Dr. Gilbert Coleman, lifelong educator, passes

Our deepest sympathy goes out to the family of Dr. Gilbert Coleman, a Germanna faculty member and administrator for two decades. He will be missed.

NASA dream comes true for Germanna engineering student

When Germanna Community College student Jade Thompson was a student at H.H. Poole Middle School in Stafford County she took an aptitude test.
She had to look up "aerospace engineer," but the result seems to have been right on the mark.

Prof. Davyda Hammond and Jade Thompso

"It had to do with space, which I already loved," she says.

 Half a dozen years later, Thompson, an engineering student at Germanna, has been accepted into the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars program. After 20 hours of pre-work in the program, the 2010 North Stafford High School graduate was selected to move on to participate in an exploration team project directed by NASA engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Feb. 26-28.  
To get this far, she had to design a Mars Rover project that could make the trip to the Red Planet in less than a year, staying within a $500 million budget.
 “Smaller, cheaper, faster,” was the key, she says, because of budget constraints. 
“Jade is a diligent student with great academic potential,” says Dr. Davyda Hammond, one of her engineering professors at Germanna.  “She has taken full advantage of the opportunities to learn and develop herself in and outside of the classroom--which has served her well in terms of her grades and her exposure to ‘real-world’ engineering.  She has a very bright future, and we are very proud to have her as a student.”
 Cheri Ober, Germanna’s internship coordinator, helped Thompson hook up with NASA.
 “I’m very excited for Jade since this has been a dream for her since middle school,” Ober says.
 Thompson will graduate from Germanna in May and plans to transfer to the University of Virginia or Virginia Tech to continue her engineering studies.

Register Now for Startup Weekend Fredericksburg

John Sechrest, founder of the Seattle Angel Conference, Co-Organizer of the Lean Startup Seattle, and Global Facilitator will be the facilitator for Startup Weekend Fredericksburg Jan. 17-19 hosted by Germanna Community College's Center for Workforce and Community Education at GCC's Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania.


Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. It is the largest community of passionate entrepreneurs, with events in over 100 countries and 580 cities around the world.

The non-profit organization is headquartered in Seattle but Startup Weekend organizers and facilitators can be found in over 200 cities around the world. From Mongolia to South Africa to London to Brazil, people around the globe are coming together for weekend long workshops to pitch ideas, form teams, and start companies.

All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it’s a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. 

The weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback. 

Budding entrepreneurs found companies, find cofounders, meet someone new or learn a skill far outside their usual 9-to-5 job. Everyone leaves the event better prepared to navigate the chaotic but fun world of startups. If you want to put yourself in the shoes of an entrepreneur, register now.  --Startup Weekend
 
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Germanna Student Activities presents comedian Ron Placone Jan. 28

Germanna Community College Student Activities will host comedian Ron Placone at 11 a.m. noon on Jan. 28 in room 134 of the Workforce Building at the Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania. Ron Placone Placone takes the audience on a tour "through a contemporary media landscape where advertisers, owners and special interest groups come first and the general public comes dead last." His one-man show, "Madness in the Message,"  jabs what he sees as corporate mass media manipulation. He developed it as a graduate school project on his way to earning a master's degree in communications. Lunch will be served at the event, which is free.

Germanna Chief Branch appointed to Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice

Outgoing Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has appointed Germanna Community College Chief  of Police Craig Branch to the Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice.

GCC Police Chief Craig Branch

Chief Branch, a Chesterfield County resident, is vice president of the Virginia Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

He has overseen Germanna's transition from a security department to a campus police operation.

Contact: Paul Shanks

Phone: (804) 225-4262

Email: Paul.Shanks@governor.virginia.gov

Governor McDonnell Announces Board and Commission Appointments

RICHMOND - Governor Bob McDonnell announced additional appointments to three Virginia boards and commissions. 

Board Appointments

Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice

·         Craig Branch of Chesterfield, Chief of Police for Germanna Community College

·         Steven S. Kast* of Chesapeake, President and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of the Virginia Peninsula 

·         Diana Harris Wheeler of Orange, Commonwealth Attorney for Orange County

Fair Housing Board

·         Erica Woods-Warrior of Hampton, Director of the Peer Educator Program at Old Dominion University

Board of Veterans Services

·         Colonel J. Patrick Murray, USA (Ret.) of Alexandria

*Denotes re-appointment

She's gone from homelessness to helping others find work

Kimberlie Morris, who was once homeless, has earned a degree in business administration with help from the Germanna Community College Educational Foundation, and is helping others find work through the GCC Center for Workforce Adult Career Coach program.

"I never thought this day would come,” said her father, who is receiving treatments for skin cancer. “She’s fought through a lot. I just love her to death--she’s my pride and joy.”--Jeff Branscome, The Free Lance-Star

Read her story of perseverance in The Free Lance-Star.

'You can change someone's world'

"One is not born into the world to do everything," Henry David Thoreau wrote over 150 years ago, "but to do something.”

Tuesday night Chris Snider exhorted fellow graduates at Germanna Community College's Fall Commencement Tuesday to dedicate themselves to making a difference.

Snider, a 43-year-old aide to U.S. House Majority leader Eric Cantor, went back to school determined to get his degree 25 years after dropping out of the University of Virginia. Snider, a former Culpeper Town Council member, always felt something was missing. Germanna President David A. Sam presented him with an Associates of Arts and Sciences in Business Administration, which he earned while working full-time as Cantor’s district representative in Culpeper.

“Be the change that you envision for the world,” Snider said in his commencement speech. “Allow your ideals to frame your actions. There is no greater testament to your beliefs than to put them into practice through your actions. You may not be able to change the world, but you can change someone’s world. And if you do that, you have changed the world for them.”

Snider was among 591 students who received 988 degrees and certificates.

During the ceremony, Sam recognized Germanna Prof. Rich Gossweiler, who is retiring after 45 years of teaching in the Virginia Community College System. Gossweiler, who teaches at GCC's Locust Grove Campus, received a standing ovation from a crowd of about 2,000.

Mark Ivory, a nurse anesthesist at Mary Washington Hospital, was the graduate speaker. He talked about Germanna’s role in determining his career plans.

“GCC provides the young and the not so young an opportunity to go to school on an affordable budget,” Ivory said. “ I look at the cost of school today and shudder at what it will cost my four kids to go to school. Even though I went to Germanna for six years, a year at GMU and two and a half at VCU/MCV, my total educational expense was only $45,000. During the time I spent becoming an anesthetist, I could have gone to med school. However, I would have had at least $150,000 of debt and at least another three years of a residency. Choosing to go to nursing school at Germanna prepared me for a lucrative job without leaving me with an enormous debt. This is why I have suggested to many young people including my four honor roll children that their plans for their future begin at Germanna.“