April 19, 2010

The DigestWhat’s Happening at KVCC

What’s below in this edition

Darrell Scott (Pages 1/2) Assault awareness (Page 13) Poetry time (Page 2) Nobel winner (Pages 13/14) June 14 (Pages 2/3) Haiti, Ivory Coast (Page 14) Meet a spacewalker (Pages 3/4) We Know Jackson (Pages 15/16) Green is good (Pages 4/5) Our music legacy (Pages 16/17) Graduation (Pages 5/6) Teaching series (Pages 17/18) Growing manufacturing (Page 6) Vaccinations (Page 18) Corrections VI (Pages 6/7) Grant deadline (Pages 18/19) Construction update (Pages 7/8) ‘Bad’ baseball (Pages 19/20) Art show winners (Pages 8/9) Vehicle repairs (Page 20) Ireland bound (Pages 9/10) Old batteries (Pages 20/21) Relay for Life (Pages 10/11) Gold seekers (Pages 21/22)

‘Paper Clips’ (Pages 11/12) Essay contest (Page 22) Trash team (Pages 12/13) And Finally (Pages 23/24)

☻☻☻☻☻☻Storied songwriter is Artists Forum attraction

Instrumentalist Darrell Scott, who has composed chartbuster songs for Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Keb Mo, Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt and The Dixie Chicks, will close out the KVCC Artists Forum series for 2009-10.

Accompanied by bassist Bryn Davies, Scott will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday (April 17) in Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s Dale Lake Auditorium.

Tickets for the concert are $15 and are available at the college’s bookstores on the Texas Township Campus and in downtown Kalamazoo’s Anna Whitten Hall. They will also be sold at the Lake box office.

Artists Forum is co-sponsored by KVCC and the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation of Kalamazoo. The series began with the 1987-88 academic year.

Born on a tobacco farm in London, Ky., in 1959, and raised in East Gary, Ind., Scott was raised by a steelworker worker who was a songwriter at heart. The Scott clan moved to Southern California when Scott was 11. He and his three brothers became part

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of their dad’s band, getting on-the-job training in country music as they played its hits on the stages of roadhouses and taverns as far north as Alaska.

Scott eventually left the band and California, paying some more musical dues in Toronto and in Boston, and earning a degree in poetry from nearby Tufts University where he also studied literature.

With his lyric skills sharpened and his abilities on guitars, banjo and other instruments already road-tested, Scott migrated to country music’s Ground Zero, Nashville. His key to entering Music Row’s inner circles was, at first, his string-slinging skills starting in 1992.

As his "day job" as a picker flourished, Scott channeled his other creative energies into his own songwriting and recordings. He released his debut CD in 1997. Eventually, Scott’s original songs were much in demand by singers looking for more than "big hat" bragging or slick country-pop.

The Dixie Chicks’ recording of his “Long Time Gone” was not only a hit for the group but garnered a 2003 Grammy nomination for "Best Country Song.” In 2001, he was named Songwriter of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association International, an honor repeated by ASCAP in 2002.

USA Today praised his “brilliantly clever songs.” Entertainment Tonight raved about his “powerful songwriting, passionate vocals and masterful picking.” Rolling Stone compared him to Bruce Springsteen “at his best.” Performing Songwriter went all the way, dubbing him “the best of the best.” In 2003, Scott launched his own label, Full Light Records, and his first move as owner was to produce an album of traditional, mountain country for his that finally showcased the senior Scott’s original songs. Scott has been the “artist in residence” with Orchestra Nashville.

Scott plays more than 50 shows a year, including prestigious festivals in the United States and Great Britain. He conducts songwriting workshops around the country.

5 KVCC instructors to share their poetryIn honor of National Poetry Month, KVCC faculty members will be reading their

creative wordsmithing in the Student Commons Forum from 1 to 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday, (April 20).

Reading will be Denise Miller, Rob Haight, Sara Rivara, Kristin DeKam, and Bob Post.

This event is free and open to the public.

Better late than never -- summer hours From June 14 through Aug. 27, KVCC will be operating under “summer hours.”On Monday through Thursday, the work week will be from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

with a 30-minute break for lunch. And on Fridays during that period, the college will shut down at noon. Work

hours will be from 8 to noon with no lunch break.With the arrival of summer hours, The Digest will also shift into an every-other-

week format until just before the start of the fall semester. The June 14 Digest will be the last weekly edition. The next will be dated June 28.

Those operations of the colleges with special, evening and weekend hours - - facilities services, public safety, information technologies, the M-TEC, some offices, and

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the Kalamazoo Valley Museum — will be adjusting their individual schedules to ensure coverage.

The KVCC Office of Human Resources reports that employees will be paid for 40 hours on the job even though the work week will be reduced to 36 hours during that 11-week period.

The KVCC Cabinet reviews the summer-work schedule annually to determine whether core hours will be adjusted.

In the spring of 2009, “summer hours” started on May 11.

Veteran astronaut part of Astronomy DayGetting as close to the universe’s stellar attractions as possible from Starship

Earth’s Kalamazoo base, and hearing the stories of space travel from a retired NASA astronaut are among the key attractions for National Astronomy Day 2010 on Saturday, April 24.

Including free activities at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society’s annual salute to the stars and all of the other planetary players above and around us will run from 10 a.m. well into the evening.

Southwest Michigan stargazers will be able to get up close and personal with Story Musgrave, who logged six flights into space including missions on the doomed shuttles Challenger and Columbia.

Musgrave, who spent a total of 61 days in a space environment and is an expert on the Hubble Space Telescope’s workings and capabilities, will be at the museum from 1 to 4 p.m. to meet visitors and autograph copies of his biography, “Story: The Way of the Water.”

That evening, the local society has arranged for Musgrave to talk about his three decades as an astronaut and what those experiences have taught him about life, at the Fetzer Center on the Western Michigan University campus.

His remarks at 7 p.m. are free and open to the public. Those interested must obtain passes at the museum beginning at 11 a.m. on that Saturday.

During the six-hour celebration of the science of astronomy at the museum, visitors will be able probe the skies through telescopes, experience free shows at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. in the planetarium, and engage in hands-on activities by building models of astronomical devices.

Actor/educator Michael Francis will use songs, stories, games and puppetry to pass on the secrets of the universe to children ranging in age from kindergarteners to third graders. His interactive presentations are timed for 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater.

Beginning at 10 a.m., the society and the museum will set up telescopes in the adjacent courtyard for people of all ages to safely take closer looks at what is overhead. Views of the night sky will also be available on the WMU campus after Musgrave’s presentation.

Members of the society, which was established in 1936 in Kalamazoo, will have displays of telescopes, astrophotography, and the Hubble at the museum. More information is available at www.astroday.kasonline.org

The 75-year-old Musgrave was born on a dairy farm in Stockbridge, Mass. Flashing an independent spirit that manifested in him joining the Marine Corps after high school, he was sent to Korea as an aircraft electrician and mechanic.

