Bruins Give Back to Valley View Elementary School

D.R.
Guest Writer

KCC volunteers listened to first graders read, helping them meet "the daily 5" requirements that are in elementary schools now to improve literacy independence. My learner jumped with excitement with each challenging word she got correct, smiling ear to ear. She wanted to read all of her books to me, and then pleaded with me to come back and read with her again. Something all of the volunteers said they heard; the first graders loved having us and would love to have someone read with them every week.

Our main purpose for going to Valley View was to do "College Positive" volunteering with forth graders. This involved breaking into small groups and talking to the students about college and careers. The point of this was to help students see college as a goal and thinking about realistic futures. We all have experiences in different areas that we were able to break students into, according to their interests. One group talked about business, another language arts/education, becoming a college professor, and the arts.

I talked to the group about the arts. I asked the students if they knew what they wanted to be when they grew up and if they had a back up plan if they couldn't do that job. Surprisingly all of the students but one did have a backup plan. The girl who didn't have a back up plan didn't have a great career choice either. I had to give her bad news! I did it through my own experience though. I told the students that my original plan for a career was to be an art teacher, but I can't do that anymore because they're taking art out of schools. I informed them my back up plan was to change my focus to another area in education, Elementary education with a (ZS) endorsement. Being an elementary teacher I can still do art in my classroom, it just won't be the only subject that I teach. One kid replied: "That will be good because you won't have to teach the same thing all day!" The girl without a backup plan wants to be an actress. I told her that is one of the most challenging jobs to achieve. A good back- up plan for that could be teaching theater.

My conversation with students then changed to what their knowledge was about scholarships. One student knew it involved writing a paper, because that's what his sister did. Another said she thought her school was going to give every student there a scholarship to pay for college. They were pretty close. I told them, you do have to write a paper for a scholarship, but it is a competition because lots of people are writing papers. Everyone wants a scholarship because they pay for college. Also sometimes you may have to interview in a room filled with people for a scholarship and that can be scary.

The school scholarship the girl was referring to wasn't actually from her school. I told her it's called "The Legacy Scholars" and she was right it is a scholarship. Only certain schools are able to get this scholarship, and it was available thanks to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The scholarship could be used to pay for classes and books at Kellogg Community College. The girl replied: "I like Kellogg Community College, they're a good college!" There was no prompt from me for that, even though I've been a lifer here and would agree.

One of the last topics on my lists to talk about is colleges and if students gave any thought to a particular college. One student said: "Not really that's too far away; I just know I don't want to go to Michigan State!" Another chimed in: "Me, neither." I loved these students. My reasons for asking, I said is "That I am wondering if you ever thought about going to a community college because it's cheaper." I informed them I am going to both Western and KCC because I want to transfer as many classes as I can from KCC to Western because it costs less. We also talked about going to the Calhoun Career and Technology Center to help them gain experience in the areas they want to go into.

They really loved that idea and wanted to know more about it and asked me how old they had to be to start taking college classes.
This experience in classrooms is priceless. I started volunteering with the Early Childhood Education department when they would announce opportunities to volunteer a little over a year ago and felt like it was a very rewarding experience.
Then I learned about the Michigan Service Scholars program and learned just how rewarding the experience can be. I became a College Positive Volunteer in November, which mean's I need to complete 300 hours of volunteer work in a year and I will receive a scholarship for that. Not only do I receive the scholarship, but I receive the experience that comes with it to add to my resume. That is what I mean when I say rewarding. In five months I have done a little over 180 service hours, so 300 may sound like a lot but they add up fast. If you enjoy volunteering, then I really recommend contacting Amanda; DeslauriersA@kellogg.edu to see about becoming a Michigan Service Scholar.

Glenda Morling (right) and KCC volunteers.

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Let's get diverse — Multicultural Medly Art Contest

Adam Coon
Staff Writer

America is known as a melting pot or salad bowl meaning that there are many people living here with different backgrounds, races, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. Kellogg Community College recently wrapped up the second Multicultural Medley art contest, showcasing not only what diversity means to some students and community members but their artistic talents as well.

