SPC’s Allstate hosts student veterans celebration

Competition and camaraderie were both a part of St. Petersburg College Allstate Center’s First Annual Student Veterans Celebration held earlier this month.

Sixty-eight veterans, representing the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy and five SPC campuses, attended the April 20 event.

Veterans enjoyed the event and said they were looking forward to the Second Annual Student Veterans Celebration to be held in April 2014.

Organizers attributed the event’s success to the combination of activities and the celebration’s atmosphere. Activities focused on skills veterans had acquired during their service and the event’s atmosphere and environment that fostered good fellowship among attendees.

“This was one of the most successful outreach events with St. Petersburg College that I have attended and look forward to participating in next year,” said Africa Simone Miller, a Readjustment Counseling Therapist with the St. Petersburg Veteran Center.

Event competition and activities

Competition was fierce among the branches of service but camaraderie was even stronger. The St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus Student Veterans Association hosted a free raffle and gave away more than thirty prizes. Veterans also enjoyed a barbeque in the Allstate Mess Hall (Florida Room).

Veterans competed against one another in a pistol competition at the Allstate firearms range. The Marines overwhelmingly dominated the pistol competition with the following ranking:

1. Jake V. Gauthier (Marines) 257
2. Curtis Fivecoat (Army) 221
3. Brian C. Fernandez (Marines) 211
4. Joseph R. Rasor (Marines) 197
5. Brian V. Talafer (Marines) 195

The Army made a strong comeback, winning both the wall climbing event and the tug-of-war event.

Those interested in participating in the planning committee for the 2014 Student Veterans Celebration should contact Dr. Carol Rasor-Cordero.

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Firefighter internship program launches at Allstate Center

About the internship program The Internship Program consists of the following modules: Student Campus 1. Review of Basic Skills 16 hours 2. Vehicle Extrication Operations Level Training 16 hours 3. Advanced Engine Company Operations 16 hours 4. Advanced Firefighter Survival 16 hours 5. Emergency Vehicle Operation Course 16 hours 6. Fire Engine Pump Operators Course 40 hours 7. Rope Rescue Operations Level Training 40 hours 8. Firefighter Field Intern Ride-Along 40 hours

St. Petersburg College has launched a new firefighter internship program for graduates of the SPC Fire Academy in collaboration with the Largo, Palm Harbor, Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg fire departments. The program, the first of its kind in Florida, has been in formation for about a year and will provide the academy’s graduates with 200 hours of additional classroom and practice experience.

Nine student interns began the fee-based program in January and are expected to complete the program by the end of May. The program provides the fire departments with a pool of students to meet their needs, helps students gain real, on-the-job work experience and enhance their out-of-classroom experience.

“I think it will give our graduates a significant advantage when they’re competing with others for positions within the county and throughout the state,” said JC Brock, Campus Executive Officer at the Allstate Center. In 2012, 37 firefighters were hired within Pinellas County and more than 200 in the Tampa Bay area.

“We’re just trying to give our students extra skills, knowledge and abilities so they are better prepared than their competition,” said Jim Terry, Program Director, Fire and Public Safety Training Complex. “There are significant opportunities for people who are well prepared.”

The post-academy program takes the student’s knowledge, skills, abilities and experience beyond those of Firefighter I & II state-mandated minimum training standards. The intern program consists of the following:

• supervised practical experience
• 40 hours of ride along experience
• certificates of completion from the Florida State Fire College in three areas:
  • Apparatus Operations
  • Technical Rescue
  • Emergency Vehicle Operations

Beginning in May, the students will be placed with different fire stations to complete their 40 hours of on-site training. They will respond to calls, allowing them to experience real-life situations. It also gives prospective employers the opportunity to see the students in action.

“Our ultimate goal is to help them secure employment,” said Phillip Bailey, In-Service Program Coordinator, Fire Science. “That’s the whole basis of the program: to afford them an additional 200 hours of training and put them a step above other candidates for basic job entry.”

The Allstate Center is home to the Post Secondary Adult Vocational (PSAV) academies for law enforcement, corrections and firefighting. The certificate programs offered by the college are integrated into the fire science technology program and count for college credit toward an associate’s degree.

For more information about the internship program, contact Phillip Bailey at 727-302-6853.

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Scholarships, music part of SPC’s African-American History Month

African-American History Month celebration at SPC’s Allstate Center

SPC’s campuses and centers have been busy throughout February hosting a variety of events marking African-American History Month, from art exhibits to musical events and competitions.

