TCC Magazine

Tacoma Community College SPRING 2011

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Scholarships – The Road to Success

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Universal Design for Learning

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Launched from TCC Aerospace Scholar heads for NASA

Meeting the challenge of our diverse and growing student population

TCC student Clark Hernandez discovered his passion for teaching while coaching football at O’Dea High School in Seattle. But when he decided to return to college and earn his teaching credentials, he found that in spite of a university background, he didn’t have the academic preparation for college. He enrolled in developmental classes at TCC, and quickly moved to TCC’s university transfer program, where he is now preparing himself for acceptance to Seattle University next fall.

Clark says that at TCC he has been able to take advantage of relevant coursework and the personal support he needed to step into his chosen future. You can read more about Clark on page 3 of this magazine.

Clark is one of thousands of students who enter TCC each year to prepare for future careers, and find programs tailored to their interests, program requirements and learning styles.

As the economy slowly recovers, shortages continue to increase in fields like accounting; nursing and other health occupations, technology, engineering and others—shortages that community colleges have the greatest ability to address quickly and affordably. The trend is expected to continue. Jobs that require at least one year of college or a specialized certificate will account for 42 percent of job openings over the next six years.

Despite the deepest budget cuts in TCC’s 46-year history, TCC’s quality of instruction has remained high. Faculty and staff continuously take advantage of current research to improve teaching and learning and enhance student outcomes. (See “Universal Design for Learning” on page 2 for one example.)

Maintaining quality and serving community need continues to be a difficult challenge. We have eliminated 74 full-time positions throughout the college since staff reductions began three years ago. For 2011-13 the college is facing a range of budget reductions from a low of $4.6 million (21%) to a high of $7.2 million (31%).

At the same time, the line of students enrolling at TCC continues to grow. Almost as quickly as registration opens each quarter, students standing in line to sign up for classes find that many courses they need are full.

We have moved past the point where we can meet the burgeoning education and training needs of our community. This year, even though the state continues to fund the Worker Retraining Program, students in the program are often faced with closed classes before they can even start training for new careers. This is devastating on both the human and economic levels.

The quality of our future depends on our ability to weather this economic storm and continue to provide the strong education and training programs for which we are known. We remain committed to doing the most we possibly can with the resources we have.

Dr. Pamela J. Transue, President Tacoma Community College ii

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TCCMagazine Volume 3, No. 2

Editor Writers

Sidnee Wheelwright Rachel Payne Dale Stowell Sidnee Wheelwright

Design Photography

Sakura Moses Sidnee Wheelwright Rachel Payne Stuart Isset

TCC Magazine is published biannually by Marketing, Communication & Outreach/ IAF, Tacoma Community College, 6501 South 19th Street, Tacoma WA 98466.

While every effort is made to ensure accuracy of all printed information, TCC Magazine assumes no liability for errors in editorial content. No portion of this publication may be duplicated or reprinted without written permission from the publisher.

Send address changes to: TCC Magazine, 6501 S. 19th St., Tacoma WA 98466 or marketing@tacomacc.edu. Be sure to include both old and new addresses.

Contents Universal Design for Learning...........2 A Formula for Successful Learning............................4 Aerospace Scholars Get a Jump Start..................................6 Not a Second Choice - A Better Choice.................................7 Clay Club - more than art for art’s sake.......................................16 TCC Events Calendar.........................18 Celebrate!..........................Back Cover

CORPORATE EDUCATION 2010-2011 Corporate Education Regional Clients...................................8 Learning to be ‘change agents’....................................9

FOUNDATION Tacoma Wine Classic Goes Vintage......................................12 Giving the chance..............................13 Hats and Mittens Forever.................13

TCC ATHLETICS Push, Pressure, Practice ...

No compromises................................14 tcc mission statement:

TCC creates meaningful and relevant learning, inspires greater equity, and celebrates success in our lives and our communities.

accreditation:

Tacoma Community College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

TCC Volleyball Players Sign Letters of Intent.........................15

on the cover: All-Washington Scholar Jewel Melvin thanks the community at the Tacoma Wine Classic May 7.

Melvin overcame great obstacles to finish high school as a TCC Running Start student and then complete her nursing prerequisites at TCC. The recipient of several TCC scholarships, she will begin at UW Tacoma this fall.

See more on page 10 and back cover.

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Instructor Julie Benson uses UDL in her nursing classes.

