Got Soul? Annual luncheon still popular
Former Sudanese "lost boy" visits campus
Jackson Idol
Changes for fall registration
St.Patty's day
Upcoming graduates celebrate achievement at Grad Fest
Working towards a greener tomorrow
The Soloist Essay Contest
Service Learning at KCC
Got Soul?
Annual luncheon still popular
Liz McCord
Editor-in-Chief
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| Entertainer, Walki'n Cane | Photo by Liz McCord |
KCC held its annual Soul Food Luncheon on Feb. 24 in the Bruin Student Center.
The luncheon displayed the culinary talents of Dr. Marshall Washington, Vice President of Student Services. The menu included BBQ spare ribs, fried chicken, mixed greens, candied sweet potatoes, macaroni & cheese, cornbread, hoppin john (black-eyed peas & rice), cheese bars, pound cake, sweet potato pies and pecan bars.
“The event is part of Kellogg Community College’s celebration of African-American History Month,” said Dr. Washington “It gives people an opportunity to experience traditional southern cuisine [culture and music].”
This year’s entertainment featured Walkin’ Cane from Cleveland, Ohio. Austin, “Walkin’ Cane”, Charanghat is a blues singer, songwriter and slide guitarist that performs acoustic solo, duo and electric band sets.
Walkin’ Cane has become a well-known performer throughout the country, traveling from New Orleans, Louisiana to Juneau, Alaska acquiring various awards over the years.
Charanghat walked for ten years with a cane due to an arterial venous malformation at birth. While performing on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, a homeless man called out “Hey Walkin’ Cane got some spare change for a brother?!” Charanghat took the jibe as his nickname.
In 1996, after years of battling the inevitable, his left leg was amputated below the knee. A year after the surgery, he returned to the music scene stronger than ever and without his cane.
His explosions of outstanding guitar skills in conjunction with powerhouse vocals and a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ echoed soulfully throughout the campus, brightening up the day.
Former Sudanese "lost boy" visits campus
Liz McCord
Editor-in-Chief
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| Adam Atem speaking to a class | Photos by Matt Samara |
Jacob Atem and his cousin Michael Deng were tending to cattle the evening their village was attacked in Sudan.
As they went about their chores, Atem saw his village engulfed in flames. He and his cousin ran into the desert. To stay would have meant certain death or induction into slavery by the northern forces.
Atem fled, but always thought he would return home.
“I was mistaken,” he said. “Later on, I heard that my folks were killed. Life just became chaotic.”
Atem and Deng were not the only boys who ran. Over the next days, weeks, and months, more and more of the displaced Sudanese found each other and formed a human exodus waling a thousand miles through lion and crocodile country, eating mud to stave off hunger, drinking urine to quench their thirst.
Atem is one of 27,000 boys who were forced to seek refuge after their villages were attacked in southern Sudan in 1987.
The journey took the boys from Sudan to Ethiopia and finally to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Along the way, many of the Lost Boys died of illnesses suchas malaria and whooping cough – diseases that are almost nonexistent in the U.S.
In 2001, Lutheran Social Services of Michigan brought many of the refugees to the U.S.
Atem, who was 15 at the time, was placed with a foster family in Webberville. He recently graduated from Spring Arbor University and is currently a student at MSU.
Atem and Deng recently founded the nonprofit organization Southern Sudan Health Care. Their goal is tobuild a health clinic in Marr and help the people of their village.
They hope that by sharing their testimonies it will help to educate people about what is going on in the world, particularly in Sudan.
Jackson Idol
Liz McCord
Editor-in-Chief
On Feb. 15, KCC students competed in a Michael Jackson karaoke contest on the main campus for free food and prizes. Timothy Woodson of Battle Creek took first place, Ashley Dillion of Marshall took second, and Sha-Ron Hawkins and Blake Elder, both of Battle Creek tied for third place. Woodson received two free KCC credit hours, Dillion received $40 in gift certificates to local eateries, and Hawkins and Elder each received $20 in gift certificates to local eateries.
A total of 13 students competed in the student center in front of a crowd of their peers to sing their favorite Michael Jackson song. The crowd, drawn by the sounds of “Thriller,” “Black or White” and other favorites, cheered and clapped for their fellow students.