Earlier this month, the Allstate Center held a celebration featuring a drum circle, music and food. Events at other campuses have included a session with civil rights guest speaker Lonnie C. King Jr. at SPC Downtown as well as food festivals throughout the college. This week the Black History Trivia Competition is being hosted at the Clearwater Campus. Scholarships will be awarded to first, second and third-place winners.

More photos from the Allstate Center celebration are on SPC’s Facebook page.

See African-American History Month events at SPC on the college’s event calendar.

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SPC cadets welcome home body of Spc. Brittany Gordon

Cadets in the Law Enforcement Academy at the Allstate Center gathered on Wednesday, Oct. 24 to welcome home the remains of U.S. Army Spc. Brittany Gordon, a former St. Petersburg College student, at Lawson Funeral Home in St. Petersburg. The first female soldier from the area to die in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Gordon died from injuries caused by a suicide bomber in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Oct. 13, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

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SPC director interviewed for USA Today article on halting human trafficking

Todd Kirchgraber, the training director for SPC’s Center for Public Safety, was quoted in an article in USA Today College looking at how groups at colleges and universities are trying to help tackle the problem of human trafficking.

“(Trafficking involves) people of all ages, all races, all national origins. The key is not to focus into any single attribute but to look at the broad spectrum, and that’s what we’re getting the general public to do,” Kirchgraber said in the article. He is part of a movement put on by the school to educate officers and the public about the signs of human trafficking.

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Victims, first responders remembered at 9/11 ceremony at Allstate Center

Police Academy cadets, as well as local first responders, participated in the 9/11 remembrance ceremony. The event, which falls on the 11-year-anniversary of the terror attacks, honors the people whose lives were lost.

Florida National Guard employee Heather Kanaan Ahmed, who is assigned to the Allstate Center, was the guest speaker during the 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the Allstate Center on Tuesday, Sept. 11. Events were held at most college sites commemorating the day.

See photos from the event on the college’s Facebook page.

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SPC Welcome Back events bring good food and fun

About 1,200 people munched on food while bands took to the stage for the Welcome Back Bash at St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus Wednesday.

The quad event was one of several welcome back bashes that have been held at SPC campuses since the fall semester kicked off. The Tarpon Springs Campus also held a welcome back event Thursday.

A variety of clubs, college teams and departments participated in the St. Petersburg/Gibbs bash. Bands from the Music Industry Recording Arts program played while students lined up for food and got their pictures taken on a large, inflatable couch. Inside the West St. Petersburg Community Library at SPC, people participated in activities not normally associated with a quiet library setting – bowling with books serving as the pins.

The bowling was part of Learning Resources Olympics, which was held as part of the bash and was open to members of the public. Other competitions in the Olympics included darts in the writing studio at the library and golf in the Learning Support Commons in the W. Richard Johnston Technical Building. Staff members who were overall winners were Yulonder Betts who took first place with Ian Call in second place. Prize winners among library patrons and students were Kylea Johnns first place, Prince Uchendu in second place and Brittany Clark in third place. Each received a Barnes & Noble gift card. The Friends of the West St. Petersburg Community Library at St. Petersburg College provided prizes and sponsored the Olympics.

See more photos from the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus event on Facebook. Photos from welcome back events last week at the Allstate Center, Caruth Health Education Center, SPC Downtown and the Seminole Campus also are on Facebook.

More events to welcome students back this semester are planned at the Clearwater Campus on Sept. 5 and also at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art on Sept. 19. Visit the college’s events calendar for more details.

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SGA budgets fund counseling, access to Microsoft Office programs

Representatives from student government associations college-wide visited the District Office to make presentations about the student budget to President Bill Law on Friday, July 20, 2012.

The college’s student government associations  (SGA) have earmarked money from their 2012-2013 budgets to support two plans for students, one that will provide personal counseling and another that will offer Microsoft Office programs for their personal computers.

Representatives from the college’s campuses outlined their budgets for President Bill Law, Tonjua Williams, Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, and other SPC representatives at a meeting earlier in July.

Under Law’s leadership, the college allocated 25 percent of the funds from student activities fees. This is the second year student leaders have been involved in the budget process and the development of activities offered to the student body at various SPC campuses.

