Dec 23, 2017 | 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.
Dec 23, 2017 | Intercom
February 24, 2015
How do you transform a two-time college dropout into a Dean’s List student?
Give her a bridge and a foundation. Walk her over and shore it up.
In 1998 Lindsey Grice enrolled at NMC, fresh out of Traverse City Central High School and mother to a newborn daughter. It didn’t go well.
“I just failed miserably. It wasn’t something I knew about. I had a full course load and a little baby and it was too much,” Grice said.
She tried again a decade later. By 2008 she was a mother to three, including a son with intensive mental health needs. Grice had to take six credits and earn a 2.0 in order to keep her financial aid. Her attendance was spotty due to her son’s care giving demands, and she did well in one class but not the other. She lost her financial aid and dropped out a second time.
Fast-forward to 2014. A friend told Grice, now 34, about NMC’s Bridge program. Created for nontraditional students attending college for the first time or returning after past attempts, Bridge endeavors to lay a foundation for student success. Just last year, the program was redesigned so that what were formerly preparatory classes are now for-credit. Significantly, that makes Bridge students eligible for financial aid.
Coordinating Student Success
NMC Student Success Coordinator Ashley Darga walked Grice through the process of petitioning to reinstate her financial aid. Regulations have changed to favor students like Grice, Darga said.
“I was able to get my Pell grant to be able to take classes this fall,” Grice said. Her foundation steadied.
Almost simultaneously her son Brandon, now 15, entered a residential school, further firming her foundation.
“I’ve taken care of him completely. Now he’s receiving help out of the home (and) he’s doing really well,” Grice said. “I’m able to focus on my studies instead of spending every waking moment worrying about him.”
Finally, her daughter Ashley—the newborn during Grice’s first college stint—now 16 and a high school junior, threw down the gauntlet.
“She kind of challenged me,” Grice said. “My oldest daughter is getting ready to graduate, and she had mentioned to me that I should go back and get back my classes before she does.”
That challenge completed the foundation underpinning Grice’s turnaround. Bridge students take nine credits (five classes) their first semester. Grice earned a 4.0 and made the dean’s list.
“I think I was really determined this time,” she said, citing one class, Academic Study Methods, as a key.
“I’ve learned what things I can utilize through the school. I know there’s tutoring, I know there’s all that stuff, but actually using it I feel more confident.”
Transforming students to active participants
Instructor Shannon Owen said transforming students from passive to active participants in their education is another crucial piece of college success.
“They have to advocate for their own needs. We don’t know they’re struggling or that they don’t understand concepts,” Owen said.
Grice started out strong and only improved over the semester, turning in assignments early, Owen said.
“She’s got such motivation and heart. It’s great to see students succeed and watch that happen throughout the semester.”
Grice’s long-term aim is a business management degree. More immediately, she’s focused on next semester’s classes, especially English 111. It will be the fourth time she’s attempted the class. This time she’ll have a study partner: daughter Ashley, registered in the same course as a dual-enrolled student.
“It’s hard for me (but) I am ready for it,” Grice said.
Dec 23, 2017 | Intercom
June 3, 2015
At five years old, NMC’s Costa Rica study abroad program has many age-appropriate traits: it’s thriving, energetic, and ready to explore.
It’s also something most five-year-olds are not: The Central American nation from which a dozen NMC students returned this week is the most mature of NMC’s study abroad experiences.
Started in 2011 by Constanza Hazelwood of NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, the heart of the experience is a partnership with EARTH University, an internationally renowned agronomy school near the Costa Rican port of Limón. This year, students in Freshwater Studies, Aviation and Plant Science all took part in the two-week sojourn on the tropical isthmus connecting North and South America.
The multi-disciplinary nature of the 2015 trip is one of the key signs of maturity. Another is reciprocity. Last fall, the GLWSI hosted EARTH researcher and faculty member Alex Pacheco as a guest lecturer. Pacheco then invited another colleague to propose a project for this year’s trip that combined the skills and experience of NMC students in both Watershed Science and Unmanned Aerial Systems: an examination of the spread of Sigatoka negra, a fungus that threatens banana production around the world.
“I have been to Costa Rica before, but this time I am not just a tourist, I am there to make a contribution. We are helping maintain a healthy watershed surrounding a banana plantation,” said Water Studies student Eoghan O’Connor.
To that end, students wielded both machetes and eBee, a professional mapping unmanned aerial system (UAS), on a banana plantation. Under Hazelwood’s guidance, they evaluated the effects of a buffer zone along the shorelines of the river running across the plantation.
“Our partnership with EARTH has grown into a solid network of professionals working together to solve relevant environmental problems impacting the globe’s water resources,” Hazelwood said.
They also practiced their Spanish in a home stay experience and soaked up as much culture and local lifestyle as possible.
“Beautifully overwhelming”
“This whole experience has been beyond incredible. All of us students have described it as sensory overload. Touch, smell, sight, taste has all been so beautifully overwhelming,” Water Studies student Taylor West wrote on her blog.
