Category: Academics

TRIO Student of the Month: Mark Hinkle

St. Clair County Community College student Mark Hinkle hasn’t let dyslexia stop him from pursuing a college degree.

“It does impact my education by making schooling more difficult, but it didn’t change my motivation to obtain my degree,” Hinkle said, mentioning that he chose SC4 due to its proximity to home, affordability and program options.

Hinkle – like his older brother – applied to the TRIO program and found it to be a crucial component in his educational journey.

“The TRIO program always made sure I was taking the right courses,” he said. “It is very advantageous as they know all the answers. The academic advising and priority registration support services have been very beneficial.”

He added, “My advisor Shawne Jowett helped me map out all of my courses when I started. I knew from the moment I became a TRIO student what my schedule would look like each semester. She would help me build my schedule and always made sure I was on track to graduate. I will be graduating in December with the exact number of credits required for my program.”

Going forward, Hinkle remains steadfast in proving he and others with dyslexia are just as capable as others. He plans on finishing his degree in criminal justice law enforcement in December before applying to the Police Academy and gaining employment as a police officer.

188 SC4 students earn honors

A total of 188 St. Clair County Community College students earned a spot on the President’s Honor List for the 2019 summer semester, which ended Aug. 2.

Students must take at least six credits and have a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher to make the list.

President’s Honor List for the 2019 summer semester, ordered by hometown:

ALGONAC — Emily Escobar, Elaine Gooden, Nicole Jackson, Tina Laparl, Nadia Lewis, Kacey Nowaczyk, Mary Spooner and Amanda Valentine.

ALLENTON — Sarah Brown and Shelby Husovsky.

ALMONT — Alyssa Soave.

ARMADA — Daniel Barfell.

ATTICA — Miranda Pekala.

AVOCA — Abigail Brown, Angela Clark, Lindsey McLeod and Doug Schoenberg.

BROWN CITY — Emily Deiotte.

BURTCHVILLE TOWNSHIP — Paul Brettschneider and Bethany Pomaville.

CAPAC — Anna Dalessandro, Benjamin Geliske, Priscilla King, Terra King, Theresa Klein, Ava McCracken and Lacy Zentgrebe.

CARSONVILLE — Robert Knobloch.

CASCO TOWNSHIP — Daley Boyd, Kara Rycerz, Jill Schrade, Stephanie Shirey and Courtney Worden.

CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP — Christine Snyder.

CLAY TOWNSHIP — Elizabeth Bowen, Anya Gerstenberg and Ashley Huber.

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — Kaylyn Fraser.

CLYDE TOWNSHIP — Taylor Ainsworth, Jordan Berg, Natalie Fleury, Cameron Hamblin, Alexa Kanikowski, Kelly Peters, Samantha Sawher and Alexandria Wheelihan.

COLUMBUS TOWNSHIP — Caitlin Walz.

COTTRELLVILLE TOWNSHIP — Skye Jarskey and Julie Wettlaufer.

CROSWELL — Pertrilla Brown and Eden Jenkins.

EAST CHINA TOWNSHIP — Alison Billeaudeau, Jessica Hopkins, Keri Lozen and Avery Skonieczny.

EASTPOINTE — Melissa Savine.

EMMETT — Angela Heiden.

FAIR HAVEN — Autumn Distelrath.

FARMINGTON HILLS — Jessica Callewaert.

FORT GRATIOT — Jordan Brennan, Emily Bundy, Mandy Chrzanowski, Haley Eisenhauer, Ashley Fletcher, Michael Heifner, Jennifer Klein, Jonathan Laffrey, Branson Marrogy, Audrey Mitchell, George Naguib, Michele Niehaus, Lindsay Ottowitz, Amethyst Stevens and Devin Walker.

GOODELLS — Erin Skonieczny.

HARBOR BEACH — John Legaspi.

HOWELL — Sarah Miller.

IMLAY CITY — Paige Sexton.

JEDDO — Heather Porter.

KIMBALL TOWNSHIP — Sarah Ardoin, Kayla Hunger, Matthew Pringle, John Sanchez, Tiffany Taylor, Max Thoennes and Paj Yang.

LAPEER — Hanna Vaubel.

MARINE CITY — Robert Kaminski.

MARYSVILLE — Joshua Bemiss, Jessica Bishop, Samantha Dupuie, Ashlee Falk, Jacob Gilbert, Jamie Hill, Kaitlynn Kindsvater, Jessica Konik, Alexa McCray, Angelo Mole, Cheyenne Northup, Ashlee Pastor, Frank Stover and Kelly Webb.

MEMPHIS — Jonathan Botwin, Taylor Kreger and Dean Schmitt.

MUSSEY TOWNSHIP — Pamela Lerash and Danielle Sawyer.

NEW BALTIMORE — Gwynn Previdi.

PALMS — Stephen Barker.

