April 10, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Potential students of all ages can learn more about how Grand Rapids Community College can help change their lives during open houses at both the main and Lakeshore campuses. The Lakeshore event is planned for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 15 at the GRCC Lakeshore Campus, 12335 James St. in Holland. The Main Campus event is planned for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 22 in the Gerald R. Ford Fieldhouse, 111 Lyon St. NE in Grand Rapids. “Open houses are a good first step to learn more about how a GRCC degree or career certificate can change lives,” said Lori Cook, associate dean of Access and First Year Success. “We encourage everyone to come on down, meet with our experts, and get all their questions answered. It’s perfect for people who are planning to attend GRCC, or just learn a little more about the college and what it offers.” GRCC specialists and faculty can help open house participants navigate through admissions and financial aid processes and discuss eligibility for cost-saving programs such as Michigan Reconnect, the Grand Rapids Promise Zone, and the Michigan Achievement Scholarship. Campus tours also will be available. Those attending the event and enrolling at GRCC can win one $500 scholarship. Open house topics include: How to explore GRCC’s Academic Pathways and more than 150 degrees. Options to pay for college. How to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as FAFSA. The steps to apply to GRCC. The benefits of earning an associate degree at GRCC and seamlessly transferring to a four-year college or university. Academic programs and student services offered in Holland at the GRCC Lakeshore Campus. Determining eligibility for the Grand Rapids Promise Zone Scholarship and Michigan Reconnect. Connecting with campus resources – and finding lots of fun swag! While walk-ins are welcome, students can reserve a spot by registering at grcc.edu/openhouse .

April 10, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich - Scot Kellogg came to GRCC to learn more about business. His experiences made him a stronger leader and expanded his abilities to run his own business.  Start at Grand Rapids Community College and go anywhere. Every former student has a story to tell about how GRCC gave them the education and opportunity to be successful. Kellogg is the owner of 616 Realty, one of West Michigan’s fastest-growing real estate firms. Kellogg comes from a family of builders. He tried his hand at building, but ultimately discovered his passion for real estate, and started his business in 2001.  Kellogg is passionate about helping his agents grow their own careers. 616 Realty has more than 80 agents who cover all of West Michigan. Kellogg empowers these agents to build their own independent real estate practices and succeed. “We’re all individuals - and we each bring unique experiences and strengths to the firm. Together, we form an energetic team driven to provide great service for our clients,” Kellogg said.  Kellogg learned about the value of relationships while studying at GRCC. He recalls learning from instructors with hands-on knowledge of the business providing insightful information. These instructors were invested in the success of their students. He also learned from fellow students. Kellogg recalls enjoying the atmosphere of going to school downtown and enjoyed driving around and exploring different parts of the city in between his classes.  “GRCC is a great place to go to college. They have lots of opportunities to explore different interests and learn valuable skills,” Kellogg said.  More information about business classes at GRCC can be found here.  Start your GRCC story today here.

April 7, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Jared Berkenpas pitched his second shutout of the season, leading the Grand Rapids Community College baseball team to a 10-0 win in the team's season finale against Delta College. For the softball team, pitcher Izzy Regner picked up another victory in the first game of a twin bill, though the team dropped its final game against Delta. In a busy day for GRCC Athletics, the golf team finished third in a tournament at Ancilla College. Berkenpas allowed just two hits, while striking out nine and walking none in six innings on the mound, to improve his record to 3-1 in his sophomore campaign. Eight players had at least one hit, with reigning Conference Player of the Week Aaron Bess picking up two hits. Bess’ double in the bottom of the sixth inning brought the score to 10-0, setting a mercy rule in action and ending the game. Jacob Guminey hit his second home run of the season and Trevin Laming lined a two-run triple for GRCC, which improved to 13-10 overall and 8-1 in the conference. Regner also fanned nine batters in the softball team’s 4-2 win, improving her record to 9-3.  From the plate, she had two of the team's six hits. Jaye Guichelaar also had two hits, including a leadoff double. GRCC started the second game strongly, jumping out to a 7-1 lead after two innings. But Delta scored 13 unanswered runs and went and won 14-9. Guichelaar led the team with three hits and Alyssa Wierenga led the team with three RBI. GRCC is now 12-10 overall and 5-5 in the conference. John Forton's golf team shot a one-round total of 325 to finish 10 strokes back of Mott Community College at the Ancilla Invitational. Drew Harrington and Jayson Bultman had great rounds of 74 and 76 to finish second and third overall. Brad VandenHout shot an 80 and tied for eighth place, while McCoy DenHartigh finished the Raider scoring with an 85.  The baseball team will be back on the diamond on Monday in a nine-inning game against Aquinas College. The softball team will return to play April 11 when it travels to Alma College to take on the Scots. The golf team will resume conference play at Glen Oaks Community College on April 14.  This story was reported by Ben Brown.  

