Alumni association benefits college foundation
By Amanda Belanger
Collegiate Staff Writer

GRCC graduates continue giving support to the college and the community, while keeping in touch with the friends they made in college.

“The Grand Rapids Community College Alumni Association is a group of alumni that want to give back to the college. It was created as a place for alumni to keep in contact with one another,” Rhonda Leep, the Alumni Association’s Executive Officer, said.

Leep said the association has 3,000 to 6,000 members, ranging from people who are 100 years old to people who have just graduated from college. The Alumni Association benefits GRCC in many ways.

“Alumni board leadership is invited to assist the GRCC Foundation with events. The Association helps with fundraising and, most recently, helped inform people about the Millage,” Leep said.

“The Alumni Association holds board meetings usually once every month or two,” Leep said.

“The executive board meets to set up board meetings, and the meetings are usually very fun.”

The Alumni Association takes part in many GRCC events. Among these are the Alumni Scholarship event, the Distinguished Alumni selection, the Pre-Commencement event, Raiders Bash, the Basketball Benefit, and the GRCC Foundation’s Christmas Open House at the McCabe-Marlowe House.

Leep said the Alumni Association is responsible for selecting recipients for the Alumni Scholarship. Usually, the Association will give away 15 to 30 scholarships to children of GRCC alumni who will receive no other financial aid. Once the selection is made, a reception is held for the recipients and their parents.

The Alumni Association also selects the Distinguished Alumni Award recipients. Leep said the winners of this award are people who have made significant achievements throughout their lives.

“Candidates can be self-nominated or nominated by another person, and they have downloadable nomination forms available on the Alumni Association Web page,” she said.

“To become a part of the Alumni Association a person can go online and sign up, or they can contact a board member,” Leep said. “I received a flyer in the mail from the GRCC Foundation which had an Association sign up sheet inside. I thought it sounded very interesting.”

As the executive officer of the Alumni Association, Leep is in charge of keeping track of board meeting minutes and doing tasks for whatever committees she may be on at the time. This year, she will be the chairperson for the Distinguished Alumni committee.

Anyone who graduated from GRCC is able to join the Alumni Association. Leep said it is a great way to keep in touch with fellow alumni and the college, and also provides an opportunity to aid the community.

Laboratory Preschool working within church space
By Sandra Sabin
Collegiate Staff Writer

It takes a lot of time and energy to create and maintain a healthy relationship with two organizations that have different missions.

GRCC’s Preschool Laboratory rents through the First United Methodist Church at 227 E. Fulton St.

“This building was intended for a church, not for early childhood development. We work really hard to make sure all needs are meet and we do really well at it,” Preschool Laboratory Program Director Jane Ann Benson said.

The church and preschool share many rooms, the cleaning service, parking, and the kitchen. If the lab wants to change a room around, hang art in the hallways, or host an evening event, the lab must contact the church in order to get permission.

A lot of “collaboration and cooperation” must be in effect when sharing a building, Benson said.

The building does affect the teachers and students involved in the Preschool Laboratory.

Benson said, “My staff gets to see all the possibilities if we had our own building.”

If they did own a building they wouldn’t have to follow the rules and regulations the church puts on them.

Sarah Petz, an instructor in the Dino room said, “It would be ideal to have our own building. It can be difficult renting space from an existing establishment but we make due with the environment that we are given.”

Benson said there has yet to be any concerns with housing the lab in a church. The only concerns are safety and the distance of the playground.

Most childcare center has fingerprint or driver’s license scanners to protect children from strangers, and they have attached playgrounds.

The Laboratory Preschool cannot add a scanner because so many people come and go throughout the church. However, the lab and church enforces safety throughout the building.

The playground is located behind the ATC building, about a half a mile away from the church.

The children have to walk through a parking lot and a busy road to get there.

Benson said there haven’t been any accidents because the staff is aware of their responsibilities. Children are put into strollers, buggies, and wagons when traveling to the playground. Before, during, and after playtime, the staff counts each child and does what is called a name to face check.

On the other hand, Benson said the children enjoy the environment. “Most don’t understand the peer nature of being housed in a church.”

Benson’s plans for the future is for the lab to have its own building. She want a building that acts as a “lifelong learning” center.

The lab opened in 1974. It has been located in the church the entire time.

Affordable books harder to find
By Andrew Gunnink
Collegiate Staff Writer

New textbooks continue to cost more for students each year the rise in cost is necessary according to Craig R. Thelen.

With many buybacks of textbooks, the problem remains there are new editions coming out each year, leaving students with books they cannot sell back and paying more money for new or used ones.

