News@ACC - Asnuntuck Community College

Phi Theta Kappa
Notice
Asnuntuck Community
College does not discriminate on the basis
of race, color, religious
creed, age, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin,
marital status, ancestry,
present or past history
of mental disorder,
learning disability or
physical disability, political belief, veteran
status, sexual orientation, genetic information, or criminal record. The following individuals have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the
non-discrimination policies: Cheryl Cyr, Title
IX Coordinator,
[email protected]
(860) 253-3045 and
Maki McHenry, Section
504/ADA Coordinator,
[email protected]
(860) 253-3021, Asnuntuck Community College, 170 Elm Street,
Enfield, CT 06082.
ISSUE
56
May
2014
Monthly
Newsletter for
Asnuntuck
Community
College
News@ACC
this issue
Student Success
Asnuntuck Community College’s Alpha Lambda Zeta Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK)
honor society held its induction ceremony on April 4th at the college.
Twenty six students were inducted into the prestigious group. Students included, Amber Badger, Jason Bullard, Krista Campisi, Marissa Campisi, Daniel Coffin, Brianna Cruz, Zlata Gallant,
Wendy Garcia, Nancy Gegesky, Melissa Laferriere, Jason Lindie, Nicholas Marocchini,
Heather McMahon, Katherine Mendelson, Monica Messenger, Roni-Sue Myles, Zachariah
Omary, Colleen Pauluh, Anthony Perrone, Eila Soikkeli, Rachael Strimaitis, Betty Taylor, Ryan
Tetrault, Hong Wang, Raquel White, and Jacqueline Yeo.
Representatives from ACC’s PTK attended the recent national PTK Conference in Orlando, FL.
Coach and Foley Honored by BOR
Michelle Coach and Teresa Foley are photographed with ConnSCU
President Gregory W. Gray at the Board of Regents Faculty Awards,
2013-14 Academic Year event held at Eastern Connecticut State University last month. Teresa (right) received a Scholarly Excellence Award
and Michelle (left) received both a Teaching Award and a Board of Regents System Teaching Award.
Photo by Joe Bleicher
News@ACC Issue 56 May, 2014
Room Dedicated in Memory of Sherry Gelbwasser
Sherry Gelbwasser, a librarian at ACC, passed away last April after a courageous battle with Cancer. The Asnuntuck
community came together last month to dedicate Gelbwasser’s former office into a quiet reading and study area for
both ACC students and children from ACC’s Children’s Reading Room. Gelbwasser’s brother Michael attended
the unveiling. Art students from the college painted a mural on all four walls of the room; paint and supplies were
donated by ACC co-workers and children’s books were donated by the Enfield Public Library and by Michael
Gelbwasser. The college donated the room’s furnishings. Photos by Julie Cotnoir
Dates to
Remember
5/12 Last day of classes
5/13-19 Final Exams
5/15 Awards Ceremony
5/22 Instructors Final
Grades due by noon
5/23Final grades can be
viewed online
5/26 Holiday-College
Closed
5/29 Commencement
6 p.m.
Children’s
Reading Room
ACC’s Children’s Reading
Room held their annual Easter
Egg Hunt. The Children’s
Reading Room is free of
charge for ACC students. The
Reading Room will be open
this summer for students enrolled in Summer Session.
Please contact Pam Keenan
([email protected]) to
learn more.
Photos by Julie Cotnoir
President’s Message
Club Information
Phi Theta Kappa has had a busy spring.
The honor society held its induction ceremony last month and several members
travelled to Orlando for the organization’s national conference last week. See
more photos inside.
Photo by Julie Cotnoir
Congratulations goes out to several Machine Tech students who were recently inducted into the International
Honor Society for Professions in Technology. They are
now members of Epsilon Pi Tau, Gamma Phi Chapter of
the College of Technology of The Community Colleges
of Connecticut. From left to right they are: Robert PeCommencement is just a couple of weeks away. It is
ters, Tod Southard, Joanne LaVertue, and James Buntscheduled for May 29th at 6 p.m. on the college’s rear
ing. Missing from the picture is a fifth recipient who
field. We have announced that Len and Cherylann Gen- could not attend, Jack Dempsey. Joanne LaVertue also
gel will be our Commencement Speakers. After suffer- received a $500 NASA Space Grant Scholarship to coning the loss of their 19 year old daughter during the
tinue her studies. The induction ceremony was attended
2010 earthquake in Haiti the couple followed through on by Rita Moriarty and Marisa Rubera.
their daughter’s last wish- sent via text message hours
before she died– and they built an orphanage in her
memory in Haiti. Please read more about their inspirational story at BeLikeBrit.org.
You may have noticed the construction going on recently. Ground was broken in the fall and building has begun for the new welding area of ACC.
I am pleased to inform you that Michaela Mullarkey is
the recipient of the 2014 Educational Excellence and
Distinguished Service Award. For the past 18 years, she
has been an example of excellence in service to the college, students, and community. Photo by Julie Cotnoir
I was fortunate enough to
have been asked to judge the
recent Ms. CT Senior America pageant here at ACC. I
am seen here with Ollie
Jones who won the competition and is also an ACC Alum!
Enrollment will increase from 60 full-time and college
connections students to closer to one hundred during the
2014-2015 school year. We will also be in a much improved environment to serve the needs of the incumbent
worker.
New equipment includes: industrial brake, shear, and
roll plus the plasma cutter and water jet and 12 additional welding stations. Photo by Joe Muller
STEAM Fair
The Arts at ACC
Volleyball
Student Success
Photo by Julie Cotnoir
Photo by Julie Cotnoir
ACC’s CCP Program
Hosted their annual
STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and
math) Fair for high school
students last month.