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He was elevated to flying status and over the next 55 years accumulated 18,000 hours in more than 160 aircraft. He is a parachutist with 800 freefalls. Musgrave has accumulated seven graduate degrees in math, computers, chemistry, medicine, physiology, literature and psychology. He even qualified as trauma surgeon during his NASA career.

The degrees were awarded by Syracuse University, UCLA, Marietta College, Columbia University, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Houston.

Selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967, the father of seven was part of the Skylab team, performed the first shuttle spacewalk on Challenger's first flight, was the lead spacewalker on the Hubble Telescope repair mission, and on his last flight, he operated an electronic-chip-manufacturing satellite on Columbia. He also was blasted into space aboard the shuttles Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor.

Today Musgrave operates a palm farm in Orlando, Fla., a production company in Sydney, and a sculpture company in Burbank, Calif. He is also a landscape architect, a concept artist with Walt Disney Imagineering, an innovator with Applied Minds Inc., and a professor of design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif.

His hobbies are chess, flying, gardening, literary criticism, microcomputers, parachuting, photography, reading, running, scuba diving, and soaring.

Event to showcase how to ‘Go Green’ every dayA Southwest Michigan nature essayist and a proponent of safe drinking water

globally will be the keynoters when a “Green Revolution” breaks out on the KVCC Texas Township Campus on Saturday, April 24, and everybody is invited to hear their words of wisdom.

Sponsored by the college’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter, “The Green Revolution: A Festival for the Earth” will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The event’s exhibitors and vendors are active in recycling, green technologies, expanding the planet’s sources of energy, and in not only conserving resources but replenishing them.

It is free and open to the public, with all of the presentations, activities and events slated for the Student Commons facilities.

Among the speakers are KVCC alumnus Tom Springer, author of “Looking for Hickories: The Forgotten Wildness of the Rural Midwest” and a senior editor/program officer for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and Paul Flickinger, the Kalamazoo-based founder of the nonprofit Clean Water for the World, whose mission is to provide simple, adaptable water-purification systems to communities without access to clean drinking water.

Also scheduled to deliver remarks about the impact of invasive species is KVCC biology instructor Verne Mills, while Dan Maley, director of facility and construction-management services, will detail the college’s recycling program.

The band, Midwestern Lull, whose members are KVCC students enrolled in the college’s program in international studies, will provide the music for the four-hour gathering.

Among the exhibitors are ePaint Recycling, SPM Windpower, Four Elements Energy and Horizon Hydroponics.

Games and activities will be provided for children while vendors will man booths and exhibits that promote eco-friendly products and living.

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By collaborating with community and national organizations for the promotion of green alternatives, the Green Revolution organizers hope to enhance community awareness of recycling and renewable resources by hosting this family fair on campus.

Springer’s volume of essays about the natural bounty of Southwest Michigan was designated as a Michigan Notable Book of 2009. It is a Midwest version of Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” although it is much more a tome about the wisps and wisdom of southern Michigan nature as opposed to a philosophical treatise about contemporary times. “Looking for Hickories” is in its third printing,

“Looking for Hickories” is described as Springer’s ode to the natural beauty and lore of southern Michigan, containing equal parts of Robert Frost, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Bill Bryson as well as a bit of Thoreau-ism. Springer’s southern Michigan is “a place where bustling communities sit alongside a mosaic of woods, fertile grassland and miles of farmland. “My goal is to connect everyday people to the power they have in regards to nature’s future,” he said. “I’m not a scientist. I’m an amateur naturalist who believes that we can learn a lot from the woods.”

Springer’s anecdotes and essays capture the essence of nature and highlight the unique character and spirit of the Upper Midwest. Themes include barn building, the preservation of land for the common good, and the fate of the sassafras tree, now considered a weed but once looked upon as having powerful healing capabilities for a variety of human illnesses. It’s not just about plants and animals. It’s about the human connection as well.

Like Frost’s poetry, Springer’s essays often begin with delight and end in wisdom. They combine a generosity of spirit and child-like pleasure of first discovery with the grown-up sense of a time and a place – if not lost, then in danger of disappearing. They should be treasured and preserved for today and tomorrow.

Flickinger is a part-time ceramics and art-appreciation instructor in the Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University. He’s also taught at the Prague Academy of Fine Art in the Czech Republic through Western and was also the ceramics studio manager at Hope Enterprises Ceramics Training Program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

As the executive director of Clean Water for the World, he has delivered and installed safe drinking-water systems in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti, Ghana, Kenya, and Ecuador.

65th graduation is May 2 at MillerThe college’s 65th commencement ceremony is set for 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 2,

in Miller Auditorium on the Western Michigan University campus. Those who have been assigned specific roles for the event should report to the

auditorium by 3 p.m., an hour before the program is to begin. The faculty speaker will be history instructor Kevin Dockerty. Desirae McDaniel,

a general-education major, will speak for the graduates. Other faculty members involved include Kristin DeKam, Isaac Turner, Sheila

Baiers, Nicole Bauman, and Jack Bley. The diploma-day celebration will be telecast live on the Public Media Network’s

Channel 22 in the Charter lineup, and then rebroadcast three more times. The dates and times will be announced later.

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Also scheduled to make remarks is Jeff Patton, chairman of the KVCC Board of Trustees.

Providing the music will be the KVCC Campus Band with conductor Chris Garrett and Bauman’s KVCC Choir. Lending opportunities for manufacturers is topic Friday

Manufacturers who want to invest in their enterprises can get an update on the credit market and learn about lending opportunities for expansion at the next installment of the Manufacturers Breakfast Forum.

Hosted regularly by the M-TEC of KVCC on The Groves Campus, this edition will feature remarks by Julie Parker, executive director of Lakeshore 504, and a three-member panel of bankers.

It will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Friday (April 23). To register in advance, contact Patricia Wallace at 353-1290 or pwallace@kvcc.edu.

In addition to update the audience about the credit market, Parker will detail business-expansion opportunities available through the Small Business Administration.

Following her comments will be the perspectives of these panelists: Jim Luginbill, vice president of Fifth Third Bank; Lanny Scoby, vice president for business banking at 1st Source Bank; and Travis Grimwood, assistant vice president for commercial lending at Chemical Bank.

Participants can also register online at www.mteckvcc.com.

6th Corrections Academy booked for fallKVCC will offer a sixth Corrections Academy from Oct. 4 through Oct. 29 at the

M-TEC of KVCC on The Groves Campus.Under the auspices of the Kalamazoo Law Enforcement Training Center at the

Texas Township Campus, the Corrections Academy prepares people for jobs in county jails and other lockup facilities operated by municipalities.

The fee for 160 hours worth of training in14 modules is $1,200. Rick Ives, who heads the center that includes the Kalamazoo Police Academy,

reports that the application procedure for the Corrections Academy produces a “healthy” waiting list, which sets the stages to conduct another. Those interested should contact the training center.

