April 7, 2022 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A student in Grand Rapids Community College’s Occupational Therapy Assistant program received one of two scholarships offered annually by a state organization. Angela Shaffer, who is in the final year of the two-year program, is being honored by the Michigan Occupational Therapy Association. “We are so proud of Angela,” said Robin Pegg, assistant professor in the OTA program. “She is an active member of our Student Occupational Therapy Association, leading study groups and volunteering in many community projects.” Shaffer, who is also a member of GRCC’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa international honor society, has made sensory take-home kits for elementary students, assisted with a “make-and-take” activity and presentation for the United Methodist Community House’ Child Development Center. She also has collected tents, sleeping bags and blankets for the homeless, and helped design a yoga practice for MOKA, a nonprofit that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. GRCC’s OTA program is certified by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education of the American Occupational Therapy Association. GRCC boasts a 100% passage rate for the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy test for 14 of the past 15 years.

April 7, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— The next generation of scientists might be inspired by building motorized LEGO creations and watching robots in action this Saturday through a Grand Rapids Community College partnership with Western Michigan University-Grand Rapids and Autocam Medical. An AMP Lab Family Open House event is planned for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 9 in the AMP Lab @ WMU, located at 200 Ionia Ave SW in Grand Rapids. The free event encourages children ages 5-12 to explore the world of STEM and advanced manufacturing through hands-on activities related to this rapidly growing field. “There are exciting careers in advanced manufacturing and the STEM fields,” said Julie Parks, interim dean of Grand Rapids Community College’s School of Workforce Development. “GRCC is proud to work with WMU and other partners to inspire West Michigan families by showing how the state-of-the-art technology used in the AMP Lab classrooms is used to create things that are changing our world.” GRCC will join Western engineering faculty, JR Automation, Bricks4Kidz, West Michigan Center for Arts + Technology and Autocam Medical to present an array of fun-filled activities, including robotic demonstrations, 3D printers in action, motorized LEGO building, manufacturing lab tours and much more! “Autocam Medical is proud to work with our education partners to model the intersection of education and industry to help empower children and their families to explore the possibilities STEM-related fields have to offer during this event,” said John Kennedy IV, general manager of Autocam Medical. “The AMP Lab was designed to foster collaborative learning between industry leaders, educators, and students and provides a unique opportunity to create pathways to careers in manufacturing and engineering.” Occupying the first two floors of Western’s Grand Rapids regional location, the AMP Lab @ WMU is a state-of-the-art Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Laboratory where future engineers, designers and other skilled individuals can cultivate their abilities. “Western Michigan University is placing manufacturing and design at the forefront of solving key challenges for industry by combining prototyping, professional workshops, training, K-12 outreach, small-scale manufacturing and advanced education opportunities in one space in the AMP Lab,” said Joanne Roehm, director of WMU-Grand Rapids. The AMP Lab @ WMU in Grand Rapids is a makerspace in its truest form, providing a space to bring ideas to life. Aiming to foster a multi-talented workforce to help reinvigorate the advanced manufacturing industries, the lab features high-tech equipment such as 3D printers, lasers and scanners to offer hands-on instruction and training, including computer numerical control programming, computer-aided design, and computer-aided manufacturing.

April 6, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich . – Dr. Matheta Muraa-Righa has a passion. “I have a passion for learning, and I want the best for my students and the whole community,” said Muraa-Righa, an assistant business professor at Grand Rapids Community College. That passion is what prompted Muraa-Righa to research and create a new Supply Chain Operations Management certificate curriculum in 2019 at the college. She designed the program in collaboration with leading employers in West Michigan to address the growing demand for people with entry-level management skills in supply chain operations, including production, inventory, transportation, warehouse operations and logistics. Students who earn this 30-week certificate can often start in the workforce as production, planning and expediting clerks. They also may apply the credits they earn toward an associate degree in business or other programs, or pursue bachelor’s degrees in supply chain management or logistics. Muraa-Righa began researching the potential scope of the program in 2017, consulting several universities and local companies including Meijer, Spartan Nash and GE. Since its debut, more and more students are flocking to it – including an online cohort of two dozen Meijer employees under Muraa-Righa’s coordination. Interest in the program is due, in part, to COVID-19 and the way it upended supply chains around the globe. Even now, hardly a day goes by without supply chain concerns in the news. “Three years ago, the average person didn’t really know about supply chains. But once their Christmas presents got stuck on a ship in the ocean, people started realizing the way so many products come from the other side of the world every day,” Muraa-Righa said. But the certificate’s popularity is also because Muraa-Righa believes in its importance – and conveys that to GRCC students. Kara Nearanz was one of the first students at GRCC to earn her Supply Chain Operations Management certificate. “This certificate gave me the skills and confidence to succeed at any position I choose,” said Nearanz, a research assistant at Spectrum Health Office of Research and Education. Anyone  interested in the Supply Chain Operations Management Certificate program should contact GRCC's Business Department at  business@grcc.edu  or (616) 234-4220 or professor Matheta Muraa-Righa at  mrigha@grcc.edu This story was reported by Beth McKenna.     

