Category: Academics

SC4 alumnus making mark on communities and youth in Arizona, Washington

St. Clair County Community College alumnus Sean Barton is committed to providing stability and growth for communities and youth through sports and education.

Barton currently serves as director of curriculum and strategic initiatives at STEM Sports in Phoenix where he leads strategic planning efforts and manages and develops a curriculum that fuses STEM and sports for students in grades K through 8. Prior to that in Phoenix, he worked as chief operating officer at the NABI Foundation, which provides educational programs for Native youth.

“I feel fortunate and blessed to be compensated financially for my work – helping others through servant leadership in the education and athletic sphere. Yet the greatest compensation comes from doing something every day that is intrinsically valuable/that I love.”

Barton also left a sizeable footprint in the state of Washington via his roles at the Archdiocese of Seattle and the French American School of Puget Sound. He worked as the assistant director of athletics at the Archdiocese of Seattle and served as athletics director, extended day director, middle school physical education teacher and summer camp program director at the French American School of Puget Sound.

“The opportunity to work in settings that provide stability and growth for communities and youth brings me immense joy,” Barton said. “I aspire to continuously embrace and capitalize on opportunities that support educators, students, and parents and families throughout my career. This includes both professional and personal/volunteer work.”

A Port Huron Northern High School graduate, Barton attended SC4 on a basketball scholarship from 1996 to 1998. He attended SC4 again in 2005.

“SC4 provides a valuable, financially responsible academic experience for an array of ambitious minds, young and mature,” he said. “I had several quality courses and instructors during my tenure at SC4, which provided a solid foundation to succeed in both my academic and professional endeavors.”

Barton transferred his earned credits in 2006 to the University of Phoenix in Bellevue, Wash., graduating in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He then went on to earn a master’s degree in business administration with a focus on entrepreneurship from Northcentral University in 2014.

Registration open for SC4 late-start winter classes

Registration is open for late-start winter semester classes at St. Clair County Community College. Seats are still available in 12-week classes starting the week of Feb. 10 and eight-week classes starting the week of March 16. Classes are available in Port Huron and online.

Late-start classes allow students to earn credits at a faster pace. Class topics include biology, business, English, math, political science, psychology, sociology and more. Examples of some specific courses offered this winter include:

  • ART120 – Art Appreciation
  • BIO110 – Cell Biology Basics
  • BUS150 – Principles of Business
  • BUS153 – Business Law
  • BUS252 – Consumer Behavior
  • CIS297 – The CIS Professional
  • CJ101– Introduction to Criminal Justice
  • ENG101 – English Composition I
  • ENG102 – English Composition II
  • HE101 – Math Related to Drug Administration
  • HE102 – Medical Terminology
  • HE112 – Medical Law and Ethics for the Allied Health Professional
  • HIS101 – History of Western Civilization to 1715
  • HIS150 – History of U.S. 1877 to Present
  • MTH111 – Plane Trigonometry
  • PS101 – Introduction to Political Science
  • PSY180 – Introduction to Psychology
  • SOC101 – Principles of Sociology

Current students can search for all courses and sections
at sc4.edu/schedule. They can register and pay for classes online in the SC4 Portal at portal.sc4.edu.

New students can start at sc4.edu/starthere.

Registration service also is available at SC4’s One-stop Student Services Center located in the Dr. James C. Acheson Welcome Center on the corner of Erie Street and Glenwood Avenue on the Port Huron campus. Hours of service are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday.

For more information, contact SC4 Enrollment Services at enrollment@sc4.edu or 810-989-5500.

SC4 a great place to start according to alumnus Dan Damman

Attorney Daniel A. Damman says there’s no debate about it: St. Clair County Community College is the best place for area students to start their higher education.

A 1994 St. Clair High School graduate, Damman (pictured above with wife Therese) attended SC4 for two years, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Michigan State University in 1999 and earned his Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University Law School in 2002.

After law school, Damman took over a New Baltimore law firm, changed the name to Damman Law Firm, PLC, and eventually moved it to Marysville and then St. Clair. He helped form Lord, Damman and VanDrew, PLC, in 2006 with partner Ken Lord and Dana VanDrew and later Damman VanDrew, PLC.

In June 2015 Damman and Nicole Winston founded the litigation firm Winston and Damman, PLLC, where they continue to practice law, including criminal defense, divorce and family law, personal injury, wrongful death and social security disability.

Damman, 44, formerly of Marysville and now St. Clair Township, was elected to the Marysville City Council in 2011 and mayor in 2013. He served three terms before stepping down to enter the candidacy for judge of the 31st Circuit Court. He and his wife, Therese, have two children, Emily, 20, and Mason, 18.

He said he decided his senior year of high school to attend SC4 after graduation and began in the fall of 1994.

“Being the youngest of four children – and the youngest by nearly nine years, I was not ready to leave my parents’ home,” Damman said. “I also wasn’t exactly sure where I wanted to go to obtain my bachelor’s degree.

