Jan. 20, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Wade Wiltenburg, a Grand Rapids Community College student in an apprenticeship program, earned top honors in the Electrical Craft Competition, an annual event with the Associated Builders and Contractors Western Michigan and GRCC. The annual event highlights the achievements of the men and women who represent the future of the electrical trades in commercial construction. Wiltenburg, who works with Buist Electric, was awarded first place. Second place went to Mitch Meines, who also works with Buist Electric, and third place went to Sean Gibbons, who works with Feyen Zylstra. "ABC Western Michigan's Electrical Craft Competition provides today's electrical apprentices the perfect avenue to showcase their exemplary craftsmanship and commitment to excellence," said Greg George, president of ABC Western Michigan. "This competition demonstrates the immense potential for success in the construction industry, and confirms that the future of electrical work is in great hands." All contestants are fourth-year apprentices enrolled in the GRCC Workforce Training Electrical Program and are current employees of ABC-member companies. The competition includes a written exam measuring industry knowledge followed by the hands-on portion, installing an electrical service under tight time constraints. Apprentices earn credit at GRCC while working for a participating employer. Judges from top electrical firms graded contestants on safety, layout, compliance, appearance, and quality of workmanship. Each year, the first-place winner at the chapter level goes on to compete at the Associated Builders and Contractors National Craft Championships during the ABC National Convention in March. “GRCC loves supporting this competition because we get to see our students advance in their careers after they have finished our program,” GRCC Job Training professor Doug Wiersma said. Other competitors were Brent Engelsma, of Kleyn Electric; David Losch, of Feyen Zylstr; and Nick Hilts, of Windemuller.

Jan. 20, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Chad Sytsma has been educating students for more than 15 years at Grand Rapids Community College, and is still excited to engage with students every day. “My experiences with the students in my classes have always been so positive. They are there for a purpose and are working hard to get their degrees. I am always impressed with how seriously they take their education,” Sytsma said.  Sytsma is the  faculty liaison for the Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies Department, teaches in the Business Department at GRCC, and teaches at Hudsonville Public Schools. In his free time he can be found coaching young athletes on the football, baseball, and softball fields. Sytsma recalled “so many” things to like about teaching at GRCC. He appreciates the ability to teach classes in person, virtually, and in online formats. He emphasizes the importance of meeting students where they are, and providing resources to empower them to be successful.  Sytsma said community is at the core of GRCC. His work with the DLIT department allows him to support faculty and staff in their use of instructional technology. He feels supported by faculty and administration, making it a great place to work.  “At first we tend to think it is only about the content of our class, but relationships and relevance can be really helpful to getting our students to understand the content even deeper”, Sytsma said. Programs at GRCC offer real world, relevant skills and information that help students achieve success. Faculty and staff are trained professionals in their field, who are able to teach from personal experiences.  Sytsma got his Bachelors of business Administration from Davenport University, and his Masters of Education from Aquinas College. His experience teaching for over twenty years provides him with a wealth of knowledge that he enthusiastically shares with his students.  More information about the Business Department courses can be found here.  More information about the Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies department can be found here.

Jan. 19, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Community College men’s soccer team signed its first four players as its looks ahead to its inaugural season this fall. "We have a group of great individuals on and off the field," coach Damiekco Smith. "Glad to be able to sign some hometown heroes." The GRCC Athletic Department has added soccer in response to a growing interest in the sport internationally and an increasing number of requests from potential student-athletes. The first four players to commit to the team have experience playing at the high school level. Ian Gunderson played for Northview High School and graduated in 2022. He is a center back and received an All-District award his junior and senior years, along with All-Conference, All-Region, and Honorable Mention All-State his senior year. Gunderson was also a captain and received an award his senior year from his team, showing it voted for him as its most prominent leader and support on and off the field. He played club soccer on a SCOR National League team for three years. Brett Miller also attended Northview High School, where he was a three-year varsity player. Brett produced 11 clean sheets – when a team concedes zero goals in a match -- and only allowed 0.6 goals per game. His 93 percent save average was rewarded by making first team All-State in Division II his senior year as a goalkeeper. He was also a part of the All-Conference and All-Region teams. Hani Alturkmani played his high school soccer at Wellspring Prep Academy, where he was named to the All-Conference team during his freshman and senior years. He is a striker with an innate ability to find the back of the net. He also played his travel soccer with the Revolution. Yosia Mukanda is a graduate of Potter's House, where his team won the school's first-ever state championship in 2021. His dream has always been to play collegiate soccer and is happy GRCC is where his dream will come true. Women's soccer was also introduced this past year, with Lizzie Hornack guiding the team. There are still opportunities for students looking to be a part of both teams.  Recruiting questionnaires are available here for the women's team and here for the men's team.