Past enrollees hailed from sheriff’s departments in Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Cass, Barry, Branch and Allegan counties. About half are in an in-service mode because they already were in the profession while the others have been using the academy to launch a career.

The concept of an academy, he said, sprang from state legislation that now requires certification for professionals in the corrections field.

“Most of the enrollees come from those already in the profession who now need the required state certification,” Ives said, “but there are people who are interested in establishing careers in the corrections field.”

Those who successfully complete the 160 hours of training will also receive 10 credit hours that they can apply to a degree in criminal justice at KVCC.

The college’s center is offering the academy in conjunction with the Michigan Sheriffs Coordinating and Training Council.

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“The academy was created,” Ives said, “to not only meet the need for corrections certification, but also to offer a different kind of career opportunity to KVCC students. Pre-certified candidates would set themselves up with an edge in the employment market.”

All of the instructors are certified and approved by the council. Completion of the 160 hours of training becomes one of the requirements needed

to become certified as a corrections officer. Each enrollee must have a high school diploma or its equivalent.

The 14 training modules are: booking and intake, correctional law, cultural diversity, custody and security, defensive tactics, ethics in corrections, fire safety, interpersonal communications, prisoner behavior, report writing, workplace harassment, stress management, suicide prevention, and first aid, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, and automated external defibrillator (AED) familiarity.

For information about the academy, contact the Kalamazoo Law Enforcement Training Center at (269) 488-4336. or rives@kvcc.edu. Another source of information is at the college’s web site – www.kvcc.edu – under the keyword of “Corrections

Academy.” New science lab is project’s latest focus

With progress on the two-level, 30,000-square-foot expansion at the Texas Township Campus right on schedule, the interior-renovation phase of the project has begun in earnest.

The pay-station folks have been moved to their new digs and work has started to convert their previous space into a multi-purpose science lab. It should be completed by mid-May.

Dan Maley, the college’s project manager, reports that preliminary steps are being taken as the next phase looms.

“We need to place temporary storage pods for the faculty-office and classroom renovation in the faculty lot,” he said. “This will take up between 10 and 15 spots. We ask everyone's cooperation and understanding during this transition.”

The new wing will house the Student Success Center (on the second floor) and the Office of Admissions, Registration and Records, the Office of Financial Aid, the Office of Institutional Research, and Central Receiving on the first level.

That should be done by September or October. KVCC’ers can take a look for themselves at the progress by going to the college’s

home page and keyboard in up at the top – home.kvcc.edu.The lab phase of the project has affected parking near the Tower Entrance “as we

bring in equipment and multiple dumpsters to recycle our demolition materials,” Maley says. “This has to do with working toward sustainability and with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

“Speaking of that,” Maley said, “the (student) Active Green Committee has been collecting recyclable glass, which has been taken to Building Restoration Inc. Building Restoration is using it as part of the 95-percent recycled content of the bathroom-sink, concrete countertops it is casting for the new addition.”

Maley says that planning continues to map this summer’s construction modules, along with the office moves that will be required.

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As part of a layered construction process, some of the Student Success Center functions – career services, counseling, the Focus Program – will temporarily move their operations into the Student Commons.

The construction schedule calls for their current offices to be converted into five new classrooms that will be ready for the 2010 fall semester.

Also part of the blueprint during the summer months is remodeling, upgrading and restoring the existing geology and physics labs as well as one nearby classroom. That’s also when the major reconfiguration of the faculty-office area will begin.

The faculty-office area will be expanded into four existing classrooms. In addition, the entire area will be “opened up with natural lighting to help it be more student-friendly.”

It will also include student-waiting space and additional conference rooms. The renovation will be in two phases – the tentative completion of the first will be

Aug. 20; Dec. 31 for the second. Construction is scheduled to begin at the end of the winter semester on rooms

7520, 7530, 7540 and 7550 to convert them into offices. The area in and around rooms 7450, 7325 and 7320 will also become office space. Affected faculty members assigned to summer-semester teaching will be

temporarily based in rooms 7140 or 7150. Those affected instructors who will not be teaching over the summer are being

asked to pack their office belongings. Packed boxes and other materials will be moved to storage pods that will be

located in the faculty parking lot over the summer. They will not be accessible during the summer.

Scheduled to begin around Sept. 1 will be conversion of rooms 7140, 7150, 7160, and 7170 into additional office space. By New Year’s Day, everything should be in place and back to normal.

In all, KVCC will lose eight classrooms and gain 10, plus the 150-seat mini-auditorium/lecture hall in the new expansion. The Student Success Center will revert to serving as The Gallery.

Dollars for such projects are banked in capital funds by the state and by the college, and are not part of each’s general fund. Michigan’s formula for higher-education projects has not changed from past years. Each community college and the state provide 50 percent of the costs.

The Kalamazoo architectural firm of Eckert Wordell designed the expansion and remodeling, while the Miller-Davis Co. is serving as construction manager.

The Digest is working in conjunction with Maley to present project updates. Contact him at extension 4298 with any questions or concerns.

This is the college’s first major construction initiative since the Student Commons in 2001.

26 are Student Art Show winnersSome 26 students took home honors for their artistic creativity at the 2010 edition

of the Student Art Show that closed its annual run on April. 16.

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Over an eight-day period, they showcased their best efforts in a variety of expressions, including drawing, paintings, ceramics, sculpture, and photography in the Student Commons Forum.

They vied for best-of-show, and for first-place, second-place and honorable-mention selections in each category. Faculty also chose recipients of merit awards for students who have demonstrated growth in ceramics, photography and two-dimensional art. In some instances, cash prizes were part of the reward.

The honored students were:Sculpture – Janet Raklovitz.Painting – Allison Walker, Hwee-Yin Chur, Samantha Kirkendall, and Angela

Moore.Photography (Black and White) – AshLee Walker, Matthew Trimnell, Gina

Bohlke, and Daniel Egel.Photography (Color) – Lindsay Hoeflinger, Jaclyn Buiskool, Katelynn Gale,

Jessica Meyers, Kelsey Johnson, and Andrea Van Laan.Drawing (Black and White) – Naria McGee, Serena McGee, Georgeanne

Hageman, Kyle Sharkey, and Tom Wheat.Drawing (Color) – Bethany Anserello.Ceramics – Nancy Schemanski, Joseph King, Bob Morris, Janet Raklovitz,

Cecelia Roberts and Lisa BeamsThe juror was Ginger Owen, assistant professor of photography in the Gwen

Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University. Owen has exhibited her creations at the Houston Museum of Art, in Tokyo, at

Texas Tech University, and the Center for the Living Arts in Mobile, Ala. Her photos are in art collections in Houston, McNeese State University in Lake

Charles, La., the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Conservation Institute in Los Angeles.“Submissions were notably strong in the photography and ceramics areas,” Owen

said in her juror’s statement. “However, it is obvious that there is a vibrant culture of art-making at KVCC.”

