Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom
April 22, 2015
At just 21 years old, Traverse City native Nick Alpers has checked off a lot of life’s milestones already. He’s earned his bachelor’s degree, married, and is working full-time in his chosen field of mechanical engineering.
The 2012 NMC graduate is unique in another way, too: Alpers, who graduated summa cum laude from Saginaw Valley State University last year, has zero student loan debt.
Zero as in zip. Zilch. None. As in, a stark contrast to his peers. Statewide, 63 percent of Michigan’s 2013 bachelor’s graduates took on student debt, according to the Project on Student Debt. On average, each owes more than $29,000.
What’s the difference? Simply put, motivation and NMC dual enrollment.
Dual enrolled in 2010
Alpers dual-enrolled in NMC as a senior at Traverse City Central, back in 2010. He took 28 credits that year, more than half of what he needed for his engineering certificate, all paid for by his high school. He attended NMC for another year and worked in the math lab before transferring to SVSU in 2012. There he completed the last two years of his bachelor’s in a year and a half. Now, his paycheck from Nexteer Automotive, a Saginaw manufacturer of steering columns and gears, belongs to just him and his wife Kaitlyn (Green) Alpers, a pre-physician’s assistant student at SVSU.
“I know that some people are in their 30s and still paying off debts. Now I can allocate that money to something else,” said Alpers.
Financial and academic advantages
Besides the financial advantage, Alpers speaks highly of NMC’s academic rigor, noting that his GPA at Saginaw Valley was higher than at NMC.
“It was definitely worth it. It helps you to prepare,” said Alpers, whose two older brothers also attended NMC. “I came down here and I thought (SVSU) was a breeze.”
Not too far down the road, the “something else” might be getting home. Kaitlyn, who also dual-enrolled at NMC for her senior year in 2011-12, has her eye on a master’s PA program that Grand Valley recently started at NMC’s University Center.
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
November 25, 2015
Pop quiz: In your first year as a professional farm manager, the challenge Mother Nature most likely will throw at you is:
- A bitter cold, vine-damaging winter
- A late May frost, just as buds are forming in cherry and apple orchards and on grapevines
- An unprecedented August thunderstorm, complete with fruit-hammering hail
- All of the above
Nathan Kulpa, a 2015 graduate of the NMC-MSU plant science program, will tell you the answer is D. But on the eve of Thanksgiving, the traditional culmination of the growing season, the Leelanau County native is sanguine about his first year as the farm manger of Peninsula Farms.
“I kind of enjoy the challenge. Being in farming my whole life, I understand that years like this happen,” said Kulpa, 22, who also helps on his parents’ farm. “On the good years you’ve got to prepare yourself for the bad years so you’ll be around.”
Brian Matchett is the coordinator of the program, which offers students an NMC degree plus an MSU certificate in one of four agriculture specialties. While the weather dealt growers a “triple whammy” this year, Matchett said that on the positive side, vegetable production was minimally affected. Also, the network of markets for growers — farmers’ markets, distributors like Cherry Capital Foods and CSAs — all continued to expand.
So are the options in the plant science program. Since Matchett took over in 2013, he’s restructured and updated the curriculum, adding more required courses to some areas and allowing more elective flexibility in others. All of the changes were made based on feedback from the agriculture industry, which provides one in every five jobs in Michigan.
Bethany Newell is enrolled in fruit and vegetable production, one of the redesigned certificates, and worked at two different CSAs over the summer. She’ll graduate next spring, completing a lifestyle change her family embarked on in 2010 when they moved north from Flushing, where she worked in the cable industry for ten years.
“I was very unhappy working indoors every day. It was tough on my soul,” said Newell, 35. “Moving up here and getting into farming, it’s so peaceful being outside, and working in nature.”
Next up for the plant science program is a new certificate in agriculture operations-crop production, and a partnership with NMC’s Aviation Division that will enable plant science students to take unmanned aerial systems courses as electives. Their “classroom” would be the cherry orchards of the Horticultural Research Station that MSU operates in Leelanau County. Matchett says it’s a chance to pioneer the emerging technology of unmanned systems in a new application – specialty agriculture.
