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1. “Spirit of South Mountain” at SMCC
| For the past eight years, the SouthMountain/Laveen Chamber of Commerce has presented the “Spirit of South Mountain” awards, our premier annual gathering celebrating the best of our unique and appealing community. This past Thursday night, SMCC hosted this special event, and the proceedings had a distinctively Cougar flair—for starters, the SouthMountain Precinct Police Officer of the Year was a former SMCC student,Ernie Piña, who was honored for going above and beyond in capturing the perpetrator of a series of community assaults and burglaries last year. |
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Officer Ernie Piña (center) receives the South Mountain Precinct
Officer of the Year award. |
And winning the Education Award this year was the SMCC Storytelling Institute, presented to institute director Liz Warren, pictured below with other SMCC attendees. More than 100 community members turned out for the affair, which once again celebrated South Mountain’s best of the best.
From left: Vice President of Learning Dr. Rey Rivera, Storytelling Faculty Marilyn Torres, Storytelling Institute Director Liz Warren, Vice President of Student Development Dr. Osaro Ighodaro (seated), College PresidentDr. Shari Olson, Business Faculty Bruce McHenry, and Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness & Technology Janet Ortega. |
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| 2. May 2 Awards, May 3 Lunch Wrap Up South Mountain Spring
 And speaking of awards….hope your calendar is marked for this Thursday night, May 2, when SMCC presents its annual student and employee awards, starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Union. Mistress of ceremonies Lara Collins will oversee the proceedings, which will include an array of awards spotlighting student achievement, plus our new SMCC Pillar Awards, presented to three employees.
Don’t stay out too late, though, because the next morning, May 3, beginning at 9:30, we will be right back for our end-of-the-year College Luncheon and Celebration, featuring Years of Service awards, our Educational Lean teams, and a salute to our outgoing (and ultra-lovable) retirees. The program runs until 11 a.m., at which time lunch will be served, continuing until 1 p.m. Hope to see you all at both of these great events! |
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3. South Mountain “Diversity Awareness Days” Rock the Patio
| If there’s anything that truly defines the SMCC campus, it’s diversity….not just ethnic and cultural, but diversity of opinions, ideas, philosophies, abilities….we are indeed a marvelous salad bowl of humanity. That’s why our annual “Diversity Awareness Days” has been such a great event for the past seven years. This year’s theme was“Using Critical Thinking Skills to Look Beyond What is in Front of You: Red Flags.” More than 100 students took part.
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Under the leadership of Reading Faculty Asha Dey and the Student Life Office, the “DAD” of all spring events took place last Wednesday and Thursday, featuring student displays, community groups, and Dr. Garrison’s jazz band on hand to show off what we do best—a little bit of everything. Which, we suggest, is diversity defined.
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| 4. Express Employment Supports Student Success
SMCC’s connections with area businesses are getting stronger and stronger, especially now with the development of our new Community Entrepreneurship Center. On April 17, one of those local businesses, Express Employment Professionals, owned and operated by Daria Buss (second from right), held a seminar at the Library, and also took the opportunity to present a $1,500 scholarship check to Donte Robinson (holding certificate), who was selected through a competitive application process. Congratulations, Donte!
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5. SMCC Honors Honors at Spring Showcase
 We always have oodles of events at the end of each semester—as this week’s MT-10 bears out—but without fail, the SMCC Honors Showcase is always among the best. Nancy Deegan’s Honors students will show off their spring research projects this Wednesday, May 1, in the Library Community Room. And even though these projects aren’t ALL fun and games, some of them are—you can try your hand at one of the board games created by our students, as well as experience their many other poster and PowerPoint presentations. It goes from noon to 2 p.m., and we’ll even feed you—get food for thought AND food for your gut—all for free! |
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| 6. SMCC Voice Blog Spotlights AAA115
 If you recall Dr. Olson’s most recent newsletter, our new student orientation efforts are beginning to yield tangible, positive results in improving our retention and persistence rates. And a key component of our iStartSmart new student experience is our AAA115 class, “Creating College Success.” Adjunct Instructor Ahmad Daniels wrote up a recap of his experiences teaching this couse at SMCC, and shared it with us—you can now find it on our SMCC Voice blog….here:
http://smccvoice.southmountaincc.edu/index.php/creating-college-success-via-an-invaluable-aaa-115-experience/ |
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7. Spring Student Recitals This Week
One of SMCC’s best kept secrets are our student music recitals. Come relax in the cool, aural splendor of the Performance Hall, and listen to what our music students have spent the semester mastering. Not only is it an enjoyable (and free!) musical experience, but it also gives them the chance to perform for a real audience—an important part of music performance. There are concerts Monday and Tuesday night at 7 p.m., Wednesday at 6 p.m., Thursday at noon, and Friday, again at 7 p.m. For a complete rundown of who all is playing, call our Performing Arts Hotline, x38353. |
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8. SMCC Summer Programs Still Recruiting
 If you think everything at the Main Campus stops after Graduation, May10, you’ve got another thing coming. Not only do our ACE and Upward Bound feeder programs continue on through the summer months, two of our most successful summer programs run throughout the month of June. OurMinority Male Summer Bridgeprogram—SMCC’s Innovation of the Year for 2013—enables Latino and African-American male high school seniors to take a four-credit math class and the aforementioned “Creating College Success” in five weeks, at no cost! You can get the details here:http://tinyurl.com/bo7w8m7.