10 signed up for Ireland adventure May 7-29The 2010 edition of the KVCC-based Midwest Institute for

International/Intercultural Education’s trip to Ireland is set for May 7-29, and slots are available for students, faculty and staff.

 This year’s lead faculty member will be Linda Rzoska, who will be accompanied by fellow instructors Natalie Patchell and Tom Hughes. Rzoska, whose artistic pursuits have taken her to 16 nations in Europe, will be making her 10th pilgrimage to Ireland.

As part of a three-credit sociology course on “Irish Life and Culture,” the fee is $2,700. That includes tuition, use of facilities at the Burren College of Art, housing, and eight field trips over the three-week period.

Meals are not included, but the housing will feature food-preparation options. Grocery stores and pubs are in the vicinity. Also not included is the round-trip air fare.

The KVCC students who have signed on for the trek include Rex Antinozzi, Kaleigh Artz, Robert Devine, David Handley, Alan Martin, Paul Riebe and Daniel Wood.

Past KVCC trekkers have learned that through the eyes of an artist, there is more to Ireland than green.  They have been based at Burren on central Ireland’s west coast

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overlooking Galway Bay, an area that for centuries has been a source of inspiration for all genre of artists — poets, novelists, painters, sculptors, musicians and playwrights.

The Burren College of Art, which is on the grounds of a 16th-century castle, serves as the headquarters for the course as students explored the geography, history, flora, fauna and culture of this part of Ireland. 

Known as “The Stony Place,” Burren is home to a wealth of archeological and monuments that includes megalithic tombs, medieval castles and abandoned abbeys.

KVCC students have delved into past and present Irish life, ancient and medieval times, legends, poetry, mythology, religion, dance and music. 

They learned to understand the landscape, history and mythology of this historic and mystical area that has been an important part of Ireland’s legend for artistic creativity.

The students received a certificate from both the Midwest Institute and Burren College designating they have completed the three-credit course. Classes will meet Monday through Thursday, leaving Fridays open for weekend jaunts.

Past field trips took students to ancient monuments that chronicle the history of an Irish culture dating back more than 7,000 years. 

They experienced an abbey built in 1194, a 9th-century ring fort built of stone, a 6,000-year-old tomb, cliffs that plunge 700 feet to the Atlantic, and the coastal limestone region known as Black Head.

Those interested can contact Rzoska at extension 7923 or lrzoska@kvcc.edu. Relay for Life cancer-whipping team forming slowly

KVCC is participating in the 2010 Relay for Life, the annual fund-raiser of the Kalamazoo County Chapter of the American Cancer Society, and the Cougar team is looking for at least 60 staff, faculty and students to take part in the quest to raise $3,500.

This year’s event will be staged on Saturday and Sunday, May 22-23, over a 24-hour period from 11 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds, which will be open for the duration of the event.

KVCC’ers, along with their friends and family, can camp on the grounds and take turns walking or running the track over the 24-hour period.

Co-captains Mary Johnson, Lynne Morrison and Ruth Baker are also coordinating a returnable-can/container collection as part of the fund-raiser.

Receptacles for the 10-centers are located in the Texas Township Campus cafeteria, the technical wing, the Student Commons and the faculty lounge.

In addition to Johnson, Morrison and members of her family, taking part in the relay so far will be Katie Pitcher, Montiella Robertson and Tasia Hayes.

While the teams are coming together for a very serious issue - - the fight against cancer - - there is a great deal of fun and camaraderie for teams of family, friends and co-workers who choose to camp out for the entire event.

“Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times as a reminder that cancer never sleeps,” Johnson said.

There is entertainment and family activities, plus the victory lap by survivors and the luminaria ceremony at dusk that remembers those that have faced cancer.

“If you are or know any survivors,” Johnson said, “please send me their name and address for an invitation to the survivors luncheon.”

Volunteers can sign up for a time to walk at http://classes.kvcc.edu/relay

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To sign up as a participant and walk with Team KVCC or pick up a donation packet, contact Johnson at extension 4182 or stop by her office in the Student Commons. Morrison can be reached at 4164 and Baker at 4492.

The Relay for Life supports those who have lost a loved one, offers encouragement to those who are currently battling the disease, and celebrates life with those who have survived.

But most of all, it is an inspiration to all who participate. All dollars raised go toward supporting services for cancer patients and their

families, providing education and early-detection programs, and funding cancer research.Kalamazoo is one of more than 4,000 communities across the continent that stage

Relay for Life events in the fight against cancer. More than $1 billion has been raised. ‘Paper Clips’ – a unique Holocaust memorial

“Paper Clips,” the true story of how a simple class project in a small Tennessee town mushroomed into a global memorial to the Holocaust victims in Nazi Germany, is next in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s series of free Saturday-afternoon showings of documentaries and films.

The 2004 documentary will be shown in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater at 1 p.m. on Saturday (April 17).

It will be followed by a 3:30 p.m. showing of “The Hidden Child,” the story of Maud Dahmes, who was one of 5,000 Jewish children hidden from the Nazis during World War II in The Netherlands.

The Paper Clips Project started in 1998 as eighth-graders in Whitwell, Tenn., tried to gain a sense of the number of people who were killed or died because of their choice of religion.

Whitwell Middle School principal Linda Hooper asked Sandra Roberts to begin a Holocaust-education class that would be the basis for teaching tolerance in a voluntary afterschool program. Roberts held the first class in the fall of 1998.

Soon the students were overwhelmed with the massive scale of the Holocaust and asked Hooper if they could collect something to represent the lives that were exterminated during the Holocaust. Hooper gave the OK if they could if they could find something that related to the Holocaust or to World War II.

Through Internet studies, the students discovered that Johan Vaaler designed a loop of metal, that he was Jewish, Norwegian, and the Norwegians wore them on their lapels during the war as a silent protest against Nazi policies.

The students decided to collect six million paper clips to represent the estimated number of Jews killed between 1939 and 1945 under the authority of the Nazi government of Adolf Hitler.

At first the project went slowly, as it did not gain much publicity. Students created a website and sent out letters to friends, family and celebrities. The project began to snowball after it received attention from journalists Peter and Dagmar Schroeder, who were born in Germany during World War II and who cover the White House for German newspapers.

They published some articles as well as a book, Das Büroklammer-Projekt (The Paper Clip Project,) published in September 2000, that promoted the project in Germany.

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The big break in the United States came with an article in the Washington Post on April 7, 2001.

Observers note the much unexpected location of the project. The small rural town has about 1,600 residents, 97 percent of them are white. There was not a single Jewish person among the population of 425 students when the project began. Out of the 425 students who attend the school, there are five African Americans and one Hispanic.

