Summer 2013 - Muskegon Community College

EventsAcademic/EnrollmentMCC Ottawa Open House3-7:30pm Tuesday, July 16Enrollment and registration information,register to win $500 scholarship!422 Fulton, Grand HavenFun in the Sun Open House10am-2pm Friday, August 9, 2013Enjoy live music and refreshments atour outdoor open house while learningabout MCC!Main CampusFall Classes BeginMonday, August 26Arts, Humanities, and More49th Annual MCC StudentArt and Design Exhibition9am to 4pm May 18 through Sept. 11Overbrook Art Gallery, Main CampusOasis in Space7pm Tuesdays and Thursdays throughJune 13, 2013Carr-Fles Planetarium, main campusFollow Jayhawk Athletics on Twitter@jayhawkathletic!Main EventsFoundation forMCC Jayhawk Scramble8am-2pm Friday, June 14Founder’s Day6-8:30pm Thursday, September 19Alumni EventsParties in the ParkAlumni Get-TogetherFriday, August 2, 2013ReunionFestSaturday, October 5, 2013Main Campus“TOPS”continued from page 12The John G. Thompson College andCommunity Fund is administeredby Suzi Norbeck Thompson andformer MCC President John “Jack”Thompson. The purpose of thefund is to support local programsthat “benefit the community in asignificant way through a collegecommunityventure.”The T.O.P.S. Program provides asupportive hands-on experienceto students who have visions ofattending college but not quitesure how to make it happen. Theobjectives for T.O.P.S. are to connectAlternative Education students toour campus, to prepare them forfuture career goals and to takethe students to the next level oftheir education. In order to fulfillthis mission, we developed threephases of the program. Each phasegradually transitioned students tomore empowering information and adeeper experience which we believewill provide a better understandingof what is expected.In Phase One, students attendthe College Bootcamp hosted byEnrollment Services. The purposeof this workshop is to eliminatepossible fears, stress and anxietynon-traditional students haveexperienced when entering a collegeenvironment. Students receive basicinformation about new studentorientation, Placement Testing,Career Assessments, FinancialAid and the Scholarship Process,Time Management, Study Skills,Instructor’s Expectation of Studentsand How to register for classes.Phase Two gives students theopportunity to take their firstcollege course, College SuccessSeminar (CSS) and earn 2 collegecredits. This class was designed todevelop and reinforce skills, abilitiesand behaviors that promote personaland academic success. Some of thetopics covered are Effective NoteTaking, Productive Study Skills,Reading and Remembering, CriticalThinking, Library Skills, BasicComputer Skills, and much more.Diversity & Inclusion Training is thethird and final phase for T.O.P.S.This training orientates studentsto understand and embrace peoplefrom different backgrounds andcultures. The T.O.P.S. studentsare familiar with their high schoolinstructors and staff longer and feelmore comfortable with them. Wewant them to be able to open uptheir perspective of others whileeducating them that they are a partof a much larger world. What theydo and what they say affects morethan just themselves or their families.They are contributors in our growingworld that is constantly changing.Finding themselves and acceptingothers that may be different is thebeginning to making a better world.We feel these three phases will bestprepare students for a successfuljourney. Students are recommendedby their school’s staff. Thosestudents participate in an interviewwith the T.O.P.S. Selection Panelconsisting of faculty and staff fromMCC, as well as staff from GrandValley State University and WesternMichigan University. The interviewsgive students a chance to share theireducational goals and commitmentto the program. •18 Summer 2013 | muskegoncc.edu