PORT HURON — Morgan Alexis, Donovan Barnes, Danielle Bower, Kirsten Brown, Tiffany Brown, Faith Chmielewski, Jessica Czanstke, Rose Dore, Dylan Durst, MacKenzie Fisher, Sean Forbes, Anthony Garska, Kelli Gossman, Kaitlin Green, Kerrigan Guertin, Justin Hartman, Rebecca Hartman, Kaitlyn Humphrey, Jessica Jeffrey, Emily Jurkiewicz, Jeremy Kenney, Paige Kinnee, Melissa Livingston, Robert Madley, Justine Morden, Kaseka Mulomede, Matthew Nabozny, Mary Newberry, Armani Paulding, Beatrice Pietramali, Casimir Pietrowski, Timothy Plunkett, Rhonda Porrett, Tawny Racz, Nichole Ransberger, Adam Reinholz, Sarah Robinson, Niurka Rodriguez, Christina Rzadkowolski, Laura Sexton, Adrienne Slossar, Daniele Soper, Shaylynn Southgate-Smith, Austin Stout, Marcel Trice, Heather Wagar, Nicholas Wik, Amanda Wilson, Cassandra Worden and Taylor Yax.

PORT SANILAC — Rylie Kolakovich.

RILEY TOWNSHIP — Madison Werner and Emily Wyszczelski.

SANDUSKY — Cassidy Albrecht and Rachael Roff.

SMITHS CREEK — Jenna Ramsey, Christina Robinson and Jennifer Winkler.

ST. CLAIR — Payton Aiello, Jessica Barjaktarovich, Christopher Barnes, Chelsea Carnahan, Alysa Cataldo, Leigh Knox, Jenna Miller, Bailey Sazehn, Sarah Shell and Michael Sutherland.

STERLING HEIGHTS — Zachary Huber.

TROY — Luke Cappetto.

UBLY — Carly Kincaid.

YALE — Caleb Bollaert, Casey Clark, Brooke Jonseck, Carleigh Randolph, Kaycee Reid, Angela Sugars, Kylie Veldman and Donyele Watson.

SC4 to unveil Health Sciences Building and hospital simulation wing at grand opening Sept. 27

Well-known for its excellence and training in the health sciences, St. Clair County Community College will unveil its renovated Health Sciences Building to the broader community at its Grand Opening Celebration beginning at 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 27.

Construction on the $9.8 million Capital Outlay project began last summer and was finalized on time and on budget to open for students in August.

HSB Aerial 08-29_01The building now features an enviably innovative hospital simulation wing, ambulance bay and home setting, and more highly-developed manikins and equipment to help prepare students with realistic scenarios and training. The renovated facility accelerates the expansion of programs, allows for a more interdisciplinary approach to patient care, and will serve more students through advanced teaching systems.

Read more about the Grand Opening Celebration from the Keel.

California-based alumnus and civil engineer improving quality of life for Orange County residents

Todd Dmytryshyn credits St. Clair County Community College for getting his career flowing in the right direction. The SC4 alumnus is an engineering manager at Moulton Niguel Water District in Laguna Hills, Calif.

Dmytryshyn, 35, of Irvine, Calif., grew up in Marysville and graduated from Port Huron High School in 2002. He graduated summa cum laude from SC4 in 2005 with an Associate of Arts and Associate of Science in pre-engineering.

“Looking back on my time at SC4, my experiences there had a profound impact on putting me on the road to where I am today,” Dmytryshyn said. “Not only did I end up on a path toward engineering as a result of my coursework at SC4, my extracurricular experiences there helped shape my ultimate career trajectory.

While at SC4, Dmytryshyn was involved in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, the Environmental Concerns Organization club and student government as president.

“Through those experiences, I developed a strong interest in the environment – in particular water issues – and public service. Now, as a civil engineer in the water industry, working at a public agency, I think it’s fair to say that SC4 put me solidly on the road to where I am today.”

Dmytryshyn decided to attend SC4 toward the end of his high school senior year but was unsure what potential career paths interested him.

“I felt that SC4 would provide an opportunity for me to experience a variety of educational courses and give me a better sense of direction going into a university,” he said.

“It turned out learning the science of the world around me and being able to understand why things work the way they do was something that really appealed to me,” he continued. “I have a fondness for film and television production, but math and science was my calling. During my time at SC4, I learned that engineering provided me the opportunity to combine my artistic and scientific interests.”

Dmytryshyn then enrolled in an engineering program at the University of Michigan, graduating summa cum laude in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering.

After college, Dmytryshyn worked as a project engineer at Malcolm Pirnie Inc., now Aracadis U.S., in Irvine, Calif., as a consulting project engineer for public sector clients on a variety of water infrastructure projects.

Among those was a 600 million-gallon-per-day ultraviolet water treatment facility – the largest facility of its type west of the Mississippi River and second largest in the U.S. – for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Another included a 50 million-gallon-per-day seawater desalination facility – the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere – located in Carlsbad, Calif., serving about 400,000 people in San Diego County.

Dmytryshyn transitioned to Moulton Niguel Water District in 2014 and presently oversees a $500+ million, 10-year capital improvement program related to the replacement and construction of new drinking water, recycled water and wastewater infrastructure, serving about 170,000 customers in six cities in southern Orange County.

He added his local community college gave him a chance to get his feet wet.

“SC4 provided me with the opportunity to ‘test the waters’ before setting out in a particular direction with my education,” Dmytryshyn said. “In my case, I ended up on a different path when I left SC4 than I was on when I started. SC4 also provided smaller class sizes than some universities, allowing me to have more direct interaction with the teaching staff where I was able ask questions that helped guide me on my educational path.”