Scholarships Listing is live!
The CSCC Development Foundation Scholarships help our Students go from a class or two, to graduation day; All with the help of our amazing partners and donors. Becasue of this support for the upcoming academic year we are able to offer 463 Scholarship worth $392,781! The listing and application period is open until July 9th, 2010. Click here to open the pdf file of the listing.
Smiles for Scholarships
At a reception held in the Lincoln Theatre May 13 in honor of President Moeller’s retirement, The Friends of Dr. M. Valeriana Moeller contributed a total of $40,000 to the Campos-Moeller Scholarship Fund. Presenting the award to Dr. Moeller are, from left, Chairman of the Columbus State Board of Trustees William Dolan, Rick Sellers, treasurer of the Development Foundation Board of Directors, and Matt Kelly, executive director of the Development Foundation, Inc.
Get ready-here they come!
Columbus State's TRiO Educational Talent Search program will be hosting 30 high school students for the GAP MEE (Getting Ahead Professionally: Mentoring for Excellence in Employment) summer day camp June 14-25. Thanks to a $15,000 grant from The Gap, Inc., participants will have the opportunity to explore long-term career options, create their own career achievement plan, hone job readiness and employment skills for part-time work while succeeding as a full-time student, and much more.
For more information about the GAP MEE program email Stephanie Albrecht in Diversity, Study Abroad, and TRiO Programs or call ext.5402.
Aviation Maintenance: Keeping you safe in the skies
Columbus State's Aviation Maintenance program helps keep you safe in the skies! The program teaches dozens of students each year how to maintain all kinds of aircraft. The donation of a Pratt & Whitney turbine engine to the Development Foundation gives students one more learning experience.
'I'm Still Totally Geeked Out'
Scholarship Recipient and recent grad mixes practice and theory
Nathan Roby got pretty good training from life, but he came to Columbus State for an education.
Roby started working in restaurants right out of high school, with his first formal training coming in the management program at Chipotle. He quickly saw the value of formal education. Whereas his experience helped him solve problems he'd already seen, his education gave him the tools to analyze new problems. He is also a recipient of several scholarships through the CSCC Development Foundation. These scholarships include: Accounting & Finance Scholarship, Campos Moeller Access Endowed Scholarship and the CSCC Scholarship.
That insight propelled him to Columbus State, where he graduated this summer with an Associate of Applied Science in finance. Roby was the salutatorian for his class, delivering the Pledge of Allegiance at graduation, and he's enrolled at Ohio State's Fisher College of Business in the fall.
Although he came for the classroom education, he appreciated that his professors had many years of experience in their field. One professor, Jack Popovich, used last year's financial crisis as a real-time learning tool.
"If you came to him with a question, he'd tell you to go home and research it," Roby says. "Then that would be your lesson."
At age 27, Roby was one of the older people in his classes. Still he said his life experience was valuable and allowed him to focus on his goals.
"I can honestly say that a lot of people get through college, and they don't really like their field," Roby says. "Because I took the time to explore aspects of the real world and my career field, I'm done with my associate degree and I'm still totally geeked out about finance."
The finance associate degree fulfills the first two years of a bachelor's degree at many Ohio colleges. Roby will have to retake only two finance classes at Fisher, but he figures he'll have a leg up on the rest of the class. Columbus State also offers a general Associate of Arts degree, which is designed specifically to transfer.
On its own, the associate degree program in finance allows you to acquire entry level jobs in several arenas. These jobs can be in banking, corporate finance, insurance or investments. The vast majority of finance majors end up with a bachelors degree at some point, but the associates can prepare you for the rigors of a four year institution and give you a leg up on other candidates for jobs in the field while you achieve your bachelor's degree.
Roby hadn't planned on getting a master's or a Ph.D., but after his success at Columbus State, he's considering it. After graduating, Roby hopes to work for a public service agency or maybe the Federal Reserve—anywhere he can make a difference.
"I look at education as a social benefit," he says.
"I feel an obligation to give back."
