August 20, 2021, HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Kelsey Sivertson says Grand Rapids Community College helped her turn her life around, and says the new GRCC Lakeshore Campus will provide those same opportunities to others. Sivertson spoke at Thursday’s ribbon-cutting, celebrating the opening of the new campus in the former JCPenney department store in The Shops at Westshore mall. The 52,00-square-foot building is a consolidated Lakeshore presence for GRCC, with both credit and career-focused certificate classes under one roof. Located on a bus line and in the heart of a growing Holland Township community, the campus presents an opportunity to make a quality, affordable GRCC education more accessible. "You have chosen to take this empty mall that once stood as a representation of failure and repurposed it with promise and meaning and hope. And in doing that, you have vocalized your belief that people like me can do the same," she said. “As I look at this new Lakeshore Campus, I see opportunity for Ottawa County students like me to drive 10 rather than 35 minutes to class. Isee accessibility for those who get off work at 5 p.m. -- they’ll be able to make it to a 5:30 class with time to spare. Most importantly, I see hope. I see a community that believes in its residents, even those who, for a long time, have felt stuck.” Sivertson used to be stuck. She loved school and reading, and even dreamed of someday becoming a teacher. But her life changed at age 14 when her mother died of cancer. “I had two younger siblings who were suddenly looking to me as a mother substitute,” she said. “I didn’t stop to think that I might not be mature enough to step up to the task of parenting, and for sure I didn’t know how much parenting I still needed. At school, my grades swan-dived. I began to skip classes. My career dreams faded. I saw them as a relic of a life that had been taken from me.” She went to college but emerged with bad grades and big debt. "I felt as useless as an empty mall, locked into living beneath my potential," she said.  Sivertson entered the workforce. A series of evening and receptionist jobs eventually led to a full-time administrative position at Lakeshore Advantage, an organization fostering economic development in Ottawa and Allegan counties. She was surrounded by colleagues and supervisors who wanted more for her. “Growth was really the only option,” Sivertson said. “So, I looked around and found some mature people of faith. I asked them to be my mentors. And you know what they suggested? ‘Kelsey, go back to school.’” She paid off her remaining student loans and enrolled at GRCC. “I tried again, one class at a time, one semester at a time,” she said. “It was slow. It was gradual. But today, what were once failures and incompletes are now As. Each class has taught me confidence. Each class has introduced me to a growing community of professors and guidance counselors who are eager to help people succeed.” Sivertson’s return to higher education was challenging as she continues to work full time. She had to set priorities with both her time and budget. But it was worth it: She is now less than a year away from graduating with her degree in pre-English literature and, at age 30, is back to believing that she can accomplish whatever goal she pursues. “Until we breathe our last breath, it’s never too late to do what we have been called to do,” she said.   

August 19, 2021, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Community leaders say the new GRCC Lakeshore Campus’ affordability and accessibility will remove obstacles to residents gaining a quality college education and help employers gain talented people to boost the growing region’s economy. Grand Rapids Community College celebrated the opening of the new campus on Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with plans for a community open house from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 21. The college transformed a shuttered JCPenney in The Shops at Westshore mall, 12335 James Street, into a consolidated campus for students of all ages seeking both degrees and career certificates. GRCC President Bill Pink said the new campus reflects a commitment to Lakeshore residents, providing and educational pathway to success that benefits students, but also the entire region. “This is a community effort. Community college is about community,” he said. “The work we do goes well beyond the work that will happen in classrooms and labs. It goes to the outreach we’ll have in this community. It goes to opportunities to host events in this building. It goes to opportunities for our staff and our faculty to reach out to this community in ways that you’ve never seen before. That’s the work of a community college.” The campus is located on a Macatawa Area Express bus line, and students can complete many programs without needing to go to the downtown Grand Rapids campus. Lakeshore Advantage President Jennifer Owens noted recent census figures showing Ottawa County had the largest population increase in the state, with Allegan County close behind. But college completion rates lag behind, and that makes it more challenging for employers to grow and create jobs. “There are so many innovative companies in this community offering challenging and financially rewarding job opportunities,” she said. “However, the skills needed for these jobs increasingly require some level of postsecondary education such as degree seeking programs, apprenticeships or technical skills training.” She said the GRCC Lakeshore Campus brings education closer to home for the students in the area who need it most. “Thank you to GRCC for your investment in this Lakeshore campus,” she said. “And more importantly, for your investment in the long-term economic health and vitality of our entire lakeshore community.” As president of the Michigan West Coast Chamber, Jane Clark represents 1,100 firms with 64,000 employees in the Holland and Zeeland area. She said students can gain in-demand skills leading to rewarding careers. “When we are talking to our member firms, all we are hearing about these days is talent,” she said. “Talent is the most critical issue they are facing. We need this facility so we have affordable, attainable education available for everybody in this community. You are going to help us skill our young people coming into the workforce and upskill the existing workers, and it is so needed.” Attorney and school board member Randy Schipper is a Grand Rapids Junior College graduate, and said the college’s affordability allowed him to build a quality educational foundation without debt. He’s advocated for Lakeshore students to have the same opportunities. “GRCC is not a second-rate education. It’s first-rate,” he said. “People in our community should be proud to have this opportunity and take advantage of it.” GRCC has offered classes on the Lakeshore, spread out in four locations, for more than 20 years. The new Lakeshore Campus consolidates resources and programs in the heart of Holland Township with access to public transportation, employers and services. The 52,000-square-foot facility has nine classrooms, four computer labs and five unique labs for biology, chemistry, electronics, automation, welding and machine tooling, housing programs for students working toward an associate degree or a career-focused certificate. The $12 million project also has spaces for advising and counseling and other student support services and a satellite library, as well as areas for use by community groups.  

