Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Volunteer at the 2011 Marine Corps Half Marathon

The Germanna Student Veteran’s Association needs your support. Volunteer at the Marine Corps Half Marathon in Fredericksburg, representing Germanna Community College by passing out water to thirsty runners at Water Station No. 5.
Volunteers will need to commit from the hours of 6:00am to 10:30am on Sunday, May 15.
Directions for volunteer registration are as follows:
1. To register for the event, click on the following link:
http://www.marinemarathon.com/Register/Volunteer.htm
2. Click on the middle grey box that states “ Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon Join a Volunteer Group”
3. Group name is “Germanna Community College”
4. Password is “Dodgers10” make sure you capitalize the “D”
5. You will be asked to fill out the volunteer registration form and sent a confirmation email shortly after with further directions on the volunteering protocol
Students, staff, faculty, friends and family may join our volunteer group.
If you have any questions about volunteering or running the race, you may email GSVA club advisor Shelly Palomino at apalomino@germanna.edu or GSVA club president Meggen Sliger at mms2746@email.vccs.edu .
Volunteer Registration Deadline is April 27th!

Thanks for your support!
Germanna Student Veteran’s Association

Monday, April 11, 2011

Record total of scholarship funds raised at Germanna's Monte Carlo Night

Despite difficult economic times, Saturday night’s Germanna Educational Foundation Monte Carlo Casino Night scholarship fundraiser at the GCC Daniel Center in Culpeper set a record by raising over $100,000. All proceeds go the Germanna Guarantee Scholarship Program, which helps students who have financial need and can’t get enough aid from other source. One hundred and eighty people attended the event.

Germanna Educational Foundation 2011 Monte Carlo Night Co-Chair Clarissa Berry of Madison County said Saturday night’s event “couldn’t have gone any better.”

The foundation easily surpassed its goal of raising $100,000.

“This is our 17th year and we’ve raised more money than we ever have, and have one of the biggest crowds we’ve ever had,” Berry said. “The fact that people came out during hard economic times has blown me away.”

Culpeper resident Erica Hodge, a GGP scholarship recipient who graduated and became a nurse in 2010 altered the course of her life and saved her family’s home.

“If it wasn’t for the Germanna Guarantee Program, I would still be in school after having to take a year off,” Hodge said. “Because of it, I was able to start my career and grow my family and focus on continuing my education.” 

The 29-year-old Hodge, who has a 5-year-old son, was on the verge of dropping out of Germanna in December 2009 when her husband’s work hours were cut because of the recession. The scholarship she then received from GGP allowed her to stay and school and get her degree and become an LPN, then get a job working in a doctor’s office in Fredericksburg.

Because of the impact the recession had on her family’s income, they had found themselves in a whole, “and my first paycheck as a nurse came just in time to save our house,” she said.

“Everything fell into place for me because of the Germanna Guarantee,” Hodge said Saturday night during Monte Carlo Night at the Daniel Center. “When I found out about the Germanna Guarantee Program, I was amazed that people care so much about their community that they would help students they don’t know--help people like me and my family.”

As if to add an exclamation point, she then won a free trip for two to Las Vegas as Monte Carlo Night wound down Saturday.

Each year, the event features Las Vegas-style gambling for big prizes, libations, dinner, live music and dancing.

Leading economist says job growth in area will triple the national rate over next decade

Employment in our area will grow at three times the national average over the next decade, Dr. Christine Chmura, one of the leading economists in Virginia, said during Wednesday's Germanna Annual Workforce Advisory Meeting at the GCC Daniel Center in Culpeper.
"You're performing a lot better than the nation overall," Chumura told business leaders from Fredericksburg, Culpeper, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Orange, King George, Caroline and Madison. And she said the recession didn't hit the area as hard as it did most of America. "Your region is much better off."
 Chmura said jobs in education, health care and "high skill jobs" will be the most plentiful in our area during the coming  decade.
She is President and Chief Economist, Chmura Economics & Analytics in Richmond. She currently serves on the Governor’s Economic Advisory Board.
Chmura said the region’s proximity to Washington and relatively low cost of living had shielded much of the area’s population from the brunt of the recession and will result in a faster recovery.
 She said teachers, health care workers and "high-skilled workers" in general will be among the most sought after employees here in the coming decade.
And she said even though it may not feel like it, that the national economy “is starting to pick up. ” She said the recession was not severe enough to have the kind of long-term effect on consumer behavior that the recession did, and that consumers “are feeling better about the economy six months out,” but said it may take until 2015 for the U.S. economy “to reach the previous peak.”
Chmura said the recession didn't hit the area as hard as it did most of America. "Your region is very much better off than the U.S.  overall," she said, She said the region defined above lost a relatively small number of 2,340 jobs. She pointed out that the January unemployment rate for the region was 6.7 percent, compared to 6.9 percent for the state and 9.8 percent at that time for the nation. She said 60 percent of the unemployed in our region have a high school degree or less.
She said that Germanna will play an important role in the recovery because of the Workforce certifications and academic degrees it provides its students, about 98 percent of whom remain in the area, and community colleges’ ability to pivot quickly to meet local needs.
GCC President David A. Sam told regional business leaders at the Annual Workforce Advisory Meeting, "We are needed more than ever" as the area recovers from the recession. "More people will come to us to retrain and upgrade their skills." But he said guidance is needed from area businesses. "Our job is to train people and educate people for careers that have not been invented yet."
 GCC Vice President for Workforce and Community Relations Jeanne Wesley said employer feedback called for training enhancing “soft skills,” meaning communication skills, conflict resolution and negotiation, creative problem solving, strategic thinking, team building, customer service skills and selling skills. She said they also saw a need to enhance employees’ math and analytical skills.