PTK asks students to commit to finishing their education

The start of the new semester mean many new challenges for students across the MCC district. On Wednesday, students from the MCC-Longview PTK were out in force asking students take those challenges head on and commit to finishing their two-year or four-year degrees before it is too late.

“It is important for students to realize how crucial it is to finish your degree before life or anything else can get in your way,” adviser Jan Rog said.

The group asked students to sign the Community College Completion Corps (C4) banner as a show of commitment that they will finish their degrees before it is too late.

President Barack Obama created the C4 in 2009 specifically challenging Americans to once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world and to produce an additional 5 million community college graduates by 2020. C4 is a student-led initiative headed by PTK chapters across the country. It purpose is to raise awareness about the importance of college completion and to provide resources that will aid students in their quest for completion.

For more information about the commitment drive, contact Jan Rog or your PTK representative on campus.

Campus attendance maps reveal wide areas of service

MCC's office of institutional research and assessment recently conducted an analysis of the area from which students are drawn to each of MCC's five campuses, and the results might surprise you.

Using attendance data from the Spring 2011 semester, the research office created a map for each campus that uses a small dot to indicate the location of every student's residence in relation to the location of the campus. The maps, which can be accessed using the links below, illustrate that each campus serves students far beyond its specific geographic service area.

MCC-Blue River attendance map
MCC-Business & Technology attendance map
MCC-Longview attendance map
MCC-Maple Woods attendance map
MCC-Penn Valley attendance map

Orientation for the Orientation Leaders

Students from around the district converged on MCC-Longview to kick off the Summer Orientation season.

Before new students even step foot on a campus at MCC, the dedicated student orientation leaders first go through a little orientation of their own.



Held all day Friday, orientation leaders learned about important new programs and were brought up to speed on how to help high school students make the tricky transition from being a senior to being a freshman in college.

Good Luck, New Student Orientation Leaders!

MCC-Longview Summer Meet and Greet

Kicking off the summer semester, students staff and faculty set up outside the Campus Center to offer answer to any new student with a question.

Be sure to check out the photos from the sunny day activity.

MCC-Maple Woods students honored by AAUW

Two MCC-Maple Woods student were recently honored by the American Association of University Women.

Sofia Castellano of North Kansas City and Laura Foster of Liberty both received Re-entry Awards for their decision to continue their education and excelling in spite of many obstacles. The award recognizes women who overcome serious obstacles to enter or return to college after being out of school for at least five years. 

New players join Lakers Volleyball

MCC-Longview this week unveiled the new players and a new team manager that will join the Lakers this fall for the 2011 season.

Ali Tomlin, Brooke Endsley, Julia LaBella, Rebecca Jordan, Sammi Phegley and Taylor Charmichael will join the Lakers for their summer camp and training as they prepare for the upcoming season. To keep track of your Lakers Volleyball team, be sure to check in here, on Facebook and over at the Lakers Volleyball Website.

Read about where each of the new players are coming from after the jump.

MCC-Maple Woods pins 2011 class of veterinary techs

Congratulations to the following students, who successfully completed the veterinary technology requirements and will be moving on to careers or other institutions.

Kindell Berger

Sean Bratt

Meghan Carpenter

Meagan Hake

Lauren Hernandez

Amanda Hudson

Jessica Jones

Trynt Kelly

Cassandra Mast

Amanda McKee

Kendra Myers

Kayla Patton

Jessica Quinn

Stephanie Rodriguez

Amber Selsor

April Smith

Gina Sola

Chelly Sumner

Kelley Taylor

Sandra Tucker

Becki Williams

Aimee Wilson

Andrea Wolfrum

Graduation at MCC-Longview

There was plenty of pomp and celebration at the 2011 MCC-Longview Graduation ceremony held at the John Knox Village Pavilion on Friday.



Graduates lined up and walked across the stage receiving their diplomas and entering a new chapter in their lives.



