Almost 1,200 graduates participate in Spring commencement

Almost 1,200 graduates participate in Spring commencement

The ceremony, the 118^th in the college’s history, was held May 8 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Check out our Facebook gallery.

Among the highlights:

• Helen Krauss Leslie was honored as the college’s Outstanding Alumna. Leslie enrolled in St. Petersburg Junior College in 1940, where she was the only female in her Mechanical Drawing class. Since then, she has been an advocate for the college and for women. This is the 31^st time in its 85-year history that the college has bestowed the Outstanding Alumni award.
• Alistair Glover won the Apollo Award, the highest honor an associate degree graduate can receive. He has received many awards, including USA Today’s 2012 All-USA Community College Academic Team and the Florida’s 2012 Coca-Cola New Century Scholar award.
• Board of Trustee member Ken Burke, whose term has ended, was recognized for his long service to the college.
• While about 1,200 participated in the ceremony, a total of 2,322 earned a certificate or degree from the college this spring.
• Of those, 204 received more than one credential.
• 102 were between the ages of 51 and 60.
• Two were older than 70.
• The oldest graduate was 74.
• Among the associate degree graduates were 70 members of the St. Petersburg Collegiate High School Class of 2012.
• For every two male graduates, there were three female graduates.
• President Bill Law recognized the 33 college faculty and staff members who are retiring this year, noting their combined service of 720 years.
• Christopher Grissett, one of the first to receive a bachelor’s degree in Biology from SPC, was the student speaker.

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Graduation May 8; outstanding student, alumna to be honored

More than 1,000 students are expected to participate in the college’s 118^th commencement ceremony Tuesday, May 8, 10 a.m. at Tropicana Field.

Unlike previous graduations, there will be no student processional. Faculty and platform guests will march in as they have in the past.

Platform guests are reminded to enter Gate 4. Faculty and administrators who plan to participate in the processional should enter Gate 3. Administrators and staff who do not plan to participate in the processional may enter Gates 3 or 5. Gates 3, 4, and 5 are on 16^th Street. Staff working the event should enter Gate Lower 6, which is on the north side of the stadium near 16^th Street. Parking in Lot 1 is free to all SPC employees with an SPC  ID badge. Staff working the event should park in Lot 5, which also is free.

Two ceremony highlights will be the naming of the Apollo Award winner and recognition of the Outstanding Alumna, Helen Leslie. She is a longtime supporter of the college and began her distinguished business career here as a student in 1940. Both award recipients are chosen by the Alumni Association.

The Apollo Award is given to the outstanding graduate of a two-year program.

The finalists are:

Corey Burris, St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus, is a December 2011 graduate and former Marine combat veteran.

As an active participant in the Student Veterans Association, Burris helped fellow veterans make the challenging transition from military life to student life.

He dedicated much of his time working in the Veteran’s Service Office, guiding these students through the business processes of SPC and the VA in order to obtain educational benefits and understand the resources available to them. Burris has participated in volunteer events at Bay Pines Veterans Hospital, including nursing home visits and donation drives, as well as serving as a student veteran representative at Sept. 11 commemoration ceremonies in the area.

Burris is enrolled at the University of South Florida where he is working on a bachelor’s degree in criminology. He hopes to become proficient in the Arabic language and culture in order to pursue a career as a Foreign Service Officer.

Mary Freeman, Seminole Campus, is a May 2012 graduate. During her time in the Early College program, Freeman has been an active member of Phi Theta Kappa, Student Government, Future Healthcare Professionals, as well as the Spanish Club.

She has participated in several community service projects, including Pedal for Pink, Adopt-a-Kid, beach and park cleanup activities, and has volunteered 150 hours at Bayfront Medical Center. She is graduating first in her class of 394 students, despite also working a part-time job. Freeman plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology and complete the MD/JD dual degree program with USF’s Medical School and Stetson Law School.

Alistair Glover, Clearwater Campus, is a May 2012 graduate who was President of Phi Theta Kappa and the Student Government Association on the Clearwater Campus, as well as Communications Director and State Secretary of the Florida College System Student Government Association.

He was also a representative on the Student Life Plan Committee, a tutor at the Learning Support Commons and a member of the Honors College Student Consortium. Glover has been rewarded academically by receiving the Rowell Provost Award, the Zalupski Achieving the Dream Award and the Departmental Award for Excellence in Biology.

He also was named the Honors College’s Most Dedicated Student of the Year. In March he was named a Florida Coca-Cola New Century scholar. This followed his selection to the All-Florida First Academic Team.

Glover participated in community service projects by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, Special Olympics and Relay for Life, just to name a few. Glover plans to study chemistry, economics and public policy in order to turn his passion for advocacy and helping the less fortunate into a lifelong career.