April 7, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The obstacles that many Grand Rapids Community College students overcome are many. Sabrina Barrera knows this better than most. Born and raised in Saginaw, her life there as a young girl included gun violence, police raids and all around her a steady presence of drugs and alcohol. She moved to Grand Rapids right before she entered Ottawa Hills High School, and the change of scenery helped. She graduated in 2014 on the dean's list, with the principal's award and the recipient of a couple of scholarships. She admits though that below the surface not everything was as it seemed. “I dealt with severe depression and anxiety and coped by drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana,” she said. Still, she headed off to GRCC after her high school graduation, hoping to continue a traditional path toward an associate degree. Her second week on campus she overdosed, and when she went to the hospital to have her stomach pumped, she learned something else. She was pregnant. “I didn’t realize it,” she said. The news was a shock but also a wake-up call. “I realized that God was saving my life through my child,” she said. The challenge of being in school and being pregnant was too much to handle though, so Barrera dropped out of college. In 2017, she got a second shot at GRCC but then her mother got really sick with kidney disease. She had to drop out again, but this time there were no regrets. “I had to be there for my family and my daughter,” she said. She also recalled a GRCC business professor, Matheta Righa , and the inspiration she had always taken from Righa’s stories in class. “She would share with us her struggles and how she overcame them,” Barrera recalled. “That always encouraged me that what I was feeling was right.” Despite that example of perseverance to draw up, and despite where she is now – doing well in school and on track to graduate – Barrera said the years between 2017 and today were hardly a straight line. “Oh no,” she said with a wry smile. She dropped out of GRCC again in the winter of 2018, overwhelmed by the responsibility of helping her parents and siblings who were experiencing homelessness. Then, as her parents were getting their lives together, Sabrina experienced another season of deep depression, and her drug and alcohol use returned. “I remember wanting to end my life on countless occasions, crying in a dark room, all alone, praying,” she said. Now it was her parents turn to support her. And they did. “My father would drop everything to pour into me some nights for hours just so I would not give up,” she said. That father, Robert Barrera, had also been both addicted to drugs and a dealer at one time. He’s now a gospel artist, performing as Bobby Bendito , and due to be featured on a religious newsmagazine show called “The 700 Club.” Her mother, Sherry Barrera, after years of dialysis finally received a kidney transplant, while, in Sabrina’s words, “keeping our family together in the midst of her struggle.” She added: “Seeing her never give up helped motivate me to finish.” Indeed, she credits her parents’ resolve and their faith in her, plus a powerful conversion experience, for where she is today. “On March 16, 2021, I encountered Jesus Christ, and I have never been the same,” she said. “I left my old life behind and became a single mother of three.” Now Sabrina is taking her last class to graduate this month with her associate degree in Business Management and supervision and an additional class will earn her an entrepreneurship certificate. “I will be the first in six generations of my immediate family to graduate college,” she said. “Everything always comes full circle when you have faith despite the obstacles and generational curses one may have to overcome.” She also has a number of small businesses she is pursuing, including work as a freelance makeup artist, selling all-natural, hand-made, organic lip balms that have scriptures on them, a clothing line and helping her daughter start a kids’ accessory line. She gives full credit to GRCC, including the Occupational Support Program and, in particular, that office’s Sarah Rose, for where she is today. “Oh, my goodness how grateful I am to Sarah and her office,” she said with a broad smile. “She really cared about helping me succeed, no matter what. Her encouragement amazed me.” For her part, Rose said the pleasure was all hers, adding that students like Sabrina are why her office exists. “We worked with Sabrina to discuss career goals, plan her courses, support her through financial concerns and offered her paid childcare for two-three days a week while she took courses in her specific business degree,” Rose said. Rose noted that what many people don’t realize is that about 75 percent of the GRCC student body attends part time and at least one out of 10 have a child under the age of 12. And, she added, some 30 percent of GRCC students are housing insecure. “We have the opportunity to support students who are juggling all of the stressors of life,” she said. “And we often know about financial, childcare and employment resources that most students haven't been able to easily find yet.” In addition to Rose and her team, numerous professors also helped her along the way, Sabrina said, and she gave a specific shout-out to accounting professor Kevin Stuart . “I need to honor him,” she said. “He has always worked with me to accommodate my situation, being a single mom, and just the many obstacles I've endured near the finish line. I am truly thankful for his kindness and understanding.” She also had words of praise for the Early Childhood Learning Laboratory’s preschool program. “They have helped my journey more than they will ever know,” she said. “There would be days I had to wipe my tears just before dropping my children off. The care for my children that they took will forever be appreciated. I thank God for GRCC.” This story was reported by Phil de Haan.

