March 10, 2022 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The sixth-annual African-American Male Achievement Conference will be a day of inspiration, learning, sharing and caring for our male students in ninth through 12 grades. The conference, offered virtually this year, will focus on school achievement, graduation, college, choices, careers and becoming a positive young man in the community and world. The theme is “Challenges, Choices, and Change.” The conference is planned for 9 a.m. through 11:30 a.m. March 28. While offered virtually, there are times for localized breakout sessions. The event is a collaboration between Urban League of Western Michigan, Grand Rapids Public Schools, GRCC, Grand Valley State University, and the City of Grand Rapids. Organizers aim to convene more than 1,000 African-American young men from West Michigan secondary schools and engage them in workshops and other activities in which they will be affirmed, dared to dream about their futures, and reminded of their potential greatness. Offering the conference virtually prevents the participants from being together in one space, but does allow each site to tailor the conference to its unique needs. Registration is available at a link here . Questions about the event can be answered by Parris McMurray at mcmurrayp@grps.org and Rhondo Cooper at CooperR@grps.org.

March 9, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Rapids Community College basketball player Grace Lodes was named Defensive Player of the Year by the Michigan Community College Athletic Association Western Conference in postseason awards announced Wednesday. Lodes, who led the nation in blocked shots, was joined by teammate Sally Merrill in being named All-Region, All-MCCAA, First Team All-Conference, and to the All-Freshman Team. “I’m proud of our student-athletes and coaches for strong performances,” Athletic Director Lauren Ferullo said. “We have strong programs, with some of the best players in the state, and the nation. They work hard to be successful on the court and in the classroom.” GRCC’s Marlene Bussler was named Second Team All-Conference, and Allison Kellogg and Emersyn Koepke were named Honorable Mention All-Conference. The women’s team finished with a 20-11 record, reaching the championship game of the NJCAA Great Lakes A District tournament. David Glazier, wrapping up his sixth year at the helm, posted the most wins of his GRCC career. Lodes, from Comstock Park, led the nation in total blocks with 99 and ranked in the top 10 in conference in rebounding. Merrill, a freshman from Allegan, was the team’s leading scorer with 491, averaging 15.8 points per game. For the men’s team, Ryel Daye and Andrew Moore were named Third Team All-Conference, and Danyel Bibbs was named Honorable Mention All-Conference. The men’s team finished with a 10-19 overall record and 5-13 in the conference. Moore led GRCC in scoring, with 584 points, averaging 20.1 per game. Daye was one of the best rebounders in the NJCAA D2. His average 11.9 rebounds per game was third best in the nation.

A School News Network feature -- Lynnell Talbert knows the importance of giving youth a voice in the justice system, and the power of being a transformative force and advocate in their lives. An assistant professor in the GRCC Criminal Justice program, Talbert saw a need to better prepare students for working with incarcerated youth. She created a new Juvenile Residential Services course, which is expected to launch this summer. The class will be offered as an elective, and Talbert hopes it eventually will be required in the Juvenile Services Associate Degree program. Talbert has taught at GRCC since 2008 and is the college’s juvenile services coordinator. The focus of the class is working with youth in secure or medium secure residential facilities, a need that is always present. According to the ACLU, on any given day nearly 60,000 youth under age 18 are incarcerated in juvenile jails and prisons in the United States.  “This class will specifically center around the culture and environment around custodial care. It’s very different being a probation officer versus a youth worker in a detention center or residential facility,” Talbert said. Areas of study include services for juveniles and the challenges they face. Juveniles in these facilities have been separated from their families and often have a range of mental health and emotional needs. “Our framework comes from the restorative justice perspective,” Talbert said. Restorative justice focuses on repairing harm caused by criminal behavior over penalization. Students will also be trained to work through physical challenges by way of effective communication and redirecting youth who have become out of control or irrational. “When juveniles are placed in our residential facilities, the workers will need to understand the trauma and the mental health aspect of it (on the child).” There’s a huge demand for youth specialists to work in residential facilities and probation officers, she said. “We are having more and more juveniles at a younger age who are participating in delinquent or criminal behavior. Our residential services centers and our secured facilities are becoming overcrowded and they don’t have enough workers.” In creating the class, Talbert received input from members on an advisory board for juvenile services, which she facilitates. The course is designed to better equip workers in regard to state guidelines, protocols, behavior modification and training. Cierra Lowe has worked as a youth specialist at Kent County Detention Center and graduated with her associate degree in juvenile services in 2017. She also pointed out the importance of a reformative approach in juvenile justice. Lowe said before working at the Kent County Juvenile Detention Center, she did not realize in detail how vital the restorative process is for adolescents. She said she is very pleased to hear GRCC is adding the course. “I think this course will provide great insight into the need (and) benefits that residential treatment brings to our juvenile adolescents. I think it also will provide great insight into how many career opportunities residential treatment provides.” During the course, students will visit a medium secure and secure residential facility to tour and ask questions. (Medium secure facilities are not locked, meaning students do things in the community, while secure ones are.) A Cause Close to Her Heart Talbert worked for many years in juvenile justice. She was a youth specialist at a residential facility for a detention center in Kent County. She helped children in many ways: school, hygiene and social skill development, to name a few. She developed an incentive system as well, rewarding them for good behavior. She has also worked as a community probation office for juveniles, and discovered that the two areas of the system have different norms. That’s another reason the class is needed, she said. “It’s fulfilling for me when I see young people afterwards and they say ‘Thank you, Miss Lynn, for all the work you invested in my life. You put more time in me than my mother, father, my grandmother or anyone in my life, and you told me the potential I had.’” She is passionate about training GRCC students to have similar impacts. “My job and my goal is to help others become successful, productive citizens in our world, community and society.” This story was reported by Erin Albanese of the School News Network. 