SGA associations are responsible for more than $1.3 million in the upcoming fiscal year, which is based on projected enrollment figures, according to college officials. That figure was divided among the student government groups based on the student semester hours at each location.

The college allotted each student government group the following amounts:

Allstate Center – $40,998

Caruth Health Education Center – $133,800

Clearwater Campus – $282,266

EpiCenter – Baccalaureate – $70,917

Seminole Campus – $196,622

SPC Downtown – $71,766

SPC Midtown – $12,665

St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus – $302,060

Tarpon Springs – $206,812

Each student government association allocated its funding to match the unique needs of its  campus and student population, student government representatives explained during their presentations. The Allstate Center, for example, opted to put  money toward one-on-one “lunch n’ learn” events with various charitable organizations in the community and a new barbecue grill for cookouts. SPC Downtown will spend $20,560 to help employ a student life assistant and $8,000 to educate students on cultural diversity through activities linked to Hispanic Heritage Month, Fine Arts Day and Black History Month.

Common expenditures for the eight home campuses involved funding for the BayCare Student Assistance Program and the Florida Community College Microsoft Partnership.

The BayCare program offers expanded support services and counseling for students in addition to training for faculty and staff in dealing with student concerns and assistance after incidents that would impact students college-wide. For example, students will be able to have three counseling sessions a year through the program.

The Microsoft partnership provides programs for students that they can load on their own personal computers. Through the partnership, students will be able to use the same technology platforms at home as they do at the college.

Both programs will launch by the start of the fall semester.

Before the presentations, Law spoke to student government members about the opportunity and responsibility that’s provided by managing the budgets. Law told the group they shoulder the burden of student leadership that can be both rewarding and frustrating. But, by overseeing budgets for the different campuses, they would be gaining valuable experience as well as helping benefit the thousands of students their organizations represent.

Dwayne-Ron Sharpe, 21, president of the Clearwater Student Government Association, said working with the budget was at times tedious and difficult as group members determined how to allocate the money. But, he said, that it overall was “a good process” and “a good learning experience.”

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Clearwater Housing Authority board names Terry Byrd Board Member Emeritus

Terry Byrd

Terry Byrd was named Board Member Emeritus by the Clearwater Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, who treated him to a surprise farewell luncheon on July 13 to thank him for his years of service.

Byrd, who serves as Program Director – In Service for the Southeastern Public Safety Institute at the Allstate Center, had been reappointed as Vice Chair of the CHA board every four years since 1995. He originally was appointed by Rita Garvey, former mayor of Clearwater, with the approval of St. Petersburg Junior College.

During his time on the board, he played a role in many of the organization’s accomplishments, some of which include:

• Assisting in the sale of CHA’s central office to the city of Largo to assist in a pond-park project
• purchasing and renovating a new central office site with additional room for development
• Creating the Economies of Scale program to work with other housing agencies in the county
• Establishing a Financial Management and Compliance Center
• Making all of CHA’s records digitalized
• Administering a $10 million Shelter Plus Care program from Housing and Urban Development, which provides transitional housing and supportive services

Byrd, who joined SPJC in 1991, also attended the college and played on the baseketball team from 1967-69.

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New director of Learning Management and Student Systems Support named

Jamie Ferrazano

After an extensive search, Vicki Westergard, Executive Director of eCampus, Web & Instructional Technology has announced Jamie Ferrazano as the new Director of Learning Management and Student Support Systems.  Ferrazano began his career at SPC in Telecommunications in 1998 and has since held a wide range of technology-related positions.  He was the first Technology Support Specialist for baccalaureate programs, working under the direction of Dr. Shri Goyal in the College of Technology Management.  He served a couple of years as the Supervisor of Computer Operations for the Grants programs at Allstate.  His latest position was as Manager of I.T. Business Relationships, where he managed a variety of college-wide technology projects while overseeing the technical support desk and other technology staff.

Ferrazano’s promotion comes at a time when the ANGEL LMS is being upgraded and a committee is working to select the college’s next LMS product.  “The LMS is a complex, mission-critical system that sees extensive use by our students, faculty and staff,” Westergard said. “ Keeping it running is a huge endeavor that goes unnoticed as long as the system is running smoothly.  We all look forward to collaborating with Jamie as we work to determine what the future will hold for course delivery at SPC.  His varied experience and knowledge of our systems makes Jamie the ideal person to lead the LMS team.”

He began the transition to the LMS Director position on Monday, June 25.

 

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