VaHigherEd.com

Over the past two months, more than two dozen students have been highlighted in blog posts here at VaHigherEd.com. (To see them all, just select “student stories” under categories at the right.)

Their stories are varied; their backgrounds diverse. But they have one thing in common: they attend a Virginia community college. They attend community college to start a career, to start a college degree, to stay close to home, to save money. Some wanted a smaller setting — where the professors know your name. Some were homeschooled. Some plan to take advantage of guaranteed admission agreements.  Most agree the choice they’ve made has opened up opportunities for them they might otherwise have missed.

I’ve been priviledged to tag along with a few of them as they made their treks to the General Assembly, to share with legislators the differences that community colleges have made in their lives. Legislators were impressed.

It was a visit to Sen. Philip Puckett’s office that really it hit home.  It was the Senator who brought it up.  Glancing around at the students from New River Community College, he saw the results of an investment. 

“When Governor Godwin asked us to create the Virginia Community College System, he was asking us to make an investment,” said Sen. Puckett.  There wasn’t a ton of money laying around, he added, but they made an investment in the future.

That investment 40-plus years ago, in 1966, brought Virginia’s Community Colleges into being.

The students who traveled to Richmond this year — and thousands more like them back at the colleges — represent the investment paying off. They will change the commonwealth.

Here’s a little bit about what former Governor Godwin said back in 1966:

“If we look at the numbers of potential students, and if we also look at the relative costs involved, the implication is clear that a community college system is the quickest, and the most efficient, the most economical, in fact, virtually the only way the future of young people can be met.”

Governor Godwin, the investment is paying off, the future is being met. It is embodied in these students who have made “Everyday Day (a) Community College Day.”

Posted by Susan Hayden

The members of the  General Assembly chosen to be conferees on HB29/ SB 29 (the “caboose” bill for the year ending June 30, 2008) and HB30 /SB 30 (the biennial budget bill for the upcoming fiscal years of 2009 and 2010)  still have not reached agreement on either budget.  Their deadline for reaching accord had been midnight on Tuesday, March 4.  Yesterday, each set of budget conferees held their own press conference–the House Appropriations Conferees at 10:45 a.m. and the Senate Finance Committee conferees at 3:30–to announce that they hadn’t reached agreement and that the areas of difference centered around:

• raises for state employees and teachers,
• the methodology for reimbursing localities through the Standards of Quality formula (which has recently been “rebenchmarked”),
• funding for Governor Kaine’s signature initiative for pre-school for 4-year olds,
• increasing Medicaid waivers for mentally retarded individuals, and
• differences in philosophy in higher education with respect to caps on tuition increases, funding for “base budget adequacy,” and the ability of higher education institutions to hold on to interest earnings.

Delaying the negotiations between the two sides even more was last week’s news of a Supreme Court decision which overturned and negated the ability of Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia regional transportation authorities to enact taxes and fees as allowed under legislation passed during the 2007 General Assembly session.  The new taxes and fees had taken effect in Northern Virginia on Jan. 1 and were scheduled to be levied in Hampton Roads later this spring.  In addition to sending the General Assembly back to the drawing board to solve the state’s transportation problems, the decision will bring back issues of how much state general fund money will be required to be set aside during the budget conferees’ deliberations. 

House budget conferees are Delegates Lacey Putney, Phillip Hamilton, Kirk Cox, Johnny Joannou, Beverly Sherwood, and Clarke Hogan.  Senate budget conferees are Senators Charles Colgan, Edward Houck, Janet Howell, Richard Saslaw, Walter Stosch, and William Wampler.  In addition to the differences outlined by the budget conferees for higher education, Virginia’s community colleges have other issues still to be reconciled in the budgets.  The House “caboose” bill proposed that $23.3 million in carryforward funding be removed.  Both biennial budgets also have differences in funding source (use of general funds versus bonded indebtedness) and scope for capital projects for our community colleges which tie back to the two capital bills that are also still under negotiation and in conference, HB 1547 and SB 795. 

Posted by:  Ellen Davenport

According to this AP story at CNN.com, a student at Ryerson University is in big trouble from school leaders for organizing a study group, where students swapped tips on homework. 