About 40 miles away is the Rhea County Courthouse, where, in 1925, a teacher was convicted for teaching evolution during the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. The trial upheld a statute that outlawed teaching any theory that denies divine creation. Some 100 miles from Whitwell, in Pulaski, the Ku Klux Klan was reportedly born.

At first Hooper was skeptical about the news-media attention and the documentary, as journalists tended to picture a small, rural and ignorant community. It seemed from their reports to be a "present-day Dogpatch."

The paper clips were sent by various people by mail. The letters came from about 20 countries. Notables such as George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Bill Cosby, Steven Spielberg, Tom Bosley and Tom Hanks were among those mailing in the clips. Most letters contain a personal story or a dedication of the attached paper clips to a certain person. Some of these stories are shared in the film.

Holocaust survivors from New York visited the school and shared their experiences with the community at a church. It was described as not another production showing the tragedy, but a project of hope and inspiration. It also shows how a railcar traveled from Germany to Baltimore, and then Whitwell. The movie was shown for the first time in November 2003 in Whitwell.

At last count, more than 30 million paper clips had been received. Sunday-afternoon jam sessions are also part of the museum's musical attractions.

The K'zoo Folklife Organization will gather at 1:30 p.m. on May 2, while the Kalamazoo Valley Blues Association takes over on April 18 and May 16. The April 18 attraction is “Songs for Kids of All Ages” with Bev Smith.

These begin at 1:30 p.m. and are free. Concerts and workshops are on the billing, while musicians are invited to bring in their instruments for a bit of impromptu jamming.

Here is the rest of the documentary schedule: Films that are applicable to the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival at noon

May 3-6 A two-weekend festival dedicated to film versions of Jane Austen classics –

“Persuasion” at 10 a.m. and “Mansfield Park” at 1 p.m. on May 15; “Miss Austen Regrets” at 10 a.m. and “Northanger Abby” at 1 p.m. on May 22.

KVCC clean-up crew ‘On the Road Again’ April 17 Are you appreciative of those litter-filled plastic bags you see along Michigan’s highways and freeways, and of the folks who give of their time to clean up after some people’s thoughtlessness?

You can turn appreciation into action by joining the KVCC Faculty Association in its participation in the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway program. Steve Walman, who can be reached at extension 4136, is gathering a cadre of volunteers to clean up a section of state road on Saturday (April 17).

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Faculty, staff and students are invited to gather by 9 a.m. at the intersection of M-43 and M-40 west of Kalamazoo in the car-pool lot and share a cup of joe in the Outpouring Coffee Shop. Walman reports that volunteers only need to bring a pair of gloves. Trash bags and safety vests will be provided.

Kandiah Balachandran, Lisa Winch, Mark Sigfrids, Natalie Patchell and Theo Sypris have signed up to clean up that section of road. Assault awareness, Spirit Week, free massages on tap

Date rape, acquaintance rape, and the drug known as ecstasy are among the perils that can rob a person of her/his essence of existence.

Because April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the Student Success Center is bringing in Sherry Brockway, the supervisor for criminal justice advocacy at the YWCA of Kalamazoo, discuss sexual-assault awareness on Monday (April 19).

She will speak in the Student Commons Theater at 11:30 a.m. Her remarks are open to the public.

Students, faculty and staff are invited to wear their KVCC apparel as part of Spirit Week April 19-23.

The center’s Transfer Resource unit is also scheduled a workshop to assist students in applying to four-year colleges and to seek scholarship assistance when transferring. That is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday (April 20) in the Student Commons Forum. The presenter will be Jodi Ward of the Western Michigan University Office of Admissions.

Students can have their resumes critiqued in the Student Commons on Wednesday (April 21) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Stress-management massages will be available in the Student Commons on Wednesday (April 21) as well from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Providing the soothing fingers will be a massage therapist from SolSpring at the Kalamazoo Center for the Healing Arts.

Students who are parents will be able to connect with their peers on Thursday (April 22) from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Student Commons. A guest speaker will be part of the networking event, along with food and refreshments.

PeaceJam confab attracts Nobel winnerA presentation by 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams, who came to

Kalamazoo to take part in the Great Lakes PeaceJam Youth Conference for 2010, is open to the public.

The conference is set for Saturday and Sunday (April 17-18) at Western Michigan University. It will attract hundreds of high school students from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and throughout Michigan.

Williams will speak to the public at 7 p.m. on Friday (April 16) in the Bernhard Center on the Western campus.

PeaceJam is an international education program that brings young people together with Nobel Peace Prize winners to inspire them to address the world’s greatest problems. The goal of PeaceJam is to inspire a new generation of peacemakers who will transform themselves, their communities, and the world.

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Participants will spend the weekend learning from Williams, doing service-learning projects, and participating in workshops. They will also learn about the culture and food of Williams’ homeland of Northern Ireland.

PeaceJam is built around 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jody Williams, and The Dalai Lama. These laureates work personally with youth to pass on the spirit, skills and wisdom they embody.

Since 1996, more than 500,000 teenagers have participated in PeaceJam worldwide. Participants have developed and implemented more than 300,000 community-service/peace projects.

Great Lakes PeaceJam, based in Kalamazoo, is housed by the non-profit Seeding Change . More than 2,300 young people have participated in Great Lakes PeaceJam programs since its inception in 2002. Funders of Great Lakes PeaceJam include the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Fetzer Institute, Kalamazoo Community Foundation, and the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation.

“We need college mentors to make our events work,” says Zach Wood, president of the KVCC PeaceJam Club. “They are an integral part of the conference. I was a college mentor myself and I can attest that it is an amazing experience. Any students who participate would benefit greatly from it.”

Wood is also the Poverty to Peace Coordinator for Seeding Chance. He can be located at 625 Harrison St. His telephone number is (269) 492-7750. Wood, a Plainwell High School graduate, is majoring in psychology. Williams won the Nobel for her work in Northern Ireland to help end the conflicts between Protestants and Catholics there. She will be making a series of presentations on the Western Michigan University campus as part of the conference.

“We use the model of education, inspiration, and action to help enact lasting change in our communities,” Wood said. “We teach students ways to make a difference, inspire them through meeting and learning about how the Nobel laureates did their wonderful work, and then help them perform service-learning projects in their communities.”

Haiti, Ivory Coast next in global seriesStudents, faculty, staff and the public are able to get a passport full of information

about 11 nations, their people, cultures and food without leaving the community during the second half of the 2010 winter semester.

The KVCC program in international studies has booked a series of presentations about the countries featuring presenters who have been there for a variety of reasons – as citizens of the country, as students, as visitors, or as workers.

All of the presentations will be held in either Room 4370 or 4380 off of the cafeteria on the Texas Township Campus.

All are free and open to the public. Here is the itinerary, the dates, times and the presenters:

Haiti – Monday (April 19) at 3:30 p.m.; KVCC biology instructor Jack Bley.

