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by Lenise Willis
The Jamestown News
June 1, 2011
For Guilford Technical Community College, Thursday was a day filled with sunny weather, barbeque, lemonade and sweet news.
Above receiving a portion of a $34.8 million planning grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the school was chosen to lead four other N.C. schools in the grant's national education initiative, Completion by Design, which aims to develop and share ways to help more people obtain college degrees, certificates or credentials.
More than 100 people, including representatives from Davidson County Community College, Central Piedmont Community College, Martin Community College and Wake Technical Community College, gathered at the GTCC Jamestown campus to announce and celebrate the receiving of $495,000, which will be divided among the colleges under GTCC's discretion, to launch the North Carolina Cadre's five-year project.
GTCC President Dr. Donald Cameron welcomed the guests. “It's an exciting day, not only for the participating institutions but for the state of North Carolina,” he said. “We're going to demonstrate in the next couple of years that we have developed strategies and initiatives that will truly make a difference.
“(GTCC) is honored to serve as the managing partner for our state's Completion by Design initiative. If we are to succeed in the global economy, we need a continuing supply of qualified employees at all levels of the educational scale - from certificates, to diplomas to degrees.”
The post-secondary education initiative aims to significantly increase completion and graduation rates for low-income students, ages 18 to 26, by implementing new approaches to make the college experience more responsive to today's student.
The grant's focus is researching and establishing a collaboration between colleges across the country to allow them to learn what practices help when working with non-traditional students while also building on proven practices to create a more efficient pathway to a college degree.
Suzanne Walsh, senior program officer with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was unable to personally attend the ceremony after cancelled flights left her stranded in an airport; however, she chimed in from Seattle, Wash., via Skype.
Walsh applauded North Carolina's reputation for having excellent institutions. She also noted that 75 percent of students seeking degrees are non-traditional and by 2018, require some kind of post-education credential.
“North Carolina is a place with strong leadership in higher education,” Walsh said. “People pay attention to community colleges in North Carolina. We believe all people deserve the right to lead a productive life.
“We hope that through this Completion by Design, students have an experience that is the quickest and straightest route. We welcome and congratulate North Carolina. We are looking forward to joining you in this Completion by Design.”
It was also noted at the conference that community colleges currently serve nearly 11 million students and enrollment has surged as the recession has caused many Americans to return for additional training and education.
“This is a really big deal,” said Dr. Scott Ralls, president of the N.C. Community College System. “We worked as a system and a family. It's just been a wonderful thing. It's going to mean big things, not only for the five cadres involved but for the 58 colleges that represent our system. We will not be defined by our challenges but the opportunities we can provide. This particular initiative is about crossing the finish line.”
Also present at the conference and celebratory barbeque luncheon was Darren Lipman, president of GTCC's Student Government Association, who was asked to attend to represent the students' voice. “I think it's a great plan,” he said. “I've worked a lot in registration and there were so many people that I saw registering that I never saw again. Hopefully, I'll do something about that in the year before I graduate.”
The North Carolina team of community colleges was selected after the rigorous competition was announced last October at the White House Summit on Community Colleges. Out of nearly 130 applicants that were reviewed, 14 colleges nationwide were chosen by the Gates Foundation to participate in the initiative based on their innovative practices on how to improve their students' completion rates.
GTCC, for example, has been a leader in Achieving the Dream, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping lower-income students succeed, since 2005.
Completion by Design utilizes findings from such previous initiatives to assist community colleges with interventions at key points where they often lose students.
Under GTCC's leadership, North Carolina Cadre will analyze the best practices within higher education and individual institutions' initiatives to determine how these processes and procedures can be spread to the entire North Carolina community college system.
“GTCC and its partners are thoroughly committed to the retention and completion of our students through innovative practices and the data collection that measures success,” Dr. Cameron said. “Completion by Design builds on those practices, and we deeply appreciate the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's commitment to this process.”
Lenise Willis can be reached at (336) 841-4933 or jamestownlegals@northstate.net.
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