Fall Commencement speaker Daniel Reichwein: never, ever give up

Daniel Reichwein

Germanna Community College 2015 Fall Commencement alum speaker Daniel Reichwein is an example of courage and perseverance for all of us.

Reichwein, who has battled depression and PTSD, was living in a tent in a wooded area adjacent to the Fredericksburg Industrial Park when he enrolled at GCC in 2011.

In spite of the problems he faced, Reichwein excelled, graduating from Germanna a year later with a 3.94 GPA while working 32 hours a week. He transferred to William & Mary and earned his bachelor’s degree there last August. He’s currently a social worker with the Salvation Army in Fredericksburg, using his experiences to help others.

A total of 646 students were awarded 1,112 degrees and certificates Thursday night during commencement exercises at the Fredericksburg Expo Center.

The 32-year-old Thornburg resident’s never-give-up message is one that failure needn’t be the end—that it can drive one on to success.

“I was ready to change,” he said. “I had been homeless almost three years. I had to start doing things differently. I worked hard to do it and I received help from others.”

Daniel Reichwein speaks at Thursday's commencement

He said Micah Ministries, which works with the homeless in Fredericksburg, helped him get a part time job and suggested he enroll at GCC. One of Micah’s employees drove him to the college.

Another Micah employee, Dawn Witter, took him in.

“She opened her home to me,” Reichwein said. “I’m not sure I would’ve been able to finish my studies at Germanna if I’d lived out of a tent for two semesters.”

He called his three years of homelessness “a learning experience” and said much of what he learned came when he put aside his own concerns to help other homeless people.

“What’s made the biggest difference in my life is failure—three years of homelessness, dropping out of college without finishing and being discharged from the military basically for not showing up for work,” Reichwein told a crowd of 2,000 Thursday night at the Fredericksburg Expo Center.He was given an honorary discharge as an Army Reservist due to depression.

“Failure drives success,’ he said. "Failure strengthens us. I teaches us. It enables us to change.

Daniel Reichwein and Thursday's crowd

“From my failures, I gained strength, altruism, empathy for others. I learned to finish what I start. And I learned that past failures can lead to new successes.”

The second crucial component in changing his life was tenacity, he said.

“Nobody is going to give you anything in life. You need to earn what you receive, to continue to strive and never accept defeat. You’re better than your past failures and you’re more capable than you think.”

After graduating from William & Mary, he said, “I thought things would be easy.” But a job offer in Washington fell through and he nearly found himself homeless again.

“Things worked out and I was able to get a job as a social worker here in town with the Salvation Army. I’ve learned to relish the good moments while I pursue the longer term goals I have.”

“You’re better than your past failures,” he told the crowd Thursday night. “You’re more capable than others think. Know that you were meant to make a difference in this world, regardless of where you come from.”

Finally, he learned that satisfaction and a sense of completeness must be derived from within oneself.

“For years I chased externally derived fulfillment,” based on earning others’ praise [or the idea of becoming affluent]. This led me nowhere… It only led to being unhappy and depressed

“I’m in charge of my own dreams now,” he said. “And I’m just getting started. And so are you.”

GCC accepting applications for All-USA Academic Team

Dear Students,

Germanna Community College is seeking outstanding student leaders from our college to apply for the All-USA Community College Academic Team and the Coca-Cola Community College Academic Team Programs sponsored by USA TODAY, Follett Higher Education Group, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation, AACC and Phi Theta Kappa. Recipients will be awarded nearly $400,000 in scholarships, will be featured in USA TODAY, and will be recognized at AACC’s Convention in Chicago, IL in April. We have the opportunity to nominate up to two students per campus to participate in this competition, and our college has the opportunity to receive national press recognition should one of our nominees be identified as a scholar.
In addition to recognition by USA TODAY, Follett, and Coca-Cola, nominees to these programs are recognized in All-State Academic Team programs held in 38 states. All-State Team programs may offer students academic scholarships, stipends, newspaper coverage, medallions and/or certificates. By nominating students to the All-USA Community College Academic Team national program, we are able to provide additional scholarship opportunities for nominees to which they would otherwise not have access.
At this time, we are seeking qualified applications. In selecting nominees to represent our institution, we ask you to consider the eligibility criteria to determine if you might be a good fit for the scholarship. The scholarships look to award students with outstanding academic rigor and grade point averages; participation in honors programs; awards, honors, and recognition for academic achievement, and service to the college and community.
In addition, the focal point of the application is the essay. This should center around one endeavor undertaken by the student that utilized their community college education to improve their respective community or college. Judges look for innovative, creative, original and lasting achievements or undertakings.
For more information about the scholarships available, or to apply, please visit https://www.ptk.org/Scholarships/BachelorsDegreeScholarships/All-USACommunityCollegeAcademicTeam.aspx.
Preliminary applications (with at least the first 6 tabs completed) must be submitted no later than Monday, November 2, 2015. After all applications have been received, applicants selected as one of the four Germanna nominees will be notified.
Completed final applications (all tabs completed including Essays and Recommender Assessments) by the selected nominees must be completed and submitted to PTK by Monday November 30, 2015.