Landscape Students, Alumni, Rally to Help Ill Homeowners
In a stiff breeze that ruffled budding trees and threatened to remove hats, seven Columbus State landscape design/build students and alumni bent over last year's spent gardens, pulling weeds and removing debris at the Bexley home of Susan Steinman.
Steinman hovered nearby, grinning from ear to ear despite the chill that had her wrapped in a wool shawl and boots. Diagnosed with breast cancer last fall, Steinman was unable to tend her sprawling gardens. Her treatments left her weak, and her gardens still wore the brown cloak of last year's fallen leaves and dried plantings.
The students and alumni from Columbus State were there to lend "Helping Hands in the Garden," an outreach program founded by Elaine Euwer, a Columbus State graduate and a cancer survivor. While undergoing cancer treatments, Euwer had experienced an outpouring of support that had included the upkeep of her yard and garden by friends, and it got her to thinking of the many other cancer patients who could only look out the window, watching their gardens decline, unable to attempt the strenuous work of landscaping. To help continue to support those who need it most the Helping Hands group has started a fund-raising effort to help keep the program going and to help pay for expenses. You can give to Helping Hands through the Development Foundation here.
So on Wednesday, the students and alumni working with Helping Hands bundled for the cold at 8 a.m. and spread out across central Ohio to four homes in Bexley, Dublin, Clintonville and Hilliard to kick off their 2009 efforts on Earth Day—a fitting occasion to work outside, if not the most accommodating weather.
By noon, the first projects were being wrapped up, raked up, and swept clean. And the sun peeked from behind the clouds at last with the unmistakable warmth of spring.
Photos: (top) Landscape student Alex Uhlenhake and Winter Quarter graduate Adam Darst work on cleanup detail, while in the background, Ed Young, Class of 2000, trims hedges. Young works as a designer and in sales for Yard Barbers, one of the companies providing sponsorship of the Helping Hands project. (middle) Students Baylee Deeds, left, and Barb Fleshman, right, get a hug from homeowner Susan Steinman. (bottom) Landscape student Amanda Boggs works on filling planters in Susan Steinman's back yard.
Winning JamQuest Band Member Tuning in to Higher Education Through Scholarship
One year ago Kamron Bradbury couldn't imagine he would be traversing a college campus on a full-ride scholarship. It's a dream come true for him and his family after his high school band entered the JamQuest contest and walked off the stage with the top prize: full scholarships from Columbus State Community College Development Foundation for each band member.
While Kamron, 19, is the first to take advantage and hit the books, two fellow band-mates, Kyle Appel, 18, and Joey Thompson, 19, are making plans to enroll. Along with Luke Archibald, 18, and Ethan Gray, 19, the quintet is known as Though She Wrote—a self-described "post hard-core Christian" band. For the uninitiated it might best be described as high-decibel rock music with a searing Christian message.
The group began as a three-piece band but soon expanded to five members in 2006. At the time, three members were enrolled in the Bloom-Carroll School District while the other two attended Lancaster High School. All have graduated except Archibald who will get his diploma from Bloom-Carroll in June 2010.
Over the years, Though She Wrote has developed a loyal and expanding fan base. Its spin on Christian music, no matter how unorthodox it might seem to a traditional churchgoer, keeps the group tied up on weekends and summer breaks. Promoters typically have them booked in venues in Ohio and surrounding states.
While Kamron aspires to make it big in the music biz, he says he's keeping himself grounded "by pursuing an education to have something to fall back on should the live concert scene falter." For now, he is concentrating on business management at Columbus State. It's a career in its own right and one that would complement Kamron's musical talents should he remain in the music industry. Scouting for bands for a major record label is one of his career goals.
For now, Kamron continues to take it all in just months after the big win that opened up his new educational opportunities. The guitarist—who took only a few lessons and plays mostly by ear—says, "We entered the contest not knowing if we had a shot at winning. The grand prize of full scholarships just sounded too good to be true. However, we wanted the experience of playing at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion in downtown Columbus where the contest was held. It was an awesome experience to perform on the same stage where major artists play while touring."