Universal Design for Learning An initiative at Tacoma Community College is guiding instructors to adapt their teaching methods so people with a wide range of learning styles—even those who have struggled in the past—can shine in the classroom.

An Open Door— Tacoma Community College is an ‘open door’ institution, charged with meeting the educational and career development needs of all adults in the community. This open door stance means that along with attracting highly-prepared university transfer students, the college also admits and serves a large portion of students who begin their studies unprepared for the rigors of college-level coursework. In fact, 63 percent of entering TCC students require developmental education courses in English, math, and/or reading during their first year.

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At the same time, it’s critical for all students to quickly— and successfully—complete developmental education courses and move to college level instruction, regardless of prior preparation. To meet this challenge, TCC is increasingly using the idea of ‘universal access’ rather than ‘remediation’ when designing courses for under-prepared students—and highly-prepared students as well.

Universal access increasingly means not just eliminating physical barriers, but also eliminating the learning—and emotional—barriers that can keep students from accomplishing their goals.

Universal Access Universal Design for Learning (UDL) concepts were first used at Tacoma Community College, with outside funding, as a pilot project to improve student access.

“The word ‘access’ is what this project is really all about,” said Candyce Rennegarbe, TCC’s Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Coordinator. “It’s so easy to do that here at TCC because we have an amazing community – the philosophy about creating access is shared.”

The term “universal design” is borrowed from the movement in architecture and product development that calls for curb cuts, automatic doors, video captioning, speakerphones, and other features to accommodate a vast variety of users, including those with disabilities. Universal Design for Learning recommends ways to design college courses that not only give students access

“(Students) see that we’ve set this up for them to be successful; and they feel that they can succeed.

I think the biggest thing is that they feel strongly that instructors care.”

—Julie Benson

to content and facts, but they “learn how to learn” – to ask questions, find information, and use that information effectively.

Much like architectural and product accommodations, UDL principles work for a broad spectrum of capable learners, as well as those needing special accommodation to succeed.

Drawing from brain research, Universal Design for Learning is guided by three primary principles for accessible course design: • Representation: Provide information in multiple formats and media (text, video, audio).

As an example, many UDL instructors post their lecture notes and PowerPoint slides on a website for students to review later. Some also record their lectures and make them available online, as well as videos with course-related content.

• Expression: Provide multiple pathways for student action and expression. For example: oral presentations, group tests, or students writing their own tests.

• Engagement: Provide multiple ways to engage students’ interest and motivation.

To increase engagement, instructors may conference regularly with small groups of students, and/or have students work together in supportive small-group teams during the quarter. Learning research suggests that how a student feels about the learning environment can make the difference between success and failure.

“More than anything, students need caring relationships with the people who are guiding their studies,” says Mary Chikwinya, Vice President for Student Services. “The skills and relationships students develop here help them hang in there through their critical first years of college.”

Reducing Barriers to Learning Nursing instructor Julie Benson is one of 65 instructors at TCC who employ UDL techniques in their classrooms. Says Benson: “UDL is looking at how I can set up the classroom in a way that some piece works for everyone. They see that we’ve set this up for them to be successful, and they feel they can succeed.” Benson notes that each change in instructional design may seem small, but the consequences to student learning can be significant – raising

successful student completion rates by several percentage points.

“I think the biggest thing is that they feel strongly that instructors care,” says Benson.

A nursing student responds to questions about hand washing protocols.

Course design strategies like UDL, along with other collegewide teaching and learning initiatives, are “part of a powerful and effective multi-intervention strategy at TCC,” says Chikwinya.

They are designed to streamline the learning process, and allow students to enter college-level classes in a timely way, knowing where they are going and how to get there.

i

National Universal Design for Learning Task Force

http://www.advocacyinstitute.org/UDL/index.shtml Rose and Meyer, An Introduction to Universal Design for Learning, 2009.

ii

CAST Universal Design for Learning: The Learning Brain.

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http://4.17.143.133/udl/TheLearningBrain10.cfm

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UDL UDL UDL UDL UDL

“UDL techniques don’t just help the student get organized and manage time.

It helps the teacher structure the learning experience.”

—Clark Hernandez

Clark Hernandez

A Formula for Success

Before Clark Hernandez returned to college to earn a teaching certificate, he worked for 22 years in the security business. “I traveled around the world, and met the famous—and infamous. It was fun and interesting,” he says.