“Originally, we had six students pre-register for the event. The other seven time slots filled quickly when students heard the music,” said KCC’s College Life Manager, Terah Zaremba. Each student that competed received a $10 gift card to Pizza Hut.
The students faced a judge’s panel of three KCC employees who gave honest feedback and danced along with the tunes. “This is the second year that I’ve judged the Idol contest and I enjoyed this year more than last. We have some very talented students and all of the participants enjoyed themselves,” said KCC’s Director of Support Services, Holly McKee.
During the judge’s deliberation at the end of the competition, the crowd also cheered on one KCC student and one community member as they performed moonwalk routines for the crowd.
The Michael Jackson Idol Contest was part of Kellogg Community College’s activities for Black History Month. To view upcoming College Life activities, visit www.kellogg.edu/events.
Changes for fall registration
Liz McCord
Editor-in-Chief
Registration for the fall semester will open online and in-person on Monday, May 24, 2010. In previous years, mid-April was the beginning of fall registration and was at the same time as summer registration.
The change will help students in a variety of ways, explains KCC’s Dean of Enrollment Management and Registrar, Kay Keck, “By moving back the registration dates, students will be in a better financial position to enroll for classes. In previous years, when they were enrolling in April, their financial aid paperwork was not complete. In addition, due to the overlap in summer and fall payment plans, students were making two payments at once, which is a struggle for some.” Keck also discussed how this change would allow time for prerequisite classes taken during the spring to record on the student’s transcript so that they can enroll in the next level of classes. A final benefit is that the separate registration dates for fall and summer mean less confusion as students register for courses. “Overall, we think the change in dates will be very positive for our students and help them financially,” said Keck.
To view the KCC’s academic calendar, including registration dates, visit www.kellogg.edu/news/collegecal. For more information, contact Customer Service at (269) 965-5522.
St. Patty's day
Liz McCord
Editor-in-Chief
Regardless of your heritage, you are probably very aware of St. Patrick’s Day—the traditional Irish holiday celebrated each year on March 17. Maybe you observe this festive day by sporting green attire and drinking a few beers at your favorite pub, but believe it or not, there is much more to St. Patrick’s Day than wearing green and knocking back a few pints.
This St. Patrick’s Day, the “wearing of the green” takes on more significance than ever. The earth’s climate is changing.
Resources are under pressure —crude oil, in particular — but also basics like clean water. Enormous contradictions in food, medical care, and housing exist between East and West, between the Northern Hemisphere, and the South.
At least people are starting to pay attention. Bit by bit, the world is going green and what better way to celebrate eco-progress than on that greenest of holidays, St. Patrick’s Day?
Upcoming graduates celebrate achievement at Grad Fest
William Cook
Assistant Editor
Students and faculty gathered in the Bruin Café on Jan. 16-17 for Grad Fest, an event that was dedicated to upcoming Kellogg Community College graduates.
Students and Faculty enjoyed music, cake, and social activity at Grad Fest, students could sign up for a chance to win an ipod nano, free items were handed out as well. Students could also sign up to walk on Graduation day, order their cap and gown, and get additional information about graduation.
I spoke with several students graduating this spring and found out what they planned for the future. Lisa Risner a Tekonsha resident who graduated from Coldwater High School says “I plan on going to either Central or Northern University.” Risner continues to explain that she is going into Psychology and ultimately would like to be a Psychologist.
Gavin Pollard, a 19 yr-old Battle Creek resident explains his plans for the future “I am going into the Public Relations program at Western.” Pollard explained that he would like to work with children but as of right now just plans on doing work in the communications field.
Cassie Halder of Pennfield says “I want to be a child counselor” Halder continues to explain that she is currently in the Human Services program plans on going to Miller College after graduating from KCC.
Although somewhat underlying, the excitement could be felt when speaking to the upcoming graduates. And overall, the students seemed to be proud and pleased with their academic success here at KCC.