Aug. 18 2021, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Starting today, Grand Rapids Community College students can register for a $200 incentive to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The college also has a series of vaccination clinics planned to make the vaccines as accessible as possible as part of efforts to keep the campus safe. Vaccines have been determined to be the most effective tool in stopping the spread of COVID-19 and preventing serious illness and hospitalization. Eligible students can receive a $200 credit on their RaiderCards to use for campus dining, parking, printing, and in the bookstore. The vaccination incentive program is available to students enrolled in an in-person, hybrid, virtual, or online credit course, clock-hour Job Training program, or apprenticeship program that begins between Aug. 30 and Dec. 16, 2021. Eligible students must meet this enrollment definition at the time incentive funds are disbursed to their RaiderCards and have achieved fully vaccinated status any time on or before Nov. 15, 2021. To be considered for the incentive, students should log into their Online Center, select the GRCC Vaccine Incentive tile, and complete a brief form. There will be a place for students to upload a photo of their COVID-19 vaccination record card. Credits will be added to RaiderCards in September for students who have completed the process, and weekly thereafter as students become fully vaccinated and upload a photo of their card. RaiderCards are available in GRCC’s Office of Student Life on the first floor of the Student Center. The incentives are limited to GRCC students. Employees are not eligible. Additional information is available on the GRCC COVID information page.  The college is offering a series of on-campus clinics to help students gain the vaccination. The first will be at Raider Rally, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 28 in front of Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall. Another is planned for Sept. 8 during Welcome Week, available from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Finkelstein Hall on the Main Campus and GRCC Lakeshore Campus and from 3-6 p.m. at the Leslie M. Tassell M-TEC. Vaccination location information is available at vaccinatewestmi.com . The incentive program is one of the steps GRCC is taking or extending as part of a campus safety and wellness plan. The campus is requiring face-coverings indoors. On-campus class sizes will be limited to 75% capacity, and the college is replacing two-person desks with single-person desks in most classrooms. Hundreds of hand sanitizing stations were added last year, and changes were made to campus cooling and ventilation to increase air flow. College leaders are monitoring developments with COVID-19 and the delta variant, and are communicating with state and federal health authorities for guidance as conditions change. GRCC Nursing students administered shots into the arms of students, campus employees, and others in the spring as part of the Shot of Love campaign, a partnership with Urban Church Leadership Center and Spectrum Health. In May, the college hosted a campus vaccination pop-up clinic, which was visited by first lady Jill Biden.        