April 6, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Heather Klare has enjoyed many roles in her career – even “change doula.” Klare is an assistant professor and clinical coordinator of Grand Rapids Community College’s Radiologic Technology program. She appears on the latest episode of the “Speaking of Teaching” podcast, talking about her approach to her career and life. “Speaking of Teaching,” in its second season, was created by the GRCC Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies Department, with hosts Meg Lockhard, Rachel Lutwick-Deaner and Ian Matthews. The podcast focuses on talking with professors on a personal level, learning about their journey and expertise. Klare is a proud “cheerleader of students” who recently helped three of her students earn seats in a prestigious program at Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Medical Imaging. Klare shares how she wasn’t sure what we wanted to do while growing up. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in History, with a Computer Applications minor, from Grand Valley State University. She worked in banking after graduation. But then, like so many adult students who attend GRCC, she decided to make a career change. Klare attended GRCC and earned an Associate of Applied Arts & Science, Radiologic Technology/Science - Radiographer. After graduation she worked at Metro Health and then Mercy Health St. Mary’s as an interventional radiology technologist. The field was changing from film to digital imaging “I knew technology was going to catch up with this particular industry. I was already doing the IT, and the customer service and doing the training,” she said. “No matter what is handed to you, you have to be open to it, even if you don’t like it, or you don’t agree with it, you have to learn how to manage it and work with it.” The hosts probe into Klare’s thoughts about trying new things, even joking that she is a “change doula.” “The thought of doing the same thing for the rest of my life is intimidating to me,” Klare said. “And, it feels like I’m putting barriers in front of myself. Because if you are, like, ‘This is the only way I can do something,’ then you’d artificially put a barrier in there. When it comes to my growth or education or teaching, or just inspiring somebody else, push the edge of the box just to see what happens. Sometimes things won’t work out. But sometimes they do, and you don’t know where they’re going to go. You have to keep pushing a bit and see what you can do.” “Speaking of Teaching” is available here , and on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other popular podcast hosts.

April 6, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Aaron Bess and Colton Leatherman of the Grand Rapids Community College baseball team were named Michigan Community College Athletic Association Northern Conference Players of the Week after helping the team to a 4-1 record against Calvin University and Mid Michigan College. Bess played and started in all five games, posting a .429 batting average in 21 at bats. He was tied for the team lead with nine RBI and nine hits, three of which were doubles and another being a home run. He also scored a team-high 10 runs and stole two bases. The freshman outfielder from Boyne City has played in all 22 so far this year, averaging .279 while hitting a team-high seven doubles. Leatherman was named Pitcher of the Week after defeating Mid Michigan in game four of the five game series. In six innings he gave up just two earned runs, while striking out six and holding his opponent to just a .182 batting average. The sophomore righty from Rockford is 2-1 so far this season with an ERA of 3.50.  He is first on the team in opponents’ batting average, .159; second on the team in innings pitched, 18; and second on the team in WHIP, 0.89.  He also has one shut out on his resume. The baseball team is 12-10 overall and 7-1 in conference play. GRCC is scheduled to conclude its season series with Delta College on Friday at 2 p.m. and plans to finish the series with Mid Michigan on April 11.  This story was reported by Ben Brown.

April 5, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Samara Kolehouse and Izzy Regner of the Grand Rapids Community College softball team were named Michigan Community College Athletic Association Northern Conference Players of the Week after helping the team win its series against Mid Michigan College. Kolehouse slugged her way to earn Player of Week honors after going seven-of-10 from the plate, while hitting two doubles and three home runs. She also walked once, scored six runs and batted in seven runs. The freshman catcher from Kent City is batting .357 with four doubles, four home runs and 14 RBI.  She is third on the team with a slugging percentage of .738. Regner was named Pitcher of the Week after going 2-1 on the mound and picking up a save.  In 20.2 innings, she struck out 36 batters and had an ERA of 1.02. Regner leads the conference in many statistical categories including wins, with eight; complete games, 10; shutouts, five; strikeouts, 142; and strikeouts per game, 12.97. The freshman from Elkhorn, Wisc. is also one of the best players at the plate, batting .492 with eight doubles, a triple and four home runs.  She leads the team in slugging percentage, .864; and OPS, 1.433. The softball team is 11-9 overall and 4-4 in conference play. GRCC is scheduled to conclude their season series with Delta College on Friday at 2 p.m.  This story was written by Ben Brown. 

