March 28, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A free Grand Rapids Community College summer program for graduating high school seniors is aimed at boosting foundational math and reading skills, and preparing them for success. Bridges to College - Raider Ready will be offered between June 5 and August 11 at both the Main Campus in Grand Rapids and the GRCC Lakeshore Campus in Holland Township. The program is open to 2022 and 2023 high school graduates from Kent County and Ottawa County who are planning to attend any college in the fall. Students will get a $500 stipend based on participation and attendance, and will get a free laptop to use for as long as they are enrolled at GRCC and Wi-Fi hotspots for use during the summer program. “We want students to start college successfully, then continue building on that foundation all the way to a degree,” said David Selmon, GRCC’s Dean of Strategic Outreach. “We’ll focus on academics, but also help students transition to college and also explore careers. This is a great example of GRCC serving students, but also our greater community.” The program focuses on boosting reading, writing, and math skills. Students also will work with college navigators to prepare for their higher education experience in the fall. They’ll meet with advisers, learn about financial aid opportunities, and gain career readiness skills. The program takes place during the morning to early afternoon hours during each session, allowing students to continue working at summer jobs and activities.   It also includes breakfast each morning and lunch for the field trips. Bus passes (Wave Card) are available for transportation to and from GRCC during the program. Information is available at grcc.edu/bridgestocollege , by email at bridgestocollege@grcc.edu and by calling (616) 234-3388.

March 28, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich . — Married at the age of 16, Yasmina Zimmer’s dream of college and a career were shattered before they’d even taken shape. Now 23 and with that relationship behind her, Zimmer is earning high praise — and high honors — at Grand Rapids Community College where she was recently voted student of the year in both biology and geology. “Yasmina is one of the most inspiring students I’ve had in my 20-plus years of teaching,” said Tari Noelani Mattox, GRCC Physical Sciences Department head and geology professor. “She is a natural leader not only because she is motivated and ‘gets things done,’ but because she has the calm strength needed to lead others.” It’s that strength that fortified Zimmer throughout her five-year marriage and resuscitated her three years ago when her marriage ended. “I was already 21 and felt really stuck in life even after leaving because of the healing I had to do,” Zimmer said. “I knew there were so many more things in life for me, but I wasn’t able to do them while I was in that relationship. So, I decided now was the time.” Compelled to drop out of high school shortly after her wedding, Zimmer earned her GED certificate a year ago and began taking classes at GRCC last summer. It’s there where she fell in love with biology and geology and hopes to one day attain advanced degrees in both academic specialties. Zimmer will get a taste of university life in May when she begins a 10-week paid Community College Summer Fellowship Program at the University of Michigan.  GRCC teamed up with U-M to provide select students with cutting edge research opportunities through the program, made possible by the  Transfer Bridges to the Humanities, U-M,  grant partnership. The fellowship, Mattox said, appears to be designed for a community college student like Zimmer who has a “love of learning and thirst for knowledge that inspire you as a teacher.” “It’s going to be an amazing opportunity to learn from expert researchers in their fields,” Zimmer said. “No matter what my future holds, having that fellowship on my resume is going to be really great.” Before she heads to Ann Arbor, though, there’s still work to be done at GRCC. For her Honors Program project in Historical Geology, Zimmer is working with Mattox and focusing on interpreting Michigan bedrock stratigraphy. The final product will be an exhibit in April at GRCC’s Calkins Science Center featuring rock samples and their history. Her Animal Biology honors project with professor Matthew Douglas will study a selection of arthropods to look at how closely they’re related based on similarities in antennae structure and genetics. All this while carrying 19 credits, sustaining a 3.88 GPA, putting herself through college and waiting tables on weekends at a Grand Rapids brewery. Not to mention starting GRCC’s first Geology Club in her spare time. Zimmer credits GRCC’s faculty as integral to her success. “I couldn’t have asked for better professors to learn from and who have also provided me with such great opportunities and support in my academics. They have each truly made GRCC a home for me,” said Zimmer, who’s on track to graduate in December with an associate degree in Pre-Environmental and Sustainability Studies . It all seems surreal to her at times. “I never thought any of these things would be my life,” she said. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished … but I don’t want to be too proud because not all the work is done yet.” This story was reported by Beth McKenna.  

