Jan. 15, 2025 The Office of High School Partnerships at Grand Rapids Community College recently earned certification from the Michigan Early Middle College Association (MEMCA) for its Early Middle College program at Kenowa Hills High School. This unique program allows students to complete high school and college at the same time. They apply during their freshman year and start taking GRCC courses alongside their regular classes at their high school during sophomore year.  After a 13th year spent completely at GRCC, they graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate degree or technical certificate, a year earlier than a more traditional educational route.  Since the program covers tuition and regular college course fees through per pupil state funding, students don’t need to worry about whether they can afford it either. David Lovell, GRCC’s interim dean of students, expressed his enthusiasm for the certification. "It’s the latest affirmation of GRCC's ability and willingness to partner with the community to collectively meet their needs. The credit for this accomplishment goes to our K-12 partnerships team, GRCC faculty and academic departments, and our great friends and colleagues at Kenowa Hills High School. It's a team effort, and we're very excited to celebrate this together,” Lovell said. Kenowa Hills is GRCC’s sixth partner high school to earn this stamp of approval – the result of four years of program planning and implementation – which signals to the public the strength and credibility of the program. “It shows that the kids are in good hands, and that they’re going to get a quality experience and a quality education through this program,” said Tammy Taylor, GRCC’s student navigator at Kenowa Hills, who was highly involved in the certification process. To earn MEMCA certification, Early Middle College programs must demonstrate that they include college-focused academic programing, as well as academic, social, and emotional supports for students, strong high school and college collaboration, and a culture of continuous improvement. MEMCA’s evaluation committee was quick to recognize that GRCC’s program more than met these requirements, breaking with protocol and granting certification immediately following a presentation by a team from GRCC.  They specifically praised the close collaboration between the high school and the college, the high pass rate of GRCC courses, and the program’s intentional recruitment and support of underrepresented populations. This doesn’t surprise Taylor, who explained that the ultimate goal of the program is to make higher education more accessible. “This is for the kids who are maybe first-generation college students or who are from a lower socioeconomic background,” she said. “We just want to instill in them that they are college material, and they can do it. And we support them all the way through.” This story was reported by Alissa Griffin.

Jan. 13, 2025 Nathaniel Lloyd’s journey to a successful career wasn’t a straight path. What started as a clear plan to pursue a career as an engineer by enrolling in the engineering program at Boston University, led to a major in art history followed by a master’s degree in accounting. It took him some time to find the right fit. “I had a career in mind, but I burned out quickly. Engineering is probably the toughest major in my opinion,” Lloyd said. “I never regretted changing out of engineering, but then it became a question of "now what?" I no longer had a specific drive.” After realizing engineering wasn’t right for him, Lloyd didn’t know what he wanted to do professionally. However, he did know one thing, he had an interest in history and great experiences in film studies classes.  “I had to find something that worked for me and that I could get done in a year and a half,” he said. Lloyd decided to pursue a liberal arts degree, and, more specifically, a major in art history.  “I love the idea of getting a liberal arts degree especially if you don’t know what you want to do,” he said. “It’s a little bit more interesting than a generic business degree.” Lloyd knew he would need a bachelor's degree to further his future career, so he wanted to choose one that would make him a more interesting person and that would keep him engaged.  “I never had the intention of being some sort of art historian or working at a museum,” he said. “I took it because I enjoyed aspects of it and it was important to me to get a degree on some level.”  After graduating from BU, Lloyd still didn’t know what he wanted to do for a career. However, while working in computer services, he got some additional certifications in information technology.  “I always knew I was someone who would go on to learn more and become something so I had to ask myself, do I want to become an IT professional with all these certifications or not,” he said. IT didn’t stick for him, but he found out that he was good at accounting through filing taxes and organizing other forms and decided to further his education in that field.  “I enjoyed the organizational aspects and learning how numbers work,” Lloyd said. “I finally knew what I wanted for a career.” At age 29, Lloyd enrolled in the Master of Science in accounting at Grand Valley State University. “It’s hard to get into something like accounting when you start at 29. This field is all about experience and credentials,” he said. “Even though I started a bit late, I think I’ve done really well.” Today, Lloyd is the director of Budget and Business Services at Grand Rapids Community College, a role he’s held since 2017.  "My liberal arts classes helped me learn how to approach problems in a different way from many in the finance world,” he said. Lloyd’s story shows that a liberal arts degree isn’t just about studying subjects you enjoy. It’s about gaining the skills to think broadly, adapt to unexpected opportunities and, ultimately, build a rewarding career in fields you may never have originally considered. Explore programs in the  School of Liberal Arts at GRCC. This story was reported by Jada Reahm.