Jan. 19, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- GRCC geography professor Mike DeVivo ends emails he sends with “Geography Lives!” Since his surname is a patronymic of Vivo, or “alive,” DeVivo comes by his sign-off honestly. He’s doing his best every day to bring geography to life for his GRCC students, having served as a faculty member at the college since 2002. He loves the classroom, but he also loves opening up the world of geography beyond the classroom, including hosting a  Conversation with a Geographer  oral history series. And in recent years, he has given a number of talks on leadership, as well as the history of geography, geopolitics, and African wildlife conservation and community development before academic audiences, corporate executives and government officials in Africa, Asia and the United States. One of the places his passions come together is in an annual calendar project that raises funds for CAMFED, an international NGO and nonprofit that works to eradicate poverty in Africa via the education and empowerment of girls and young women. The GRCC connection to CAMFED goes back more than a dozen years to when DeVivo incorporated “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” written by Nick Kristof and Cheryl WuDun, into his World Regional Geography course. “To say that it was impactful is an understatement,” he recalled. Kristof then was invited to speak on the GRCC campus as part of the Diversity Lecture Series, and he was pleasantly surprised to be awarded honorary membership to the International Geographical Honor Society for contributing to the advancement of geography during his visit. DeVivo declared: “His presence on campus and our knowledge of Half the Sky’s content sparked us to put our heads together to develop a project to ‘make a difference.’” Support for CAMFED was the result, and DeVivo decided to take the photos of animals he had from fieldwork in Africa to produce a benefit calendar and, he added, “spotlight the GRCC geography program’s initiatives associated with advancing social justice vis-à-vis race, ethnicity and gender .” The first calendar was produced in 2012 for 2013, and one has been produced every year since. The amount raised for CAMFED varies, but many years it’s more than enough to make a difference for girls and young women in Africa. “It's important to place this effort in context,” DeVivo said. “Given that the funds needed to support the education of a high school girl in Africa for a year amounts to about $240, my students and I determined that this is one small way we could make a difference. As far as fundraising goes, in some years, it's only enough to send a few girls to school. Yet three or four years ago, our T-shirt and calendar sales played a big role in a $4,800 check being sent to CAMFED. Supporting the education of 20 girls goes a long way in fostering women's empowerment for a better world.” The current “Faces of African Wildlife” calendar has been selling well for the past few weeks and can still be purchased from DeVivo via the contact info on his website . This year’s version includes images of cheetahs, meerkats, giraffes, lions, hippopotamuses, African buffaloes, and other animals photographed by DeVivo in 2021 and 2022. It is designed by the GRCC Communications graphic design team. DeVivo said the wildlife calendar is only one aspect of the excellence of the GRCC geography program. “Students and faculty often deliver lectures at academic conferences and universities in the U.S. and abroad,” he noted.  That includes his own travels which since September 2022 have seen him give talks at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), Western Washington University and Muskegon Community College. “And I’m planning to speak at conferences in Denver, Los Angeles and Mozambique before the end of May,” he added with a smile. Indeed, the GRCC geography program has been recognized by the American Association of Geographers as one of the top community college geography programs in the country, and DeVivo has been asked to serve on AAG committees to advance the discipline, including currently serving as the chair of the Meridian Award Committee which determines the most important book written by a geographer in 2022. “ Former students have shown themselves to be stellar undergraduate and graduate students, as well as scholars,” he said. “Upon reflection, it is the GRCC geography students I have mentored over the years who in many ways are sources of inspiration for continuing on this path.” DeVivo describes his own educational path as “rather complex.” He was born in Europe and spent considerable time there before attending school in Connecticut. “When I was 17, my parents reluctantly agreed to sign the necessary documents for me to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps,” he said. He then served as a Recon Marine before taking an interservice transfer to serve as a U.S. Navy Diver, and following honorable discharges, he attended a couple of colleges and universities and also was licensed as a U.S. Merchant Marine Officer, taking command of various vessels for the mineral and oil industry. Now, for the past two decades he has called GRCC home, a place where geography lives. This story was written by Phil de Haan.