And the SMCC BioScience Summer Camp has proven just as successful, providing a hands-on BioScience summer class (BIO107) to high school seniors who have graduated.
You can check out their flyer here: http://tinyurl.com/d5dfqy6. There’s still room in both sessions, so spread the word, and help those 2013 high school graduates that you know get a head-start on college. |
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| 9. ACE Takes on the Ivy League
South Mountain ACE doesn’t fool around when it comes to spring road trips—this year, they toured no less than nine east-coast Ivy League universities as part of a weeklong tour, March 29 to April 6, sponsored by the Arizona Ivy League Project. Among the stops were: Harvard, MIT, Wellesley University, Brown University, Wesleyan University, Yale University, Columbia University, Princeton University and University of Pennsylvania. They sent us a few postcards from their many stops…..
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10. This Week’s SMCC Graduate Success Story
 Here’s another SMCC Graduation success story, forwarded from Academic Advisor Deborah Spadafore, featuring 2013 graduate Rana Ali:
“My name is Rana Ali and I am at this time a junior at Arizona Cultural Academy and College Prep, which I joined two years ago. Currently, I have attained enough college credits to graduate this May with two associate’s degrees, and be only three classes away from my third.The graduation day, May 10, will be just five days after my sixteenth birthday.
“The combination of my hard work, my effort, the dual enrollment courses, and the opportunity provided by the ACE program helped me to achieve this goal at such a young age. I feel that I am a fortunate young lady with a bright future because I was able to grasp all of these opportunities and accomplish this much before even starting my senior year. I am extremely grateful that I was provided these opportunities and am even more grateful that I was able to accomplish this great feat. It goes to show that hard work and effort do pay off.” |
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President Barack Obama’s first term in office was replete with numerous visits to community colleges throughout the nation. He lauded their meeting the task of re-training workers who experienced the misfortune of having been down-sized in the midst of a troubling economy as well as others seeking meaningful career change. What went unnoticed, however, was the awesome responsibility community colleges have to embrace those students fresh out of high school; students who in far too many cases are ill-prepared to successfully take on the rigors associated with a college experience. Students who may have been socially promoted and enter the halls of college with a questionable sense of preparation. It is these students for whom a community college becomes the essential link to a fulfilling and rewarding career and, even more so, a self-actualized life. That “link” can take the form of a successful AAA 115 experience.
sand programs and increase the opportunities for women athletes to play past their high school and club years. This year saw the number of official NCAA programs grow from a handful in 2011 to 32 , and next year will see almost double that number. A small number of schools participating is normal in newly accepted NCAA sports, so we are very happy that Brandy will be one of the pioneers in this increasingly popular sport.
As we edge closer and closer to semester’s end, it’s time to reflect back on all of the great things we accomplished this year, and there’s no better forum than SMCC’s year-end awards. First, take a few minutes to honor that student who set an example for others this year, and send in a nomination for the SMCC Student Awards. Then, submit the name of a South Mountain colleague for the inaugural SMCC Pillar Awards, to publicly reward those who exemplify Dr. Olson’s three pillars that support the vision and mission of the college:1) Creating a Learning Organization;2) Promoting and Integrating Student Success Strategies and Outcomes; and3) Creating a Culture of Innovation and Continuous Improvement
If you’ve never dropped in on SMCC’s annual student art exhibition, we guarantee you will be impressed, if not amazed–our visual arts students, under the tutelage of Art Faculty Wiley Wallace and some gifted adjuncts, never fail to generate some beautiful and thought-provoking works. They’ll be on exhibit this Wednesday evening in the Library Community Room, with our opening reception running from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. And we even have one student who has been honored at the District level: Anna Clark’s ceramic piece entitled “Tooth Teapot” was selected for exhibition at the annual Maricopa “Artists of Promise” gala, this Tuesday night, April 16, at the Orpheum Theatre. Cougar Kudos to Anna!
This has been a busy few weeks for Dr. Steve Fountaine. On April 5, Steve enthralled an audience of 35 faculty and staff at a dialogue luncheon sponsored by SMCC Faculty and Staff Development. He shared his recent trip to China with MCCCD in his presentation, China Delight: A Journey through the Senses. The next night, April 6, Steve received the Chair Academy’s Idahlynn Karre International Exemplary Leader Award for 2013. He was one of only nine recipients of this national award, which honors those nominated by their colleagues in recognition for exemplary leadership, best practices and commitment to their institutions, their departments and the students they serve.Finally, on April 10, Steve was recognized with the 2013 DAC Award of Excellence for his efforts in promoting diversity and inclusion at SMCC—the only individual in MCCCD to receive this award twice. We congratulate Dr. Fountaine for his continued commitment to excellence and steadfast dedication to our students!