Artist Gerald King's top winning entry "Nation Flakes"

This year there were forty eight entries submitted ranging from paintings to murals to singing. The contest was a huge success and quite the challenge tojudge. The winners, one student and one community entry, were given a $500 prepaid credit card while the ten honorable mentions i earneda $50 dollar card. There were five judges from different artistic backgrounds who had no affiliation with the school.Among them were a graphic designer, dancer, musician, photographer, and writer. After a long deliberation, they finally chose those whose works they felt best represented the spirit of the contest.


The top winning student entray was Gerald King's "Nation Flakes" along with the community entry "Derma Glyph" by Vicki VanAmeyden who entered under the pseudonym "Rose Saylavee."

Student honorable mentions included Kathryn Barnes for her visual art "Facebook." Brandon Snyder created a book called "Gay." Justin Latimer, last year's grand prize winner, was also honored this year for his painting "Namaste." Brian Noell, another honorable mention from last year, also won for his collage, "Broken Promises." And the final student winner is Thomas Graham for his piece "Lace by lace."

"Derma Glyph" by Vicki VanAmeyden

The community honorable mention winners >were James (Michael) Edwards for his picture inspired by his granddaughter, "Unity Hearts/Destiny." Te-Aira Gray, our youngest competitor at age 11, won for her picture "Tied Together Forever." A graphic depiction of stereotypes was presented by Taylor Petznik-Miller, and Susan Miller (no relation) of Quincy entered her oil painting "Participate This Time" which was purchased before the awards ceremony. The final community winner, Fontayshia deJesus, blew the crowd away with her rendition of "One Nation."

If you are interest in taking part in next year's Multicultural Medley art contest or if you would like any more information about the KCC Diversity committee, please contact Kathy Barney at BarneyK@KCC.edu, but please be aware that with the moving of offices to new building, plans and dates are still up in the air, and besides, it wouldn't be overly diverse if we did the same thing every year now would it?

Artist statement by Gerald King
We often use "symbols" and "signs" to define who were are as people as well as a society, depending on what part of the world one is born in, different symbols have special meanings. This work represents birth and how we all flow through life and end up in the same "cereal" bowl, no matter what race,religion, or political view. The symbols that catch the most attention are the "crosses" and so-called "swastikas" because of their negative images in the U.S ( None of these symbols in no way reflect the artists personal views)

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Burmese family takes refuge in Battle Creek

Lacy Janousek
Staff Writer

It's easy for students here are KCC to take for granted all they're offered. People often complain that Battle Creek is the worst place to live, there's nothing to do, or other petty complaints. To look at all that's offered around us, it is ridiculous to complain; however, we are all guilty of it. Christina Khim and her family are refugees from Burma who had to leave their home country because of the lack of human rights and freedom. Her story outlines the struggles of language and cultural barriers.

"We took asylum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I livedthere for two and a half years," Khimexplained of the story of her and her family. Though she couldn't explainmuch about the details of why sheand her family left Burma, Khim did explainabout her time in Malaysia. The Khim family was recognized as refugees from Burma by the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugee. "It allowed us to go through several interviews to be able to resettle in a third country such as United States," Khim detailed.

Students who have lived in the Battle Creek area for most of their lives wonder why anyone else would choose to live here. "In our culture, we love living as a group rather than living individually. Many Burmese made Battle Creek home for many years before I even came," Khim went on to explain that her family joined those she knew here in Battle Creek. The Khim family has enjoyed their two and a half years here and they have no plans to leave the area.

There was much to prepare for Khim's new life in the United States; however, language was one of the largest tasks to complete. As some schools here require language classes, Khim's schools in Burma required English courses as well. "But it was not enough to be able to speak it. So, I had to take private English speaking classes." Khim, who is a very dedicated person, began throwing herself into English. She watched movies, listened to the radio, her and her friends even had a book club where they read and discussed books in English. "These activities improved my speaking skills a lot. The most challenges I faced when learning English are the slangs and idioms," Khim established. Though she is not a native speaker of English, she is now learning Spanish here at KCC and teaching English as asecond language at the Burma Center.

After hearing somany peoplecriticize about what they'regiven in the Battle Creek area, remember what others have been provided with and think again. Many families have picked up and left their home countries because of the inhumane conditions, as the Khim family did.

Christina Khim

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