Jan. 18, 2023, MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Grand Rapids Community College men's and women's basketball teams struggled on the road Wednesday, dropping both games to Mid Michigan College. In the women's game, Mid Michigan jumped out to a 22-8 lead after the first quarter and led by as many as 24. GRCC battled back to make it just a four-point game with a minute to go but that's as close as it got. The Lakers scored the final five points of the game to win 74-65. Grace Lodes was 9-for-18 from the field for 21 points to lead GRCC, while grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds. Marlene Bussler finished with nine points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Allison Kellogg added 10 points and five rebounds. The women’s team is now 7-5 on the season, and 1-1 in MCCAA Northern Conference action. GRCC's men's basketball team hung with the Lakers for the first 28 minutes of the game, but the home team then went lights out, scoring 42 points the rest of the game and shooting around 65 percent from the field, winning 102-70.  Danyel Bibbs led the team with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. The men’s team’s losing streak has hit four games after the team won the first 11 games of the season. Both teams will be back on the court on Jan. 21, hosting Alpena Community College in another Northern Conference matchup.

Jan. 18, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Dr. Tina Hoxie is putting her retirement on hold to return to GRCC as interim provost. Hoxie has served GRCC students for nearly 30 years, last as the associate provost and dean of Student Affairs, retiring last April. Her first day back will be Feb. 1. The provost is GRCC’s chief academic officer with major responsibilities for strategic planning and guiding all aspects of teaching and learning in support of student success. Hoxie is filling in while the college searches for a replacement for Provost Brian Knetl, who is leaving Jan. 20 to become president of Waubonsee Community College in Illinois. Hoxie came to GRCC as director of Student Activities after working at Aquinas College for 11 years. She became dean of Student Affairs in late 2001, with the role becoming associate provost and dean of Student Affairs in 2013. Hoxie last year said encouraging students to go to college, helping and meeting their needs as they start, stop, work through the unexpected, and come back to finish their goals has been something she enjoyed most about her time at GRCC. “The relationships and connections across campus have always made my job easy. The GRCC staff do an amazing job caring for, supporting, and serving our students,” she said prior to retiring. “It has always been my passion to continually work toward improving the student experience, reduce student barriers, help students succeed, and find ways to increase access to GRCC. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with so many incredible students over the years and with a team of people at GRCC who give it their all!”  