March 8, 2022, SCOTTSBORO, Ala. – Arie Jackman shot a three-round score of 148, finishing tied for seventh overall, helping the Grand Rapids Community College golf team finish in fifth place at the Ron Marshall Spring Invite on Monday and Tuesday. Thirty-six golfers from seven colleges competed in the tournament at Goose Pond Lake Course. "The Raiders played well despite the cold and rainy weather they had to play in," Coach John Forton said. "We finished in fifth in a field that had some very highly rated teams. It was a good building block for the upcoming season." GRCC golfers shot a 326 in round one followed by a 318 and 324, to finish with a total of 968, 104-over par. John A. Logan College won the tournament with a score of 45-over par. Jackman's rounds of 79, 74 and 78 gave him a total of +15, just seven strokes back from co-champions Andrew Watson and Tanner Walton, both of John A. Logan College. Matt Denhartigh finished tied for 11th place with a score of 19-over par. Conner Oman, +31, Brad VandenHout, +42, and Sam Foss, +50, rounded out the Raiders golfers.

March 8, 2022 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Rapids Community College and the Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan are hosting a free Senior Dental Day on March 14, helping students gain new experiences while volunteering to help residents. Students in GRCC’s Dental Assisting and Dental Hygiene programs will work with area dentists through the Kent County Oral Health Coalition to provide free cleanings, X-rays, exams and referrals. The patients, all Kent County residents, are at least 60 years old and haven’t seen a dentist during the past 12 months. The Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan has organized the patients’ initial paperwork and is providing transportation to those who need it. Professor Christine Dobberstein said the event introduces the GRCC students to a volunteer opportunity and public health collaboration. “The students benefit by getting outside their comfort zones with a variety of patient experiences,” she said. “As they haven’t yet started their partner-office rotations, the Dental Assisting students haven’t had the chance to work with patients who are not friends, family or classmates. While the Dental Hygiene students have been seeing patients here in our GRCC clinic, they may not have worked with very many seniors at this point in their clinical education.” Senior Dental Day also gives the Dental Assisting and Dental Hygiene students, who are often on very different schedules, a chance to work together as a team to care for a large number of patients, Dobberstein said. GRCC’s Dental Clinic is located on the third floor of the Peter and Pat Cook Academic Hall, 143 Bostwick Ave. NE. Services, offered throughout the year, include a review of medical and dental history, blood pressure screening, cleanings, preliminary dental hygiene exams, X-rays, fluoride treatments, dental health instruction, chemotherapeutic agents and sealants. More information is available online .  

March 7, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer visited Grand Rapids Community College on Monday, touring automotive technology labs and taking about auto insurance refund checks headed to car owners this spring. It’s the third time Whitmer has visited the Leslie E. Tassell M-TEC and fifth visit to GRCC since becoming governor in 2019. The governor toured GRCC automotive tech labs and classrooms, met with students and was greeted by GRCC Provost Brian Knetl. Whitmer was joined by Anita Fox, director of the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services, to announce that the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association will complete the transfer of $3 billion in surplus funds to Michigan’s auto insurers this week. Once complete, the transfer will trigger a 60-day deadline for auto insurers to send out required $400 refund checks per vehicle to eligible Michiganders no later than May 9, 2022. “These $400 refunds are game-changers for so many Michigan families,” Whitmer said. “I called for these refunds because I am committed to lowering costs for Michiganders and putting money back in people’s pockets. They are possible because we worked across the aisle to pass bipartisan auto insurance reform, and we will keep working together to grow our economy and build a state where families can thrive.” The MCCA voted in Dec. 2021 to return approximately $3 billion of the surplus funds to Michiganders while maintaining approximately $2 billion in surplus funds to ensure continuity of care for catastrophic accident survivors. Michigan’s auto insurers must now issue refunds to eligible state policyholders of $400 per vehicle, or $80 per historic vehicle, for each vehicle that was insured under a policy that meets the minimum insurance requirements for operating a vehicle on Michigan roads as of 11:59 p.m. on October 31, 2021.  Eligible consumers who do not receive their refunds by the deadline should contact their auto insurer or agent. Additional information is available from DIFS online at Michigan.gov/MCCArefund , or by contacting the agency by phone at 833-ASK-DIFS (833-275-3437). or by emailing autoinsurance@michigan.gov. Whitmer was joined by Shawn Jones, owner of Jones Logistics Services, a trucking small business, and Sarah Weir, Kentwood Public Schools’ homeless student liaison. Photo by Andrew Schmidt.