“Say what?” you think.  How can that be bad?  Well, you see, he did it on the popular networking website Facebook.

Still don’t get it, huh? 

Yeah, me neither.

Kim Neale of the student union, who will represent Avenir at the hearing, says the incident has sent shock waves through student ranks.

Neale told the Toronto Star the Facebook site is no different than any study group working together on homework in a library.

I wonder if this is a case of college leaders being behind the times and not understanding the social media model that most students interact in every day without thinking twice.

Posted by Jeff Kraus

James Krigsvold wants to study archaeology. After he graduates from Rappahannock Community College with an arts and sciences degree he wants to transfer and major in anthropology at the College of William and Mary. Last summer he attended the college’s Archaeological Field School. “That experience really sold me on the idea.” He participated in the excavation of the Werowocomoco site  (more simply known as “Wero”), in Gloucester County–home and political center of Chief Powhatan in the early 17th century. Excavations of the site have revealed it dates back to the Archaic period (8000 B.C. - 1200 B.C.).

For James, the history-rich area that encompasses the service region of RCC has special significance. James is Pamunkey Indian from his mother’s side of the family. The 25-year-old student says, “So far, we have traced our family back to the 1700s.” He enjoys speaking about the history of the tribe and has taken part in the annual ceremony to the Governor’s Mansion to honor the treaties made in the 1600s. The Mattaponi and the Pamunkey tribes give gifts to the governor on the day before Thanksgiving in lieu of taxes on the reservation lands. 

As a child, James lived on the 1,200-acre Pamunkey Reservation adjacent to King William County, where his grandmother still lives. After graduating from high school, James moved to Florida and attended the University of Tampa. “I was not as motivated as now, and it just didn’t work out,” he shares. After three semesters, James returned to Virginia and for the next few years worked in construction and became a brick mason–something he continues to do part-time.

“I was too smart and was not using my academic potential,” says James about his decision to return to school. He says there is nothing wrong with construction, but decided on another path and RCC was a good starting point.

James also wants to minor in political science. Speaking with Del. Harvey Morgan on a recent visit to the General Assembly, they candidly discuss the hurdles the Virginia tribes have encountered over the years. Although eight tribes have been recognized by the state, the Virginia Indian tribes have yet to gain federal recognition, due in part to a decision in the early 20th century. Virginia removed the category of “Indian” from birth and marriage records — resulting in a “record genocide.” In 1999, Virginia’s General Assembly agreed to HJ Resolution 754, urging Congress to grant federal recognition to the Virginia tribes. Says James, “I want to get involved and help as much as I can in these kinds of issues.”

Posted by Carol Kyber

That title may sound like a marketing piece for the slopes of Oregon, but instead it’s a fond farewell to the president of Lord Fairfax Community College.  In this news release, LFCC announced that John “Ski” Sygielski is leaving to assume the presidency of Mt. Hood Community College in Portland, Oregon at the end of June.

“You can’t schedule golden opportunities — they arrive in your path. You pay attention, make decisions and resolve to do your best,” Sygielski said. “Education is about transforming lives. LFCC has transformed my life, and I will always be grateful. As with any career move, there are always things you will miss about the position you are leaving. At LFCC, I will definitely miss the people — students who strive to succeed, instructors who are passionate about teaching, employees who are committed to helping others succeed, donors who want to make a difference, alumni who support the institution that gave them a start and elected officials who understand the impact that LFCC makes in our area.”

Ski’s success at Lord Fairfax may well have been a result of his ability to connect with people who were seeking way to improve their lives through education.

Sygielski holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, master’s degrees in education and business administration and a doctorate in education. His educational credentials are even more notable, because he is the only one in his working-class family to graduate from high school and college.

Virginia’s Community College leaders, and the humble scribes here at VaHigherEd.com, wish John all of the best in his coming endeavors!

Posted by Jeff Kraus

VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 6 - ”A great way to start” a career in nursing. Jeff Kraus talks to Elizabeth Henerfauth, a student at Paul D. Camp Community College, about beginning a nursing program at a community college.

Tune in for the sixth in a series of podcasts featuring Voices from Virginia’s Community Colleges. Click on the audio icon at the top to hear the podcast.
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