The West African nation of Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) – Monday, April 26 at 1 p.m.; Julien Kouame.

Vietnam – Wednesday, April 28, 12:15 p.m.; Huan Le and Thuc Thi Tran.

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Earlier in the semester, Russia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ecuador, Palestine, Turkey, Germany, Austria, China, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Argentina were “visited.”

We can all get to know ‘Jackson’ Friday nightWe Know Jackson, a trio of former or current music majors at Western Michigan

University, is the “Friday Night Highlight” for April 16 at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

The threesome of Chris Janowiak, Isaac Hansen and Peter Breithaupt will be creating their pop/rock sounds at 7:30 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater. Tickets are $5.

The booking for April 23 is solo performer Rob Vischer from Jackson and his California style of acoustic pop.

Also part of the "Friday Night Highlights" agenda is an 8:30 p.m. showing of the planetarium show featuring the music of Pink Flood. That has a $3 admission fee.

With a laser-light show in full color streaming across the planetarium's 50-foot dome, the 35-minute production, complete with 3-D animated images, will showcases the classic hits of Pink Floyd. Rotating on Friday nights through May 28 will be the group’s songs from the albums “Dark Side of the Moon,” “Wish You Were Here,” and “The Wall.”

Janowiak is the keyboardist and lead vocalist while Hansen plays the electric bass. Laying down the beats is Breithaupt on the drums. With more than 40 years of combined musical experience, the three joined forces and formed We Know Jackson in January of 2007.

Although classified as a pop/rock band, the influences heard in We Know Jackson’s music ranges from Phish to Rachmaninoff to Miles Davis.

The 28-year-old Vischer lists his passions as songwriting, bicycling, playing guitar, longboarding, basketball, wakeboarding, running, and reading. To prove it, he has biked the nation, passing through Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon on his way to the Pacific Ocean.

“At my high school and college graduations, older friends joked that my best years had passed me by,” says Vischer. “Their humor was laced with years of bitterness and regret. I didn’t want that.

“Sometimes life offers you a choice between risk and regret,” he says. “I’ll take the one that makes for a good story.” One of his compositions, “Unpredictable,” is about leaving his office job to go on the bike trip across America. It was the ultimate example of playing hooky from normal life.

Vischer weaves melodies and lyrics together with different genres in a way that belts the emotion and whispers a message. “Beauty can stop me dead in my tracks. It turns my head to look and my ear to listen,” says Vischer. “I want my music to arrest your senses and turn you toward real love… love that has a sense of wonder for every day and every situation. Love with commitment and risk.”

He’s been an artist-in-residence at the Contemporary Music Center on Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.

Here’s what he wrote about his 73-day, 3,800-mile cross-country adventure:“Our wheels traced the American highways and back roads through every kind of

weather, wind and elevation change, but the most memorable stories weren’t born while

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our spokes were still spinning. The stories we will tell our kids and our grandkids were written in parking lots, driveways and campsites where we met the people of America.

“Though we never hinted at needing money, a Christian trucker gave us $100 in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Numerous others felt God leading them to give us $20 bills, pizzas, free hotel stays, meals, free bicycle parts — and the list goes on.”

Here is the “Friday Night Highlights” schedule of movies, concerts by local combos, and special events through the first third of 2010:

April 30: Third Coast Ensemble, whose music spans many genres May 7: The 1979 movie “Battlestar Galactica May 14: The rock and blues music of Branden Mann and the Reprimand May 21: The 1984 comedy “Ghostbusters.” May 28: The improv comedy of Just Panda.

‘Sunday Series’ salutes Kalamazoo’s music legacy Kalamazoo’s big-city-caliber musical heritage will be in the spotlight when the

Kalamazoo Valley Museum wraps up its 2009-10 “Sunday Series” presentations about aspects of the history of this part of the state.

Tom Dietz, the curator of collections and research, will relive “Kalamazoo’s Musical Heritage” at 1:30 p.m. on April 25 in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater. All presentations are free.

As the community prepares for the next edition of the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival next month, that globally recognized event is just the latest jewel in the region’s richly deserved reputation for great music – a reputation that has long historical roots.

As early as the 1850s, less than 30 years after Titus Bronson first platted his village, Kalamazoo had a lively music scene. In 1855, Hiram Underwood, known as the “Sweet Singer of Kalamazoo,” was vice president of a state musical convention held here.

That same year, Adelina Patti, then just 12 years old but later one of the most famous operatic divas of the 19th century, performed in Kalamazoo. Local German immigrants organized both a German Lyric Society and a Mozart Mannechor.

In the years after the Civil War, several bands provided entertainment. Crossette’s Silver Cornet Band performed at the festivities marking the centennial of American independence in 1876.

The city directories of the 1870s through the 1890s list such other groups as the Kalamazoo Brass Band, the Kalamazoo City Band, and White’s Military Band.

Two men who contributed greatly to the city’s musical heritage conducted popular bands. Chester Z. Bronson, later to be the first director of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, led Bronson’s Band in the 1880s while Sylvo Reams, who would later be one of the original investors in the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., directed the Chamber of Commerce Band.

Kalamazoo music lovers felt they lacked a truly first-class venue until 1882 when the Academy of Music opened on Rose Street. Designed by the noted architects, Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, the 1,200-seat auditorium hosted many of the great touring performers of the day. The academy would later be converted into the Regent Theater, home to vaudeville acts and silent movies, and then to an office building before it was demolished in 1967.

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There were several African-American bands in Kalamazoo in the 19th century. The Kalamazoo Colored Brass Band filed articles of association with the county clerk’s office but nothing more is known about the band.

Gilmore Phillips, a violinist, organized the Phillips Brothers Orchestra that performed throughout the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Phillips family was among the earliest African-American settlers of Oshtemo Township.

In the late 1890s, Charles Fischer organized Fischer’s Globe Trotters, a band that gained not only local but national and international fame as well. It traveled the world, performing in many well-known nightspots as well as on several round-the-world cruises. On a 1930 cruise, Albert Einstein sat in with the band and played violin for several songs. Although the musicians changed, the band played together for nearly 50 years.

Fischer’s brother, Burton, put Kalamazoo on the musical map as well. An original member of the band, he founded the Burton E. Fischer Publishing Co., a leading publisher of sheet music in the 1930s.

The first decades of the 20th century saw other milestones in Kalamazoo’s music history. Professors at the Western State Normal School, later Western State Teachers College, made their contributions as well. Florence Marsh and Mildred Hanson staged operas while Harper Maybee, Glenn Henderson, and Julius Stulberg developed links between the college’s music department and the community.

Bronson organized a short-lived Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra in 1915, but the efforts of Leta Snow in 1921 led to the creation of today’s Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. Bronson was the first director when the KSO performed its first concert in December 1921 at the Masonic Auditorium. Since that debut, the symphony has developed into an outstanding institution, one of the jewels of the local cultural scene.