For the last 15 years Hernandez has also coached football. He coaches at O’Dea High School in Seattle, where his two sons Niko, 17 and Michael, 15 attend. “I love to work with the kids—and to follow their progress through their athletic careers.” It was his success with young people on the field that helped him decide to earn his teaching credentials.

But first he had to catch up—“re-educate myself.” Clark tested below college level when he entered TCC in spite of his years at Arizona State University. “It was a humbling experience—clearly there were things I needed to learn.”

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It was in Sabine Endicott’s English 75 class that Hernandez saw Universal Design for Learning in action. Sabine’s class is a microcosm of the struggles of life—the unemployed, young students unprepared for college work, service people returning from war, English as a Second Language students—and people like himself—experienced adults returning to school for new careers.

From Hernandez’ perspective, UDL is an organizing, prioritizing and time-management tool.

“Sabine’s class was structured, but we could stay on course and relate it to what we’re sharing with each other. The entire class embraced this formula for success,” says Clark. “We formed a bond.

We were a bunch of strangers and we helped each other succeed. I still see those students on campus, and in class. They’re still succeeding.”

Universal Access means not just eliminating physical barriers on campus, but also eliminating the learning —and emotional—barriers that can keep students from accomplishing their goals.

Sabine Endicott, instructor, English 85 “UDL techniques don’t just help the student get organized and manage time. It helps the teacher structure the learning experience,” says Hernandez. “The teacher isn’t shooting from the hip. You know what to show up with—and what they’re going to show up with.”

After he finished Sabine’s class, Hernandez tested into English 101, college-level English, and began to apply UDL techniques to his other courses at TCC. “It’s a wonderful model to use to help students get organized and succeed at the college level,” he says.

Hernandez sees UDL as a model for life, too. “At the college level, we’re moving into a first career or on to a new career. We have to wear so many hats, and we need to organize ourselves. Candyce (Rennegarbe) carefully thought out those things that would help students succeed in class—and in life.”

Like “Junie.” Says Hernandez: “She came back from the war with shrapnel in her brain. She’s an RN who is having to retrain her brain. Her saving grace was to have these techniques to help her.

She says she still refers back to Sabine’s class.”

Hernandez tutors at the Writing Center two days a week, working toward becoming a certified tutor.

It’s a marketable skill he can take with him when he transfers to Seattle University next year. “I’m not an academic,” says Hernandez. “I’m a handson educator. I’m into tapping a person’s passion and sending them in the right direction. When I get into teaching I’m going to adopt this. It’s a formula for success.”

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Aerospace Scholars get a jump start…with a little help from NASA TCC engineering student Eric Shear’s goal is to be an aerospace engineer. He moved a bit closer to that goal last fall when he was accepted into the National Community College Aerospace Scholars program. Funded by NASA and administered through the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the program is designed to introduce community college students to careers in science and engineering.

Eric Shear describes his NASA experience for the TCC Board of Trustees, assisted by sign language interpreter Tara Martin.

Each of the 250 students selected for the on-site project completed an online training program administered by NASA. The top 89 students from the online program were then selected to travel to either the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston or the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama for a threeday experience. At the Center, students were broken into four teams with each team developing a fictional company with a CEO, project engineer, procurement manager, and a system manager (Eric). Eric’s team had six people, including two sign language interpreters for Eric, who is deaf.

Says Eric: “You didn’t need to be an engineering student to apply. My team had one math major, one nursing major, one pharmacy major—the rest being in engineering and physics.” Each team built a Mars rover from scratch to be driven through an obstacle course.

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Building team skills After that three-day experience, Eric and his team submitted a new proposal that, if accepted, would be tested by the team at JSC this summer. When their proposal was accepted by NASA earlier this year, Eric remembers being, “not nervous—excited!”

As Eric explains it, this time around his team will investigate how water adheres to the fuel cell membrane in microgravity. “The membrane is the critical part of the fuel cell,” says Eric, “since it is the part that splits the water.”

NASA is building the zero gravity chamber the team will use in their experiments.

They will be in Houston for 10 days, beginning June 15. Says Eric: “This length of time is necessary because we will undergo training for the microgravity experience and to fine tune our experiment.”

Eric is team leader, which involves writing a technical description of the experiment and its supporting hardware—which he has been putting together at the same time he’s finishing his coursework at TCC.