For more photos from the graduation ceremony, be sure to check out the MCC-Longview photo blog.

Video: WooHoo Day @ MCC-Longview

It's the last day of class. It's a perfect time to celebrate.

MCC-Longview automotive students offer their expertise in high school competition

MCC-Longview graduates and students hit the Kansas Speedway last week to offer their expertise. Although they weren't working under hood of some high-speed racecar, they were on hand to help judge and officiate the Ford/AAA Auto Skills state competition.

The contest was held at the Kansas Speedway in KCK and invited some of the top auto students from Kansas and Missouri to compete for a spot in the national competition held in Detroit.

Twenty identical Ford Mustangs with 12 identical problems were unveiled at the start of the competition. The goal was to see how quickly the high school students could find each problem and fix it.

MCC-Longview students stood over each

Engineering final serves up a good lesson at MCC-Longview

Can you serve a tennis ball perfectly? It is a task that is impossible by itself, but Nicole Pflumm's engineering class was tasked with designing, fabricating and assembling a device that would do just that.

Nicole Pflum’s Engineering 113 class held the design competition at Summit Park tennis courts.

The goal of the design was to make a tennis ball launcher that served as a human would, close to the net and near the back corner of the court. The team projects ranged from bungee cords to pressure driven propulsion.

During their project students have a chance to learn team work and design skills for engineering applications.

MCC-Longview student feels inspired by Phi Theta Kappa national convention

Through the eyes of our students: Oscar Aguilar and several other MCC-Longview PTK members attended the 93rd international PTK convention in Seattle, Washington. Oscar asked if he could share what the experience meant to him and his peers. This is what he wrote:

Phi Theta Kappa 93rd international convention officially began on April 7 when Dr. Rod A. Risley, the Executive Director of Phi Theta Kappa, set the tone and spirit of the convention by challenging students from all around America to become scholars so they may learn how to lead and serve. His words constantly echoed in the minds of the of the audience present; especially, when Dr. Risly invited the students to be the leaders who galvanize people around them.

Dr. Risley’s words prepared PTK members for a convention whose main focus would be to ingrain tremendous importance of scholarly research in the mind of the students.

For this purpose, several educational forums were held during three days, in which PTK members explored in-depth techniques to approach scholarly research, ways to develop and fulfill a research project, and, most importantly, the importance of reflecting once the project had taken it final form.

MCC-Longview students keeping KC parks clean

MCC-Longview students were featured over the weekend in The Kansas City Star as they worked all day Saturday to clean up Blue Valley Park.

The park, notorious for being an illegal dumping ground for tires and other trash in Northeast Kansas City, got some much needed attention as dozens of students from MCC spent the morning clearing out rubbish.

This is the 21st annual park clean up led by MCC-Longview and instructor Keet Kopecky's service learning program.

MCC students shine at PTK honors lunch

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said it best: "The people sitting in this room today are the future leaders of tomorrow."

That room the governor was addressing was the Phi Theta Kappa awards lunch in Jefferson City honoring some the top faculty and students from community colleges across the state.

As part of the Missouri Community College Association's Rally Day at the state Capitol, the awards lunch highlighted some of the top performing students and faculty that have made a distinct impact on their campus, community and peers back home.

A number of Metropolitan Community College students were named to the All-Missouri Academic Team, which recognizes 35 of the top academic and philanthropic students in the state.

The MCC-Longview Flights of Fancy kite festival needs YOU!

The fifth annual MCC-Longview Flights of Fancy kite festival, presented by Farmers Insurance, needs your help. 

To make this amazing all-day festival a huge success we need volunteers like YOU. As we invite close to 15,000 people to the MCC-Longview camps we need ambassadors to help represent MCC, to answer questions, to man the entrances and exits, and much more.

This festival can not be a huge success without your help and support. 

If you would like to volunteer for this event, contact Kimberlee Thomasson at 816.604.2205.

