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Our NewsBuzz Aldrin Inspires a New GenerationBuzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, stepped out on theGermanna Community College’s Culpeper campus lawn to fly drones withlocal students and inspire a new generation to look up in wonder.Aldrin, now 84, was the lunar module pilot in 1969 on Apollo 11, the firstmanned moon landing, and piloted the Gemini 12 mission.During the visit for his ShareSpace Foundation, he acted as mentor to Culpeperhigh school students in the Germanna Scholars program and to elementaryschool-aged children from local Boys & Girls Clubs.While students built their drones, Aldrin showed them how to fix problemswith the propellers and told about how when he was young he had to makesimple propeller machines “out of cement, balsa wood, tissue paper, a propellerand one rubber band.”“When we went to the moon no one had heard of STEM,” he said, talkingabout the push to bring science, technology, engineering and mathematics tostudents.“One of you may follow in my footsteps,” Aldrin said to the students. “You maywant to go to Mars. Embrace the power in your hands. Everyone has a choiceto make. There was more than technology in that lunar landing in 1969. It’show you program things, how you program your life. You’re here working ondrones—that’s special.”Germanna’s foundation executive director and vice president for institutionaladvancement, Doug Elliott, reached out to Aldrin through a contact within hiseducational organization and brought him to Germanna to talk and interactwith students.“Our missions overlap,” he said. “We are reaching underserved populations andteaching the importance of a “STEAM”—science, technology, engineering, artand mathematics—education.”-Lindley Estes The Free Lance-Star4 Germanna Community College

YOUR FUTURE. OUR COMMITMENT.Germanna Scholars ProgramLaunched at Daniel Tech CenterGermanna launched its GermannaScholars Program at GCC’s DanielTechnology Center in Culpeper.Twenty-four students from EasternView and Culpeper County high schoolsbegan their studies at Germanna.They’ll be able to earn associate’s degreesin May 2016, the month before theygraduate from high school, througha combination of Dual Enrollmentand co-enrollment classes taught byGermanna faculty members. Students inthe program earn credit for classes thatmay be transferred to four-year collegesand universities.Massive Open Online Course(MOOC)Germanna’s Center for Workforce &Community Education has launchedthe first Massive Open Online Coursecreated by a Virginia communitycollege.The MOOC provides training in skillsnecessary to start up and run a smallbusiness free of cost and accessible toanyone, anywhere, anytime.GCC Students Win Design Competition at National EngineeringConferenceGermanna engineering students took a first place in design for a multi-rotorcopter at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Student Competition andConference at Drexel University in Philadelphia.GCC students Reuben Strangelove, Andy Fabian, Zach Yee and Ethan Fiorecreated the winning copter design.Over 180 students from 20 institutions competed. Germanna was the onlycommunity college to participate and bested Drexel, Yale, the University ofMassachusetts – Lowell, Rochester Institute of Technology, Temple and otheruniversities.Matt Armstrong of Reacht andChristine Goodwin of WishStars aretwo Fredericksburg entrepreneurs andstartup activists who work with theGermanna Center for Workforce &Community Education and providethe instruction in the MOOC, whichis available free here: www.germanna.edu/workforce/skillupva/workshops.The initiative to provide onlinetraining for startups and smallbusinesses is part of the GermannaCenter for Workforce & CommunityEducation’s SkillUpVA workshops. Theworkshops are designed to help people“skill up” or improve or gain theskills required to advance in today’sworkforce.Germanna Community College 5