From his days as a junior at Kalamazoo Central High School to his mid-70s, drummer Bobby Davidson epitomized the Big Band Era in his home town for six decades. Davidson, who toured with several orchestras and once turned down an offer to join Lawrence Welk’s “Champagne Music Makers,” formed the band that carried his name in the 1946 and kept performing well into the 1980s.

Kalamazoo’s love for music can be seen in the many musical festivals and organizations that the city has supported over the years. The Kalamazoo Choral Union sponsored performances from 1916 through 1924. Other groups then took the lead.

That legacy continues to this day with such musical highlights as the Bach Fest and the Fontana Chamber Arts eagerly anticipated by music lovers.

The Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, with its prestigious awards, is slightly more than a decade old but has already become internationally prominent adding to Kalamazoo’s reputation as a center of outstanding musical entertainment.

Faculty Success Center wraps up teaching seriesThe “Talking About Teaching” program will wrap up the 2009-10 academic year

with “Designing Appropriate Learning Activities and Lesson Planning” this week. The Faculty Success Center is operating under the auspices of Grant Chandler,

dean of the Arcadia Commons Campus, to assist the college community in focusing time, energy, and conversations on high-quality teaching and learning.

This month’s presentations are slated for Tuesday (April 20) from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., Wednesday (April 21) from 2 to 3:30 p.m., and Saturday, April 24, from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

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All sessions are held in the lower level of the Center for New Media. Those who wish to attend can e-mail facultysuccesscenter@kvcc.edu. Refreshments will be provided.

Chandler can be contacted by extension 7849 or gchandler@kvcc.edu.The Faculty Success Center has also scheduled a new series of presentations

about instructional practices at KVCC that is under way.Capping off those presentations off will be Karen Matson (graphic arts). She will

talk about “Project-Based Instruction” on Friday (April 23) at 10 a.m. in the lower level of the Center for New Media.

Serving on the new center’s advisory team are Chandler, fellow co-chair Schauer, Lynne Morrison, Bill deDie, Jonas, Fran Kubicek, Jan White, Kevin Dockerty, Al Moss, Ron Cipcic, Theo Sypris, and Joe Brady.

Roll up your sleeve for some proactive health care If you are in vaccination mood, this is the week to take action.The Kalamazoo County Department of Health and Community Services will be

administering eight types at little or no cost on Tuesday (April 20) from 1 to 4 p.m. on the first floor of Anna Whitten Hall and on Thursday (April 22) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Student Commons Theater.

These shots are available to students, staff and the public.They are:

Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis Measles, mumps, rubella Chicken pox (varicella) Pneumococcal Hepatitis B Hepatitis A Shingles (herpes zoster) Human papillomavirus

Those eligible include people who are 19 or older and have no insurance, or have insurance that does not cover vaccines.

However, there is an exception for the shingles vaccinations. They will only be available to people over the age of 60 and under the age to be covered by Medicare. There may be a $10 administration fee for this vaccination.

Friday deadline for KVCC Foundation grant requestsThe KVCC Foundation has one last funding-request deadline for internal grant

proposals for the 2009-10 academic year.Those faculty and/or administrators seeking financial support must submit their

proposals by Friday (April 23) with a decision coming May 7 by the KVCC Foundation Board of Trustees.

For more information, contact Steve Doherty, KVCC director of development and foundation executive director, at extension 4442 or sdoherty@kvcc.edu.

Thanks to a KVCC Foundation grant of $2,200, dialogues on race, diversity and teaching at the community-college level have been under way.

It is co-funding a three-hour workshop for faculty on “What the Best College Teachers Do to Promote Inclusion.”

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Instructor Jan White is leading those sessions at 4 p.m. in the lower level of the Center for New Media with the last one booked for Tuesday (April 20).

The grant also led to the purchase of 50 copies of Beverly Tatum’s book titled “Can We Talk About Race?” Instructor Marie Rogers just completed a series of discussions linked to the publication.

All these discussions orchestrated by the Faculty Success Center is laying the groundwork for the Kalamazoo Valley Museum hosting a major exhibition on race in the fall of 2010.

The exhibit will be the focal point for a communitywide examination of the racial issues that too often tarnish the nation’s democracy and Constitution.

‘Peanuts’ team playing ball at museumWhile the 1962 New York Mets (40-120) and the 1996 Detroit Tigers (53-109)

rate as two of the worst baseball teams in Major League history, the hands-down, no-doubter in that category is now “playing” at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

It’s Charlie Brown’s “nine, a bunch of hitless wonders, hands-of-stone fielders and throw-it-and-duck pitchers assembled by the general managership of legendary cartoonist Charles Schulz.

“Peanuts at Bat” is playing its games of fun and frolic in the museum’s first-floor “stadium” through May 1.

The creation of the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, Calif., “Peanuts at Bat” illustrates the foibles of the Hall of Shame squad that is comprised of a motley crew of uninspired ball players with a dog—Snoopy—as shortstop.

Every year for nearly 50 years during baseball season, Schulz sent this hapless team out to lose game after outlandish game, and entertained millions of readers in the process.

The games, as reported in the cartoon strip, were based, to a large extent, on Schulz’s childhood experiences playing sandlot baseball. Baseball was Schulz’s favorite sport, even though he remembered losing a game once 40 to 0.

That particular game, he said, gave him the idea for Charlie Brown’s string of losses. Schulz’s passion for baseball continued into adulthood. He played pickup games as often as he could, on baseball diamonds he had built at his home and near his studio.

Schulz rabidly followed Major League Baseball and was a keen admirer of Willie Mays, regarded as the greatest all-around player in the history of the American pastime.

“Peanuts at Bat” showcases some of Schulz’s most memorable baseball-themed comic strips. Forty-three digital prints from the original Schulz drawings will be on display, taking the visitor through five decades of the cartoonist’s famed characters engaged in America’s game.

Included in the exhibition are vintage baseball memorabilia and such diamond trappings as bobble-head dolls, banners, and a board game.

Also on display are a Louisville Slugger Joe Shlabotnik bat and an over-sized Snoopy doll decked out in his favorite team uniform. Shlabotnik is Charlie Brown’s favorite —underperforming—player, who’s never actually seen in the strip.

With the approach of each baseball season, “Peanuts” readers could look forward to no victories and tales of the game that were in turn whimsical, thoughtful, hilarious, and full of pathos.

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The exhibition also features 47 high-resolution reproductions of Peanuts strips, three text panels that include photographs of Schulz, four large-size baseball quotes by Schulz, and one eight-foot-wide Peanuts strip mounted on Plexiglas.

Automotive Academy source for engine repairsThe KVCC Automotive Academy is available to perform repairs on the

automobiles operated by administrators, faculty and staff as part of its instructional curriculum.

The latest emphasis has been on repairs to the mechanical systems of engines. As in the past, truck work is not included in this opportunity. Nor are engine overhauls or work on automatic transmissions.