More than hands-on learning With the assistance of his sign language interpreter Tara Martin, Eric explained how the space shuttle runs on fuel cells, which are kept wet under lower pressure to fit into a smaller system.

Martin and fellow interpreter Dara Burlingame are his regular TCC interpreters, and Tara has been with him all the years he’s been at TCC. “He is very high

level…our top student,” says Tara. She says she has needed no special engineering training for Eric’s classes. “I don’t study.

I learn from Eric.”

Dr. Rebecca

At Peninsula High School Eric was the only deaf person. “It’s as good as a high school can get,” says Eric. Thinking back though, he says he wishes he had entered TCC as a Running Start student. “At TCC the experience for students is very healthy. Teachers care a lot about their students, and (engineering instructor) Dr. Sliger is an excellent teacher. She’s tough, challenging— but she explains things very well.”

curriculum.

Sliger teaches courses at every level of the engineering

Not a second choice—a better choice Small classes, broad offerings and strong preparation programs give TCC engineering students a head start in their chosen field—long

Eric says he was also the only deaf student in the program at Houston. “NASA was nice enough to pay for the two interpreters who came with me from TCC. But for our summer microgravity experiment, I will be relying on interpreters from Houston.”

before they transfer into university programs.

The TCC Foundation has agreed to pay Eric’s airfare and interpreter expenses. A $1,000 grant from the Washington NASA Space Grant at University of Washington will cover additional expenses like food and ground transportation.

develop the necessary skills and disciplines for a successful career

Eric will complete his studies at TCC in June with an Associate of Science in Engineering transfer degree. He says he’s still applying to 4-year schools with aeronautical engineering programs. “I’m applying to a number of programs out of the state,” says Eric. “A few are even in Canada. I’m taking no chances.”

committed to getting to know students, so when opportunities come

In addition to the sequenced classes in mathematics, physics, and engineering science, the college also offers specialized preparation classes for students who lack the necessary engineering prerequisites, or who need a review before beginning the engineering program.

Prospective engineering majors who enroll in Engineering 104 in the field of engineering. “The 104 classes are generally full and wait listed,” notes engineering instructor Rebecca Sliger. “But once they get into the program, students find that TCC engineering is not a second choice—it can be a better choice.”

By the time they get to 200-level courses, “classes are small,” says Sliger. “Often there are under 15 students in each class. We are up, we know what interests them and we can let them know quickly.”

In Washington state there is a high level of coordination between the community colleges and the universities in engineering. “All students in the state take the same fundamentals,” says Sliger, “200-level engineering classes cover the same material, whether taken at TCC or at a university.”

Students who transfer from TCC to a university statistically perform at the same level—or higher—compared to students who began their studies at a university. “I’m proud of how our students do when they continue to the 4-years,” says Sliger.

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corporate & continuing education

Regional Clients 2010-2011 The Boeing Company Bradken - Atlas BP Chehalis Lucky Eagle Casino City of Tacoma Columbia Bank Community Health Care Concrete Technology Corporation Franciscan Health Systems General Plastics Mfg. Co. Goodwill Tacoma Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) WorkForce Central Metro Parks Tacoma Mitco, Ltd. Nisqually Red Wind Casino Orting School District Pierce Transit Port of Tacoma Safeway Schnitzer Steel Industries SEIU Silver Reef Casino/Lummi Commercial Co. Tacoma Public Schools Washington State Dept. of Personnel Metropolitan Development Council

Ron Asahara, Director Corporate Education rasahara@tacomacc.edu 253.460.4469

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Learning to be ‘change agents’ When Peggy Rouch took over the helm of Mitco Limited’s Sumner plant last year, she knew she needed to pull her employees together. She saw the potential in her people, and wanted to improve how the supply chain management plant worked, with the talent she had.

Rouch had heard about a state-supported customized training program for local businesses, and met with TCC’s Corporate and Continuing Education account supervisor Ron Asahara. They worked together to identify employee issues and then designed a program to address them. Asahara recommended the Supervisor & Manager Course, an on-site series they customized to cover the skills and proficiencies Mitco’s employees needed to effectively meet the challenges of their growing industry.

Peggy selected people for the supervisor and manager course who already held leadership positions within the company.

The Supervisor and Manager course customized for Mitco operates on the belief that effective supervisors are made, not created at birth; that there are a series of management skills that can be taught, such as planning and organizing, staffing and evaluating, delegating and inspiring. The program uses ‘Smart Goals’ to introduce accountability—and move people from a task orientation to a big-picture orientation.

