Germanna president's new book raising funds for GCC Educational Foundation

Is there a gene for compassion? Or is it learned--developed by a series of experiences as we grow up?

It seems likely that both nature and nurture come into play.

Germanna Community College President Davis Sam’s “Memories in Clay, Dreams of Wolves,” is honest and powerful book that provides a compelling window into the development of the heart and mind of a man who has devoted his life to helping those unlucky through no fault of their own.

"Die when I may," Abraham Lincoln wrote to a friend, "I want it said of me by those who know me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower when I thought a flower would grow."

"Memories in Clay, Dreams of Wolves"gathers semi-autobiographical poetry about a boyhood and adult life lived in conversation with nature. In this volume, Sam describes a life shaped by his youth in Pennsylvania and Michigan and his journey by thumb through the Pacific Northwest. The imprint of these experiences molds his ecological holism and sense of the holiness of the commonplace and of all life.

Profits from the sale of this book will be donated to the Germanna Community College Educational Foundation.

Sam has a reading and signing set for 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 at The Arts Center in Orange.

Sam was born and spent his childhood in McKeesport, Penn., a coal and steel suburb of Pittsburgh. His home at the end of 36th Street abutted a woods, and the games he played on that street and the time he spent in those woods all influenced his poetry as well as his sense of the holistic ecology of all things. His neighborhood was filled with immigrants and children of immigrants, and his grandparents themselves came from Poland and Syria.

In 1961, the family moved with his father's factory to Belleville, MI, a far suburb of Detroit. Small town life near a lake and the rural farm fields and woods within a short walk along the railroad tracks often appear in the imagery and biography of his verse.

A first-generation college student and graduate of Eastern Michigan University and Michigan State University, Sam has taught creative writing, English literature, and composition at EMU, Marygrove College, Oakland Community College, and Pensacola State College. He was partner/manager of Gondolier Music & Electronics from 1972-1985 in Belleville before moving into higher education as an administrator.

He and his his wife Linda live in Culpeper, still within sight of the eastern mountain chain. They have two children, Michelle and Ryan, and three grandchildren.

He has offices at Germanna’s original campus in Locust Grove and at GCC’s Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsyvania.

The book is on sale via Amazon.com, at The Griffin Bookstore & Coffee Bar in Fredericksburg and at the Germanna Bookstore.

Marking 20 years of fun that pays off for students with financial need

Local students have been Scholarship Monte Carlo Night's big winners.
On April 5, the event, which benefits the Germanna Community College Educational Foundation, marks 20 years of fun that pays off for students with financial need.
Over that time, it's raised more than $1 million for the Germanna Guarantee Program, which last year helped 200 students for whom financial need might have been a barrier to attending college.
More from Thursday's Culpeper Times.

Single tickets are $90 and sponsorship levels ranging from $350 to $5,000 are available.
For more information, contact the GCC Educational Foundation at foundation@germanna.edu or 540/423-9074 or Event Chair Clarissa Berry at 540/718-0000 or clarissa.berry@gmail.com.

For Commonwealth Legacy Scholar Jasmine Kellaway, Germanna was the smart choice

Jasmine Kellaway, a 2013 Mountain View High School graduate, has friends who went straight to major universities. She decided to stay home in Stafford County and go to Germanna Community College. It was a decision that required wisdom and maturity rare in an 18-year-old.

“I guess you could say I have a lot of smart friends,” said Kellaway, this year’s GCC Educational Foundation Commonwealth Legacy Scholar.

Germanna student Jasmine Kellaway

“I thought it would be smarter for me to save money by going to Germanna, getting my associate’s degree, then transferring to Virginia Tech,” Kellaway said. “Two years at Germanna is a lot less expensive than two years at a university. I want to be an engineer and Germanna is a really good stepping stone for transferring to Virginia Tech with the guaranteed transfer agreement.”

She graduated from MVHS with distinguished honors and a grade point average of 4.28. At MVHS she was a member of the National Honor Society, was vice president of the International Baccalaureate Discussion Club and a member of the Future Business Leaders of America--and was part of an FLBA national business ethics competition. She was Student of the Month for May 2013.

She plans to pursue bachelor’s degrees in both electrical engineering and business at Tech, and may further her educational goals by obtaining a master's degree in engineering. “The classes at Germanna are a good size for me,” Kellaway said. “You have a lot of one on one time with professors. College credit she earned at Mountain View through Germanna’s Dual Enrollment program may help her earn her associate’s in less than two years.

“I haven’t had a professor yet I didn’t like,” she said.

Prof. Davyda Hammond has encouraged her to get involved with the Engineering Club, which travels to competitions at universities. Dr. Hammond is working with GCC Experiential Learning Coordinator Cheri Ober to help Kellaway get an engineering internship.

“Jasmine set the standard for exceeding expectations on day one of my Engineering Graphics course and has continued to impress me with her work ethic and aptitude over the entire semester,” Dr. Hammond said. “She loves to learn and challenge herself in the classroom; yet, she is not only concerned about mastering the course material for herself. She helps her fellow classmates by sharing her knowledge so that everyone in the class can produce their best work. She is highly intelligent, conscientious, and considerate--a rare combination. I look forward to watching and witnessing her growth as a learner and as an aspiring engineer as she continues her studies at Germanna.”

Kellaway said she considers herself fortunate to have graduated from high school at a time Germanna's new Engineering Program is taking off--there were 228 students in the program in Fall 2013--and just a year after the college opened its impressive new Science & Engineering Building and Information Commons.

The Commonwealth Legacy Scholar award, in honor of J. William Price III and Patricia Price, is $3,000.

“I really look forward,” Kellaway said, “to being part of an engineering firm, starting at the bottom and working my way up.”

Germanna's Science & Engineering Building