Craig R. Thelen of Brain’s Books Store said, “The books are determined by the professor and are not usually changed for winter semester but often can change during the summer for the fall semester.”

Also, Brian’s Book’s Store can have books left over, and will have to drop it to a wholesale value which is much less for the store and student. Textbooks sometimes only last two years in use for the professor, where as 10 years ago, they lasted maybe four years.

According to Hailer Mabrito, Manager at the GRCC bookstore, “The key to promoting textbook value is for faculty to adopt only what their student’s need.” 

Professors choose certain books for the value of information or what they can use in those texts to educate the student.

Dr. Robert Hendershot a History Professor here at GRCC said, “I’ll keep using the same edition of an effective book for as long as it is available, regardless of how many students chose to sell it back to the store at the end of the semester.”

The bookstore can order new editions of books, and will eventually switch to a new one. 

Once the bookstore switches, a professor could make it possible for them to buy and use the same book.

Hendershot also said, “The process of book selection often varies considerably from department to department, and also from class to class.”

The price of new editions can lead to many issues with money as well. New editions cost more money and aren’t as good as a deal for the bookstore.

 New editions for books, especially in the math and science areas, cost over $100 for a new book. A student has two science classes, a math class, and a history class; the student spends around $400 if the textbooks are new editions. Reason textbooks often cost more than regular books is the higher costs of illustrations, color, and durable bindings. 

 “There seems to be an inverse relationship between perceived value and concern about price for example, when a textbook is used in class and is a integral part of learning, the students in the course are not as apt to find its price an issue,” Mabrito said.

One alternative is used books, where they cost less for the student and the company.

However, the student may not have that choice. The demand for that section may have gone down and so buyback would stop at a certain level, this would result in less used books to be purchased.

The demand goes down, just like other objects out there in the world. Students can be left with books that cannot be sold back.

College passport program hopes to lower dropout rate
By Marcus J. Reynolds
Collegiate Staff Writer

GRCC students are giving back to urban schools by participating in the Passport to College program.

Recently, WZZM Channel 13 aired a special based from research conducted at John Hopkins University. The college analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Education, which dubbed high schools where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshman make it to their senior year as “dropout factories.”

The Passport to College program, a college prep program, originated three years ago through a grant funded by Chase Bank. The goal of the program is to assist in enrolling 75 high school students from each “dropout factory” into college. These include Ottawa,
Union, Central and Creston high schools.

The workshop focuses on four categories: admissions, career direction, how to choose a college, and what to expect.

“I believe that non-traditional recruitment efforts are necessary to reach those students with
additional barriers, like socialeconomic status, and educational disadvantages,” GRCC Admissions Minority Recruiter and project coordinator Sara Hill said.

Paul Phifer, GRCC’s Career Development Director, has taught career and decision-making
skills for over 20 years.

“A lot of kids don't know how to make a decision," Phifer said.

During the career portion of the program, he has the students follow four steps for making good decisions after they stop at the intersection of life, and reflect on what is important to them now.

“All things need to be going in the same direction in a student’s life,” Phifer said. “I want to make sure they don’t get off-course and crash.”

GRCC student panelists shared their experiences with prospective new students.

They answered such questions as what the biggest challenges to going to college in your fi rst year, how to get scholarships, and how to apply for financial aid.

Elizabeth Blanco, Union High and GRCC graduate, drove from Western College in Kalamazoo to be a panelist.

“There are a lot of myths out there, A lot of students being first generation are scared, and don’t know where to start” she said.

Blanco felt it was her responsibility to speak out, share her positive experiences, and
be an advocate for education in general.

Fabian Hatchet, an Ottawa Hills graduate of 2006, attended the Passport to College program
his senior year and was honored to participate as a panelist.

“It guided me to GRCC and it told me what I needed to do,” Hatchet said.

“We hope to provide them the right tools to make the best decisions regarding their career and life goals,” Assistant Director of Admissions Jeff Hartman said.

The program has served over 400 students since its beginning.

Smoking pot may save lives
By Marcus J. Reynolds
Collegiate Staff Writer

      Volunteers for the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care have been petitioning GRCC students and staff to sign the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act on to the ballot for 2008.     

The grassroots organization has gathered 300,004 signatures over the last six months. Michigan law requires that they collect 304,101 signatures in six months to get the medical marijuana initiative on the ballot. This actually means 550,000 raw signatures because of validity rates is around 55%.     

This legislation under state law would allow the medical use of marijuana; provide a system of registry identification cards for qualifying patients and primary caregivers; impose a fee for registry application and renewal; provide administration of the act; and to provide for penalties for violations of the act.

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