April 5, 2022 - GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Community College baseball team exploded for 29 hits and 22 runs in a sweep over Cornerstone University's junior varsity squad on Tuesday. Down 2-0 in game one, GRCC's Xander Reisbig lined a two-run triple in the fourth inning and then scored the go-ahead run one play later. GRCC tacked on five more runs over the next four innings and won 8-4.  Reisbig had three of the team's 11 hits. Blake Waibel picked up his first win of the season in three innings of relief pitching. In the nightcap, the Raiders erupted for 12 runs in the first three innings and never looked back, winning 14-6. Eight of the nine GRCC starters collected at least one hit, with Dylan Chargo leading the way with a four-for-five performance.  Max Varon hit his third home run of the season and Reisbig added three more hits.  Reisbig finished the day with six hits in nine at-bats with four RBI and five runs scored. Aiden Stam, one of five GRCC pitchers who saw action in the second game, earned the win. The sweep brings GRCC's season record to 8-14. The team will resume its series with Lake Michigan College at home on April 7.   

April 5, 2022 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A Grand Rapids Community College assistant professor is using 14 years of his artwork to illustrate the apocalypse in the newest exhibit at the Paul Collins Art Gallery. “Tradigital,” with the works of Matthew Schenk, runs through the end of April at the gallery, located on Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall’s fourth floor at 143 Bostwick Ave. NE. The gallery is open 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; admission is free. Schenk, who has taught in GRCC’s Visual Arts Department since 2019, said the exhibit looks at various “art is dead” declarations, which he notes first started in 1839, and media pronouncements that this is the end of days and the world is in ruins. “These particular pieces are a selection of my work over the last 14 years,” he said. “They start out as observation of the human form and beauty, and devolve into confronting the viewer with our insecurities with views of the apocalypse bogeyman and its visual symbols – guns, technology, gas masks and grit.” Before joining GRCC, Schenk taught illustration and medical illustration at Ferris State University’s Kendall College of Art and Design for 11 years. From 1997 to 2005, he was a coordinator and production supervisor at Columbia Tristar Children’s Entertainment, now Sony Television Animation, where he worked on “Jackie Chan Adventures,” “Men in Black: The Animated Series” and “Jumanji.” He received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Michigan State University and a master’s in figurative painting from Academy of Art University. Schenk teaches Two-Dimensional Design, Color, Digital Foundations, and Digital Painting.