Apple Authorized TrainingCenter at the Daniel Tech CenterGermanna is the only community collegein Virginia with an AATC. The initiativecame about through a cooperative arrangement between GCC, the Universityof Virginia, Apple, and Culpeper’s M2Media Studios Inc., a company that provides training in media technologies.Thealliance is part of a broader effort in thedevelopment an ongoing media studiesprogram for this region of Virginia.The initial focus is the immediate workforce needs of the community, whereApple devices play an ever-growing role indaily business operations.“Germanna’s Center for Workforce &Community Education is thrilled to partner with M2 Media Studios to becomethe first Virginia community college tooffer Apple training and provide areapeople with this opportunity,” said JeanneWesley, Germanna Vice President forWorkforce.Dental Assisting Students Serving the CommunityGermanna dental assisting students and dentists provided 24,330.00 worthof services to the community between April and July 2014.Apple courses at GCC will blossominto the most extensive Apple learningopportunities offered by any AATC inVirginia, Washington D.C., or Maryland.Mac 100 is an intensive, one-day classabout the Mac Operating system andhardware. It’s a combination of classroominstruction and hands-on exercisestaught by an Apple Certified Instructor.The Mac 101 class was created to containall the experiences a trainee needs toprepare for their certification exam,but to also become a valuable dailycontributor in an IT team.Stafford County Approves Land for Germanna CenterGermanna Community College moved a step closer to a center in StaffordCounty when the County’s Board of Supervisors approved development andland needed for the project.GCC President David A. Sam said of Stafford: “We are here to stay. We arehere for the long haul. Stafford County is one of the best places for us topartner in terms of workforce development We expand to meet the needsof our communities.”Stafford, the county with the largest population in Germanna’s service area, isa logical place for GCC to grow, he said.The permanent center would be another in a series of steps in raisingGermanna’s profile in Stafford to meet community needs, beginning with theStafford County Center (which has exceeded its 1,000 student capacity) inAugust 2009 and the GCC Automotive Center in August 2012.Dr. Sam said Germanna would respond to the needs of Stafford’s growing,evolving business community at the permanent center with, among others,professional and technical studies programs, workforce business andprofessional development courses and homeland security-related coursesincluding cybersecurity.6 Germanna Community College

YOUR FUTURE. OUR COMMITMENT.Germanna’s ‘Women of Distinction’ Honored by theCommonwealth of Virginia Girl ScoutsG.I. Bill Enrollment Climbingat GermannaTwo current Germanna leaders and a former GCC professor were honored atthe Commonwealth of Virginia Girl Scouts Women of Distinction Awards at theUniversity of Mary Washington’s Jepson Center.Bob Dixon, Germanna CommunityCollege Veterans Support Counselor,announced that Germanna movedup from sixth to fourth among the 23Virginia Community College Systemschools in terms of number of studentsenrolled through the G.I. Bill.Dr. LaZalia Richardson, who retired from teaching English at Germanna in 2013,talked about the joy of teaching students at all levels “to read and to write and todevelop their cognitive skills.”Dr. Patti Lisk, Germanna’s Dean of Nursing and Health Technologies, said girlscouting pointed her in the right direction career-wise, even though she hatedcamping out.Dr. Jeanne Wesley, Germanna’s Vice President for Workforce Development, said:“You can see that Germanna Community College can handle strong women. Andwe need to be strong because of what we do.”Germanna Classes Held atUMW’s Dahlgren CampusGermanna began offering classes inpartnership with the University ofMary Washington at UMW’s Dahlgrencampus for the Fall 2013 as part of apilot program to gauge interest.The first three classes Germannaoffered at Dahlgren were Calculus withAnalytic Geometry 1, Calculus withAnalytic Geometry 2 and Introductionto Engineering.“Germanna is continuously seekingnew ways of responding to theeducational needs of area active dutymembers of the armed services,veterans, and their families,” said GCCVice President for Academic Affairsand Student Services Ann Woolford.Virginia Living CitesGermanna for Excellence in2014 State of Education SurveyVirginia Living magazine’s State ofEducation issue features the OldDominion’s top high schools andcolleges for 2014.Germanna Community College wasthe only two-year school cited forexcellence in arts and humanities.Virginia Living praised Germanna’sCenter for Workforce and CommunityEducation for its SkillUpVA MassiveOpen Online Course (MOOC).Four-year colleges and universitiescited in the magazine’s 2014 artsand humanities category includethe College of William and Mary,Hampden-Sydney College andVirginia Commonwealth University.The total of 575 constitutes about7 percent of Germanna’s for-creditenrollment and about 10 percent of itsfull time equivalent enrollment.During a Veterans Day Luncheonat Germanna’s Fredericksburg AreaCampus, Dixon said GCC’s welcoming attitude toward vets is makinga difference. Noting that veteransmaking the transition to civilian lifesometimes feel uncomfortable goingback to school. Army vet Dixon said,“We have a good [veterans supportservices] team that extends to caringfaculty and staff who are doing agreat job of making veterans feel theybelong.”He said that as the U.S. winds downinvolvement in Afghanistan, the number of veterans returning to collegewill continue to climb.Germanna Community College 7