Photos by Julie Cotnoir
Webelos Visit
Webelos 1 Den visited
ACC. They saw a demonstration of how to use solid
works and the machines on
the floor . They were able
to make a tic-tac-toe board.
Photo by Joe Muller
ECE News
ACC’s Early Childhood
Education students visited
Bay Path College to learn
about transfer opportunities.
In other news, ECE students joined faculty at the
annual Preschool Fair at the
Enfield Square Mall.
ACC Student Jerry Fink’s art (left photo) is currently on display in the ACC Student Gallery. This
month features the Student Arts Showcase. A series of one-act plays will be held at 1 p.m. on May 6th
in the auditorium. A film marathon titled SciFi from Metropolis to War of the Worlds will be held on
May 7th in the auditorium from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.-5 p.m. Guitar II will hold their recital
on May 8th at 9:30 a.m. in the auditorium with Guitar I’s being held the same day at 11 a.m. The dance
showcase will be held on May 9th at 10 a.m. in the auditorium. The Student Art Exhibition (see photo,
far right) will be on display in the hallway near the library and auditorium through June 6th. Photos by
Julie Cotnoir
Freshwater
Fifteen years ago, Asnuntuck English Professor
Emerita Edwina Trentham began working with students in Poetry Magazine Production I and II. They
produced the college’s first Freshwater Poetry Journal. The Poetry Magazine Production three-credit
classes are limited to five students a semester, and
students read from 1,500 to 2,000 poems submitted by poets from throughout the United States
and the world. Trentham is retiring from Asnuntuck
in June, after twenty-five years of full-time teaching
and two years of part-time teaching. Freshwater
will continue under a new editor, who will also
teach the Poetry Magazine Production classes.
The Fifteenth Anniversary Freshwater Poetry Festival, celebrating the Fifteenth Anniversary Issue of
Freshwater, will take place on Friday, May 9th and
Saturday, May 10th. On Friday night at 7:00 p.m.,
Asnuntuck student Nicholas Ruel will play the piano
in Café II, and his performance will be followed by a
reading by the winners of the Twenty-Second Annual Student Poetry Contest, first prize winner Jay
Thumar of Middletown, who attends Asnuntuck
Community College part-time; second prize winner
Tyler Scott, from Central Connecticut State University and third prize winner Diana Goulding of Ellington High School. All three Honorable Mentions selected by the judge are Asnuntuck students. Jamie
Crepeau won first Honorable mention for his poem,
“Lonely Day”; second honorable mention Emilea
Gartrell won for her poem “The Ritual”; Third Hon-
orable Mention Julia Alexander won for her poem,
“Denotation.”
The three concurrent afternoon workshops will run
from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Workshops are $25.00
each or two workshops for $45.00. Students and
seniors pay $20.00 per workshop or $35.00 for two
workshops. The buffet lunch is available for $15.00.
Copies of Freshwater 2014: Fifteenth Anniversary
Issue, and Freshwater mugs, tote-bags, and teeshirts, together with books by the poets and a variety of books on writing, will be available for sale
throughout the day. CEU’s are available. More
information, including detailed descriptions of the
workshops, can be found on the Freshwater website, http://www.asnuntuck.edu/freshwater or contact Edwina Trentham at 860-253-3105 or [email protected].
Walter Bauer never dreamed that college would be a possibility for him. He headed to a broadcasting school a year after high school and had an internet radio show. He then decided to explore
the country. He headed to Arizona and Virginia. He came back to Connecticut in 2009 and at the
urging of a friend who was coming out of the Marines he decided to go to school. He started at
Asnuntuck in the Spring of 2011.
His First Year Experience class with Wendy Nelson provided the motivation he needed to continue. “Wendy treated me like an adult and worked me hard.” He said his connection to the college
strengthened when he joined ACC’s Student Senate in the Fall of 2013. The ACC student says he
has received additional support from the Dean of Student Services Katie Kelley and ACC’s Interim President Jim Lombella. He is using the radio skills he gained years ago in a new Student Senate project. Bauer and Student Senate President Jessica Pierce now host the Senate’s first radio
show on WACC 107.7. The show offers a way to keep students, staff, faculty and the public up to
date on the latest happenings on ACC’s campus.
A recent show focused on the topic of Autism. The radio show, which airs every other Wednesday from 1 p.m.-1:30 p.m., focused on the activities ACC was doing to promote Autism Awareness and also allowed families, including a former ACC student to share their triumphs and struggles they have had with their children who have autism.
Future plans for Bauer include majoring in psychology and minoring in drug and alcohol counseling. Bauer says ultimately he would like to earn a Masters from the University of North Carolina.
But for now he is content to continue his studies here at ACC. “It is a nice little gem-this school.”
Business Club
ACC’s new Volleyball Club
sponsored a faculty vs student competition last month
in the gym.
New Book
Photo by Julie Cotnoir
John Sheirer, ACC Professor
of English, has a new book.
Libby Speaks: The Wit and
Wisdom of the World's Wisest
Dog contains more than 100
photos and life lessons communicated by Libby, John's
happy and delightful Border
Terrier.
Libby Speaks is available
through Amazon.com. You
can follow Libby and John's
adventures at the book's Facebook page (https://
www.facebook.com/
LibbySheirer).
Health Fair
State of Connecticut
Employee & Retiree
Freshwater students work with Instructor Edwina
Trentham (far left) on preparations needed for
the upcoming Freshwater Festival. Photo by
Julie Cotnoir
Lisa Bonner made a second visit to ACC on April 9th to work with students.
The resume writing workshop was sponsored by ACC’s Business Club. Photo
by Julie Cotnoir
OPEN ENROLLMENT
HEALTH FAIR
May 15, 2014
9:00am – 11:00a.m. in ACC’s
gym.
ACC’s Medical Assistant students will be on hand for free
screenings.