VaHigherEd.com

VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 15 - This year’s podcast features Virginia Western Community College student Stephen Jennings, who is finding the community college a great place to receive hands-on training for a third career in radiology.

Listen by clicking on the audio link above or downloading the link to VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 15.

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VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 14 - This week’s VaHigherEd podcast features First Lady Anne Holton, keynote speaker at the Chancellor’s Award for Leadership in Philanthropy on April 23, 2008.

The First Lady paid tribute to the philanthropy leaders being honored from Virginia’s 23 community colleges and shared her passion for Virginia’s families and their youth through the foster care initiative she is spearheading.

Virginia’s Community Colleges have initiated a complementary program, in partnership with the First Lady, called “Great Expectations,” helping Virginia’s foster care youth through higher education.

Listen to her keynote address by clicking on the audio link above or downloading the link to VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 14.

See the philanthropy leaders honored by Virginia’s Community Colleges here.

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VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 13- This week’s VaHigherEd podcast features an elite group of community college students, members of the “First Virginia Team,” named by the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society as the “top ten” two-year students in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

These “top ten,” along with more than 50 of their high-achieving peers who comprise the All-Virginia Academic Team, were in Richmond April 16 for the annual PTK Honors Luncheon, where they were recognized as the best and the brightest of Virginia’s community college students.

These students are not very different from any Virginia community college student. They are looking for transfer options, looking for affordable, quality higher education close to home. They are taking advantage of sometimes the only opportunity available as they seek a better future. They have found those opportunities – and they have risen to the top of their class.

Stephanie Umphlette attends Rappahannock Community College as a dual enrollment student – while finishing high school at the Governor’s School in Warsaw. She’ll graduate from RCC in May – before she graduates from high school in June.

Cynthia Spencer had been out of school 20 years when she decided to commit to an engineering career – starting at the Loudoun Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

David Dutton, profoundly deaf since birth, has overcome many difficulties to attend complete his education at Lord Fairfax Community College, where he has started an American Sign Language society.

And Samantha Cousin made a conscious decision to save on college with two years at Tidewater Community College before a zoology career takes her to Idaho State University.

Pictured from left to right: Stephanie Umphlette (RCC); Cynthia Spencer (NVCC); David Dutton (LFCC); Samantha Cousin (TCC)

See all members of the First Virginia Team.

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VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 12- The horticulture program at Virginia Highlands Community College provides Navy veteran Jillian Holcombe with what she calls the best educational experience of her life. One of the highlights:  A recent coastal ecology research trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a life-changing trip that allowed her first-hand knowledge of ecological marvels. A blog about her experience is available on her Myspace page.

“I think I’m getting a better education right here at Virginia Highlands than I would be if I were at a traditional four-year university,” she says. She’s saving her GI Bill for when she transfers, and looking for a future career in horticulture therapy.

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VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 11 - Community colleges provide doorway to career.  Armen Grigoryan, a dentist from Armenia, is starting over to earn his way back into dentistry - using Virginia Western Community College as his first step. 

Grigoryan was featured in the Roanoke Times in May when he graduated with his associate’s degree in dental hygiene.

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VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 10- In this second of a two-part series about the Career Switchers  program at Virginia’s Community Colleges, Mead Craun talks about her experience in the Career Switchers program. She’ll become a middle school teacher with a one-year license in July, after beginning the program at Germanna Community College in January.

Click on the audio icon at the top to hear the podcast. Or, click on the podcast title to download and listen on your own computer.

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VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 9 - The first of a two-part series about the Career Switchers program at Virginia’s Community Colleges highlights Wylie Schwieder, who is enrolled in the Career Switchers program through Germanna Community College.  He expects the switch to teaching to become “one of the most rewarding things he will do” with his life.  Click on the audio icon at the top to hear the podcast. Or, click on the podcast title to download and listen on your own computer.

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VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 8 - Aspiring economist and honors student Steve Agarwal of NVCC’s Alexandria Campus talks about how small classes and top notch instructors add up to a high quality education at Virginia’s Community Colleges.

Tune in for the eighth in a series of podcasts featuring Voices from Virginia’s Community Colleges. Click on the audio icon at the top to hear the podcast. Or, click on the podcast title to download and listen on your own computer.

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VaHigherEd Podcast: Episode 7 - Hear how a NASA co-op program with Thomas Nelson Community College is launching careers in the flight industry. Jeff Kraus talks to student Stephen Jennings about his experiences with community college as he trains for a NASA career.

Tune in for the seventh in a series of podcasts featuring Voices from Virginia’s Community Colleges. Click on the audio icon at the top to hear the podcast. Or, click on the podcast title to download and listen on your own computer.

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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.
Or, click on the podcast title to download and listen on your own computer.

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