Inspiring Success Story: 4th grade visit inspires Dakota White

Dakota White smiles, remembering his Barnes Elementary 4th Grade class’s visit to Lower Columbia College.

Dakota White

“The thing I remember most was walking into a Chemistry lab—I think Adam Wolfer was doing the demonstration—and watching potassium burn in water, and thinking it was awesome. That, and playing with the clay in the ceramics lab….”

This year, the Kelso High School junior is a Running Start student at LCC, taking Wolfer’s CHEM 163, third in the General Chemistry sequence for science majors.

The future chemical engineer was also the main event for the Chemistry part of Barnes Day 2012. In Wolfer’s chemistry classroom, Dakota demonstrated a “Briggs-Rauscher Reaction,” combining three chemicals to set off a showy series of color changes, flashing back and forth.

“The first time I saw this, it was so amazing, I thought it had to be PhotoShopped.” (It’s not.)

When Dakota and his own class visited LCC for Barnes Day seven years ago, he was already thinking science was the way to go. The chemistry included in his seventh grade science class encouraged him, and high school chemistry was great too. “I realized that I really enjoyed it, and that I was good at it.”

College was definitely on his horizon.

“I wanted to grow up, go to a 4-year college, get a good job and have a career. As a person, I like to have a plan.”

This year, he took honors classes at KHS, and Chemistry at LCC. Next year, he’ll take Calculus and Organic Chemistry at LCC. Next, he hopes to finish his bachelor’s degree at the University of Washington, then add an MBA.

Chemistry is all around us, Dakota points out.

“It’s in our everyday life, right down to washing your dishes; what kind of soap you use. Science is pushing forward and it will keep going and going. In areas like energy, these things have to be found, and people have to find them. We need more people going into science and progressing.”

Dakota is looking forward to working as a chemical engineer.

“It’s very hands-on. You’re always learning and finding new things."

Every spring, fourth-grade students from Barnes Elementary School visit Lower Columbia College to see the campus, meet faculty, and watch demonstrations. They even get to meet the President!

Inspiring Success Story: Noah Smith, future small business owner

Submitted by Amber Lemiere, Program Coordinator, Admissions & Testing

In June of 2011 Noah Smith visited Lower Columbia College for the first time, anxious about the task before him. He'd been turned down for a promotion because he never graduated high school, and he'd kept it a secret from his family and friends for years.

Noah Smith

Weeks later, Noah stood at the testing window again, awaiting the results of his first two tests.

"I was scared to death," he said, "I remember throwing up in the parking lot before I got here."

I thought he was kidding when he warned he would burst into tears if he passed his tests. Noah proved me wrong in an exciting display of emotion and relief. It was a fun twist of events that seldom occurs in testing. He called me around to the window because he "just needed a hug," and proceeded to explain what a big deal this was. He was going to be a dad soon, and he couldn’t believe he was going to be a college student, setting a great example for his future child.

Since my initial encounter with Noah, it's been a joy getting to know him and watch him grow and inspire others.

Heidi Bauer, who taught Noah’s first English course at LCC, explained:

"Noah is one of the most enthusiastic students I've had. He took the lead in the classroom by organizing study groups, initiating class discussions, and even planning a field trip that complimented what they'd been studying in class. He is a student we all kept our eye on as someone who will surely succeed."

After Noah earned his GED, he visited testing on a regular basis. Even though initially we'd had to encourage him to "sit down and breathe," he now walks by and asks us how we're doing. He always makes sure to sit down and visit with us about life, college, goals, family and more.

Noah works in the Transfer Center and helps out in the testing office. Recently we were setting up for GED testing by preparing the classroom and writing on the whiteboard. Noah was wiping down the desks when he stopped to say he can barely look at that board without getting tears in his eyes. He can’t believe how far he's come. He's been on the President’s List for the last two quarters. He's on top of the world!

A year ago, Noah came clean with his family and himself and wrote down his life goals, including earning his GED, enrolling in college, starting a business, and having a healthy baby girl. A month ago, he celebrated his accomplishments by opening the envelope and rejoicing over everything he's accomplished.

Noah plans open his own business, a BBQ joint called "Hickory Hogs," where he wants to hire individuals in the community who have not earned their GED and mentor them (and possibley even fund) the initial steps of their education.

He is an inspiration. Plain and simple!

Saving time & money: Lacey Seidl gets ahead with summer classes!

Lacey Seidl, 2011 LCC alum,
West Texas A & M transfer student

Summer classes saves transfer student time and money.

"To be able to come home over the summer and take classes at LCC is a blessing because I am able to be with family and friends while working towards my education.

It is also a lot easier financially to take classes at a community college over the summer than it is to take them at a university!

LCC has allowed me to reach my aspirations more efficiently by allowing me to take classes during the summer."

~ Lacey Seidl, 2011 LCC Grad and West Texas A & M student.

Learn how you can save time and money with summer classes. Don't delay. Registration begins soon!

Inspiring Success Story: I-BEST Job Training Leads to Great Job for Deaf Student

“I’ve been using all of the skills I learned in my classes at LCC and really enjoy my job." ~ Chris Cayton, LCC graduate

Chris Cayton was a good worker, doing window tinting, and later package handling and training for Federal Express Ground, but he wanted more.

Chris built on his I-BEST Manufacturing
Occupations certificate with Welding and
Machine Trades degrees.

He wanted a college degree (his fiancé has a bachelor’s degree) and a better job so he could support his son. It took the right college—Chris is deaf—and patience, but Chris got everything he was looking for, and more.