“We have all the pieces right here and it’s a perfect fit for our assets,” Matchett said, citing NMC’s leadership in unmanned systems, MSU’s in agriculture and the dominance of cherry production in the Grand Traverse region. “It’s such a unique opportunity we have here.”
Key to making it happen was the redesign of Matchett’s job, from a half-time position funded by MSU to full-time funded jointly by MSU and NMC.
“That allowed me to commit more time to network with the different departments at NMC,” he said. “We’re excited for the next couple years.”
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom
November 9, 2016
In addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, this semester, NMC students are collecting food donations, swinging hammers and X-raying teeth.
Service learning projects, which engage the whole class in a project that also benefits the community, have a long history in many academic areas at NMC. Here’s a look at some underway this semester, and how to help or participate yourself:
Food for Thought food drive – The fourth annual event organized by NMC business students runs through November 19. Regional pantries have come to rely on the event, which seeks to collect enough non-perishable food and hygiene products to stock more than 45 pantries throughout northwest Michigan through the holiday season.
“It’s not just a blessing for some pantries, it is survival,” said Val Stone with the Northwest Food Coalition.
Donations are accepted on campus and at several community collection sites, including at Technology Exploration Day this Saturday, Nov. 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Parsons-Stulen Building.
Dental X-rays – Dental assistant students began their annual free X-ray project this week. Patients referred by their dentist may receive a free set of complete X-rays, valued at up to $200 per set. Instructor Beckie Wooters expects between 80 and 90 patients to take advantage before it wraps up Dec. 8.
“We get a lot of patients that are returned to us when they’re due for these X-rays, because they enjoy the opportunity to meet our students,” Wooters said. The program has been offered since at least 1995.
Students will also be using new digital equipment in all three screening rooms, enabling them to e-mail X-rays directly to patients’ dentists. The digital images mean less radiation exposure for patients, too, Wooters said.
Garden shed – In October, Construction Technology students finished building an 8-by-12-foot storage shed on the property of the non-profit TC Community Garden, located at the Grand Traverse Commons. Previously, the garden had a small, old shed which didn’t offer sufficient space or security, garden president Kimberly Conaghan said.
“We’ll be able to upgrade our tools and have a lot more autonomy to store our own equipment,” she said.
The shed’s green roof and permeable surrounding pavement integrates with an adjacent rain garden, making the whole project a demonstration of the garden’s mission of education and sustainability.
“There’s kind of a cycle that’s happening there with green infrastructure,” said Conaghan, who estimated the value of materials and labor at $25,000.
It’s the second shed students have built; the first went up at the Grand Traverse Conservation District in 2015. NMC alumnus Nate Griswold of green building company Inhabitect assisted with the project, too.
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
January 20, 2016
Engineering students will battle both biting cold and much bigger universities when they head to the U.P. for the annual Blizzard Baja endurance race next month.
Sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, Baja endurance races are a longstanding tradition for NMC’s Student Engineering Club. Michigan Technological University will host this year’s winter race on Feb. 13.
Teams design, build and race cars over a snow-covered course, competing for the most laps in four hours. In 2015, NMC was the only community college to participate and tied for sixth place. Historically the Hawk Owls have performed with the best of their four-year brethren, including a first place finish and a couple third places. With three of the four drivers returning this year, including Jonathan Lindfors (above) the team is feeling good about their chances.
“Everything does work. Now we’re being picky, trying to squeeze out every last drop of performance that we can,” said mechanical engineering student Drew Johnson, 32, one of the team’s veterans.
Since they’re re-using the 2015 car, they’ve had the advantage of driveability since the end of November, he said. Last year, the car wasn’t completely assembled until the end of January.
The “picky” adjustments include a new engine, a stripped-down and re-welded suspension (it broke during the 2015 race) and a new paint job, from purple to white.
“Maybe a little bit of camo, to blend into the snow, so the other teams can’t see us,” Johnson joked of the paint choice.
While the track is competitive, the race pits aren’t. Johnson said that teams pitch in to help each other with repairs when cars break down.
“We’re here to learn,” he said. “This is a very hands-on application of what we learn in class.”