Jan. 18, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Paulette Moncure used to wear a brace on her knee due to arthritis. Sherry Wagner has COPD and now breathes better. Both women credit, in part, staying active and moving as regular participants in Grand Rapids Community College’s Older Learner Fitness classes. The programs are offered through GRCC Workforce Training and directed and taught by Lannie Collard, a GRCC instructor of Physical Fitness and Program Manager for the Older Learner Center. “When I first started, I had to wear a knee brace to exercise and then Lannie gave me some leg exercises to do. After about 4-5 months, I don’t need to wear the brace anymore. It has increased my mobility,” Moncure said. “Lannie is a great instructor and gives all of us individual attention. If you want her to help you with certain aches and pains she will. Lannie is a genuine, caring person - she inspires us all. Her excitement and passion spills into all of us. I have met new people and we have become a family. We all care about each other.” Both women have recruited others to attend. “I’m always telling others about the program,” said Wagner, who originally found the program online and reached out to Collard. “I tell my friends, ‘Retirement is what you make of it.’ I chose to keep moving!” In addition to the Strength and Stretch class, Collard also leads an Arthritis Foundation Aquatics program, and three other fitness classes specifically for older learners.  Moncure participates in all of the classes she can, “I come to all the classes, water aerobics, and the stretch and flex, yoga -even when I’m out of town if it’s available on Zoom.” Wagner doesn’t like to miss a class either, “I don’t want to disappoint Lannie so that motivates me to show up.” Some classes are offered at the Tassell MTEC while others take place at the Gerald R. Ford Fieldhouse on the downtown campus. Neither women are intimidated by the parking downtown. According to Moncure, “The parking is not bad. Once you do it, it’s easy!” Grants through the Kent County Senior Mileage and Older Americans Act assist in the costs of the programs and offer scholarships to individuals who may not be able to afford the cost. Moncure said the cost should not be an excuse not to get moving. “I like this program because I know some people who really can’t afford the fees but you can just give what you can afford. For people who are on a fixed income, it can be difficult to fit into a budget right away.” Wagner added, “I started out with a scholarship because I just couldn’t afford it. Now I pay weekly and I feel good about it because that money can help another person come.” For more information visit grcc.edu/olc or call (616) 234-3800.  

Jan. 17, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- On the court and in the classroom, Grand Rapids Community College sophomore basketball player Marlene Bussler has had good people to guide her. “ Coach (David) Glazier was a big reason for my decision when I decided on GRCC,” she said. “I really enjoyed his energy, and I knew they were a competitive program.” After coming to GRCC and playing for Glazier, she said what drew her in during the recruiting process has stayed true. “Coach is passionate,” she said. “And I’d say he knows his players very well. He pushes us because he knows what we’re capable of.” She has found that same energy in her on-campus classes. “I’ve really enjoyed my professors,” she said. “It’s been a lot of work, but I’ve learned a lot too. I really enjoyed my chemistry professor, Jesse Crandall. I was very intimidated by the class at first, but his teaching style was awesome, and he was always open to questions.”  Good mentorship goes back already to her early playing days, Bussler added. “I first started playing when I was really little,” she recalled. “My dad was my coach for a while growing up, and he was a girls varsity coach for almost 30 years (at Lakeview High School), so I trusted what he said always, and he made me the player I am today.” At Harper Creek High School, Bussler was part of back-to-back district championship teams and was an all-conference and all-city honoree who could both hit the three and dish out eye-opening assists. Still, she wasn’t quite sure what the future might hold, either academically or athletically, until Glazier and GRCC came calling. “I knew I wanted to continue playing basketball, so I felt like GRCC was my best option,” she said. What she expected has come to fruition, she added. “I’ve really liked my experience at GRCC,” she said smiling. “My teammates and professors have been awesome, and the past year-and-a-half has pushed me to be a better player.” Glazier has also been pleased by the way things have turned out. “The first time I saw Mar play, the way she just continued to work and give effort, it was easy to see her skill set would lead to on-the-court success,” he said. “And now I see her as an extension of myself in her role as a player because we can have conversations mid-game to correct team-wide issues or to stay consistent with the things we are doing well. And as a person she is one of the most dependable young women I have had the honor of coaching and knowing.” A 5’6” point and shooting guard, Bussler averaged 10.5 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game and 3.2 assists per game last year while 35 minutes per tilt. She was also second team all-conference and a player of the week honoree. This season has been more of the same with 12.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg and 3.3 apg averages through GRCC’s first eight games. She’s also on track to graduate in May 2023 with an Allied Health degree and after GRCC she hopes to continue playing basketball and study occupational therapy.  “GRCC has been everything I had hoped it would be,” she said. This story was reported by Phil de Haan.