The eleven Mitco employees selected for the program were paid by Mitco while they were in class; the state paid the college to staff and run the program.

“Mitco employees embraced the training,” says Rouch. “When we started, most weren’t thinking beyond today, or beyond the task.” They learned that they could be change agents—they could push forward change and be accountable for that.”

Changes in the company—changes in themselves

For Owen, the practice of “delegation and communication – putting into practice what I’ve learned in this class,” made her want to take herself further. “It gives me the desire to continue my education; it fired in me a desire for more … maybe even going back to college.”

The Mitco program designed by Corporate and Continuing Education included an introduction to TCC’s Transportation and Secure Logistics program, now an option in TCC’s Business Associate of Applied Science degree, which prepares students for careers in transportation, warehousing and inventory control. With its focus on efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services and information and the security issues that are a growing part of it, it’s a program tailor-made for South Puget Sound area businesses.

“This program offers sustainability in our own jobs,” says Owen. “This feels GOOD! It’s been a long time since I was in school and it makes me feel sharper.

You learn to reach out and make a difference.”

Shannon Owen, a transload supervisor who has been at Mitco since 2005, can see the change in her coworkers, and in herself, since beginning the Supervisor & Manager course. “The core group in the class, we’ve worked together for years.

But I wouldn’t say effectively. This gave us a sense of teamwork that we didn’t have. You have to be ready for education, and we were at a place where we were all ready to do this.”

Shannon Owen Mitco Transload Supervisor

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The Road to Success Tacoma Wine Classic goes Vintage The TCC Foundation presented the South Puget Sound’s premiere wine event—the 11th Annual Tacoma Wine Classic—on May 7 at the Marymount Event Center—bringing together two foundations dedicated to a seriously important business—education.

The event raised $122,000, according to Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dan Small, with net proceeds going to support student programs and scholarships. More than 200 participants from the community and the college had the chance to bid on silent and live auction items while tasting premium wines from eight Washington wineries, with dinner catered by Snuffin’s of Gig Harbor and table wines donated by Hedges Cellars.

At TWC 2011, guests were treated to live music by the Kings of Swing in the old gymnasium; guests could wander the adjoining rooms, filled with restored vintage automobiles—from an 1886 Benz PatentMotorwagen to a 1964 Cadillac Series 62 Deville.

2011 is the first year the Wine Classic has been held at The Marymount, a “hidden gem” located on 80 historic and well-tended acres in the Parkland area, once the site of the Marymount Military Academy.

Marymount was purchased by the LeMay family in 1979 and is now managed by the LeMay Family Collection Foundation. What was to become the largest privately-owned collection of vintage vehicles in the world—and a national treasure—started out as Harold LeMay’s part-time hobby of restoring vehicles from salvaged parts from the family’s wrecking yard.

The Tacoma Wine Classic supports the education of TCC students in the form of scholarships, faculty development, library acquisitions, childcare for student parents and worker retraining. Through events like the Wine Classic, and with the support and generosity of local donors, the TCC Foundation funds over $204,000 in scholarships for over 100 TCC students each year.

To learn more about the TCC Foundation, go to: www.tacomacc.edu/foundation. To learn more about the LeMay Family Collection Foundation or Marymount, goto http://www.lemaymarymount.org/.

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Giving the chance ...

Doctors Les and Estelle Reid have built their lives around the good fortune of a solid education. Now through the Tacoma Community College Foundation they’re helping local students do the same.

“Education is at the crux of what’s going to happen to our future—individually and collectively. It’s the bedrock.”

Dr. Les Reid

Dr. Les Reid, a graduate of Dartmouth, was the first in his family to finish college. Dr. Estelle Reid was a student at the University of Washington Medical School when she met Les while skiing at Sun Valley. Both finished their medical school training at Johns Hopkins; Estelle in the specialized field of ear, nose and throat plastic surgery, Les in cardio-pulmonary.

After finishing medical school, they started their practice in Aberdeen, WA. “We were a small business. We were on call for weeks at a time…” says Les.

Around 1987 Les became medical director for Pierce County Medical, and started growing the earnings they were too busy to spend. When they retired—Estelle in 1995, Les in 2000—they settled down in Tacoma.

The Reids also own a condo in Sun Valley, Idaho where they first met.