Chris lives in Vancouver, but chose LCC because friends told him LCC’s Welding Program was really good, with lots of personal attention from the instructors.

His friends were so right! “I was surprised,” he says. ”I got very nice help from Randy (Byrum), Allan (Evald) and Jim (Coyne). They helped me a lot, showing me how to weld.”

That personal attention was vital for Chris. He can carry on a good conversation, between lip-reading and his cochlear implant, which picks up and processes sounds, transmitting them to his inner ear. However, he needed a sign language interpreter in class, where he couldn’t always see the speaker’s face.

Extra Boost from I-BEST

LCC goes further, though. While Chris had attended the Washington State School for the Deaf and graduated from high school in California, his reading and math skills weren’t quite good enough to be successful.

The Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program provides an extra instructor who attends all certificate classes and helps students with their reading, math and other college skills. I-BEST is available for LCC’s Manufacturing Occupations, Health Occupations, Nursing Assistant, Early Childhood Education, and Business Technology—Administrative Support certificate programs.

LCC helped the state's community and technical colleges pioneer I-BEST, which has received national attention for helping students succeed in their job training programs.

Building on I-BEST Certificate 

Chris started with a one-year certificate in Manufacturing Occupations, and discovered that he really liked welding. “It’s fun, it’s hands-on, and I get to work independently.” He added a year of Welding classes to earn his Associate in Applied Science degree.

He plunged into college life and was especially active in the Welding Club, assisting with the high school welding competition, and helping to build sturdy steel hog pens for the county fairgrounds. A work-study employee, he also helped with various maintenance projects around campus.

When he graduated, the job market was still very poor, so he stayed on at LCC, adding a degree in Machine Trades.

Happy Results

It all paid off late last summer, when Plumbers and Steamfitters Union Local 290 hired him as an apprentice.

Chris is ecstatic. “I’ve been using all of the skills I learned in my classes at LCC and really enjoy my job. The money and benefits are great, and I’m getting between 50 and 60 hours a week. I couldn’t be happier.”

A special bonus: a baby daughter born in October.

For more information about I-BEST, contact Jill Yates.

Inspiring Success Story: I-TRANS Shaves a Year Off Mandy Pastor's Degree Plan

“With a student like me, there were no boundaries to how far I could go.
All the limits went out the window.” ~ Mandy Pastor

Mandy Pastor shows off the "chocolate chip
cookie" cover on her report on making your
work appealing.

Mandy Pastor is completing her AA Transfer Degree spring quarter—a year earlier than expected, thanks to I-TRANS, which pairs a multi-level English or Math course with another college course that puts students’ growing skills to use.

Starting at LCC the Fall of 2009, she got bad news when she took her placement tests.  

“They told me it would take me four years to get my transfer degree, including my pre-college English and math work.”

I-TRANS students progress at their own rate, getting extra help as they write essays and papers, prepare speeches, or do the specialized math for a science class. Not only do they progress at their own rate, but they can earn college credit before their English or math skills are at college level.
The I-TRANS format was perfect for Mandy, who struggles with ADHD. Going back and forth between the two related subjects helped her to stay interested and concentrate.
“With a student like me, there were no boundaries to how far I could go,” says Mandy. “All the limits went out the window.”

Mandy trimmed off a year in one quarter (Winter of 2010), advancing from English 065 to an A in English 101, while also earning Humanities I credit. She also did well in I-TRANS Math, earning MATH 099 and Physical Science 109 credit.

“I never understood math or science,” she says. In fact, it was her third try at Math 099. “When they put those two subjects together like that, something clicked! For the first time in my  life, I was enjoying and excelling in both subjects.”

Mandy graduates this spring, and will march in Commencement June 15 with several friends—and her own rooting section. Friends are another benefit of I-TRANS. Since students are taking two classes together, they grow close.

Next comes a teaching degree. She’s been accepted at her dream college, Mississippi State University (MSU), a couple hours from where she grew up. “They would never have accepted me if I had applied right out of high school.”

Mandy wants to teach junior high school. “That’s when I really fell through the cracks.”

For more information about I-TRANS, contact Jill Yates.

Business-Education Partnership Roundtable

Ensuring a highly-skilled workforce takes commitment from many players—leaders in the public and private sectors, the education community, and the workforce development system, as well as workplace learning professionals. ~ American Society for Training & Development.

Help Cowlitz/Wakhkiakum Counties prepare to fill this workforce gap by attending the:

Second Biennial Business-Education Partnership Roundtable

Tuesday, March 20, 2012
7:30 - 10 am
Cowlitz PUD Auditorium

Space is limited! Reserve your seat online

or call 360.442.2610.

download and print the flyer

Brought to you by:
Cowlitz Economic Development Council
Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Career Development Consortium
Kelso Longview Chamber of Commerce
Lower Columbia College
Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council

Alla Saverchenko loves her ceramics classes!

"Trudy Woods is the best! It's so easy to learn from her, and she makes it fun!" ~ Alla Saverchenko. 

Alla also enjoys cake decorating--fancy cupcakes are a specialty, and would love to have a "fairy tale bakery" someday. Alla has several businesses in mind, but wants to prepare herself well first.

The full-time Running Start student finished her high school dual credit work last year, and is working on her Business transfer degree. The youngest of nine children in a Russian immigrant family (and the only one born here), Alla relishes the flexibility, independence and personal responsibility of college.

Note: Trudy Woods teaches ceramics classes at Lower Columbia College.