March 27, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Ryan Kauffman is the owner and president of Control Solutions Inc, a locally based, nationally recognized Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning contractor.  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. Kauffman began his HVAC career in 2004 when he began taking classes at GRCC. He completed an associate degree in Applied Art and Science at GRCC. Kauffman transferred to Ferris State University, where he took night classes to complete his HVACR Engineering bachelor’s degree.  He was thrilled by how easily his work with the GRCC HVAC program transferred into Ferris State University’s degree program. As a student working a full time job, Kauffman was impressed with the night time class offerings, and the professors who taught those classes.  “I remember a class on local history that was very interesting,” he said. “Our professor knew the history of the city very well and brought more to the class than just reading a book. He took us on a tour and showed us all kinds of historical places and items along with the many stories of the things we were seeing. He went over and above to make the class fun and more than just for a grade.” Professors understood life outside of school, and were typically very experienced in the workforce. Being able to bring real life experience into the classroom was incredibly impactful for students like Kauffman. Even as an alumnus, Kauffman encourages students to take advantage of the cost effective educational opportunities that GRCC offers. He often sends electrical apprentices from his company to the GRCC Leslie E. Tassell MTEC Center for electrical apprenticeship classes.  “ GRCC is a great local college that gives cost effective school opportunities to students to get their associates degree and to move onto higher degrees or into the workforce,” Kauffman said.  More information about the HVAC Certificate can be found here.  Start your GRCC story today here.  

March 26, 2023, CALEDONIA, Mich. -- Grand Rapids Community College's baseball team's starting pitchers tossed the team's third and fourth consecutive complete games in another doubleheader sweep over Delta College on Sunday.  The softball team also had a strong pitching performance, but lost a heartbreaker in the final inning of the game. GRCC's golf also competed, finishing in 10th place at the Heritage Hill Collegiate in Kentucky. Lucas McKinney and Colton Leatherman pitched complete games for the Raiders baseball team, helping the team to a 13-2 victory in the opener and 9-0 win in the nightcap.  It was the fourth straight game where the bullpen wasn't needed, with Jerad Berkenpas and Connor Foley pitching complete games on Friday. Eight GRCC players had at least one hit in the doubleheader, led by Zacarias Salinas, who was 5-for-6 with three RBI, including his second home run of the season. Jake Gumieny was 4-for-6 with a triple and Andres Rivera-Calderon hit his first home run. The baseball team is now 8-9 overall and 4-0 in the conference, after starting the season 2-8 in a tough spring break down south. In the softball game, Izzy Regner hit her third homer of the season to tie the game at one in the first inning. But Delta took the lead back in the third.  The visitors held the 2-1 lead until Brynn McArthur hit her second homer in as many games to give GRCC a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth. The Raiders would tack on another run heading into the seventh inning.  But Delta responded with three runs - only one of which that was earned - to give it a 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. Despite loading the bases, GRCC was unable to score any more runs and Delta prevailed. Lea off hitter Jay Guichelaar had three of the team's six total hits.  Regner had two hits and McArthur's homer was the other. Regner had 11 strikeouts in just her second loss this season.  The golf team resumed play in Shepherdsville, Ken. finishing in 10th place of 13 teams at the Heritage Hill Collegiate.  Connor Oman shot a team-best 230 over three rounds, including a team-best 73 in the final round on Sunday. He tied for 25th overall. Drew Harrington shot a 75 in round one and finished in 34th place with a score of 235 strokes.  Zach Basiaga, 247 strokes, and Brad VandenHout, 248, finished the GRCC scoring. The baseball team is scheduled to play next at Calvin University on Tuesday at 3 p.m. and the softball team is scheduled to play at home on Tuesday at 3 against Cornerstone University's junior varsity squad.  The golf team isn't scheduled to play until April 7.  This story was reported by Ben Brown.