“We have been fortunate, both personally and financially,” says Les. And while they’re in Tacoma, “we’re in a philanthropic, payback mode.”

They started with the Tacoma Art Museum, where there’s an active program for school kids. “It’s an educational museum, with programs in the community—it’s basically kids ‘learning through play,’” says Estelle.

While the couple has endowed scholarships at Dartmouth, “we decided it was time to start building from the base of the pyramid; to start where the people are,” says Les. This is the third year they have provided scholarships for TCC students. “Community colleges fulfill an incredible educational role… the biggest role,” says Les. The Reids contribute their time and money to education where they think their support will make the biggest difference. And they both agree on this: “there’s ample evidence that given the chance people will change their situation through education.”

Hats and mittens forever Students struggle to stay in school while funds to assist them melt away. For the students who are parents—trying to keep their children warm and fed while they’re working and going to school is a struggle.

This struggle isn’t lost on Tacoma philanthropist Babe Lehrer. She saw that many of the 88 children at TCC’s Early Learning Center come from homes of limited income, and she decided to put her considerable energies behind the idea of keeping TCC’s kids warm.

Early in 2011 she started Babe’s Mitten and Cap Club. The cost to become a member is $26—the number of years she’s has been on the TCC Foundation Board of Directors. She suggests donations in dollars—in increments of $26.

But some of the donations have been more direct. The hats and mittens on these ELC kids were knitted by hand for Babe’s Club by the mom of one of the ELC Staff.

That works for Babe, too. “See a child who needs a coat; buy a coat; give it to the child,” she says.

Simple. Problem solved.

Babe’s ultimate goal is to raise $26,000 to endow a special emergency fund for children attending the Early Learning Center. That way, TCC’s kids can be sure of warm hands and heads pretty much forever.

Donations may be sent to: Babe’s Mitten and Cap Club, c/o TCC Foundation, Bldg. 6, 6501 S. 19th St., Tacoma, WA 98466-9901.

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Push, Pressure, Practice…

TCC is serious about basketball.

Under the watchful eye of Athletics Director and Head Coach Carl Howell, the team has become known throughout the country for consistently producing Division 1 and II college players.

No compromises

Most of TCC’s basketball players are recruited, and dedication to the team is big. “In this program, we’re trying to get the best kids in our area who are really tough and can get better,” says Howell.

One of these “kids” is Jordan Coby, who was recruited out of Wilson High School in 2009.

“Coby was talented in high school. He fit with our player profile—an athletic, tough kid who can take the pressure we put on them in practice, and the push we put on academics.”

Coby remembers coming to TCC as “a welcoming experience.”

He says people were there “to help me out, answer questions.”

He had been recruited by a local university, but wanted to go on to a higher level of basketball.

“And Coach Howell has a history of bringing people to the next level,” says Coby.

Already strong academically, Coby thrived in class and completed his two-year transfer degree program in just five quarters. “I’m well prepared in basketball and academics,” says Coby. “The experience carries through.”

In February, Coby signed a national letter of intent to play basketball with Central Washington University next fall.

Signing with him was teammate

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Chris Holmes, who was named Northwest Division MVP this season. Holmes and Coby like the idea that they’re both going to Central. “We’re on the same page,” says Coby. “We’re from different backgrounds, but that doesn’t matter. We have similar personalities, and we’re here for the same things.”

Says Howell: “We find players who fit our system. This is college athletics. We have scholarships to offer. There are other programs for those who want to play recreational ball.”

Tough kids, fast game Assistant Coach and former TCC basketball player R. Jay Barsh presides over the TCC gym in summer. That’s when current and former players drop in for an intense workout that draws more than TCC players.

According to the Bleacher Report (Feb. 9, 2011) players known to have worked out in the TCC gym with Barsh include Abdul Gaddy and Isiah Thomas of UW, Rodney Stuckey of the Detroit Pistons, Avery Bradley of the Boston Celtics… players that offer a fast game—and a challenge to the newly-recruited Titans, who themselves represent the top local talent from area high school programs.

This year the Titan men finished NWAACC league play 16-0— first in division. “We’ve won six of the last 8 years, and we’ve been good every one of those 8 years,” says Howell. “Our deal is consistency, I enjoy TCC because we have a better chance to change lives here than with most schools.”