Danielle Price, Seminole Campus, is a May 2012 graduate. As a student in the Early College program, Price has succeeded academically and socially.

She is a recipient of the President’s List Award, a repeat recipient of the Mac J. Williams Academic Excellence Award and received the Pinellas All Star Class Cheerleading Allen Sports Center Academic Excellence Award, which she thinks proves that athletes also can be scholars. Price holds memberships in the National Honor Society, National Society of High School Scholars, Spanish National Honor Society and the Ebony Scholars Academic Club.

She has served as Seminole Campus Student Government Senator, Rotaract Club Treasurer, National English Honor Society Historian and a member of the SPC Career Center Planning Team. Some of Price’s community service work includes volunteering with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, the Ronald McDonald House and serving as a jury member for the Pinellas County Teen Court.

Price’s goals include earning a degree in English Secondary Education and attending law school.  She plans to pursue a career as a lawyer, law professor or judge.

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Clearwater student one of 20 on USA Today’s All-USA Academic Team

From left: John J. Sygielski, president of Harrisburg Area Community College and past chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Association of Community Colleges; Alistair Glover; and Rod Risely, Executive Director of Phi Theta Kappa.

Honors College student Alistair Glover has been catapulted into the spotlight once again as one of USA Today’s 2012 All-USA Community College Academic Team winners. Glover was one of 20 winners from more than 1,700 nominees and more than 800 colleges.

Alongside the other 19 winners, he was recognized at Phi Theta Kappa’s Presidents Breakfast during the annual convention of the American Association of Community Colleges in Orlando on April 23.

“I am honored to be the recipient of such an honor,” said Glover, a chemistry major at the Clearwater Campus. He was recognized in March as Florida’s 2012 Coca-Cola New Century Scholar, the state’s top award. As one of USA Today’s All-USA Community College Academic Team, he will receive textbook and academic scholarships.

“Meeting the other 19 recipients was a humbling experience; they were talented, motivated and possessed a passion for life that could be seen in their myriad accomplishments,” he said. “They will undoubtedly be the future leaders of America and I am privileged to be recognized among them.”

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SPC holds 117th commencement ceremonies

The college’s 117th commencement took place Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. and at 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks. A total of 564 graduates participated in the two ceremonies.

View Fall 2011 Graduation image gallery.

Watch the 9:30 a.m. ceremony

Watch the 1 p.m. ceremony

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Business degree recipient, 40, motivated by her son

From left: Jill Kennedy with her son, Eli Kapkowski.

On Saturday, Jill Kennedy will graduate with her bachelor’s degree in business, and a renewed sense of confidence and motivation.

At the afternoon commencement ceremony, Kennedy will share her story with her fellow graduates.

During high school, the Champaign-Urbana, Ill. native entered into the workforce without any interests or aspirations to further her education.

“I was anxious to get out of high school, and in your junior or senior year, you’re asked what you want to do and I didn’t know,” said Kennedy, 40. “I didn’t feel like I was smart enough just because of the grades I was making in high school by not paying attention, not putting forth effort.”

In 1998, she began her local career in Tampa as Project Manager at IBM. The following year, she began working for AT&T when the corporation bought IBM’s data networking division where she worked. Kennedy, who has a background in router configurations, now works as a Six Sigma Practitioner who is Black Belt Certified for AT&T, helping improve product quality and waste management through statistical analysis.

“Almost all of my peers were college graduates, and I felt that was something I needed to have as my experience as well,” she said.

The economy also indirectly played a role in her decision.

“As I started to see my peers being laid off because their work was outsourced, that triggered for me that this job isn’t forever; what am I going to do and where can I go?”

Realizing she had to compete with increasingly younger, fresh-out-of-college jobseekers, she sought an answer at SPC Downtown and enrolled in fall 2005. She knew this would not be easy, as she was a single mother to her 2-year-old son, Eli, but needed to ensure financial security for them. She found flexibility in the offerings of online and in-person classes.

“The online and in-person classes just afforded me what was necessary for me to get my degree,” Kennedy said. “The flexibility is what I needed because of a full-time career and being a mother and wife,” said Kennedy, who married in 2009.

She wants Eli, now 8, to understand the importance of an education through her experience and example.

“I’ve talked with him about how I didn’t go to school the traditional way, and that the expected course of life is that after high school you go to college,” she said. So when I talk to him, it’s not that he’s going to be in 12 years of school, it’s instead that he’ll be in a minimum of 16 years of school.”

Over the years, the mother and son motivated each other in their schooling.

“He’s ridden through this with me,” Kennedy said. “He’s been pretty much on this journey with me the whole time.”

Eli is her motivation for participating in the commencement ceremony.

“I wouldn’t have walked,” she said. “I’m 40 years old; I don’t necessarily think I need to walk, but I’m walking because of my son. It takes a lot of hard work to get here, but when you walk in graduation and you get handed that diploma, and I want him to see that there is a reward at the end of this.”