Our StudentsStudent Invents Device to Help Vision-Impaired ChildrenA 2014 Germanna engineering graduate Reuben Strangelove, headedfor Virginia Tech, invented a device to help visually impaired childrenlearn shapes and colors.The Color Creator is a high contrast tool for teachers working with theblind and visually impaired, said Reuben of Spotsylvania County.He said it serves two purposes: as a functional assessment tool and as ahigh contrast education platform.The device is about the size of an iPad. It has tactile color controls andaudio feedback with an onboard speaker and headphone jack, as wellas an external keypad with braille markings.All-Virginia and All-USA Academic TeamsGermanna students Dayana Pachon Ramos, StefanoSarris, Jennifer Baggett and Christine Chester werehonored at a luncheon at the Omni Richmond Hotelas members of the 2014 Phi Theta Kappa All-VirginiaAcademic Team.Sarris was also named a Silver Scholar on Coca-Cola’s2014 All-USA Community College Academic Team.The program is sponsored by the Coca-Cola ScholarsFoundation and administered by the Phi ThetaKappa Honor Society. He also received an AtlanticBuilders scholarship from CEO Adam Fried and theGermanna Educational Foundation.8 Germanna Community College

YOUR FUTURE. OUR COMMITMENT.Winning Nursing Bowl team is ‘RN-edand Dangerous’The winner of Germanna Community College’sNursing Bowl at the Daniel Technology Center inCulpeper was the ‘RN-ed and Dangerous’ team.The event was a test of nursing knowledge underpressure, before an audience of about 300 nursingstudents, faculty and staff.The competition, held before a crowd of about300 nursing students, faculty and local healthcareofficials, is a combination of American Idol andWho Wants to be a Millionaire? without thelifelines, and the ER. Students answer questionsfrom a panel of medical expert judges on how theywould handle cases.Student Selected for VCCS’Top ScholarshipGermanna student ChristopherHenshaw of Culpeper was selectedfor Virginia’s Community Collegesmost prestigious scholarship, theValley Proteins Fellow Program,which helps promising second-yearstudents pursue their academic goalsand hone their leadership skills.The 19-year-old, whose focus iscomputer engineering and whograduated from Culpeper HighSchool in 2013, is one of 10 chosenout of 400,000 students attendingVirginia’s Community Collegesby the Virginia Foundation forCommunity College Education tobe part of the 2014-15 class of ValleyProteins Fellows.Commonwealth Legacy ScholarJasmine Kellaway, a 2013 Mountain View High School graduate, decided to stayhome in Stafford County and go to Germanna Community College. “I thoughtit would be smarter for me to save money by going to Germanna, getting myassociate’s degree, then transferring to Virginia Tech,” Kellaway said. “Two yearsat Germanna is a lot less expensive than two years at a university. I want to be anengineer and Germanna is a really good stepping stone for transferring to VirginiaTech with the guaranteed transfer agreement.”She graduated from MVHS with distinguished honors and was a member of theNational Honor Society, was Vice President of the International BaccalaureateDiscussion Club and a member of the Future Business Leaders of America–andwas part of an FLBA national business ethics competition.She plans to pursue bachelor’s degrees in both electrical engineering and businessat Tech, and may further her educational goals by obtaining a master’s degree inengineering. “The classes at Germanna are a good size for me,” Kellaway said. “Youhave a lot of one on one time with professors and I haven’t had a professor yet Ididn’t like,” she said.The Commonwealth Legacy Scholar award, in honor of J. William Price III andPatricia Price, is 3,000.Germanna Community College 9