March 24, 2023, CALEDONIA, Mich. -- Jerad Berkenpas' two-hit shutout sparked the Grand Rapids Community College baseball team in a doubleheader sweep over Delta College on Friday. The softball team dropped a tough two-run decision in the first game of a doubleheader against Delta, but bounced back and won by 11 runs in the nightcap. Trevin Laming hit his third home run in his past four games in baseball's game, one of seven total GRCC hits. Tommy Reid was 2-for-2. Berkenpas needed just 88 pitches over his seven innings on the mound and struck out 12 batters while walking none. In the second game, Connor Foley picked up his second win of the season after pitching a four-hit complete game. Zacarias Salinas and Jacob Gumieny each had two of the team's nine total hits.  Dylan Chargo hit his second home run of the season. Four GRCC errors doomed the softball team in game one's 4-2 loss.  Only one of the runs was earned for ace Izzy Regner who lost her first game after starting the season 6-0.  Regner struck out 14 batters while walking just two Pioneers. Regner and Jaye Guichelaar each had two of the team's seven hits. GRCC's offense exploded for eight runs over the first two innings in route to a 17-4 run-rule win over Delta in game two. Regner connected on her second career homer in the top of the first inning and shortstop Brynn McArthur blasted her first collegiate homer in the bottom of the fourth.   All nine starters had at least one hit for GRCC as it out-hit the Pioneers 13-4. Both teams will resume their season series with Delta College on Sunday at 10 a.m., a change in the schedule due to the forecast.  The softball team will play a single game and the baseball team will play a doubleheader. This story was reported by Ben Brown.

March 24, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Erin Busscher did not plan to work in higher education, but has found her career in helping others navigate college.  Busscher started as a student employee at Grand Valley State University and really enjoyed the environment and helping students succeed. She worked in various positions at GVSU for more than 10 years. She came to GRCC to serve as the Transfer and Articulation Coordinator. She quickly missed working with students and was able to step back into an advisor role.  Now Busscher serves as an Associate Professor/Academic Advisor in the Academic Advising and Transfer Center. Academic advisors help students navigate their entire journey at GRCC. They help with career exploration, returning to school, transferring, and graduating. Academic Advisors are a crucial piece to ensuring student success.  Helping students is Busscher’s favorite part of her role. She considers advising to be a lot like teaching. Advisors teach students what they need so they have the skills to be successful on their own.  “Ask for help, always!” she said. “We do not know you are struggling, or if you need help, unless you reach out. We are here, waiting in the wings, to help you succeed! We may, also, annoy you with how much we reach out to offer help and try to be proactive to assist you, but it is only because we care.” Busscher recalls one specific student who struggled with math. The student was in the lowest levels of math and english and spent several semesters remediating to get to a college level. The student persisted, earned high marks, and transferred to Grand Valley State University to earn her master’s degree in social work. Busscher continues to support and stay in touch with the student. Writing letters of recommendation along her educational journey to help her get into the School of Social Work.  Busscher finds joy in having the opportunity to help, and seeing the long term impacts of her work only makes her work harder. Busscher earned her Bachelor of Arts from GVSU in Professional Writing with a minor in Public Relations. She then earned her Master of Education in College Student Affairs Leadership at GVSU. Erin is also certified as a Global Career Development Facilitator. To connect with an advisor in the Advising Center visit grcc.edu/advising .  

March 23, 2023, PORT HURON, Mich. -- Grand Rapids Community College women's basketball's magical season came to an end at the NJCAA Division II National Basketball Championships on Thursday, losing to No. 10 seeded North Central Missouri College, 78-67. "Today was a tough loss because our kids fought with everything they had, which is indicative of how they played all year," head coach David Glazier said. "We played well, just didn't make enough plays down the stretch." Both teams traded buckets for nearly the entire first half, before a late run by North Central gave the Pirates an eight-point lead at the break. GRCC closed the gap after a 25-point third quarter that included going 11-for-11 from the free throw line.  The team got to within one point, 50-49 in the fourth quarter, but North Central made more plays down the stretch to win and advance in the tournament. Grace Lodes, who was recently named All-Region and the Conference Defensive Player of the Year, finished her GRCC career on a stellar note, going nine-of-17 from the field for 23 points while adding six rebounds and six blocks. Conference Player of the Year Sally Merrill finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, and Second Team All-Conference player Marlene Bussler tallied 10 points and five boards. GRCC finished the season 19-10 overall and tied for third place in the conference. The team upset its final two opponents in the regional tournament to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament for the second time in three years. "Any loss is always tough to stomach, but this one that ends a great season was a different level of tough because it signaled the last time any of our seven sophomores will play for the season," said Glazier, who was named District B Coach of the Year. "Alyssa Katerberg, Emersyn Koepke, Karissa Ferry, Sally Merill, Allison Kellogg, Marlene Bussler and Grace Lodes have left a tough mark to match on this program. We are forever grateful for their efforts and contributions! It is hard to see them move on." This story was reported by Ben Brown. 