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom
December 7, 2016
With a global opportunities fund scholarship deadline coming up Dec. 16, prospective study abroad students might not have to wait for Santa to get what they want for Christmas.
NMC sends more students to study abroad than any other community college in Michigan and ranks 12th nationally for short-term study abroad participation. The global opportunities scholarship helps make that happen for students like Eillie Sambrone, who studied abroad in Costa Rica last May.
“I’ve barely traveled within the States,” said Sambrone, 20, of Canton, Mich. Prior to the trip, her furthest trip south was to Cedar Point in Ohio.
Cost is a limiting factor for many aspiring study abroad students, underscoring the importance of the scholarship. In fact, more than 80 percent of 2016 trip participants received the global opportunities scholarship. The $1,000 award further motivated Sambrone to set up a crowdfunding campaign to help cover the $3,000 total trip cost, plus missing work while traveling.
It was all worth it. Sambrone completed her associate degree in freshwater studies and is now enrolled in the NMC-Western Michigan Freshwater Science and Sustainability bachelor’s program. She expects to graduate in 2018.
“I want to travel a lot more. Everything was so different, and you had to continuously adapt and be flexible,” she said.
In particular, she wants to build on her Spanish skills. The trip required a “boot camp” Spanish course which whetted her appetite for the language.
“For me, it was a stepping stone,” she said. “Being able to speak another language is invaluable.”
The global opportunities scholarship requires a 2.5 grade point average. Applications are due Dec. 16.
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
March 16, 2016
Credits in early childhood development were all that stood between Karin Cooney and advancement to the director position at Traverse City’s Angel Care child care. Yet Cooney needed to be at work Monday through Friday.
NMC’s child development program solved her conundrum. The classes are nearly all scheduled in hybrid formats, meaning limited face-to-face sessions, most offered evenings or Saturdays, with required online work in between. This semester she’s taking Human Growth and Development, which meets five Saturdays a semester. It’s been ideal.
“The class makes it seem like you’re a part of something, but I have the flexibility to do the coursework when I have the time,” Cooney said. (Above, students in a Saturday morning English class.)
Registration for the fall semester begins today, and students will see more courses are being offered in hybrid formats, also known as blended, which combine the benefits of face-to-face classes with the convenience of online.
Last fall, nearly 17 percent of NMC courses were offered in either online-only or hybrid formats. Such courses also mean fewer commutes, saving students time and money. Kalkaska resident Amber Marsh, 35, is enrolled in a hybrid English course that meets Thursdays, and an in-person class that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“I am reluctant to take a course that mandates three drives into town,” Marsh said. But she added that some in-person is important. “I am leery to take an all-online class, as I have had such great success with the hybrid/face to face interaction.”
Social Sciences instructor Cheryl Bloomquist said converting what was originally an entirely face-to-face course improved the delivery. Originally the Human Growth and Development course was offered seven Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The intensity left students brain dead by 2:30, she said.
In 2011 she converted the course, which now meets from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. five Saturdays, with additional content online.
“This hybrid combination is so much better in terms of piecing the information out,” Bloomquist said.
Time management in hybrid courses isn’t always easy for students, Bloomquist acknowledged. Last semester, she experimented with ending her face-to-face sessions in a computer lab so students could begin the online work with her available as a resource.
“That was really quite successful,” she said. “When they leave class, they’ve started their work.”
Cooney has been so impressed with the child development program that she’s contemplating requiring certain courses for her staff of 15, who care for 50 children.
“I’m willing to juggle my employees, so they can get the knowledge,” she said. “It only helps us.”
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.”
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
December 8, 2021
Legislation to allow Michigan community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees in nursing moved forward Tuesday, putting NMC another step closer to helping fill hundreds of staff shortages at Munson Medical Center, among other hospitals.
The BSN bills, introduced by state representatives John Roth, R-Traverse City, and John Damoose, R-Harbor Springs, advanced from the House Education Committee to the full House.
In video testimony to the committee last month, Munson Healthcare CEO Ed Ness (right) said the legislation is “critical” to Munson’s ability to serve half a million northern Michigan residents. As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, Traverse City’s Munson Medical Center, the largest of the system’s nine hospitals, is short nearly 200 bedside nurses, Ness said.