TCC Volleyball Players Sign National Letters of Intent

L to R: Alexandra Zawadzki, Jaclyn Trinque

Two TCC volleyball players sign national letters of intent to play volleyball at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. …and two more makes five Jaclyn Trinque, a 5’10” sophomore setter from Bethel High School and outside hitter Alex Zawadzki from Lakes High School, signed national letters of intent on April 14th to play volleyball at the University of Arkansas at Monticello next season. Trinque was named to the NWAACC 1st Team All Western Region this season. Zawadzki, a 6’0” outside hitter, received the all-league first team award and the Mastery in Health and Human Services award. Both will play for the NCAA Div. II Cotton Blossoms for the 2011-12 volleyball season.

Trinque and Zawadzki are part of the Lady Titans’ outstanding sophomore class, which was a powerhouse all during their flawless (12-0) 2010-11 season. All have been picked up by four-year programs.

The class includes outside hitter Brandy Iverson, who led the conference in kills, and was named NWAACC West Region’s Most Valuable Player for 2010. Last November Iverson signed a “full ride” National Letter of Intent to play for Eastern Washington University.

Team captain and middle blocker Katie Hildebrandt from Fife High School made West Region All-Stars second team during the 2010 season, and has been picked up by Central Washington University, where she will play with the Wildcats next fall. Libero Allison Beardsley from Fife High School was voted All Defensive West Region player four times during 2010-2011 season, and was picked up by Jamestown College in North Dakota in January.

With the signing of Trinque and Zawadzki, 100 percent of TCC’s sophomore volleyball class has successfully moved to the next level of athletics and academics in their college careers. Volleyball coach Angela Spoja, who has moved 17 TCC athletes to the next level of competition in her five years at TCC, says, “I am very proud of these ladies. Their dedication to the volleyball program and in the classroom is reflected in their scholarship opportunities.”

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Clay Club—more than art for art’s sake Most serious potters don’t give up their day jobs. Or they get their masters and teach. Or they live far off the grid. Or they marry someone who has a real job.

Potters in Tacoma have yet another choice—they can join the TCC Clay Club.

The club, and TCC’s ceramics program, is for registered TCC students. But the backbone of the club—and possibly the ceramics program itself—is the seasoned

potters who enroll as students in just one TCC class every quarter.

Some have been enrolling in Art 299—Special Problems in Ceramics—for up to two decades.

They are dedicated potters like Rebecca Smart, who enrolled in the college’s pottery series back in the early 90s, and just kept coming. Smart was the club’s first president. “It was Pottery Guild when I first started,” she says.

According to Jill Rohrbaugh, a Clay Club member for 13 years, the reason a community of skilled potters has grown up around Art 299 is “a good studio, good people, good instructors.”

Rohrbaugh says she started as a traditional student—“then I took pottery.”

Clay Club members say their dedicated ceramics community all began with F. Carlton Ball, a nationally-known ceramics instructor and gifted potter who taught for more than 50 years at universities around the U.S. After a long tenure at the University of Puget Sound, Bell completed his career as an instructor and artist in residence at Tacoma Community College.

Ball inaugurated TCC’s Clay Club back in the late 1980s according to Rick Mahaffey, ceramics instructor at TCC since 1991, and chairman of the art department. Ball also left a legacy of work—his pieces have appeared in over 500 museums— and he left generations of followers around the country.

Some are the students he taught at UPS and TCC.

Ceramics by Melissa Balch.

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Mahaffey, and fellow TCC ceramics instructor Reid Ozaki, who were both trained in ceramics under Ball at University of Puget Sound, teach several sections of ceramics in one big class that incorporates students from beginning ceramics through Art 299—Mahaffey during the day and Ozaki at night.

It was the pottery students’ idea to start a scholarship fund for future pottery students, according to Mahaffey.

Proceeds from events like the Clay Club Pottery Sale each spring go to pay for art scholarships.

The money is invested by the TCC Foundation, where it builds up, like an endowment. Some goes to the potters for supplies – like clay, glazes and tools. Some pays for outside workshops, which bring potters here from Japan, England, and around the Northwest. These workshops are for students, but the community can participate as well.

For new students, the Clay Club pottery sales in June and December are an opportunity to set up and participate in a sale of their own work, according to Smart. For seasoned students like Smart, enjoyment in pottery comes from the making.

“We add a lot to the program.

We help students. They see us getting things made. And they help us too.”

Clay Club Pottery Sales held June and December at The Gallery at TCC Proceeds support art students and art scholarships.