March 23, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Melissa Gheorghiu graduated high school in 2000 and never attended college. She was a little nervous about starting at Grand Rapids Community College as a single mother of three children. Flash forward a year, and Gheorghiu ahs been wildly successful. She was named to the All-Michigan Academic team , is a leader of Phi Theta Kappa honor society and worked a project to help fellow students and community members overcome obstacles to success. “I have a friend who told me I should go to college,” Gheorghiu said on the My GRCC Story podcast. “I’m good with numbers, and he said I should go into finance. So, I decided to try it. GRCC is local, and it does stuff online, which I need to do since I’m a single mom.” Gheorghiu completed GRCC’s Honors Program and is involved with the Psi Beta Honors Society for psychology students and TRIO Student Support Services, a program for first generation college students. She has made the Dean’s List every semester since she enrolled. She is a chapter officer for Alpha Upsilon Kappa and serves on the PTK bylaws committee for the Michigan region. Gheorghiu is a semifinalist for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship and received a GRCC Salute to Women award this year. She will start a combined bachelor’s and master’s program in finance at the University of Michigan next fall. “I honestly didn’t know what to expect,” she said of her decision to attend college after 20 years away. “I knew in high school I did really well, but that was some time ago and now I have three small children. So, I juggle my children and my house and being a mom. But I put the time into all my studying and it’s really paid off. And I also reach out to any and all professors at the beginning of every semester to introduce myself and let them know who I am, that I’m an honors student and also a PTK officer, and tell them what I’m expecting.” Gheorghiu said she took advantage of GRCC’s online opportunities so she could scheduled classes around her family responsibilities. She said GRCC tutoring labs were a great asset, and can be accessed remotely. She encourages others who have been away to try taking courses. “You don’t have to be a full-time student like I am,” she said. “You can do it part time. Last semester I took five classes, I completed an honors project, plus I did the capstone project and I’m an officer for PTK, so I come and do stuff on campus for that as well. And – I did it!” Gheorghiu said she became interested in the Honors Program after getting an email saying she qualified on her high school grade point average. She was excited to learn about capstone projects, which include a community service component. She worked with classmate and felloe nontraditional student Kim Budde on a clothing drive, which took place in November. “I knew exactly what she wanted to do,” she said. “I have three children who are constantly growing, and clothing can be very expensive. I always have giant piles of clothing in my house that need to be donated, and I knew other people could benefit from it.” The students collected enough clothing to fill 12 eight-foot-long tables, and shared leftovers with local shelters. The My GRCC Story podcast is available here , Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other hosting sites.

March 23, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Residents can gain skills to enter the in-demand field of computer numeric controls through the One Workforce for West Michigan Manufacturing grant, provided to Grand Rapids Community College from the U.S. Department of Labor. The One Workforce grant staff worked with West Michigan employers to develop the program. The grant will supplement the cost of the program, making the hands-on training available for $50. There are more than 25 companies in West Michigan with CNC operator positions available with starting wages from $18-$22 per hour. Job developers will connect students to employers by providing two interviews as part of the program. "What sets the One Workforce program apart is the intentional connection it creates between the student and the employers,” program manager C. Dennis Triggs said. “Not only are we listening to employers to tailor the training, we do everything possible to place every student in the right job.” This 16-week, part-time class is open to anyone and allows those who are currently working to gain skills to improve their income potential. No experience is necessary. Students will learn by doing in the Advance Manufacturing Lab at West Michigan University’s downtown Grand Rapids location. Instructor Andy Beach has many years working in the field and enjoys teaching others about it. “Watching the students realize the opportunities that are available to them just by learning these basic skills is very rewarding,” he said. “Once a participant learns what CNC or machine tooling is, they start seeing it everywhere in our lives. When the light bulb turns on and the student understands, it is the best. It’s fun to watch.” The One Workforce for West Michigan Manufacturing project will help people who are unemployed or underemployed gain transformative academic and career skills with enhanced support. The program will build a talented workforce to fill existing job openings and prepare for the future of manufacturing, helping residents and the region as a whole. GRCC in 2021 was one of 19 organizations in the nation and two in Michigan to earn grants in the program. To find out if you qualify for this 64-hour, hands-on training, apply at grcc.edu/oneworkforce or call 616-234-3383.