Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2012)
Students to benefit from CASE grant plan while here a t Clackamas Community College and her future career goals. By Joshua Dillen News. Editor Obama Bucks have found their way into the coffers of Oregon« 17 community col leges. Clackamas Community College gets an almost a $3 million share of a $18,7 million grant and the job of shelling out the rest. These public institutions, along with industry employ- received federal funding throügh President Obamas American Jobs Act and the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training initiative. The program will disburse $2 billion nàtionally, over a four year period. Through the work o f the Credential Acceleration and Support for Employment (CASE) Consortium, the college intends to create new certificate programs and help graduates find local employment in their new or current field. According to a US Department o f Labor press release, the goal of these grants is to support partnerships between com m unity colleges - and employers to develop programs that provide pathways to good jobs. It also states the initiative complements Obamas broader agenda for every American to have at least one year o f postsec ondary education. In the release, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis expressed how important the legislation is for the schools involved. “Making it possible for unem ployed Americans to return to work is a top priority of President Obamas. This initiative- is about providing access to training that leads to real jobs,” stated Solis. “These federal grants will enable community colleges, employers and other partners to prepare job candidates, through innova tive programs, for new careers in high-wage, high-skills fields^ including advanced, manufactur ing, transportation, health care and STEM [science/technology, engineering and math] occupa tions” David Blessing has worked at the college for 14 years and is currendy the project coordi nator for customized training. The Clackamas Print j Wednesday, May 16, 2012 newsed@clackamas.edu grant we will be able to hire or pay an instructor to teach another class to help them move on in their career.” Welding instructor John Phelps explains that the career coaches have informed th e. stu dents in the welding program about CASE and are gather ing information from them to improve and accelerate their training and goals. “I know mis-has focused on immediate completion,” said ’S e f a m s w ilt aEcelefate and Phefp^^Tm sniigKFgivepeqplie expand programs tô create more the opportunity to- ^cpjaiplete ~ opportunities for those areas that their program when it’s been are lacking the curriculum to difficult for them.”A - W elding student Misty serve students. “It’s, a very substantial grant Whitmore has learned from and involving systemic changes to appreciates the help the career accelerate, credentialing and coaches have given to her and support for employment,” said fellow students at the training Blessing. “That money goes to center on campus. “They helped me apply for develop new programs and to provide classes fox [students] to my petition to graduate,” said Whitmore. “They helped me enroll in.” Blessing also explained that find jobs and to better my resu the US- Department of Labor me. I think its awesome.” Kara Leonard is one of the provides the guidelines that determine' who the targeted career coaches employed by the student is. This grant is aimed college through the CASE grant. at the unemployed who have She sums up the benefits the been displaced by foreign com funds will bring to the college petition, those changing their and its students by explaining career or those who have been her role as a counselor and her laid off their job. The monies work with the various career, will improve programs including technical programs. “I help students along their but not limited to horticulture, welding, automotive and health career path by providing one-on- occupations. The funding will one assistance to help them get, support training in all career a certificate or degree,” Leonard technical fields that show a - said. “I work with h e m to make sure h e y get a job within h e demand from the labor market. John Kyllo is one of the career industry h e y have been trained coaches at the college who works in.” -P Leonard’s describes h a t her closely with students to guide them in their retraining and pur role as a career coach helps stu suit of a new career. He sees dents w ih standard advising accessibility as one of the barriers as well as helping h e college to students who have had a hard to evaluate and improve career time completing a degree or cer technical curriculum and what is tification because they can’t get offered. Part of her job is work into a class that is offered rare ing w ih students for input and ly. W ith many technical fields various departments to develop that may require one class in h e programs on campus h a t common that is not offered fre focus on career development for quently, CASE funding’s goal is students here. In this stagnant economy, ' to create the needed curriculum to satisfy and expedite a student’s students will benefit horn h e improvements the CASE grant graduation or certification. “The classes that are bottling will bring to h e college. Career up students and only offered coaches and h e creation of new once per term are creating wait career technical classes and pro ing lists that keep students from grams are just some of h e goals finishing in a timely manner, being realized here through the “said Kyllo. “W ith the CASE efforts of h e CASE consortium. The Clackamas Print wins 18 awards Every year in May The C lackam as P r in t heads to the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Collegiate Day, where we learn which awards we’ve won in a competition w ith other newspapers from colleges around the state. After three years writing for TAe P rin t, I am extremely happy to say that we brought 18 awards back to Clackamas. T he staff that I have worked with this year worked hard on their stories, and they all are appreciated for their hard work, including photo editor Brad Heineke who won four awards for his photography. Ten o f those 18 awards were first place awards and include: Best Photography, Best News Story, Best House Ad and Best Sports Story. His current project is the CASE grant and he is the interim direc tor. The monies are intended, to serve 624 individuals by September 2014 and provide funding to implement changes to improve these students’ expe-, riençes, and as always, improve and help them find a job. He also explained the money is not used to financially support students, but used to pay for improvements to programs and hire career, coaches. He also said We also swept Best Headline W riting for the second year in a row with first and second place. For a full list o f the awards and w hat we w on visit h ttp://w w w .orenew s.com Z Contests/2012/cncZ. You may find The C lackam as P r in t in circulation group three. Needless to say, we would all like to give a big thanks to you, our readers. W ithout you there would be no C lackam as P rin t. W hether or hot you agree or disagree with how or what we report, you give us the encourage m ent to keep writing. -Brian Baldwin s t a f f ¿ h o w s ' o ^ t h e f f h ^ a w à r d s f ih ò n ^ a t the Oregon Newspapers Publishers Association Collegiate Day on Friday, M ay 11. maitSH ■awaoigfll DregonCityjSjQre] ■ 5 0 3 Ï& Z S 2 FMohWSanB a a n v8 p cn ICJoseq SunaoyH JhinkGreenGrfeefinet ■bfed. T /' - 'W -■