Sincerely,


Rebecca Morris
rmorris@germanna.edu

Germanna announces faculty Learning Environment Award winners

Germanna Community College has announced its Spring 2015 faculty Learning Environment Award winners.

The awards recognize extraordinary and exemplary contributions to the learning environment by fulltime teaching faculty in one or more of the following areas: Teaching, Scholarly and Creative Engagement, Institutional Responsibility, and Service to the college or the community.

Winners of Learning Environment Awards for Spring 2015

Vanessa Sekinger

Kelley Lloyd

April Morgan

Leigh Hancock

Patricia Parker

Mike Read

Carolyn Pevey

Carrie Lowry

Brenda Robinson

Jean Lauzon

Eric Vanover

David Marsich

Brent Wilson

Wen Maier

Angela Sheaffer

Camille Mustachio

Jerry Miller

Diane Merkel

Brenda Dixon

Marie Messier

Jamie Lennahan

John Stroffolino

Gayle Wolfe

Monique Lewis

Kellie Bradshaw

Gretchen Warren

Julie Fasano

Jessica Matheson

Maury Wrightson

Shawn Shields-Maxwell

Germanna helping vets through mentorships and credit for life experience

Bill Anderson

GRANT HELPING GERMANNA HELP VET STUDENTS THROUGH MENTORSHIPS AND EVALUATING LIFE EXPERIENCE TO BE TURNED INTO COLLEGE CREDIT

Germanna Community College is one of five Virginia Community College System schools at which veteran students will benefit from a U.S. Department of Labor grant.

Click here to listen as Allie Dudley, Bill Anderson and Nicole Geisenhof talk about veterans and Germanna.

GCC has received $150,000 earmarked to provide veterans with community college credits for past military service and training and to establish a mentoring program for vets that will help pair them up with business leaders in the area.

Bob Dixon, who heads the veterans program at Germanna, said the move answers the question, “When am I gonna get more credit for all this good stuff I did in the service?”

He said said the grant has allowed Germanna to hire two part time employees to assist in this effort.

“These people will provide increased capacity to serve our veteran students,” Dixon said. “I’m excited about the mentoring in particular.”

He said this is a pilot program, but he hopes it becomes “a sustained effort.”

 Virginia’s veteran population is growing. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the commonwealth will be home to nearly 850,000 veterans by the year 2017.

Dixon says over 500 Germanna students have declared themselves as veterans as G.I. Bill users and that “the actual number is always higher than that.” He said the number is growing steadily from semester to semester.

Allie Dudley

Allie Dudley, GCC's Advanced Standing Counselor, will help veteran students get the academic credits earned through experience, and William T. Anderson, veterans mentor supervisor, will enlist

“I’m excited about the mentoring piece in particular,” Dixon said. “Our plan is to help student vets early in their academic careers to engage people in the community who will remove barriers and give real world advice on what to study and how to break into careers.”

William T. Anderson, a retired Marine Corps colonel, will work for Dr. Sarah Somerville, head of counseling at the Locust Grove Campus, but will be based in Dickinson Building room 108A at the Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania. He will also work with Marie Hawley of the GCC new Career & Transfer Center.

Anderson spent 33 years with the Marine Corps and Department of Defense as a lawyer and 18 years working for NATO in Europe. Since 2010, he has been an adjunct faculty member at the Command and Staff College Distance Education Program of the Marine Corps University.

Students in the program will meet with their mentors twice a month and attend related events and social gatherings.  The program runs for one academic year, from August to May.  Students may withdraw from the program at anytime. 

Anderson is an expert and published author on the Marine Corps in World War I.

Dudley, Germanna’s Advanced Standing Counselor, will be able to help more veterans thanks to the grant.

She’s a U.S. Army spouse who has worked at an American military installation in Italy advising vets and their families.

She said military experience, other past work experience and certifications can translate into college credit. Combined with College Level Examination Program credit and the option of taking courses online, vets should find the idea of going back to school less daunting.