Volunteers will be broken into three shifts (morning, noon and evening shifts) - but feel free to stay the whole day and experience some of the most amazing kite displays in the Midwest.

Flights of Fancy kite festival

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday, April 16

MCC-Longview

http://www.mccflightsoffancy.org/

Lakers baseball shuts out Rockhurst JV

A great story from The Longview Current about the Lakers' recent outing against Rockhurt.



From The Current:

The Longview Lakers swept Rockhurst JV in a doubleheader Tuesday afternoon on the MCC-Longview Campus. The Lakers rolled, thanks in large part, to great pitching outings from virtually everyone who touched the mound. Kyle Thornton was sensational, setting the tone at the start of the first game. Thornton put on a clinic, changing speeds and locations, keeping Rockhurst hitters guessing all afternoon.

Check out the story and more photos over on The Current's website.

Student grievance policy revised

As part of Chancellor Mark James’s plan to revise and update MCC’s policies and procedures, the chancellor last week lodged a revision to the student grievance policy with the board of trustees.

The amendment to Board Policy 7.30030 includes a change to both the name and the nature of the policy. Currently named “Student Grievance,” the policy will be renamed “Student Discrimination and Harassment Grievance.” Revisions to the policy will provide a more structured response to student complaints of discrimination and harassment.

Click here to view the full text of the proposed new policy.

The board of trustees is expected to approve the amendment at the April 14 board meeting.

James formed the Chancellor’s Policy Review Committee, composed of members of the three shared governance groups and representatives from the Administrative Center, to undertake a complete updating and revision of MCC’s policies. The student discrimination and harassment grievance policy is the first of many policies expected to be developed and then adopted by the board of trustees.

MCC-Maple Woods celebrates Women's History Month with open mic night

Calling all performers! MCC-Maple Woods is hosting it's fourth installment of the Evening of the Arts and Coffeehouse - "A Night About the Ladies - Celebrating Women's Herstory" - from 6-9 p.m. March 30 in the Student Center. All performances are welcome from a variety of genres - poetry, prose, storytelling, music, dance, film, etc., and stories about women are preferred. Participants may also display original artwork at the event. The Collegiate Activities Board will host the Women's Herstory Trivia Challenge, and as always, there will be FREE coffee provided by the Maple Woods Bookstore!

Janet L. and Richard D. Rees Veterinary Technology Scholarship awarded the MCC-Maple Woods Vet Tech program by

The MCC-Maple Woods Veterinary Technology program recently received a monies to continue to support vet tech students over the coming years. The Janet L. and Richard D. Rees Veterinary Technology Scholarship, endowed at $25,000, will be awarded in the one-time amount of $750 to one student each spring.

The scholarship will be awarded to a full-time student enrolled in the veterinary technology program with recommendation from a vet tech instructor or a counselor at a 2.8 or greater GPA.

The gift was awarded by Dick Rees in memory of his late wife, Janet. Janet had been a member of the HoAKC for 30 years, including serving as secretary and board member for the last 13. She dedicated much time and effort to involvement with several specialty clubs for Boston Terriers, her favorite breed. She also participated in dog shows with her own animals all over the country.

The Reeses were also a dedicated part of Goodin Heart of America Kennel Club Scholarship, which, along with awarding a $250 scholarship to a vet tech student each semester, also presents engraved stethescopes to each incoming student.

Dick and Janet Rees, pictured with MCC-Maple Woods President Merna Saliman, Dean of Instruction Mindy McCallum, Vet Tech Coordinator Chris Morrow, Natalie Short and Jessica Ramirez.

MCC-Maple Woods' Movie on the Lawn offers free family fun

Need something to do on a Thursday night besides catch Frasier reruns?MCC-Maple Woods will be showing Toy Story 3 beginning at 8:15 p.m. outside on the great lawn - bring some snacks and blankets or lawn chairs and make an evening of it! This event is free and open to the public, so take advantage of the non-Seattle related entertainment and enjoy the spring weather at the same time.