Jan. 16, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Rachel Baas wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do after graduating from Byron Center High School in 2016. “I was planning on going to college originally for some sort of art degree,” she recalled recently. “But I didn’t know exactly what I might want to do with that degree.” Enter GRCC’s Secchia Institute for Culinary Education , specifically the Baking and Pastry Arts track. “It was the perfect fit,” Baas said. “Really baking and pastry have allowed me to have a solid career that I think lets me be just as artistic as traditional art.” 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. After attending GRCC from 2016 to 2019, and earning an associate degree in Culinary Arts, Baas went on to complete the joint program in Hospitality Management with Ferris State University. She now works parttime for Gun Lake Casino and owns her own business, called Equinox Pastries and Pops . And after five-plus years in the hospitality industry, she said she still loves the pace and variety of her work. “At Gun Lake, we have quite a bit of freedom and flexibility because of our pastry chef, so that’s great,” she said. “And we make desserts for all five restaurants that are part of the casino, so there’s a lot of variety there. But then I also have my own business. That not only lets me get really creative, but it’s also what I someday want to do on a fulltime basis.” Baas credits GRCC professor Audrey Heckwolf for not only helping her grow from a baking and pastry perspective but also for instilling in her a confidence that she could one day own her own business. “I took retail baking with her,” Baas said. “That course is a lot more than just creating baked good for a store. There is a lot of research and development that is part of it, thinking about mass production, being business minded. The course, and Chef Audrey, helped me get that motivation to someday be a business owner. I can’t thank her, and many of my other professors, enough.” One of those professors, Laura Woolsey , has a doctorate in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Harvard and indirectly helped Baas name her business. “It’s a funny story actually,” Baas said with a smile. “I was in Woolsey’s astronomy class trying to figure out how to connect the word equinox to baked goods since I liked the sound of Equinox Pastries. My professor was walking around the room, talking about how the seasons worked, with a plastic ball model of the earth with a metal axis down the middle, and it clicked. It was a circle, with a stick in it, and I could make that: cake pops. So, I doodled the logo with the "O" in Equinox as a cake pop and the rest was history.” Now, with Equinox Pastries and Pops, Rachel creates custom desserts for people's celebrations, teaches cookie and cake pop decorating classes and also owns a vintage camper that she renovated to become a fun mobile dessert bar for markets and events. “I absolutely love creating people's dessert visions into delicious realities while also being able to use my business and work as a creative outlet,” she said with a big smile. She prepares her products out of licensed kitchen in Eastown in Grand Rapids, renting space by the hour as needed. And while she likes the arrangement, she said her GRCC education taught her never to settle, so she has her sights set higher. “Last year I did a farmer’s market every week,” she said. “And one of my goals in 2023 is to get into more retail settings. If I’m able to do that, then the next step would be to have my own kitchen. It would be a big, big step, but I want to dream big.” This story was reported by Phil de Haan.

Jan. 14, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Sally Merrill led the Grand Rapids Community College women's basketball team to a convincing conference-opening win over Bay College on Saturday. In the second game of the doubleheader, GRCC's men's basketball team dropped its game 88-75. It is the team’s third-straight loss after starting the season with 11 consecutive wins. The women's team led wire-to-wire, and by as many as 39 points, cruising to an 81-47 win and the team’s second victory in a row, improving to 7-4 overall. Merrill scored a game-high 21 points and added 18 rebounds, which was the second most of her career. Four other Raiders finished in double figures, including sophomore shooting guard Alyssa Katerberg, who had a career-high 13 points. GRCC had five season-highs performances as a team, including points, field goal attempts, field goals made, rebounds and steals. Emersyn Koepke had a career-high seven steals to go with her nine points and team-high four assists.  The men's team jumped out to an 11-point lead, but Bay College came back to take a 43-39 half time lead and they never looked back, eventually taking the game 88-75. Brockton Kohler lead the team with 18 points and eight rebounds. The Raiders finished with a season-low in field goal percentage and converted a season-high 20 turnovers.