“Now, more than ever, we need to do everything we can to encourage new students to enter the nursing profession and remove barriers for degree and career advancement,” he said.
Roth knows the need personally. His wife has worked as a floor nurse at Munson for more than 30 years. She is currently taking on extra shifts to help cover the shortage, he said at a November press conference introducing the legislation.
“We have a need, and a dire need at this time,” Roth said. “It’s a practical fix. We just have to empower (community colleges) through law.”
BSNs were originally part of a 2012 bill that permitted a few community college bachelor’s degrees to be awarded, but wound up being stripped due to opposition from four-year colleges and universities.
NMC went on to become the first community college in the state to offer a bachelor’s degree, in maritime technology. A decade on, it’s imperative to add BSNs, said NMC President Nick Nissley, Ed.D.
“Community colleges like NMC play a very pivotal role in addressing the need for more health care workers in the communities that we serve,” he said.
Interim NMC Nursing Program Director Tami Livengood (right) with a nursing classNMC nursing students already perform well on licensure exams. Scores released just last month showed that for the second year in a row, more than 90 percent of NMC nursing students pass the national NCLEX exam required to obtain an RN license. That exceeds both state and national averages, most recently 83 percent.
Ness said Munson hires more than 100 nurses per year with an associate degree. The goal is that 80 percent earn their BSN. Currently, only 50 to 60 percent do.
“This legislation would allow our existing workforce the access and convenience they need. And making BSN degrees more accessible and affordable would not only support our existing nurses, but will also help increase the talent pipeline of new nurses,” Ness said.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
May 1, 2019
It’s never too late to finish what you started.
Marilyn Dear, 70, (right) will exemplify that truth Saturday, when she accepts her associate degree at NMC’s 2019 commencement ceremony, finishing what she started more than 50 years ago.
“I’m so excited,” said the Traverse City mother of five sons, whose grade point average entitles her to wear the yellow stole of Phi Theta Kappa, the international community college honor society, with her cap and gown. “I’m going to hang this diploma up on the wall and be proud I finished.”
Until Saturday, Dear shared the position of more than 1 million fellow Michigan residents — some college, but no credential to show for it. Helping that group of people attain credentials is key to closing Michigan’s talent gap, says Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. NMC President Tim Nelson agrees.
“It’s a big need for the state, and community colleges are in position to help figure out how to meet that need,” he said in a recent interview.
Dear started at Schoolcraft Community College immediately after high school graduation in 1966, but dropped out after two semesters to join a friend on a trip to California. In Denver she met the man who would become her husband, Jerry Dear. A move back to Michigan, marriage, family, a move to Traverse City and work occupied the next four decades, and the 28 credits she’d earned at Schoolcraft sat parked on a shelf.
In 2011 her job was eliminated. Her children were grown. Dear seized her opportunity.
“I thought, ‘let’s go back to school,’ “ she said.
She was pleasantly surprised to discover the Schoolcraft credits transferred to NMC. “That was part of the reason I was encouraged to finish,” she said.
NMC Director of Advising Lindsey Dickinson said her office works with each student to make the most of any existing credits.
“We know how crucial it is for incoming students,” said Dickinson, who transferred from NMC herself in 2002. “We work one-on-one with students to help them maximize transfer credits towards completion at NMC.”
After taking just one business class, Dear found a new job, at Knorr Marketing in Traverse City. She’s been a working student ever since, taking one or two classes a semester, once taking a year off when work was busy, but always returning. She finds school invigorating.
“It’s healthy, because it’s making my brain work,” she said. “As I get older, I think that’s only a plus.”
Dear will miss some of her favorite instructors — business instructor Nicole Fewins and Tom Gordon in history. She’s not sure how she’ll celebrate. She will have more time to train for the triathlons she does annually. She might visit her son who lives in New York City. Her sons might have something planned, too.
“My kids want to celebrate big,” she said.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
December 20, 2017
Kathy and Stella Young personify the “like mother, like daughter” axiom — both petite, dark-haired, glasses-wearers who appreciate a good cup of coffee — and attend NMC together.
Kathy, 47, is returning to complete a degree she started almost 30 years ago. Stella, 17, is getting a head start on hers as a dual-enrolled high school student.