“SC4 gave me some time to transition from high school into adulthood, obtain a great education at a fraction of the cost of a four-year university, get some college credits under my belt, and time to figure out where I wanted to go next.”

Damman said SC4 allowed him to obtain an excellent education from some extraordinary instructors close to home.

“I went to SC4 for two years; my wife attended SC4; my daughter attended SC4, first through dual enrollment and then for a year after high school; and my son attends SC4 right now through dual enrollment. SC4 was crucial in starting me on the path to where I am today, and I am proud to be a SC4 alumnus.”

In addition to proximity and quality instruction, Damman said SC4 is a smart financial decision for anyone considering higher education.

“What is crystal clear at this point in my life is that SC4 is one of the crown jewels of our area and people are wise to take advantage of what it has to offer. With the soaring cost of higher education, the ability for a high school student to earn college credits at no cost to the student, or his/her family, through dual enrollment or the Blue Water Middle College should be a no-brainer.

“Attending SC4 after graduation to earn credits at a fraction of the cost of a four-year university should also be given careful consideration for those students who want to start his or her education without back-breaking student debt. I believe that viewed through just about any lens, SC4 presents opportunity for everyone.”

SC4 joins statewide basic needs initiative to support students

PORT HURON – St. Clair County Community College announced today that it will join a statewide initiative to help students connect with resources to support basic needs. The Michigan Community College Association was awarded a $442,000 grant to launch the initiative focused on improving student completion and success by addressing economic instability among students including access to food, housing, transportation, childcare and other basic needs.

The Michigan – Building Economic Stability Today (MI-BEST) effort is funded by a grant from the ECMC Foundation as part of its Basic Needs Initiative, designed to address and alleviate basic needs insecurity among students.

The initiative kicks off this month and continues through June 2022. SC4 will begin by forming a team of college personnel and community leaders in January.

National survey findings reported that 45 percent of respondents had been food insecure in the past 30 days, 56 percent had been housing insecure in the previous year and 17 percent had been homeless during that year.

“We know that the lack of access to basic needs is frequently the reason that students leave college,” said Erica Lee Orians, executive director of the Michigan Center for Student Success at the Michigan Community College Association, “SC4’s participation in this initiative is a critical component of our student success efforts.”

The Michigan Center for Student Success is leading the initiative for the MCCA and will partner with nationally-recognized organizations including the National Center for Inquiry and Improvement and Trellis Research along with Michigan-based organizations including the Michigan Association of United Ways, MiBridges, and Public Policy Associates to support Michigan’s participating community colleges.

“We have focused on a number of initiatives to improve student completion at SC4 and MI-BEST is another opportunity for the college to eliminate barriers to student success,” said SC4 Vice President of Student Services Pete Lacey. “We are grateful for the partnership from the ECMC Foundation and the Michigan Community College Association and their visionary leadership to address economic instability to improve student success.”

Other student needs and completion initiatives at SC4 include the Complete Your Degree Program as well as working collaboratively with Literacy and Beyond, which assists single moms with GED completion and helps provide support to enroll in college. The college also provides students with nutritional food options via free Skippers Snacks bins located around campus. 

The MCCA basic needs initiative was created in response to research from the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice (Hope Center), California State University, MDRC and the National Bureau of Economic Research, showing that basic needs insecurity is prevalent among students at two- and four-year campuses and impacts students’ persistence and graduation outcomes.

The Michigan Center for Student Success, founded in 2011, serves as a hub connecting leadership, administrators, faculty, and staff in their emerging and ongoing efforts to improve student outcomes, emphasizing linkages between practice, research, and policy. The Center has led statewide initiatives focused on re-engaging adults, developmental education, transfer, veterans, and advising. The Center is part of the 16-state Student Success Center Network working with over half of the community colleges across the nation.

ABOUT THE MICHIGAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE ASSOCIATION
The Michigan Community College Association fosters collaboration, connection, and partnerships among the 28 Michigan public community colleges and their stakeholders.  The MCCA provides strong legislative and public advocacy in Lansing and throughout Michigan, works to improve the image and credibility of community colleges, and advances numerous shared initiatives through the Michigan Center for Student Success, Michigan Colleges Online, and the Michigan New Jobs Training Program.

ABOUT ECMC FOUNDATION
ECMC Foundation is a Los Angeles-based, nationally focused foundation whose mission is to inspire and to facilitate improvements that affect educational outcomes—especially among underserved populations—through evidence-based innovation. It is one of several affiliates under the ECMC Group enterprise based in Minneapolis. ECMC Foundation makes investments in two focus areas: College Success and Career Readiness; and uses a spectrum of funding structures, including strategic grantmaking and program-related investments, to invest in both nonprofit and for-profit ventures. Working with grantees, partners and peers, ECMC Foundation’s vision is for all learners to unlock their fullest potential. Learn more about ECMC Foundation by visiting www.ecmcfoundation.org and ECMC Group by visiting www.ecmcgroup.org.