GERMANNA HELPS DISABLED IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN VETERAN MAKE THE ADJUSTMENT BACK TO CIVILIAN LIFE DESPITE POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, SHORT-TERM MEMORY

Delegate Chris Peace (far left) visits with Germanna students (left to right) Kristeen Hadeed, Allen Allegro, Betty Hubbard-Jackson and Ashley Overholser yesterday at the General Assembly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Marine Corps Sgt. Chuck Vroman didn't flinch during the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

But the idea of returning to college as a civilian father of four in Spotsylvania County gave him pause.

The Marines consider Vroman, president of Germanna Community College's Veterans Club, 70 percent disabled.

During a Monday trip to ask to Virginia legislators to go easy on cuts to funding of Virginia Community Colleges, Vroman said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, which can develop after surviving a traumatic event in which a person is physically threatened or injured.

He said he also experienced concussions while surviving a number of explosions during duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said the close-range blasts have left him with brain damage, causing short term memory problems.

"I have to write things down over and over," he said, to remember them. And he said his father has to drive him to a place repeatedly before he can remember how to get there.

Lauren VonHerbulis of the VCCS writes of Vroman's legislative visit:

“My wife suggested I return to college but I knew that I couldn’t survive the lifestyle of a four-year college. Germanna ... was the best choice I could have made. Not only did I receive the special considerations I needed, but I was taught how to be a student again,” Chuck tells Delegate Ed Scott at the Virginia General Assembly building.
For more, go to the VCCS Blog.

GERMANNA CLUB FAIR TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THINGS: GET OFF YOUR BEHIND AND HAVE YOUR POSTERIOR PRESERVED FOR POSTERITY

Become a part of Germanna leadership like the students above or simply meet other students who share your interests at the GCC Club Fair Thursday at the Fredericksburg Campus. Front row, left to right: Kristine Hadeed, Ashley Overholser, Angelica Moss, Annette Wilson. Back row, left to right: Kelly Donaghey, Karli Brittain, Andrew Moberley, Julian Greene, Nathan Yowell.
...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have your posterior preserved for posterity and see what student organizations have planned for the Spring at Germanna Club Fair, set for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29 in the lobby of the Dickinson Building at the Frederickburg Area Campus.

The Original Butt Sketch Artists will be there from noon to 3 p.m. to render a rear view of you and your friends.

While you're there, have a snack and see what groups like the dance team, basketball team, Student Government Association and Phi Theta Kappa are up to. Then get involved.

It's a chance to make friends, learn new skills and prepare yourself for a career after Germanna.

If you represent a club and would like to have a table, e-mail studentactivities@germanna.edu.

For more information, call 540/891-3004.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR'S LEGACY: THROUGH EDUCATION, WE WILL OVERCOME

Germanna President David A. Sam told a crowd in Fredericksburg Sunday that Martin Luther King knew education was the key to true equality.


A portion of the remarks Dr. Sam delivered at Sunday's Celebration of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sponsored by the Multicultural OutReach Effort at James Monroe High School:

"He was educated and fought for others to be so educated. He saw his ministry and his activism as opportunities to teach with the entire nation, indeed the entire world, as his classroom.

"His too brief life modeled his belief that 'the quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.' His life is a beacon that shines a light on our successes and failures, and guides us from the shoals of failure towards his dream of a society and educational system where we can truly be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. Too many are still left behind. The beacon of his life glares a spotlight on what we have yet to do and aims us towards the way to achieve the dream of an empowering education for all of our citizens."

For more, go to the President's Blog.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR'S LEGACY: THROUGH EDUCATION, WE WILL OVERCOME

Germanna President David A. Sam told a crowd in Fredericksburg Sunday that Martin Luther King knew education was the key to true equality.

A portion of the remarks Dr. Sam delivered at Sunday's Celebration of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sponsored by the Multicultural OutReach Effort at James Monroe High School:

"He was educated and fought for others to be so educated. He saw his ministry and his activism as opportunities to teach with the entire nation, indeed the entire world, as his classroom.

"His too brief life modeled his belief that 'the quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important.' His life is a beacon that shines a light on our successes and failures, and guides us from the shoals of failure towards his dream of a society and educational system where we can truly be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. Too many are still left behind. The beacon of his life glares a spotlight on what we have yet to do and aims us towards the way to achieve the dream of an empowering education for all of our citizens."

GERMANNA OPENS DANIEL CENTER TO PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS TUESDAY FOR GIANT-SCREEN VIEWING OF INAUGURATION

How to share the excitement of Inaugural experience with a crowd and stay warm? Watch it on big screens at Germanna...



Germanna Community College is opening its Daniel Technology Center in Culpeper to public school students from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday so that they may watch the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama on the big screens in the center's main hall.

Germanna students are invited to watch the historic event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on big screens at the Locust Grove Campus and at the Fredericksburg Campus' Sealy Auditorium.

AFTER FINDING HERSELF AT GERMANNA, LINDA OSORIO'S HELPING STAFFORD COUNTY COMMUTERS NAVIGATE THE ROAD TO WELLNESS

Former Germanna student Linda Osorio (above) recently opened Massage Matters Wellness Center in Garrisonville. She says believing in yourself and taking things one step at a time are the keys to success.
Linda Osorio says she didn't have much confidence when she came out of high school in Stafford County. She found herself, she says, as a student at Germanna Community College.

Now she's started her own business, Massage Matters Therapy & Wellness Center in Garrisonville, and is giving back to the college by sponsoring the Germanna soccer club.

She has a message for those who find themselves in a tough spot today: believe in yourself and never give up.

Osorio knows what it's like to feel that hope has almost slipped away.

She knows what it's like to be part of a stressed home environment because her mother struggled to support the family after her father left when she was 12.

"We had no electricity, no water at one point," she said. "I remember my sister and I were sitting in our bedroom one night with only candlelight. We were hungry and we talked about what we would want if we could have anything to eat. When my mom came home two hours later with two bags of KFC, it seemed like the best meal I ever had. We thought this was a miracle to be able to have something we really wanted." Good things, she said, happen when you really believe something can happen, "when you can taste it, feel it."

"Go at it moment by moment, step by step," Osorio said. "Martin Luther King once said, don't look at the whole staircase. Look at one step at a time. When you look at the whole staircase, you feel like you can't do it."

GERMANNA'S CENTER FOR WORKFORCE AND COMMUNITY EDUCATION OFFERING COMPUTER COURSES FOR SPRING SEMESTER IN CULPEPER, FREDERICKSBURG. REGISTER NOW.

If you can dream it, you can achieve it. Make your company more competitive and yourself more marketable with GCC Workforce classes including computer courses.

Spring courses remain open. See what Germanna Community College has to offer the area's Workforce and register online.



•Customized Corporate Training

• Open Enrollment Classes

• Certification & Credentialing Preparation

• High-Tech Testing

• Career Readiness Certificate

• Personal Enrichment Courses

• Courses for Children & Parents

• Middle College

• GED Testing

MS PowerPoint 2007 I.................................. $109

MS Excel 2007 I ...................................... $109

MS Word 2007 I ...................................... $109

Dreamweaver I ...................................... $159

Basic Computer Literacy............................. $259



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------