“My friends are saying, ‘You’re going to college with your mom?’ I’m like, ‘that’s fine, I like my mom!’” said Stella, a senior at Glen Lake High School.
“It’s mother-daughter bonding time,” Kathy said of their shared Thursday commute from their home in Empire, which includes a stop at their favorite coffee shop, Black Market in Traverse City.
She’s a “lifelong learner” who started at NMC after graduating from St. Francis High School in 1988, returned again in the 1990s and again for another class in 2005. But the demands of family — Stella has a younger brother — and the family business, Food For Thought, which she started with husband Timothy, a 1982 NMC alumnus, always kept her from finishing.
Fast forward to 2016. Kathy had phased out of her role with the business. A three-month recovery from back surgery gave her time to consider what she wanted to do next. Her dream, she decided, was a master of library science degree. She started this semester with classes to complete the step in between, her bachelor’s in English. The downside is that her classes are required courses in subjects like science, which have faded over the years.
“Going back to this stuff after 30 years, my brain doesn’t work that way,” she said. However, “being so much older, I’m not afraid to ask questions anymore.”
She’s on campus three days a week and takes the other class online, flexibility she appreciates. Stella, meanwhile is on campus two days a week, taking classes in English, math and history.
“I really like it,” she said. “If I could take history classes for the rest of my academic career, I would.”
Between NMC and credit she earned at a semester-long boarding school in Wisconsin during her junior year, Stella will graduate high school with 28 college credits.
“It is so awesome to get that stuff done in a small classroom setting, where you have ample opportunity to be with instructors,” Kathy said. “I’m a huge fan of community colleges.”
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
November 23, 2016
Students are to NMC as turkey is to Thanksgiving — front and center. On this Thanksgiving eve, we talked to a past and present student a decade apart to find out how NMC figures in what they’re thankful for.
Matt Harting, 2006 alumnus, composer living in Los Angeles
Matt Harting and Allyson NelsonHarting, 30, can trace his livelihood, marriage and financial well-being back to NMC.
After graduating Traverse City Central High School in 2004, he attended NMC with a plan to transfer to Columbia College-Chicago. Cast in the NMC production of Bye Bye, Birdie, he met a student named Allyson Nelson, from Bellaire. She wound up transferring to Columbia, too, and there the couple began dating. Harting graduated with a degree in audio arts and engineering, and got a job at Earhole, a Chicago sound studio (first assignment: Obama campaign.)
When career opportunities led Nelson to LA in 2010, Harting followed. He kept his job at Earhole, working on campaigns for commercial clients like Dodge, Jeep, Olive Garden and Red Lobster. Small talk among his professional peers led him to realize a third dimension of gratitude, for NMC’s affordability.
“They still have more (debt) than I started with,” he said. Moreover, there was no sacrifice in quality. Instructors like the late Jim Valovick and music instructor Dorothy Vogel were top-tier, he said, and able to provide the personal attention that he needed.
“She straightened me out and made me see that music was truly something that needed to be studied and respected,” Harting said of Vogel.
Harting and Nelson got married just last month, and where it all began is still fresh.
“I loved the campus, I made great friends, I had great teachers,” he said.
Alex Briggs, 20, Commitment Scholarship recipient
Alex Briggs speaks at the 2016 Commitment Scholarship induction“I didn’t really think I was going to go to college,” said the first-generation Computer Information Technology student. “I didn’t see myself affording college. Now, I’ve paid for it all with scholarships.”
It started with the Commitment Scholarship, a full-tuition promise Briggs received in 2011 as a ninth grader at Elk Rapids High School. Now in her second year at NMC, she’s received two merit-based scholarships, two Elk Rapids scholarships and federal grants, which combined also enable her to live on campus.
Besides living in East Hall, Briggs works in the Advising Center, is an officer in the Phi Theta Kappa honor society and a member of the Women in STEM student group.
“I wanted the well-rounded college experience,” she said. “I live, sleep, breathe and eat NMC.”
She’s also provided an example to her brother Zack, a fellow Commitment Scholar, who started at NMC this fall. They’re believed to be the first sibling recipients of the Commitment Scholarship.
