Category: Community

Baseball and softball seasons begin at SC4

Spring has arrived, and the baseball and softball seasons are underway at SC4 as the Skippers gear up for home games against conference and non-conference opponents.

Led by head coach Ryan Kottke, the Skippers baseball team looks to make an early impact with home games against Mott Community College on April 5 and Cleary University JV April 7. The SC4 softball team, led by head coach Ron Matthews, will play home contests against Alpena Community College April 6 and 7, Oakland Community College April 9, and Delta College April 12.

Baseball batter swinging at the plate

All home baseball games are played at Sanborn Park in Port Huron, while softball contests take place at Pine Grove Park.

Fans can have some extra fun at the ballpark during special promotional games this season. During rivalry days on Saturday, April 20 (softball), and Saturday, April 27 (baseball), attendees will receive free SC4 rally towels. And during Pup at the Park days on Saturday, April 13 (baseball), and Saturday, May 4 (softball), fans can take in the game with their four-legged friends.

Softball batter swinging at the plate

A number of Skippers baseball and softball players have gone on to play and coach in local and national collegiate and professional sports. For instance, former Skipper Paul Fry is off to a great start with the Baltimore Orioles this season, and Bill Nahorodny’s Major League Baseball career was just recently featured by NBC Sports.

For more information, including rosters and full season schedules, visit sc4.edu/athletics.

SC4 Career Fair to welcome 100 employers to campus April 11

St. Clair County Community College’s annual Career Fair, the largest event of its kind in the county, takes place Thursday, April 11, from 1 to 4 p.m. in the SC4 Fieldhouse. The college is hosting the event in partnership with Macomb/St. Clair Michigan Works, St. Clair County EDA, Blue Water Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Port Huron/McMorran.

Open to students, alumni and community members, the Career Fair will feature 100 local, national and international employers across a number of industries looking for qualified candidates to immediately fill open positions.

Attendees will have the chance to meet directly with employers, learn about career opportunities in a variety of fields, and network with professionals to gain valuable insight into the current job market.

“The Career Fair is a great opportunity for job seekers in our community and employers in our region and across the country,” said Bonnie DiNardo, director of community education and relations at SC4. “This event has continued to grow year after year. We have so many talented, well-qualified candidates in our community, and I think employers realize that.”

Admission to the Career Fair is free and open to the public. No advanced registration is required. Attendees are encouraged to dress in proper business attire, communicate professionally and efficiently, and bring a properly prepared résumé. There will be a prize drawing for all professionally dressed job seekers with résumés.

For more information, visit sc4.edu/careerfair or contact Bonnie DiNardo at 810-989-5739 or bdinardo@sc4.edu.

SC4 adds respiratory therapy program to growing list of health sciences offerings

St. Clair County Community College is offering a new Associate in Applied Arts and Sciences degree program in respiratory therapy, with courses beginning in the fall 2019 semester. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, careers in respiratory therapy are projected to grow 23 percent through 2026, much faster than the average for other occupations.

SC4’s 24-month program combines classroom and practicum experiences in hospitals, outpatient testing facilities and physician offices to give graduates the knowledge and skills they need to enter the field as licensed respiratory therapists.

“Respiratory therapists are in demand across the country, so we’re very excited to begin offering this program to our community,” said Christine Robinson, director of respiratory therapy at SC4. “Earning an associate degree is an essential step to become a respiratory therapist. Our hands-on curriculum in a personalized learning environment will give SC4 graduates and those students transferring on to attain a four-year degree a real advantage.”

St. Clair County Community College is currently in the process of seeking the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) provisional accreditation for the respiratory therapy program. However, St. Clair County Community College can provide no assurance that accreditation will be granted by CoARC.

SC4’s respiratory therapy program is now accepting applications for the fall 2019 semester, which begins Monday, Aug. 19. Students interested in the program must submit required application materials by Sunday, June 30. Detailed information, including how to apply, is available online.

SC4 Experience Center enhances interactive learning opportunities, welcomes traveling fossils exhibit

PORT HURON – St. Clair County Community College’s 16,000-square-foot Experience Center continues to evolve, recently enhancing interactive learning opportunities in its Innovation Center and welcoming “Fossils of the Michigan Basin,” a traveling exhibit by paleontologist, author and storyteller Joseph “PaleoJoe” Kchodl.

The Innovation Center — located within the Experience Center — is now home to a growing number of STEAM-based interactive displays, 3-D pens and technology, a circuit center, a coding station and a virtual reality simulation that make learning fun for students of all ages.

Two images of the Experience Center, one of the Innovation Center and the other of a green screen.

“Guests to the Innovation Center now have the ability to shift energy flow through batteries and light bulbs, create video games and programs through coding and JavaScript, design three-dimensional objects with a 3-D pen and much more,” says Becky Gentner, SC4 executive director of budget and project management, who mentioned the Innovation Center is available via scheduled appointments and field trips. “We are thrilled to expand our offerings and welcome more exciting exhibits for our community.”

“Fossils of the Michigan Basin” is a Michigan-based traveling exhibit featuring fossils of creatures that lived in the Devonian Period of Michigan, long before the age of dinosaurs. It includes Brachiopods, Gastropods, Cephalopods, Prehistoric armor-plated fish and corals, and even a piece of limestone from the thumb region that was touched by a glacier in the last ice age. The exhibit is located in the Experience Center’s Dr. Bassam H. Nasr Natural Science Museum, which is home to the largest collection of fossil artifacts in the Michigan thumb region.

“Michigan at one time was the bottom of an ancient salt water sea,” says PaleoJoe. “Visitors to this exhibit can go back in time when Michigan abounded with creatures of the sea — a time when certain fish species grew to more than 30 feet long, and a time when coral reefs broke the surface of the water creating lagoons filled with life. It is a wonderful way to introduce the public to fossils that can be found right here in our state.”

Three images of the Experience Center, 3D station, exhibit, and Virtual Reality station.

Opened in the fall of 2018, the Experience Center is a hands-on STEAM center that features unique and evolving exhibits, an augmented reality sandbox, a live sturgeon exhibit and more. Recently, SC4 and the Community Foundation of St. Clair County announced a Tarbosauras skeleton cast gift from the SC4 Foundation and two Community Foundation donor advised funds. The Tarbosauras skeleton cast will join a collection that includes a woolly rhinoceros skeleton replica, and T-Rex and Mastodon skull replicas.

The Experience Center is open to the public and is a growing regional field trip destination thanks to a collaborative partnership with the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and its Unity in Learning initiative. For more information on scheduling a visit, please send an email to experiencecenter@sc4.edu.