at both the Great Lakes Culinary Institute and the Hagerty Center. It’s the second time the campus has hosted the event connecting farmers and local food advocates with health care providers. NMC chef instructors will offer culinary medicine training for accredited healthcare professionals in addition to speakers, workshops and a vendor expo.
Last held in 2017, a new addition to this year’s event is student scholarships. NMC student Maya Koscielny, who is studying both culinary sales and marketing and fruit and vegetable crop management, will attend thanks to an NMC scholarship that covers her registration fees.
“People just need to be made more aware of the health implications,” of their diet, said Koscielny, who hopes for a career in sustainable farming practices. She’s even going to trade in her Saturday morning free time to attend.
“I’d rather be going to (the conference) than sleeping in,” she said.
Registration for Farms, Food and Health is closed, but the public is welcome to attend the free expo from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Hagerty Center.
Meanwhile, Marine Technology students have the opportunity to see their research published via a poster symposium, and attend a career fair that’s part of Great Lakes TechSurge.
“They’re actively looking for students with our skills,” Van Sumeren said of the attendees. NMC offers the nation’s only bachelor’s degree in marine technology in the nation. Begun in 2015, the program just had its largest fall enrollment to date. A total of forty students are enrolled including Max Crowe, pictured top, conducting mapping and surveying work in Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior this summer.
“The student success is building momentum,” Van Sumeren said.
Great Lakes TechSurge is still open for registration and include speakers and demonstrations from NMC vessels and in the Great Lakes campus harbor.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
April 12, 2017
MSU Dean’s Research Scholar Maddy Jenner
Photo by Harley Seeley You might say it was chemistry when Maddy Jenner sat down in NMC instructor Blake Key’s classroom in 2014.
The Traverse City West High School graduate hadn’t chosen a major and enrolled in Introductory Chemistry to fulfill a science requirement. She found a career calling.
“As soon as I had that fall semester done with, I knew for sure chemistry was it,” Jenner said. “(Key) was the one who inspired me to go into chemistry when I was in his class.”
She transferred to Michigan State University a year later and is now wrapping up a year as a Dean’s Research Scholar, a prestigious group of a dozen selected among 5,000 science and math majors in the College of Natural Sciences.
Undergraduates don’t often do research, but when Jenner heard about the opportunity she stepped right up.
“I want to do research as a career,” she said.
Her research in the field of aromatic compounds focuses on minimizing the side effects of drug interactions. The experiences of family and friends led her to the realm of pharmaceutical research.
“I know that I can make a difference in that kind of world,” she said.
The experience also required public speaking to alumni and donors, valuable to her future.
“I really enjoyed this experience because I have to talk about my research to a non-scientific audience,” she said. “Being able to explain it to other people is really important to me now and for my career in years to come.”
Jenner expects to graduate in 2018 and is considering graduate schools. Her top choice now is the University of North Carolina, home to highly-regarded pharmaceutical sciences program.
Key isn’t surprised by the achievements of his former student.
“It was apparent really early that she was turned on by what was going on in the class,” he said.
Jenner said her NMC years prepared her well for what lies ahead.
“The difference from community college to university was not as huge as I thought it would be,” she said.
One thing Jenner would like to see: more fellow female students.
“I do have a couple labs where I am the only girl out of 30 people,” she said. “Earlier on, when I was just declaring my major, I would have people, especially guys, tell me, ‘I don’t know, that’s a hard major.’”
That implicit doubt of her abilities used to bother her, but no longer.
“I’m way past that point now,” she said. “I know my capabilities, even if it means being the only girl in the lab.”