Working towards a greener tomorrow
Liz McCord
Editor-in-Chief
In an effort to reduce the college’s impact on the environment, KCC has created a pilot project that eliminates the printed class schedule in favor of an electronic-only (online) class schedule for the summer 2010 semester. The program is expected to eliminate the printing of over 740,000 pages of paper and provide students with real-time information about course offerings.
For the 2009 summer semester approximately 27,000 class schedules were printed.
“The summer electronic schedule pilot will significantly reduce our impact on the environment,” said KCC’s Dean of Enrollment Management/Registrar, Kay Keck. “As an educational institution that teaches environmental and social responsibility, we felt it was important for the college to look at our own environmental impact and how we could be greener in our operations.”
In addition to not printing the class schedules, the college has integrated many energy-efficient programs including installing energy-efficient light bulbs on the campuses and changing employee summer work hours to reduce building cooling costs.
The key benefit of this pilot project for students is the real-time accuracy of the online schedule versus the printed schedule. “To accommodate the number of students enrolling, the semester class schedule is often changed to add classes, drop classes, or alter the times and days of classes offered. Because of this, the minute we print the class schedule, it is inaccurate due to the changes. The online version is updated automatically, so by directing students to view the schedule online, they will be looking at the most accurate information we have. In addition, by going online, it’s a simple click to enroll in the classes they want” said Keck.
The college will be mailing a postcard with instructions of how to access the online schedule to households who would regularly receive the printed schedule. The college will also offer assistance to students through KCC’s Information Services Helpdesk.
A few printed copies will also be available for viewing in the Kellogg Community College Learning Resource Center. “Our goal is to make this transition as stress-free as possible for our students while offering them accurate information and reducing our carbon footprint,” said Keck.
Student can now access the schedule at www.kellogg.edu/schedule. For more information, contact Kellogg Community College’s Customer Service area at (269) 965-5522. .
The Soloist Essay Contest
A $100 cash prize will be awarded to the winning essay focusing on a theme relevant to The Soloist by Steve Lopez, this year’s Campus Read. First and second runner-up will receive gift certificates to the KCC Bookstore.
The essay contest, sponsored by the KCC Learning Resource Center, KCC Service Learning, and the KCC Bookstore, is open to students currently enrolled at Kellogg Community College. Printed entries must be turned in at the Learning Resource Center’s Information Desk by 5 p.m. on Monday, March 15th.
The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship and the Redemptive Power of Music revolves around Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who becomes schizophrenic and homeless and his friendship with Lopez, a Los Angeles columnist who writes about Ayers in the newspaper.
Winners will be announced 11 a.m. at the April 23rd author appearance program in Binda Performing Arts Center. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will receive autographed copies of The Soloist and may have their photos taken with author Steve Lopez during his visit to KCC on April 23rd.
Copies of The Soloist are available for checkout at the KCC Library or Willard Library. Copies may also be purchased from the KCC Bookstore or Barnes & Noble.
Complete contest guidelines can be found at the LRC’s Information Desk and online at www.kellogg.edu/library/kcc-campusreads.html.
Service Learning at KCC
William Cook
Assistant Editor
The Service Learning Program at KCC has been seeing a lot of recent success lately. The program emphasizes “personal and professional growth of student, faculty and staff through collaboration on service projects in the community,” according to Service Learning’s mission statement.
AmeriCorps VISTA Shane Williamson stated that he estimates at least one hundred KCC students are currently doing service learning and he expects a large increase in the near future.
When Williamson was asked about the benefits of the program he stated “it [service learning] is important when schools are looking to take you in.” Williamson also explains that it is important for students to see needs in the community from which they live. The service learning website also outlines advantages and reads “allows working professionals to develop relationships with potential employees.”
Service Learning participates with several local institutions such as; Habitat for Humanity, CityLinC, The Nonprofit Alliance, The Haven of Rest, and many more.
Students seem to gain both personal and professional growth through this service. Leah Thompson stated “I am learning that everyone loves to be appreciated,” Thompson participated in service learning at Star Elementary School.
An extra benefit is students can also complete both honors and capstone project through the Service Learning Program. Students interested should contact Glinda Morling at morlingg@kellogg.edu or Shane Williamson at
Williamsons@kellogg.edu.