To learn more, contact Anderson at wanderson@germanna.edu or 540/891-3023 and Allie Dudley at adudley@germanna.edu or 540/834-1057.

GCC College Board to discuss State Board tuition increase Friday

The Germanna Community College College Board will meet at 3 p.m. on Friday, June 5 in Conference Room 100 at the Locust Grove Campus to discuss action recently taken by the State Board regarding tuition and fees.

To be discussed: whether to accept a State Board offer of a one dollar tuition differential increase per credit hour.

A signup sheet for public comment will be available 30 minutes prior to the meeting.

We're so close! Help Germanna win big! Vote daily.

Germanna Community College is competing against colleges across America in a Stanley Security contest for the $100,000 grand prize in the second tier, for schools with 8,000 to 19,000 students. Germanna moved up to third in the voting in its category Thursday night, Jan. 29.

Prize money may be used for consultation, products or services from Stanley Security. 

Grant funds would provide computer software and equipment to be used for video surveillance and monitoring, mass notification and emergency communications, and other critical law enforcement activities, according to Germanna Campus Police Chief Craig Branch.

Voting is limited to one per person per day.

• Voting is open until Feb. 13, with winners to be announced on March 3.
• Supporters may return to www.stanleysaferschools.com to vote every day.
• To vote Via TEXT: Type "germanna" to 334455.
• To vote Via TWITTER: Tweet using both #STANLEYSecurity and #germanna. You can vote once per day per twitter handle. Your Twitter account must be public for the vote to count. 

GCC internship program making Javier Penzelina's dream a reality

Germanna internship program helping him find public service path

Since he was in the second grade, Javier Penzelina has had a dream.

Germanna Community College’s internship program is helping him make it a reality:

The 2008 Caroline High School graduate and resident of Ruther Glen knew he wanted to be involved in politics, but wasn’t sure what exactly he wanted to do or how to get his foot in the door..

Germanna’s internship program has helped Javier Penzelina pursue his dream of a career in public service

Penzelina has been figuring it out with help from Cheri Ober, Germanna’s internship coordinator, who’s helped him land on Capitol Hill in the office of U.S. Rep Steny Hoyer and in Richmond on Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s staff.

Working for Rep. Hoyer in Washington, he focused on issues of concern to fellow millenials.

In Richmond, he worked in constituent services.

With the governor’s office, “I was able to get a better understanding of how state politics work, “ Penzelina said.

In Washington, he said he was surprised  to see that politicians who seem to be bitter foes in the media are often friendly when they’re not in front of the cameras. Penzelina has been interested in politics since the second grade and “the 2008 presidential election confirmed my desire to pursue a career in government.”

As a result of his experience, he’s decided that “Ultimately, I’d like to run for public office.”

“Javier is focused and has a deep commitment to serve the American public,” Ober said. “I’m impressed with the sacrifices he has made to complete the two internships…  these opportunities gave him the fire to want to continue his education and succeed in a political career.”

Penzelina thanked Ober for her help and added that Caroline Maloney, his second-grade teacher at Ladysmith Elementary School, helped him see what was possible early in life.

“She encouraged me to reach for the highest level,” he said of Maloney. “She never placed a limit on how far I could go.”

“Cheri has been a great person in my corner,” Penzellna said.  He said she’s been working hard with him in an effort to land a White House internship.

Penzelina spent the early years of his life with his aunt and uncle in the northern part of the Bronx, in a neighborhood on 224^th St.

“It was a diverse neighborhood and diversity was the pillar my upbringing was centered around,” he said. “When we moved to Virginia, we had to make the adjustment from a but city to a slower-paced rural area.”

Spending his formative years Virginia “has taught me more about myself,” he said,  “and it is why I want to give back in the best way I know how–public service.”

The interships forced Penzellna out of his comfort zone. He said he had to assert myself in intimidating situations, speaking up in meetings with high profile people.

He will graduate from Germanna in May and will study political science at UMW.

He said he’s glad he chose to start at GCC.

“The professors here do a really good job and they’re really friendly and cater to the needs of students here..”

“For me, Germanna made economic sense,” he said. “It cut my tuition in half. I’m debt free right now. When I graduate from UMW, I won’ t have the same debt as someone who went to a university for four years.”

“I’ve really enjoyed my time at Germanna and I’m grateful for the internship opportunities,” he said. “I encourage other students to take advantage of the opportunity.”