Now back home, trip participants are preparing to debrief and discuss how their internship in Costa Rica can serve as a template as NMC’s Office of International Services and Service Learning seeks to offer more study abroad experiences in service of the college’s strategic goal to ensure that NMC learners are prepared for success in a global society and economy.
“Successful foundations like those with EARTH University allow us to think creatively when building future opportunities for multi-disciplinary study abroad,” said director Jim Bensley.
Dec 23, 2017 | Intercom
April 8, 2015
Every industry offers pinnacles. Entertainers aspire to Oscars and Grammys, doctors and diplomats to Nobels, and chefs to Michelin stars.
Great Lakes Culinary Institute graduate Leslie Farrer has barely begun her career and has already helped collect one of those coveted stars. The Traverse City native, 27, is a pastry sous chef at Trump Hotel in Chicago. One of its restaurants, Sixteen, just earned its second Michelin star.
“It’s excellent. You don’t get that just by being good,” said one her NMC mentors, Chef Mike Skarupinski. “That’s something to be very, very proud of. It’s a great reward.”
Farrer discovered her interest in pastry while working at a restaurant as a student at Traverse City West High School, and toured Chicago’s renown French Pastry School. But she didn’t want to move at age 18. Enter the Great Lakes Culinary Institute.
She found the culinary curriculum, from knife skills to purchasing to menu planning, second to none. She also took her first pastry classes with Skarupinski, who remembers her as an excellent student. In contrast to savory cooking, pastry is technical.
“Pastry attracts more people who are good at math. Our recipes are very specific, they have to be very precise to get the result you want,” Farrer said.
After graduating in 2008, it was on to Chicago where she first attended and then interned at the French Pastry School. Next, she moved to Vanille, a small patisserie owned by an instructor, where she worked for four years, the last two as executive pastry chef.
She took an entry-level pastry chef position at Trump in 2013 and has already been promoted to one of two pastry sous chefs. The position offers a variety she enjoys. She might spend her work day baking bricks for a holiday gingerbread house, dipping strawberries for Sunday brunch, or planning the dessert menu for Sixteen, now one of only three restaurants in Chicago to boast two Michelin stars.
Farrer’s married to her high school sweetheart, Brian Farrer, who also attended NMC for a year and a half before transferring to DePaul University. He’s a mergers and acquisitions consultant in Chicago.
While the couple is comfortably settled in the Windy City now, Farrer remembers NMC fondly.
“It gave me a couple years to grow up,” she said. “I learned a lot about myself and how I handle situations and stress and work with other people in stressful situations.”
Skarupinski said Farrer’s success should inspire future culinary students, too.
“Having her start at NMC is another very good accomplishment for our future students as well,” he said.
Dec 23, 2017 | Intercom, Student News
November 8, 2017
Since 2012, NMC has prioritized the success of student veterans on campus with a host of initiatives led by the office of Military and Veterans Services — from customized orientation to a veterans lounge to efforts to convert service into credits.
Tonight, some NMC veterans will take a step toward connecting the broader community with the experience of contemporary military service by taking part in a panel discussion following the 7 p.m. free screening of Almost Sunrise at Milliken Auditorium. The documentary tells the story of two veterans who embark on a cross-country hike in an effort to heal the psychological wounds left by their military service.
Construction technology student Fernando Cruz is familiar with that restless urge. An Army reservist between 1997 and 2010 who was deployed to Iraq for a year, he too crisscrossed the U.S. for work after his discharge.
“It’s not coincidental,” said Cruz, now of Kingsley, of his nomadic work transporting vehicles, and later for a drill rig company. “I was getting away. I had to get away.”
The father of twin 18-month-old sons, Cruz, 37, thinks there’s a “big disconnect” between civilians and military members. Tonight, he’ll try to help make that connection.
Veterans Day commemoration
Presented by NMC’s chapter of Student Veterans of America and 22 to None, an organization dedicated to stopping veteran suicide, the film comes as NMC prepares to commemorate Veterans Day on campus. The following events are scheduled for Monday, Nov. 13:
- 8:30 a.m. – Free breakfast for all veterans and active duty military in the Hawk Owl Cafe in West Hall.
- 9:20 a.m. – Walk of Honor. The campus community is invited to line up along the sidewalks from West Hall to the flagpoles west of the Tanis Building. Led by the Traverse City Central High School drum line, veterans will walk from West Hall to the flagpoles.
- 9:30 a.m. – Flag-raising ceremony conducted by the VFW with the Traverse City Central High School band.
- 10 a.m.–noon – Coffee and cake served in West Hall for the entire campus community in honor of veterans.
About five percent of NMC students are veterans. For the third consecutive year NMC has been certified as a Gold-Level Veteran-Friendly School by the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency. NMC was also named the fifth-best “Best for Vets” community college nationwide by Military Times in 2016.
NMC will also focus on the student veteran transition in the January 2018 issue of Nexus, which will be published as the nation marks the ten-year anniversary of the post-9/11 GI Bill, which granted educational benefits to veterans serving after Sept. 11, 2001.
