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SC4 responds to growing demand for qualified health care professionals

As the population ages, health care professionals are more in demand than ever. In fact, new health-related jobs are projected to grow 18 percent through 2026, “much faster than the average for all occupations,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For St. Clair County Community College – home to Michigan’s oldest community college’s nursing program – that trend means doubling down on what it has done well for the past 95 years and expanding efforts to ensure its students thrive in one of the nation’s 2.4 million anticipated new health sciences jobs.

Read more about the SC4’s response to the demand for health care professionals from The Keel.

SC4, Port Huron High School to host MHSAA basketball state quarterfinals March 12 and 19

St. Clair County Community College, along with Port Huron High School, will host two Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) basketball state quarterfinals in its Fieldhouse March 12 and March 19.

A Division 3 boys quarterfinal between Detroit Edison Public School Academy and Flint Beecher High School is scheduled for tomorrow, March 12. A Division 2 girls quarterfinal is set for Tuesday, March 19. Both games begin at 7 p.m.
The winning boys team will advance to the semifinals at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center on March 14. The winning girls team will advance to the semifinals beginning March 21, at Calvin College’s Van Noord Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich.

“We’re thrilled to bring MHSAA Basketball Quarterfinals to the SC4 Fieldhouse and provide an opportunity for St. Clair Community College to show off its wonderful new building,” MHSAA spokesperson Geoff Kimmerly said as site locations were announced last year. “Basketball Quarterfinals often are among the most highly-attended events of any tournament season, and SC4 provides a great venue for games of this magnitude. Teams and fans will enjoy playing at SC4 as they continue the championship climb.”

Added Dale Vos, SC4 director of athletics, “We’re excited to host these MHSAA quarterfinals games and delighted to welcome community members from near and far to the SC4 Fieldhouse.”

The public is encouraged to attend the quarterfinal games. Admission is $7 at the door.

SC4 Men’s Basketball Team wins NJCAA Division II District Championship, headed to National Championships

The St. Clair County Community College Men’s Basketball Team was named the NJCAA Division II District X Champion after defeating the Henry Ford Hawks 88-71 in Grand Rapids on March 9. The team will head to Danville, Illinois for the 2019 NJCAA Division II National Championship.

Skippers Jalen Miller, Mark Hill and Omari Duncan made the All-Tournament Team, with Duncan being selected as the tournament MVP.

This marks second trip to the national championship for men’s basketball at SC4. It is also the second trip for Coach Dale Vos in his 28-year career.

Photos from the District X Championship Game are available on Flickr.

Focus on Open Education Resources helps maximize student success, reduce college costs

It is Open Education Week, and St. Clair County Community College remains committed to its open education resources (OER) efforts, which have helped save students nearly $900,000 since 2016.

Started in 2013, Open Education Week is a global event to raise awareness and showcase the impact of open education on teaching and learning worldwide. OER include freely accessible, openly licensed text, media and other digital assets that can increase student learning and success while reducing the cost of higher education.

At SC4, OER advocates have led efforts that focus on providing faculty members the opportunity to utilize alternative textbooks that save students money. Faculty members in biology, business, criminal justice, earth science, English, health education, history, math, philosophy, physics courses and more have utilized the resources.

Additionally, many SC4 faculty members have received pilot awards for their OER innovation, including biology instructor Brandis Hubbard, who was recently recognized for a series of videos she developed for one of her courses.

“Embracing the creation and use of OER gives us the opportunity to encourage collaboration and creativity while also addressing textbook affordability to ensure our students have access to the resources they need to be successful,” said SC4 Dean of Library Services and Academic Technology Kendra Lake. “As the support for OER continues to grow across the state and the nation, being an integral part of the larger OER community will continue to benefit our students.”

Other OER efforts at the college include:

  • Participation in Michigan Colleges Online’s OER Commons hub, an OER discovery and curation tool that’s free for faculty members.
  • An OER team consisting of faculty, librarians and staff which aims to encourage and support open pedagogy across the college.
  • Host to more than 200 open education practitioners and advocates from across the state as part of the second annual Michigan Open Educational Resources (OER) Summit in September 2018.
  • A permanent OER textbook display available to faculty in the college’s library.
  • A custom OER Library Research Guide, featuring a curated list of OER resources by discipline, open access content search with a list of OER repositories, links to open education research and much more.