STEM careers not only for boys, Girl Scouts learn at GCC

Mirela Fetea, Ph.D., (right) answers questions from area Girl Scouts who participated in hands-on science workshops at Germanna Saturday.With her (background, l-r, are Trudy Witt, Ph.D. Prof. of Biology, GCC student Zilmara Montecinos Bonnet, Izabela Sikora, education technician wih the Tri-City Soil and Water Conservation Board, JoAnn Schrass, Ph. D., Biology professor.)

Fifty Girl Scouts from Fredericksburg and Stafford and Spotsylvania counties deconstructed electronic devices including computers, printers, smart phones and televisions and learned about physics and ecology during the first Girl Scout Science Day Saturday at Germanna Community College's Fredericksburg Campus in Spotsylvania.

Isabella Grasso of Girl Scout Troop 5214 takes part in a "Deconstruction" workshop during Girl Scout Science Day at Germanna Community College's Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania Saturday. participated in hands-on science workshops led by Germanna Community College faculty at the Fredericksburg Area Campus on Saturday, (Photos by Robert A. Martin)

During a panel discussion about women in science, Dr. Mirela Fetea, who teaches physics at Germanna, told the Girl Scouts not to worry about stereotyping that implies girls aren't suited to STEM careers.

"Just pursue your dreams," Fetea told the Girl Scouts. "If you want to stay home and raise your children, that's ok. But there's nothing wrong with chasing your dreams, whatever they are. Even if you are told you cannot do it. Show people you can."
Dr. Trudy Witt, who teaches biology at GCC, told the Girl Scouts not to be concerned about being pigeon-holed as a "nerd."
"I always remind people that nerds make more money," she said with a grin.
"It was pretty fun," 12-year-old Evelyn Pailthorpe of Stafford Troop 3546 said of the day.
"We're really excited about having the opportunity to get elementary school-aged girls thinking about careers in science," Witt said.

Germanna Biology Prof. Trudy Witt with local scouts
during Girl Scout Science Day at GCC.

Getting to Know: Student Success Coach Matt Fitzgerald

Germanna Community College has launched a Student Success Coach Program. The coaches stay with students from enrollment through graduation, giving them the help they need to succeed in college and in life.

We’ll meet each of the coaches in a series of Q&A profile—Matt Fitzgerald works with students at the Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania.

•  Where are you from?   

   I'm from Stafford and am in the process of moving to the Fredericksburg area.

Matt Fitzgerald

• ·     Where did you go to high school and college?

     I attended Colonial Forge and Mountain View High School. I then came to Germanna and graduated with an associate’s degree in General Studies. I also transferred to the University of Mary Washington and finished there with a B.S. in Psychology.

• ·     How long have you worked at Germanna?

    Two years.

• ·     What do you like about working at Germanna? About being a Student Success Coach?

        I enjoy working with the other faculty and staff. Everyone is focused on the students and their success. Being a Success Coach, I am able to work with students one on one and be a part of their college experience.

• ·     What’s the biggest challenge you face in your job?

     Reaching the students. Emails and calls do not always bring responses. Most of the time I find them in class and then I set up a time to meet up later.

• ·     What’s your advice for Germanna students?

     Read the directions and ask questions. If you are ever doubtful or unsure, you need to ask questions. College is a place and time in your life where you hold all of the control. You have the choice of being successful or not.

• ·     For students graduating from high school and thinking about college?

    What do you want for your future? What do you need to do in the present to get there? College may or may not be in your plans, but be sure of what path will lead you to the life you want.

• ·     For older students thinking about returning to college?

       You are an inspiration. You have lived life and are now returning to school. Having an age-diverse college is beneficial to everyone. For the younger students, this is a great way to further develop their social skills: interacting with actual adults. It is also an opportunity for those students that are older to become a mentor in the classroom.

• ·     What misconception does the public have about community colleges and community college students?

      Community college is always considered to be “Plan B”. The last resort effort to go to school, or where everyone goes who is kicked out of their University.

·     Are you married and do you have children?

     I will be getting married this Spring, and no children at this time.

• ·     Fun fact about you?

    I have been playing drums for 15 years and I have tattoos!

• ·     What’s your favorite book?

    “Stuff Christians Like” – by Jon Acuff

• ·     Your favorite movie?

     “Kill Bill” (1&2), “Star Wars” (all), “Edward Scissorhands,” “Ironman.”

• ·     Your favorite TV show?

     “Chopped,” “Fast & Loud,” “American Pickers,” “Duck Dynasty.”

• ·     Your favorite sport and team?

   Football, Hokies. I also like to bowl.