March 7, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- In the sea of green and white at Michigan State University, Grand Rapids Junior College alum Carolyn J. Miller works with the very greenest.  Miller, who received her associate degree in 1987, is MSU’s plant recorder. 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. “I use GIS (geographic information systems) technology to track and record all the trees and shrubs on campus,” she said. “Not only do I work with GIS, but I update the plant database with pertinent information to all trees and shrubs.” Miller embarked on her higher ed journey at GRJC because of its affordable tuition, small classes and the help available at tutoring labs. “I would spend hours in the math help labs to get the added instruction I needed,” she said. “Knowing that I could succeed in these classes solidified my continued education.”. While she loved all her science classes – “every instructor I had went above and beyond to assist students” – Introduction to Botany and Organic Chemistry I and II were especially pivotal. “My botany professor, Dr. Jack Heydenburg, encouraged me to focus on botany, as he saw my enthusiasm for the plant world,” she said. “I will be forever grateful for his encouragement. “My organic chemistry professor, Dr. Ron Edwards, made me get outside my comfort zone in the lab. I was apprehensive on taking organic chemistry, knowing that I’d have to take it wherever I transferred to, but in the end, it was the best decision to take this class at GRJC.” Miller went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in botany and plant pathology from MSU and is working on a master’s degree in biology at Miami University in Ohio. After working at Frederik Meijer Gardens and then Naples Botanical Garden in Florida, she started at MSU in 2015. “Life is not easy, and to find a career that fulfills you can be even tougher,” Miller said. “Getting all the experience you can in college is a must. Yes, some of those experiences might be lackluster, but in the end, you will not regret those chances. I have always strived to tackle any job, and, ultimately, this led me to my dream job.” Let GRCC help you start your story. The first chapter starts at grcc.edu/apply .

March 5, 2022, FLINT, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Community College women's basketball season came to an end Saturday, losing in the NJCAA Great Lakes A District Championship game by a final of 70-50 to Muskegon Community College. The team lost Grace Lodes, the top shot-blocker in the nation, for the first half after two quick fouls. But GRCC trailed by just two after the first quarter and eight at the half. Muskegon scored the final five points of the half to pull ahead 38-30 at the break. GRCC, which finished in third place in the MCCAA Western Conference this year, couldn't cut the deficit any closer and the conference champion Jayhawks prevailed by 20. The loss ends GRCC’s season with a 20-11 record. Muskegon improved to 24-4 and is headed to the national tournament on a 13-game winning streak. "Extremely proud of this group and ensuring they did this season," Coach David Glazier said. "A tough ending to a great year, but excited to see this group build on their success." Teammates Sally Merrill and Marlene Bussler earned All-Tournament Team honors after excellent performances that included Bussler's first career double-double and 40 points in the past two games for Merrill. Against Muskegon, Merrill led all scorers with 18 points on 7 of 15 shots from the field and 3 of 7 shots from behind the arc. Allison Kellogg and Bussler each scored nine points and Karissa Ferry led the team with eight rebounds. Season Highlights for GRCC included: Lodes led the nation in total blocks with 99 and ranked top-10 in conference in rebounding. Merrill was sixth in the league scoring 16.2 points per game. She was also top-10 in minutes, field goals made, free throws made, rebounds and blocked shots. Bussler finished top-10 in the conference in assists. Glazier, in his sixth year as coach, posted the most wins in his GRCC career. The team appeared in its seventh-straight district tournament appearance, and second-straight championship appearance. The team finished first in the conference in total rebounds per game, defensive rebounds per game, opponents field goal percentage, block shots per game, and second in the league in opponents points per game, 52.2 points. Photo by Luis Fernandez.

March 4, 2022, FLINT, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Community College women's basketball is heading to the NJCAA Great Lakes A District Championship after a dominating defensive performance in the semi-finals over Jackson College. GRCC was up just 21-17 after the first half, but outscored Jackson 34-17 in the second half to win 55-34. The 34 points was a season low for Jackson.  “So proud and happy for this group,” Coach Dave Glazier said. “This was a complete team effort with what might have been our best team performance in the biggest moment so far.  Work to be done tomorrow!” GRCC defense, No. 2 in the league, held opponents to less than 50 points in eight games this year. The team also out-rebounded Jackson 60-45, and held it to 22.9% shooting. Sally Merrill, a freshman from Allegan, scored 22 points, including knocking in three of her team's eight three-point baskets. The guard/forward also had a game-high 13 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end. Marlene Bussler was credited to her first career double-double after an 11-point, 11-rebound performance. Allison Kellogg was again a spark off the bench with six points, 10 rebounds and even made her first career triple late in the game. Grace Lodes, tops in the nation in blocked shots, and No. 3 in the nation for blocked shots per game, had seven blocks, along with six points and six rebounds. The team will take on either Muskegon Community College or Mid Michigan College in the championship. The game will be played at Mott Community College in Flint at noon on March 5.  Photo by Luis Fernandez.