Rebecca Smart in Art 299 night class.

Smart was Clay Club’s first president.

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TCC Events Calendar June 10

TCC Jazz Band

June

Thursday, June 10, 7:30 p.m.

Bldg. 3 Auditorium

Date

Time

Place

10

7:30 p.m.

Bldg. 3 Auditorium

11

10 a.m.

Tacoma Convention Center

13

Listen to the great sound of a jazz big band!

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July

www.tacomacc.edu

25 & 26

Gig Harbor

June 27-August 11

The Gallery at TCC

1 5

June 13

Building Renumbering Day

August

TCC will renumber some of their buildings so they are located in numeric order. A bonus for visitors and students alike!

September

19

12:30 p.m.

Sept. 15-Oct. 21

Allenmore Golf Course

The Gallery at TCC

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June 20

New Website

June 27

Photo by William Mitchell

Watch for TCC’s new website! www.tacomacc.edu

Photography Exhibition June 27-August 11 10 a.m.-4 p.m., The Gallery at TCC Alice Di Certo, Kyle Dillehay, Melanie Johnson & William Mitchell

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June 11

TCC Jazz Band TCC Commencement Building Renumbering Day TCC’s new website launch Gig Harbor Garden Tour Faculty Art Exhibition TCC Foundation Summer Scholarship Round Begins Summer quarter begins Golf Tournament

Art by Pat Meras

Event

Gig Harbor Garden Tour

June 25 June 26

Saturday, June 25 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sunday, June 26 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Gig Harbor 14th Annual Tour for Literacy.

Support educational programs for children and adults in the greater Gig Harbor and Key peninsula area. www.gigharborgardentour.com

All proceeds benefit student athletic scholarships.

9th Annual Juried Art Exhibition Fall quarter begins

TCC Golf Tournament

Aug. 19

Friday, August 19 Allenmore Public Golf Course

September 19

10th Annual TCC Golf Tournament Revenue from the tournament benefits TCC intercollegiate athletic programs and supports student athlete scholarships. www.tacomacc.edu/athletics

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IBC

6501 S. 19th St. I Tacoma WA 98466 www.tacomacc.edu

Diversity Film Festival at the Grand Cinema TCC and Tacoma’s Grand Cinema joined forces in April to present TCC’s inaugural Diversity Film Festival in downtown Tacoma. Previously presented on the TCC campus, the Festival moved to The Grand after the college’s film diversity committee approached The Grand’s executive director Philip Cowan, who helped navigate TCC’s team through the process. The six films, and the Q&A sessions afterward, were well attended—and often sold out

Kitakyushu University Students Raise Funds for Japan, then Graduate

TCC Basketball Western Region Championships—again

Less than a week after the devastating earthquake struck Japan in March, TCC’s international students from Kitakyushu had raised over $5,000 for disaster relief. TCC’s International students from Kitakyushu and Kunsan National University in Korea graduated Friday March 19 from their six-month cultural program at Tacoma Community College. A private donor matched their funds with another $5,000 donation. The money they collect was sent to the American Red Cross for Japan through TCC. The University of Kitakyushu has sent groups of students to TCC since 2004.

Number one ranked TCC Men’s basketball made history in March by becoming the first NWAACC men’s basketball team to ever finish 16-0 in league play. Titan men have won Western Region Championships 6 out of the last 8 years under Coach Carl Howell. The Titans then took fourth in the Northwest Athletic Association for Community Colleges All League tournament. Three Titan men were named to the Western All Stars team: sophomores Jordan Coby #5, Chris Holmes #10 (Western Region MVP); and Brandon Magee #23.

Sophomore Geoff Mcintosh #32 and freshman Dominique Williams #2 were honorable mentions.

TCC Names All Washington Scholars TCC sophomores Jewel Melvin and Malia Jewel Malia Ramos were named All Washington scholars for 2011, attending a ceremony to honor all 63 scholars from 33 of the state’s community and technical colleges at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia. Jewel Melvin is working toward a pre-nursing transfer degree and plans to go on to nursing school—either at PLU or Eastern Washington University. She holds a 3.71 gpa.

Malia Ramos is president of CASA and the Asian Pacific Islander Club, and is involved in campus cancer awareness projects, including Relay for Life and Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Malia plans to work toward a master’s degree in Communications. She holds a 3.68 gpa.