The KVCC Automotive Academy is not a business for profit. It seeks customers willing to allow their vehicles to be worked on by students with no expectation of timeliness or correctness of the repair.

Academy instructors strive to inspect all repairs and supervise diagnosis of concerns but cannot guarantee that the repairs are correct or the diagnosis is accurate.

The academy, now based in the M-TEC of KVCC, seeks certain types of repairs at different times throughout the semester, and cannot guarantee that the repair a customer is seeking fits into the same schedule. This means it could be a long period of time before the vehicle would be considered for repair.

People who are dependent upon the use of a vehicle should seek a different option. But if a customer can do without the use of a vehicle for a long period of time and the repair fits into the academy curriculum, bingo!

To be considered for a repair, visit http://www.mteckvcc.com/autoacademy.htm and click on the request-a-repair link. The PDF can then be faxed or e-mailed to the address given.

There is no charge for labor and potential customers must pay for parts needed for repairs.

Polishing employability skills at ACC eventAnna Whitten Hall will be hosting an “Employment Empowerment Expo” on

Thursday (April 22) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Instructors are urged to inform and invite their students to take part in the

initiative to be based in Room 128.Stations will be set up to give students an opportunity to polish their job-search

skills and gain some insights in creating an effective resume and cover letter. They will be able to practice interviewing techniques, learn about the value of

volunteering and community service, and be exposed to job-search resources. For more information, contact Diane Finch, career adviser for the Student Success

Center, at extension 7864 or dfinch@kvcc.edu.

Don’t dump those old batteriesIn cleaning out your office and workspace as part of the end of the winter

semester, remember this – ● the KVCC initiative to recycle used and unused rechargeable and alkaline

batteries, which keeps them out of landfills where their assets will be lost forever.

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Recycling boxes for both rechargeable batteries as well as alkaline batteries are located in the following areas: the M-TEC Facility Shop; the Arcadia Commons Campus Facility Shop; Texas Township Campus Facility Services; the museum’s carpentry shop; the college’s audio-visual department; the automotive-technology and heating-ventilation-air conditioning labs; and in Computer Services.

The lead-acid batteries used in cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and other motorized equipment can be recycled by taking them to the Household Hazardous Waste Center operated by Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services at 1301 Lamont Ave.

This drop-off center is on the edge of the county fairgrounds. Information about what else can be deposited there is available by calling 383-

8742.The recycling containers for dead batteries generated by on-the-job use at KVCC

are provided by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. (RBRC). RBRC's Charge Up to Recycle!® program is designed to keep rechargeable

batteries out of the solid-waste stream, adhering to the federal and state laws requiring the proper disposal of some types of used rechargeable batteries.

This program offers community and public agencies the tools to implement a simple, no-cost recycling plan.

These batteries are commonly found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, camcorders, digital cameras, and remote-control toys.

Kalamazoo’s 49ers topic of TV episodeKalamazoo had its share of gold-seeking ‘49ers and their stories will be told in the

April installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s TV show. Tom Dietz, the curator of research at the museum, will take viewers back to the

mid-19th century when get-rich-quick folks swallowed the lure of California gold hook, line and sinker.

The episode will be aired by the Public Media Network (formerly the Community Access Center) on Channel 22 on the Charter cable system at 7 p.m. on Sundays, 6:30

p.m. on Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. on Fridays, and 11 a.m. on Saturdays. “Gold Fever” took hold in December 1848 when President James K. Polk

confirmed in his State of the Union address that a substantial deposit of had been discovered in California, then a newly acquired former Mexican territory.

In the spring of both 1849 and again in 1850, several groups in Kalamazoo County – mirroring what thousands of young men were doing across what was then the United States -- organized and headed west across the Great Plains to California.

Crossing both Death Valley and snow-covered mountains, some nearly died on the trek. For each one who “struck it rich,” there were scores of young men who became discouraged and would return east if they could afford to do so.

John T. Clapp, having failed to find gold, returned to Kalamazoo and published the story of his trip to the gold fields. It provides an account of what Clapp called the “hardships and privations” of the cross-country trek.

He describes wildlife and the terrain. Buffalo herds can be seen in the distance and Clapp is fearful of the wolves that prowl at night when he is on watch. He frequently

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comments on the weather, “..a terrible storm arose, which sent down its torrents of rain…the flash of terror, and the din of rage, seemed threatening earth with ruin.”

They crossed the deserts of western Utah and Nevada where they encountered abandoned wagons and equipment, and the decaying carcasses of pack animals from parties who had passed through before them. They reached California’s gold fields in late July, nearly five months after leaving Michigan.

While Clapp’s quest for gold was not successful, others from Kalamazoo were more fortunate. Perhaps the best known was William Gibbs who went there in 1850 with his father, John. The younger Gibbs not only found gold but brought it back to Kalamazoo hidden in the secret pockets of a cloth vest he made to protect his treasure. That vest is now one of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s prized artifacts.

After three years, Gibbs returned home. He took a ship to Panama, crossed the isthmus, and then sailed to New Orleans. There he converted his 14 pounds of gold into 164 $20 coins at the U.S. Mint. His gold, then worth about $3,300, would be valued at $150,000 today.

Gibbs sewed his coins into a vest that he wore between two shirts. At night, he opened the vest but never took it off, simply letting it fall to his sides. In that way, he made it more difficult for anyone to even know he was carrying that much gold, much less steal it from him.

With the gold, he purchased 240 acres of land near the I-94/U.S.131 interchange. He farmed there until retirement. Western Michigan University’s College of Engineering is located there.Essay contest to pay off with money, publication

Student essays written for English 098, 110 and 160 courses might be worth a bit of cash.

If those pieces of prose were produced for classes taken during the summer of 2009, the 2009 fall semester or this winter semester, they can be entered in the college’s annual essay contest and, if chosen, will be published.

The deadline to enter is Monday, May 3, at 5 p.m.Winners will be notified by mail.Hard-copy entries should be delivered to the faculty receptionist in Room 7320

and marked to the attention of Caroline Whiting. Submissions may also be made electronically by sending the essay as an attachment to this e-mail address – engessay.TTC-POST.KVCC@kvcc.edu.

A student may submit two essays.Those entering printed versions should submit two printed copies of each and a

computer disk compatible with Windows.An entry form must also be submitted and signed. It should be dropped off in

Room 7320. Those who use the electronic option must also file a completed and signed entry form.

And finally. . . There is a very, very tall coconut tree and there are four animals -- a lion, chimpanzee, giraffe, and a squirrel.

They decide to compete to see who is the fastest to get a banana off the tree.

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Within 30 seconds, who do you guess will win? Your answer will reflect your personality. If your answer is the lion, you're dull. Chimpanzee -- you're dense. Giraffe -- you're a complete moron. Squirrel -- you're hopeless. That’s because a coconut tree doesn’t have any bananas.

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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