BRCC EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION, INC
Fall 2019
BIOSCIENCES CENTER OPENS AT BRCC
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lue Ridge Community College has officially opened the doors to the newest building on its Weyers Cave campus, the Biosciences Center. A crowd of more than 100 gathered to celebrate and tour the building at the ribbon cutting and open house held on August 6. The 40,166-square-foot facility includes labs, classrooms, offices and collaborative spaces and is home to programs and classes in nursing and health care, biology and microbiology, EMS and paramedic, and bioprocessing. The Biosciences Center better enables BRCC to help build a needed pipeline of biotechnology talent to support industry and manufacturers in BRCC’s service region.
BRCC Educational Foundation Board Chair Mary Louise Leake, Vice Chair Matthias N. Smith, Secretary John A. Downey, Treasurer Cynthia F. Page Kelly R.S. Blosser Kenneth R. Boward Rob W. Cale
Karen C. Clark Kenneth S. Cleveland III Douglas G. Driver
Silvia T. Garcia-Romero Teresa H. Gauldin Mary McDermott
Thomas C. Mendez David R. Metz Tassie L. Pippert
Sacha Purciful Justin T. Rexrode William M. Saxman Jr.
Jerry D. Sheets Alan L. Shelton Linnea J. Spradlin
Ruth E. Jones Turner Pamela K. Ungar Andrew P. Vanhook
Community Link is an official publication of the Blue Ridge Community College Educational Foundation. It is distributed to friends in the Shenandoah Valley, as well as BRCC faculty and staff, and is published quarterly by the Development Office, Blue Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave, VA 24486. If you have any questions or comments regarding this publication, please contact Angie Glenn, Development Services Coordinator, at (540) 453-2307 or glenna@brcc.edu.
Meet Our New Foundation Board Members Dave Metz graduated from Purdue University, served in the Navy as a communications officer and received his MBA from James Madison University. Dave and his wife, Debbie, came to Staunton to start an equipment rental business, which they owned for almost 30 years. Dave obtained his Realtor license and has worked in that profession since 2007. He is a member of the Staunton Rotary Club, the Staunton Economic Development commission, and formerly served on the Staunton City Council. Dave and Debbie live in the upstairs of a building they renovated in downtown Staunton. Metz
Pippert
Rexrode
Tassie Pippert is a community advocate who has served, and continues to serve on many area boards. Tassie holds graduate degrees in Human Resources Development and Education and undergraduate degrees are in General Studies, Business, and Hospitality Leadership, and is one of two remaining founding Hospitality faculty members of the School of Hospitality, Sport, and Recreation Management at JMU. Tassie also served as the Director of Development for the College of Visual and Performing Arts at JMU, where she was responsible for raising the private funds to build the Forbes Center for Performing Arts. Tassie resides in Harrisonburg with her husband, Thomas. Justin Rexrode grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and graduated from Fort Defiance High School. He then graduated from Blue Ridge Community College in 2009, after which he transferred to the University of Virginia and earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 2011. Upon graduation, Justin began his present career working as a financial advisor for Edward Jones with an office in his hometown of Verona. In addition to acting as a financial advisor, he also acts as a new financial advisor coach and is a member of the Greater Verona Business Association. He is a former vice president of the Weyers Cave Lions Club. Justin resides in Mt. Sidney with his wife, Amy, and daughter, Emily. Andy Vanhook is an Imaginative Producer and Co-Founder of Appeal Production in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He is an alum of Mountain Empire Community College and Radford University. As an award-winning video producer for nearly 20 years, he’s worked in all aspects of producing video for clients in the Shenandoah Valley, across the Commonwealth of Virginia, around the country, as well as Central America, helping numerous companies and organizations to tell their unique story to their audience. Andy resides in Weyers Cave with his wife, Mistie Aistrop-Vanhook, a technology teacher in Staunton City Schools.
Vanhook
From Your BRCC Board Chair—Happy New Year Past and Future
H appy New Year from your Blue Ridge Community College Educational Foundation! New Year celebrations are
world-wide. Cultures, countries, religions recognize their New Year every month of the year. It may signify the beginning of a calendar year, fiscal year, or in our case, an academic year.
Mary Louise Leake, BRCC Educational Foundation Board Chair
Before we launch into 2019-20, let’s take a moment to review our accomplishments from the past year. We have many successes, and each have been achieved with your help. You are our investors and supporters of the students and communities we serve. You join our Educational Foundation Board members who work diligently to better programs, enhance funds, and make Blue Ridge Community College the best it can be.
One of our stellar achievements was that when our fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, our Educational Foundation realized the most successful fundraising year in our HISTORY! Raising more than $1.5 million, we exceeded our financial goal, garnered new donors, and saw increased attendance and revenue at our events. BRCC participated in the national “Great Colleges to Work For” survey. The survey was sent to 124,000 faculty/staff from 236 two and four year colleges. For the 10th time we made the list, the 7th on the Honor Roll as a top school in our size category. What has been the determining factor? The award is based on employee feedback. These accolades reflect how your work impacts our students, programs, volunteers and our region. Our faculty and staff transform lives by the work they do. In 2019, our president, Dr. John Downey, received a national award for college presidents. The award was presented by the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society to those “who have shown strong support of student success on the campus by recognizing academic achievement, leadership and service among high achieving students at their college”. Students nominate potential recipients, making this award even more prestigious. Dr. Downey was the ONLY Virginia recipient.