Reading Faculty Mary Nunn may be new to South this year, but she’s already jumped into our college’s efforts in community wellbeing and engagement. Mary first played a key role in our presentation of the Anti-Defamation League’s hosting of “Training Rules”, the documentary film and discussion event covered in our last Top Ten.Now Mary will take over leadership of our President’s Community Advisory Council’s Civic Engagement focus team. Watch for more to come from this very active group of community and college members!
So is South Mountain’s spring play REALLY an “Unnecessary Farce”? Doubt it….our spring productions are always VERY necessary. But you can find out yourself, when it opens in the PAC this Wednesday for a four-day, five-show run.You can get the showiness and get tickets online here, at the link below…and tell our students all they need to get in is a Maricopa ID and a smile.
We hear a lot about our ACE (Achieving a College Education) program here at SMCC, but we don’t always get a chance to see and hear what all they do.You’re going to get both this month, first with a first-person testimonial from one unnamed student, who’s been deeply affected by the program (link below), and then again on April 26 at 6:00 p.m., when the annual ACE Graduation Ceremony takes place in the PAC.Everyone’s invited, so drop in and get a sneak peek at SMCC’s students of tomorrow, today!
“My name is Levi Valenzuela, a proud upcoming graduate of South Mountain Community College. South Mountain was not my first choice in higher education; however, it may have been the most important. During high school I began losing interest in my capabilities as the years went on. I went from studying constantly to not even worrying about the fact I did not study for my midterm. My GPA sank below a 2.7, I was maintaining a few B’s but mostly C’s. The end of my senior year I realized I wanted much more out of my life. Physical therapy was always fascinating to me and I dreamed of helping others but at this point it was too late. No school would accept me in their medical programs and, even if they did let me in, I could not receive any scholarships.
In a culture of continuous improvement, it takes a concerted effort to address the biggest topics….like how we schedule classes, or reinventing our student service model, or creating new ways to manage projects and control our workflow. Not the kind of stuff you can knock out over a quick lunch at Gallagher’s. That’s why more than four dozen SMCC faculty and staff members devoted many hours this spring to addressing these topics through a process new to South called “Educational Lean”. The progress we’ve made in these areas was presented and celebrated last Friday, led by guest facilitator Dr. Theresa Waterbury. The work is not yet complete, but you can get a look at what’s been done so far on our Leadership Council web page, here:
It wasn’t the kind of all-nighter you tend to associate with a college campus in late spring, but the results nonetheless inspiring–SMCC’s second annual Relay for Life all-night walkathon to raise funds and awareness in the fight against cancer was a huge success on both counts.
The word is out…there’ll be a rude awakening this fall for students who attempt to enroll in classes once they’ve already begun….and that word is “no.” Starting Fall 2013, there will be no more late registration allowed. The data doesn’t lie–students who enter a class that’s already underway simply have a much steeper road to success.
It’s been a while since we had a Dean of Enrollment occupying that corner office in the SES Building, but that’s going to change soon. We have three excellent candidates for that position currently under consideration, and you will get a chance to meet them this Thursday afternoon, in a series of 30-minute public forums. On hand to answer your questions in the Student Union will be: Raphael Turner, 1:30 p.m.;Isaac Zuniga, 2:15 p.m.; and Vivian Miranda, 3:00 p.m. Be there, and ask the tough questions!
Early Childhood Faculty Alicia Smith has one busy spring and summer ahead of her. In June, she’ll be presenting at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development, to be held in San Francisco, California. Joining her will be four SMCC Early Childhood students: Suzette Davis, Virginia Palacios, Shawntel Hill and Charmaine Burton. But before that, then it’s off to Italy, this month, to participate in an International Study Group in Reggio Emilia, to collaborate on syllabus development. Good luck, Alicia, and viaggia sicuro!
South is, of course, the storytelling college, and this spring we are seeking students willing to share their own unique and personal South Mountain stories in a project we call “Life Stories: Weaving a Legacy of the Mountain.” Participants will work with our storytelling faculty to craft and record their stories, to be featured on our new website. Story sessions are coming up April 11, April 18 and April 27—interested students should contact 
SMCC Club Teach officersMarilyn Ayala, Angie Gonzales,Roxanne Burquez, Timothy Payne and Cristian Castro took advantage of a special invitation to visit the UCLA Teacher Education Program during Spring Break. They received an invitation fromDr. Concepcion Valadez, UCLA Education Faculty, who met the students during her visit as a keynote speaker last March when SMCC hosted the Maricopa District’s Future Teachers Conference. Club Teach students toured the UCLA campus, visited with graduate students, were treated to lunch at the Faculty Club by the Dean of the School of Education and met with various individuals connected to the Teacher Education Program.