"The JamQuest event was very competitive. We didn't know until our band was announced if it was actually possible to win because there were several other top-quality bands competing. I couldn't believe it when we got the grand prize."
While Kamron had not planned to attend Columbus State he feels he's right at home. "I have two older brothers who graduated here. One was in the Fire Science program, and he's now working for the Grove City Fire Department. The other went through the police academy at Columbus State and he's now a deputy with the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office." Still, it's not without some effort. "College is more challenging than high school. You really have to keep yourself on track," he says.
With his drive and determination, Kamron could eventually have the best of both worlds: a business career plugged directly into the music scene. And he'll soon have close company. Lead vocalist Appel and bass player Thompson are both planning to cash in by using their scholarships beginning winter quarter. It's clear that members of Though She Wrote are writing their own tickets to success.
Photos: (top) Kamron Bradbury, (bottom) Though She Wrote
Ballpark puts "fun" in fundraiser
Student Ambassadors Molly Osmon and Alex Nguyen use a banner to help Columbus State Development Foundation donors find their box seats at the new Huntington Park baseball stadium August 13. Sixty-five Columbus State Clipper fans attended the scholarship fundraiser on a beautiful night and cheered the Clippers to a 7-6 win over the Indianapolis Indians.
FreeGeeks have a busy Spring Quarter
This Spring Quarter, Debra Dyer's group, the "FreeGeeks at CSCC" otherwise known as Dyer's EET 143 class, gave away five refurbished PCs, 18 software bundles, and free training sessions—and they even built a new Web site: www.freegeeksatcscc.org.
The group donated a PC, monitor, keyboard and mouse to the Combat Veterans benefit for Fisher House on April 25. The donation generated $275 for the benefit at auction.
The group donated a similar package to the Small Business Development Center to be given away at their annual Ohio Growth Summit next week. They donated the same outfit to the TRiO program to be given away in a free raffle to TRiO students, and they raffled off two PCs and 18 software bundles on May 25 to lucky entrants.
The FreeGeeks want you to know that reusing and recycling computers eliminates the possibility that they will end up in landfills. Computers contain many toxic chemicals, and these dangerous chemicals become a source of pollution of our land and water, if not properly disposed of, according to Dyer.
Through our program, the FreeGeeks at CSCC take unwanted computers from businesses and individuals and ensure that good equipment is given a new home so that obsolete equipment doesn't end up in a landfill," says Dyer. "Computers that can't be refurbished are broken down by material type and recycled."
Josh, left, a student in the EET Class, gives a tutorial to one of the PC winners from the Spring Quarter giveaway contest, RJ Mickle.
Huntington Lecture Series brings Poet Laureate to Columbus State Writers Conference April 18
'Make Belief' the theme of 6th annual conference
Kay Ryan, America's poet laureate, will headline Columbus State's 6th Annual Writers Conference on April 18. Ms. Ryan's trip to Columbus was made possible by the Development Foundation's Huntington Lecture Series, generously funded by The Huntington Bank. The daylong event allows writers to hone their craft, meet their peers, and learn from some real masters.
This year's theme is Make Belief. As writers, we play make-believe all the time. We imagine characters, conjure up plots, invent settings. But we also play with belief—contemplating ideas, pondering perspectives, constructing meanings. When we share the products of our make-believe with others, something happens: a thought flickers, a conversation sparks, a world lights up.
Helping light that world up will be Ryan, a California-born poet. The author of six acclaimed books of poetry, Ryan will present a reading of her work with commentary and a conversation with the audience. Her keynote address will begin at 1:15 p.m. in Columbus State's downtown Workforce Development Center, 315 N. Cleveland Ave.
Photo: Keynote Speaker Kay Ryan
Inaugural "JamQuest" rocked!
Over the spring break, "JamQuest 2009" was a rocking success. Ten pre-selected finalist bands from local high schools performed in a showdown on Saturday, March 28, in front of hundreds of fans at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion.
Though She Wrote was crowned the winner by a judging panel of music experts, which included Columbus State's Kenny Ruffin. The judges' comments included: "They owned the stage" and "Great musicianship. Amazing stage presence. Incredibly tight. Loved it."