Class of 2014 CommencementDuring spring commencement, Christina Martino, 2013-14Student Government Association vice president after beinghome schooled during high school, spoke before a crowd ofover 2,500.Martino, who transfered to Liberty University after graduating,explained her choice of Germanna: “There’s one-on-oneattention from the professors. The class sizes are smaller and thefaculty is much more involved here than at most colleges. I’mreally impressed by how much they care about the students.”Germanna held its fall commencement at the FredericksburgExpo Center. Among the graduates was student commencementspeaker Chris Snider, 44. Snider, then a district representativefor U.S. Congressman Eric Cantor, R–7th District, who receivedan associate’s degree in business administration. “I have arenewed sense of purpose and hope for the future,” Snider toldthe crowd.Mother and Son Veterans Realizing College DreamsAs America’s involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq has drawndown, the number of veterans enrolling in college is rising.Some of them, including Germanna student and GCC VeteransServices Office work study Sabrina Crenshaw, have had collegein mind for a long time.Her son, Craig Hill, went into the Air Force so he could use theGI Bill for college. Now he’s returned to civilian life and is also aGermanna student.Crenshaw is working toward a career as a paraprofessionalmental health counselor. Hill plans to enter Germanna’sPharmacy Technician program.NASA Dream Comes True for GCC Engineering StudentWhen Germanna 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 havebeen right on the mark.“It had to do with space, which I already loved,” she says.Half a dozen years later, Thompson, an engineering student atGermanna, was accepted into the NASA Community CollegeAerospace Scholars program.To get there, she had to design a Mars Rover project that could makethe trip to the Red Planet in less than a year, staying within a 500million budget.“Jade is a diligent student with great academic potential,” said Dr.Davyda Hammond, one of her engineering professors at Germanna.10 Germanna Community College

YOUR FUTURE. OUR COMMITMENT.Germanna GuaranteeScholarship RecipientFor Kimberlie Morris, being homelessinvolved, in her words, “lots ofcamping.”She says she read so much that herlibrary card “got a workout.”And she says she came up with some“really cool campfire recipes.”That’s obviously not a completeportrait of her life at the time, but whocan blame Morris for a little positivity?After all, she did graduate fromGermanna Community College withan associate’s degree in businessmanagement, just 10 years after shereached a point when sleeping in acheap motel was a luxury.“I don’t necessarily regret the choices,but I’ve learned from them, so that’swhy I don’t regret them,” said Morris,34, who lives in Spotsylvania Countywith her husband, Brian, and herfather, Don Edwards.Morris now works 29 hours a weekas an assistant at Germanna’s AdultCareer Center. Her husband andfather, both of whom served in themilitary, also have jobs.But that wasn’t the case in 2003, afteran ill-fated trip to Las Vegas. Morrissays she—along with her husbandand father—headed out west fromVirginia Beach after a friend told themthey could find work in Vegas.Their stay in Sin City lasted all of twoweeks.The family returned to Virginia Beach,where they rented a motel roombefore moving in with Brian’s parentsin Brockton, Mass. That move was alsoshort-lived, Morris said.They stayed at campgrounds inVirginia and Morris’ home state ofMaryland. It was at a campsite thatthey met a father and son who weretaking a cross-country bike trip, shenotes.sees herself in a lot of people, and shewants to help them and see that they’resuccessful.”“We met so many people that were sokind,” said Morris, whose only incomeat the time came from selling items atflea markets.Asked about her grade point averagein high school, she would only say thatit was “very low.” But at Germanna,she says, her GPA was 3.531 the lasttime she checked—good enough tograduate magna cum laude.In 2004, the family rented anapartment in the Fredericksburg areafrom a man who Morris met at anearby flea market. He allowed themto pay their security deposit over timeinstead of all at once.“It just takes one person to give you abreak,” she said.By 2005, everyone in the familywas earning a paycheck. And theyeventually moved out of the crampedapartment to a three-bedroomSpotsylvania home owned by acolleague of Morris’ father.“While you love your in-laws, youcan’t always live with them,” she saidwith a smile.Having worked largely in retail jobsafter graduating from high school,Morris said she enrolled at Germannain 2011 to expand her horizons. InJune, she began working at the school’sAdult Career Center, where careercoach Michelle Beverage describes heras upfront and determined.From there, “We just started floatingaround . . . just trying to figure outwhat to do.”“I feel like she is very relatable,especially to the population that wework with,” she said. “I think sheMorris said she didn’t anticipate hersuccess at Germanna, particularly inlight of her high school experience.Morris doesn’t have any immediateplans to pursue a bachelor’s degree,thoug

Germanna Community College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award an Associate degree. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call (404) 679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Germanna Community College. In addition, the