Current EvCC College News

More than 120 educators, political leaders, students and their families gathered Jan. 10 to celebrate the 29 college students participating this year in the Latino Leadership Initiative and encourage more Latino youth to become leaders. The program, now in its third year, promotes leadership development and higher education through formal workshops, hands-on mentoring and service-learning projects. Participating students are from Edmonds Community College, Everett Community College and Skagit Valley College.

Get help applying for financial aid for college at workshops Jan. 24 in Everett and Jan. 26 in Monroe. Everett Community College is hosting College Goal Washington, a free program that helps participants fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for 2015-2016. Students must complete the FAFSA to apply for federal financial aid for college.

See a blend of photography, drawing and sculpture by University of Washington art professor Ellen Garvens Jan. 12-Feb. 6 at Everett Community College’s Russell Day Gallery.

Everett Community College’s Ocean Research College Academy (ORCA) will launch its new custom-built research boat with a celebration at 11 a.m. Nov. 22 at the Port of Everett. The dedication of the Phocoena (the scientific name for harbor porpoise, pronounced FOE see nuh) will happen at the port’s travel lift, located in front of ORCA’s classrooms at 1205 Craftsman Way in Everett. After a ceremonial bottle of champagne is broken across the bow, visitors can take tours of the boat.

Everett Community College will receive a $1.5 million share of a nearly $10 million grant awarded through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) awarded Sept. 28 by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at the White House. Vice President Biden was joined by U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan during the announcement. Two hundred seventy community colleges will receive $450 million to expand job-driven training partnerships between community colleges and employers as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The grantees will partner with 400 employers.

Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee will join Everett Community College in celebrating the opening of EvCC’s new Advanced Manufacturing Education & Training Center (AMTEC) at 2 p.m. Oct. 1 at the center, 909 N. Broadway. The 37,000-square-foot center is located in a remodeled college-owned warehouse on the east side of EvCC’s Broadway campus at 2000 Tower St. AMTEC opens for fall classes Sept. 22. The $3.75 million remodel of the building started in May 2014, including creating classrooms, computer labs, faculty and staff offices and abundant shop space.

Two Everett Community College instructors are traveling to Indonesia Aug. 14-24 to establish a college program to teach English to impoverished Indonesian children thanks to donations from Rotary Club members in Lake Stevens and North Delta, British Columbia, an EvCC grant and individual contributions. Debe Franz and Karen Schilde are traveling to Bali, Indonesia to My Father’s Home, a home for 36 orphaned and impoverished children. The non-profit organization was created in 2008 and run by Kim Boyer of Snohomish. The instructors’ trip was funded by a $500 donation from the Rotary Club of Lake Stevens, $600 from the Rotary Club of North Delta, British Columbia, $700 from online donors and a $1,965 EvCC global initiative grant.

The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) today launched OPEN Washington, a website that connects faculty to the nation’s finest open resources to save students money. With OPEN Washington, SBCTC assembles links to top quality open educational resource collections and adds step-by-step training and other tools to help instructors identify, adopt and modify relevant materials. The goal is to make the best materials available to all students at a cost much lower than that of published textbooks. The site features videos of six Everett Community College faculty members who used Open Educational Resources (OER) to save students money. The college’s Textbook Alternative Committee worked to develop open resources for history, environmental science, IT, art appreciation, adult basic education and math classes.

Five Everett Community College basketball players and one baseball player have signed letters of intent to play for four-year schools next year.

Everett Community College math instructor Andrea Cahan is the winner of the 2014 Washington state 2-year college mathematics teaching award. Cahan was selected for the award by her peers statewide. She was honored for excellence and innovation in teaching with influence beyond her institution. She received the award May 9 at the annual Washington state Two Year College Mathematics Conference in Wenatchee. The conference was co-sponsored by Everett and Shoreline community colleges.

Forty-two students from Everett Community College’s Ocean Research College Academy graduate June 13, earning both their associate’s degree and high school diplomas. ORCA graduation is at 3 p.m. June 13 at the Waterfront Center Blue Heron Room, 1205 Craftsman Way. ORCA graduates will also be recognized at EvCC’s graduation June 13 and at their high school graduations.

A group of Everett Community College employees turned 1,500 donated plastic bottles into a greenhouse for kids at EvCC’s Early Learning Center. The 2-liter bottles, donated by Safeway Bottling, are the new greenhouse’s walls. The greenhouse will be used for the children to grow vegetables, fruit and herbs. “This is a great way to show children ways in which something we typically think of as trash might be used to improve the environment and promote sustainability,” said Holly McFaul, director of the Early Learning Center, which provides care for children ages 1 to 5 years old.