April 5, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Lydia Sprik graduated from Hope College last spring, then commissioned into the U.S. Army National Guard. She was in Oklahoma for field artillery officer training until December of 2022. Sprik was considering her next move when she found out about the GRCC Automotive Technician Job Training program. “I’ve been friends with car people and honestly, I am inspired by anyone who is familiar with the ins and out of cars and can just fix things,” she said. Sprik wants to be prepared for any emergency - especially if her car breaks down. “For me, I will be a lot more comfortable in a car emergency situation if I am able to do something or at least be able to start helping myself. I think this is a great skill that I can take forward into my life, whether I do it for my job or not.” The GRCC Automotive Technician program prepares people to perform basic automotive care and maintenance, including changing oil, checking fluid levels, and rotating tires. Additionally, students learn shop safety, electrical systems, front end and steering systems, brake systems, ABS, heating and air conditioning, recovering and recycling, and teamwork/communication skills. Repairs are performed to manufacturer and customer specifications. Sprik started the program the end of January and will complete the end of May. She is planning on moving to Georgia after graduation to be with her fiancé who is serving in the Army. “I have been working with my job developer, Sydney Plaggemars, who has been super helpful. She suggested how to reformat my resume and update my new skills. Earlier this week I had a job interview with BMW.” To become an automotive technician, students are required to be certified and licensed in the State of Michigan. Licensed technicians use precision diagnostic equipment, service manuals and hands-on power tools to diagnose and repair customer vehicles. Sprik has had experience in the traditional college setting and now is experiencing a more hands-on approach to learning. “I was a good student in high school. While in college hit I a few road bumps. I really think I just got burned out. I really like the format of this program. We do a little bit of lecture in the morning, maybe an hour, but I appreciate how limited the class time is. I have really gained the most knowledge from our time working hands-on.” The Automotive Technician program is taught by instructor Brice Emory, who has more than 25 years of experience in the industry. “People who go into this field or program want to learn by doing.  Learning by having to wrestle with the problem is way more beneficial than just learning from a textbook,” Sprik said. “Brice is great. He is really there to help but also makes you solve problems on your own.” GRCC holds a partnership with Chrysler Fiat to provide MOPAR CAP Level One Certification - giving students the opportunity to acquire the value credential which includes 37 certifications. The next section of Job Training programs begins June 12, 2023. For more information grcc.edu/jobtraining or (616) 234-3800.

April 3, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- “Teach children to be their authentic selves,” Graci Harkema told an audience at Grand Rapids Community College’s Wisner-Bottrall Applied Technology Center recently. “If you’re presenting your authentic self, being open and inclusive, that’s what your kids will learn to do.”  An international diversity, equity and inclusion speaker and author specializing in inclusive leadership, Harkema was the Women’s History Month keynote speaker for GRCC’s Diversity Lecture Series, offered by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. A Grand Valley State University graduate, she has also been named one of The Grand Rapids Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Business Leaders of West Michigan and one of the 50 Most Influential Women of West Michigan, and is the author of her forthcoming memoir, “Rising: From a Mud Hut to the Boardroom — and Back Again.” Harkema was born to a young mother in the Democratic Republic of Congo during a time of civil unrest and violent, deadly riots. When she was only a few weeks old, a family from Grand Rapids serving as missionaries in the country adopted her from an orphanage. At 4 years old, Harkema moved back to Michigan with her adopted family. By the time she was 6, she knew she identified as queer. “I already felt so different I didn’t want to be even more different than everyone else, so I kept (my sexuality) a secret for 22 years,” she said.  Harkema said she eventually discovered that the intersection of her identities was her superpower. “I wasn’t Black enough, straight enough, successful enough,” she said. “I couldn’t pick and choose my identities; I had to accept all aspects of myself and no longer saw my identities as my shame.” Based on her own experience navigating intersectional identities, Harkema explained what it means to “cover” parts of yourself in the workplace. “Covering is when you purposely tone down an aspect of yourself to fit into the mainstream. It’s exhausting,” she said. “Inclusive, equitable environments allow us to be ourselves and give opportunities to achieve success.” Harkema advised the audience to step into their discomfort, take opportunities to grow and learn, and share their stories. “You are in this life for a reason. Look back on your journey and see how far you have come,” she said. “You don’t have to be born in a mud hut to have a story.” This story was reported by Alexis Stark of the School News Network .