Aug. 16, 2021, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Pulitzer Prize-winner Nikole Hannah-Jones and Emmy Award-winner John Leguizamo are among the speakers highlighting Grand Rapids Community College’s 2021-2022 Diversity Lecture Series and Latino Heritage Month. The Diversity Lecture Series provides students, employees and community members access to scholars, thought-leaders, activists, and artists and is presented by the GRCC’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “Our overarching goal for the year ahead is cultivating equity through an intersectional framework,” said Dr. B. Afeni McNeely Cobham, GRCC’s chief equity and inclusion officer. “We are adopting intersectionality from the work of professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, who describes intersectionality as an understanding of how race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, disability, physical appearance, height, and other individual characteristics ‘intersect’ with one another and overlap.” This year’s kickoff of the Diversity Lecture Series will highlight a new initiative called Interfaith Literacy. Keynote speaker Austin Channing Brown will lead a discussion about standing in the shadow of hope. In this context, the word “shadow” is a metaphor for patience and grace. Brown is a speaker, writer and media producer providing inspired leadership on justice in America. She is the author of “I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness.” Her workshops and lectures are incisive, fun, disarming and transformative. By using an intentional mix of humor, pop-culture, story-telling, and audience engagement, she evokes thought, feeling and action as she celebrates the possibility of justice in our organizations and communities.  The event is planned for 6 p.m. Sept. 7. Leguizamo established a career defying categorization. A multi-faceted performer, writer and director, Leguizamo's work in film, theatre, television and literature covers various genres with boundless and visceral creativity. Leguizamo starred in the hit one-person, Tony Award-nominated play, “Latin History for Morons” From November 2017 to February 2018, which revolves around all that is missing from his son’s middle-school understanding of Latino history. Leguizamo is the Latino Heritage Month keynote speaker and is scheduled to speak at 6 p.m. Sept. 15. Nikole Hannah-Jones is the creator of the 1619 Project, which has generated robust discussion about broadening what is taught in schools. Hannah-Jones was at the center of a debate on academic freedom when she was initially denied tenure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this year. Her address is planned for 6 p.m. Jan. 31, 2022. LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, will commemorate Black History Month. Brown is a catalyst for change, thought leader and social strategist, whose efforts have inspired people into action. She received the 2010 White House Champion of Change Award, the 2006 Spirit of Democracy Award, and the Louis Burnham Award for Human Rights. All events are virtual. Register or RSVP at: tinyurl.com/GRCCequity

Aug. 16, 2021, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – 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. Amanda Colegrove wanted to be sure what she wanted to do with her life before she went to college, so she went right into the workforce for a few years. She enrolled in GRCC when she decided to pursue her passion for social justice. “When I came to GRCC, I started in the Sociology Department, and then I took a geography class -- and that pretty much changed the course of my academic career,” she said in a 2015 interview. “It was in that particular class that I came across a little paragraph about human trafficking in the world and in the U.S.” Colegrove wanted to learn more about the issue but ran into an immediate roadblock: At that time, very little research was being done. “About 95% of it was international,” she recalled. “There wasn’t a lot of research being done about trafficking in the U.S.” Colegrove graduated in 2010 from GRCC, where she served as president of the Lambda Upsilon chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon, the international geographical honor society. She earned a bachelor’s degree in geography and sociology at Aquinas College in 2011 and graduated from the University of Missouri with a master’s degree in geography in 2013. In grad school, Colegrove worked to address the lack of information about human trafficking in the United States by developing a model for assessing the risk at the local level -- a huge help for communities trying to gather resources to fight the problem. She was hired right out of grad school as a coalition organizer for the Crime Victim Advocacy Center in St. Louis, Mo., where she trained law enforcement, social service providers and health care professionals to recognize human trafficking and provide better help to its victims. Colegrove now works with the Minnesota Department of Health’s Safe Harbor program, a statewide effort to fight sex trafficking of youth. She credits GRCC with more than setting her on her career path. “The variety of classes I was able to take opened up new avenues of thought that underpin much of the work I do today,” said Colegrove, who received GRCC’s Geography Field Cap Award.   Let GRCC help you start your story. The first chapter starts at grcc.edu/apply .

Aug. 13, 2021, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Grand Rapids Junior College became Grand Rapids Community College 30 years ago, and Fred Behm, Katherine Crouch and Mark Zaskiewicz were already taking classes -- and they have not stopped. The trio are members of the Noorthoek Academy, which was founded in 1989 to fill a gap in the community for special education after high school. GRCC is a proud partner, and student attend weekly classes and have all student privileges. Students with learning challenges and other intellectual disabilities gain continuing education and inclusion experiences in the arts and sciences. This award winning, non-profit program was the first of its kind in the country. Noorthoek enriches the lives of about 80 students a year. The academy this week celebrated students, honoring the three 30-year participants, 20-year student Denise Zalsman; 15-year students Becky Boisvenue, Erin Deiss, Craig Edelstein, Yvonne Johnson, Josh Nguyen, Quan Nguyen and Emily Shanahan; 10-year students Sandra Corning, Allie Cowden, Terry Halstead, Angie Phillips, Elizabeth Slagter; and 13 five-year students. Noorthoek Academy serves people in Kent and surrounding counties ages 18 and over, who have successfully completed four years of high school. The curriculum is tailored to the needs of the educable mentally impaired student or those with comparable abilities. Students explore the natural sciences, history, literature, drama and current events while learning about other countries and cultures using a dynamic, hands-on approach. Being on a college campus and integrating into the mainstream, students have the opportunity to increase their self-confidence and independence while making friends in an atmosphere of mutual respect and encouragement.