Dr. John Downey after accepting the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction.
We attained so many successes last year that motivate us to achieve more this year. We begin the 2019-20 academic year with a state-of-the-art Biosciences Center that truly impacts our students, faculty, programming, and the industries and workforce we serve. This is just one area of growth and potential we will see in 2020. I do hope you will join me and my fellow Educational Foundation Board members as we work to make this academic and philanthropic year our best ever!
BRCC Alumni Spotlight
Morgan Davis: An Advocate for Children
Left to right: Anne Holton (Former First Lady of VA, Tim Kaine’s wife, and founding director of the Great Expectations program), Morgan Davis, Robin Sullenberger (VCCS Board Chair), and Wendy Smith (BRCC Great Expectations Coach).
by Cathy Sliwoski
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organ Davis did not let the circumstances of a difficult childhood hold her back. In fact, she drew strength and focus from her younger years to shape her career goals. She graduated from Blue Ridge Community College’s Human Services program in May 2019, and is transferring to Mary Baldwin University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Social Work.
Expectations program helped ease the financial burden. Developing a close connection with her Great Expectations Coach, Wendy Smith, also increased her chances of success in college. “I think the Great Expectations program helped me be more successful,” Morgan says. “It was difficult juggling everything—work, motherhood, classes—but I’m glad I stuck with it.”
The difficulties Morgan experienced— hearing loss, a speech impairment, and time in foster care as a teenager—did not deter her but rather set her on a path to want to help others in similar situations. “I want to help children,” she says, “especially those with disabilities.”
Morgan believes that everyone needs a strong advocate, and for her, that person was an elementary school teacher named Barbara Blevins. Morgan still gets emotional remembering how much it meant to have someone recognize and believe in her potential.
During her studies at BRCC, which began in 2014, the Waynesboro High graduate worked two jobs, took three or four classes per semester, and raised her son, who will turn three in August. Scholarships she received through the Great
“The way she did her job really inspired me to work with children with disabilities,” Morgan says. “I want to be that advocate for other children, to make that kind of difference in their lives.”
“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”-Forest Witcraft, teacher/scholar
BRCC Alumni Spotlight
Phillip Sowers:: Degree in Mechanical Design Transfers Seamlessly by Cathy Sliwoski
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hillip Sowers pays attention to detail. He likes it when things are systematic, logical, and cost effective. He found all of that studying Mechanical Design Technology at Blue Ridge Community College. He graduated in 2017 and then transferred to Old Dominion University, recently completing a degree in Civil Engineering Technology with a concentration in structural engineering. “The Blue Ridge professors are excellent,” says Phillip. “They make time for you and get to know you as a person because of the small class sizes. They are passionate about their subjects.” Phillip, who was homeschooled, had grown up around the construction industry. His parents own Clearview Home Construction, Inc. in Elkton. His grandfather was a NASA engineer. The homeschooling curriculum encouraged problem solving and self-sufficiency: two attributes that served him well in the mechanical design and engineering programs. An added benefit of BRCC’s mechanical design degree is that the graduate is workforce ready. “I could have gone directly into the workforce, but I wanted to continue my schooling, so it’s great to have that flexibility,” Phillip notes. Both Phillip and his mother, Sharon, commented on the seamless transfer to ODU because of the “amazing” articulation agreement between the two schools. Phillip moved to Norfolk for his initial year in the ODU program. He says this allowed him to establish solid relationships with his professors there. He moved back to Elkton for his senior year and took online classes, which he viewed live. “I could ask questions and interact with the professors and the class,” he says. Phillip earned a 3.98 GPA and garnered the 2019 ODU Civil Engineering Technology Faculty Award. His long-term career goals are to earn his Professional Engineering License and to work in commercial or bridge structural design for a company with growth potential. Phillip enjoys the challenge of bridge design, and while in Jonathan Brumfield’s Parametric Solid Modeling class at BRCC, he won the class competition to design a small 3D-printed bridge that could hold the most weight. Phillip uses words like “thorough,” “knowledgeable,” and “hands on” to describe his instructors and the curriculum at BRCC. “Everything tied together nicely to help me realize my goal of being a wellrounded engineer,” Phillip says.
25th Annual Spring Fling Auction April 17, 2020, 6:00 p.m., Robert E. Plecker Workforce Center
Save the Date!
Blue Ridge Community College Educational Foundation, Inc. P. O. Box 80 Weyers Cave, VA 24486 (540) 453-2211 www.brcc.edu/EdFound Non Profit Org. U. S. Postage and Fees Paid BRCC