April 5, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Hip-hop artist Talib Kweli will be the final speaker in this year’s Grand Rapids Community College Diversity Lecture Series, appearing virtually at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6. The Diversity Lecture Series provides students, employees, and community members access to scholars, thought-leaders, activists, and artists and is presented by GRCC’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Kweli, a New York native, is a rapper, activist, and entrepreneur and is recognized as one of the most accomplished hip-hop artists.  He is known for partnering with Mos Def for the duo Black Star, teaming up with producer Hi-Tek for Reflection Eternal, releasing landmark solo material, and collaborating with Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Just Blaze, J Dilla, and Madlib. “ODEI has never shied away from inviting speakers whose influence ranges from academics at the pinnacle of their scholarship to grassroots activists making an impact in their part of the world,” said Dr. B. Afeni McNeely Cobham, GRCC’s Chief Equity and Inclusion officer. “Talib’s family roots, love of hip- hop, socio-political awareness, immeasurable talent, and infectious work ethic have positioned him as an iconoclast of popular culture. How he got there will unfold as part of the moderated discussion.”  In 2021, Kweli released his memoir, Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story . A reviewer for the Washington Post wrote, “the push-pull between commercial hip-hop, with its frequent emphasis on empty materialism, and Kweli’s message-driven, popular conscious rap is one of the main topics at the heart of the [book].” The book discussion will be moderated by Bakari Kitwana, author, journalist, and executive director of Rap Sessions, which has hosted over 100 town hall meetings around the nation on difficult dialogues facing the hip-hop and millennial generations. A live DJ set featuring Monk Matthaeus of GR Hip Hop.org will begin at 5:30 p.m. Anyone interested in attending can RSVP at www.tinyurl.com/GRCCequity

April 4, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Rapids Community College is offering commencement in two sessions to provide students with a safe, in-person celebration. The college plans to hold ceremonies on Friday, April 29. Students in the School of Arts and Sciences will attend a 4:30 p.m. commencement, and students in the School of Workforce Development will be at a 7:30 p.m. service, all at the Gerald R. Ford Fieldhouse, 111 Lyon St. NE. Students can have up to five tickets for the event. “Holding two ceremonies will allow everyone to spread out safely as we continue recovering from the pandemic,” said Registrar Valerie Butterfield, who is overseeing commencement. “This is a special moment in the lives of our students, and we want them to be able to share it with their friends, families and other supporters.” Birgit M. Klohs, recently retired as president and CEO of The Right Place, will provide the keynote address at each ceremony. Klohs has spent more than four decades working to enhance economic development in West Michigan. Under her leadership, The Right Place Inc. created or retained more than 50,000 jobs and stimulated more than $5 billion in new investment. Among the projects she worked on were the opening of Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine and the creation of the Manufacturers Council. Since stepping down from The Right Place in 2021, Klohs has served as a director for the New Community Transformation Fund, a venture fund she co-founded for entrepreneurs of color. Last year, GRCC hosted four ceremonies over two days and did not allow guests because of the pandemic. The 2020 commencement was provided virtually. Additional details on this year’s event will be posted at grcc.edu/commencement

April 4, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Alicia Sanchez-Harmon wants every child who enters her All Saints Academy classroom to feel welcomed and loved. She learned how to make that happen from the Child Development faculty at GRCC. “I always loved children but never thought I would make a career out of it,” Sanchez-Harmon said. “I took a few Child Development classes to help fill up some requirements, and I never looked back! They really helped me discover what I was put on this earth to do.” Start at GRCC and go anywhere. Every former student has a story to tell about how GRCC gave them the education and opportunity to be successful. Sanchez-Harmon  valued the real-life experiences she had with the program and her work in the state-of-the-art Phyllis Fratzke Early Childhood Learning Laboratory. She especially appreciated the honest classroom conversations about challenges she and her fellow students faced. “All of my professors created a safe place to vent and come up with ways to combat our issues,” she said. After earning an associate degree in 2019, Sanchez-Harmon was hired by Head Start for Kent County. She worked there while finishing her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education at Ferris State University’s Grand Rapids campus. Through the “3+1” agreement between the two schools, she was able to transfer to Ferris State University as a senior after receiving her associate degree. “The flexibility of GRCC and FSU‘s 3+1 program allowed me to obtain two degrees while working full time and gaining meaningful experience,” she said. Last summer, Sanchez-Harmon became a pre-K teacher at All Saints Academy – the school she attended! Her GRCC experience prepared her for the role. “My experience at GRCC was valuable because as I entered into my bachelor’s-level classes, I felt prepared,” she said. “I had a strong understanding of how young children learn and was ready to build on that knowledge. I had many projects, notes and lesson plans from my time at GRCC that I was able to refer back to when I felt stuck. I also felt the support of my GRCC professors and lab instructors as they would always check in with me. “I am forever grateful to the amazing teachers at the ECLL who steered me toward my passion!” Let GRCC help you start your story. The first chapter starts at grcc.edu/apply .