For the grand prize, all five members of the Christian heavy metal band have been offered full-tuition scholarships at Columbus State provided by the Columbus State Community College Development Foundation. Coincidentally, the lead singer had recently applied and been accepted at the college.
The band members are students at Lancaster and Bloom Carroll high schools and Eastland Career Center. Check out the band on their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/thoughshewrote.
Photo: The high school band "Though She Wrote."
Airplane donated to Aviation Maintenance Department by Bruce Decker, of Evans City, Pa
An airplane donated by Bruce Decker, of Evans City, Pa., was flown into the Bolton Field Airport on December 3 to be used for study by students in the Columbus State Aviation Maintenance Department. The a single-engine 1996 Express 90, built by Decker in 1996, is considered an experimental aircraft and will be used in classes studying airframe and powerplant specifications of small aircraft. "The Wheeler Express has an all composite home-built engine. Composite construction is becoming quite popular. This gives our students a chance to work on and inspect composite structures," said Gene Sprang, coordinator of the Aviation Maintenance Department.
Decker is a retired sales and marketing representative from the pharmaceutical industry. The plane is valued at $143,248.
Photo: Aviation Maintenance faculty, from left, Mark Reed, Gene Sprang, Jeffrey Gruber, and the donor of the airplane, Bruce Decker, pose with the small aircraft in front of the larger Fed Ex jet donated last year to the program.
Former Columbus State student attends Mt. Holyoke
Professor Charlie Gallucci, Biological & Physical Sciences, reports that one of his former students, Sichu Mali, has begun her first year at Mount Holyoke College, the oldest institution of higher education for women in the United States. Mt. Holyoke is located in South Hadley, Mass.
Mali, a native of Sundhara, Kathmandu, Nepal, plans to pursue a course of studies that will prepare her for medical school with a specialty in obstetrics and gynecology. When Mali was a student at Columbus State, she served as a Student Ambassador and was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. She also won the 2007 Woman Student Leadership Award, the Dorothy Kroeger Endowed Scholarship, and the International Student Scholarship.
Little City, Big Lessons—CSCC students help at BizTown
A group of Columbus State students found themselves walking through a miniature city, teaching big life lessons.
Through a mini-grant from the CSCC Development Foundation Columbus State Students from several classes helped out with BizTown, a program that teaches K-12 students about business and personal finance. BizTown is a miniature city inside a warehouse in Hilliard. K-12 students go there to operate mock businesses and a pretend city government. Many Columbus Public School 5th graders cannot participate in BizTown due to limited funds. The grant also supplied funds to provided for up to 250 Columbus Public Schools students to participate BizTown free of charge.
"(Columbus State students) are kind of like an adult mentor for each shop," said Charla Fraley, a Business Management instructor who advised the students. Columbus State sent volunteers on Feb. 20 and 29, and plans to return on June 6. Columbus State Student Mentors had the opportunity to help oversee K-12 Students business operations, managing employees and the process—a perfect tie to their management studies at CSCC.
Fraley had the idea to help out with BizTown after one of her children attended the program. She got applied for a mini-grant through the Development Foundation to sponsor a school and rounded up volunteers. Most volunteers came from her BMGT 101 class.
The businesses in BizTown are remarkably detailed. Children take out a loan from the bank at the beginning of the day, then use it to finance their businesses. The town elects a mayor and city government, and each business has its own leadership.
At the Delivery Center, Columbus State student Samuel Trout was advising the CEO and CFO on prices. Trout, who plans to transfer to Ohio University, said the experience is a great resume-builder.
It was also fun to play with business concepts he learned in class, Trout said. "We all get to work and play in business, but when do we get to do it when you can't make any mistakes?"
Randolph Nelson, another Columbus State student, helped children in the newspaper sell advertisements and cover the news. He gave advice on time management and meeting deadlines.
"I wish they had this when I was growing up," Nelson said.
The Feb. 29 session had 96 children in grades 4 and 5. Columbus State sent 11 mentors—not that the kids needed much help. "It's scary how smart they are," Trout said.