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Sign Language program attracted graduation speaker to Clearwater

Hillary Last

When we think about diversity, we think about the elements in life that make us different. Usually, the first things we think about are race and culture. Yet, there are a variety of additional elements that contribute to making each person different.

Hillary Last, one of two commencement speakers at the morning session on Dec. 17, embraces the differences.

Last, who will receive an Associate of Science degree in Sign Language Interpretation, has unique experiences within the Sign Language Interpretation Program to tell the graduates and their families. A native of Fond du Lac, Wis., Last moved to Florida to escape the brutal winters of her childhood home, as well as to continue her studies in American sign language.

“I knew I wanted to move down here, but I wasn’t sure what school I was going to go to,” said Last, who often visited family in the Clearwater area during vacations. “I did my research and found that SPC had a stellar reputation for the program, so I enrolled as soon as I got my residency figured out and the rest is history.”

Residing in Tarpon Springs, Last has no intention of returning north. Instead, she plans to complete her Associate of Arts degree and possibly transfer to the University of Florida to major in business.

“With my future plans, a business degree would come in handy because I would like to open my own deaf services center,” she said.

To prepare for her future, Last carried a heavy course load while working two jobs and maintaining an internship. The hard work is preparing Last for the career in interpretations that she has dreamed about since meeting a deaf person when she was 13.

“I did community work; I did internships along with my own experiences, whether it be actual volunteer time or just social events that get you into the deaf community,” said Last, who connected with the deaf community by attending events for the deaf such as bowling, movies and coffee nights.

During her final term, Last interned at SPC, working as an interpreter in the classroom for deaf students.

“Through the disabilities office, they have set up resources for any student who has exceptional needs, whether it be blindness, deafness or other disabilities,” Last said. “So that provided me the opportunity to go in and work under the mentorship of the staff interpreters at St. Petersburg College.”

As she recaps her experiences as a student, Last hopes her upcoming speech will leave the audience thinking and considering life’s differences. Committed to dissolving communication barriers, Last not only speaks sign language, she speaks life.

“I would like the audience to take away the fact that there’s diversity all around them, there’s diversity everywhere and knowledge is power,” she says. “To know about it is to be able to deal with it and work with it.”

NOTE: Fall commencement ceremonies are scheduled at First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks on Saturday, Dec. 17, at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Those who can’t attend graduation can watch the ceremonies live online. Click on “Live Broadcast.” The broadcasts will begin about 9:20 a.m. and 12:50 p.m.

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SPC graduates and faculty showcase sustainability at Kent State symposium

Two SPC alumni and two professors made their mark in Kent State University’s 2nd Annual International Symposium on Sustainable Value Chains earlier this summer in Cleveland.

From left: Lynn Grinnell, Rachel Cooper, Greg Nenstiel

Rachel Cooper and Cheryl Little, recent Sustainability Management bachelor’s graduates, received the Certificate of Achievement for Symposium Best Student Paper. Their paper, “A Sustainability Survey for the Assessment of External Manufacturing Suppliers,” was a variation of their senior capstone course project, which focused on the sustainability efforts of a local undisclosed corporation.

“We had to change it a little bit from when we did it for the school and make the paper a little more generic to submit it for the conference,” said Cooper, who graduated Magna Cum Laude in the spring. “(The company) wanted to make sure they weren’t identifiable in the paper for the symposium because quite a bit of the information they gave was proprietary to them.”

The women were competing with students from major universities – several of whom were Kent State University graduate students.

“I just couldn’t believe that we’d actually won,” said Little, who works in supply chain management. “That’s awesome – to beat people from Kent State. It’s such a well-known college.”

Wende Huehn-Brown

“It was nice to see our students not only perform at this level, but win this award for their hard work,” said Wende Huehn-Brown, SPC professor in the College of Business who participated in the symposium. “They truly did a great job on this project and it showed in their paper.”

Huehn-Brown, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a doctorate in engineering management from the University of Missouri-Rolla, presented a paper at the conference with Deborah Eldridge, professor of law at the Clearwater Campus.

The paper, “The Legal Impact of Sustainable Value Chains” takes an in-depth look at the international regulations driving sustainable innovations and improvements in the supply chain, said Eldridge, who received her bachelor’s degree in international affairs from Florida State University and Juris Doctor degree from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law.

Deborah Eldridge

“Because the laws in the European Union are so strict with regards to disposal and recycling uses for a product, the whole idea is that from the time you decide to create a new product, you have to start looking at the start and end costs, and how to increase the net income of a product while also making it a sustainable product that complies with the laws,” she said.

“That’s where the value chain of the supply chain comes in,” Eldridge said. “If you’re using suppliers that also are sustainable suppliers and they fall within the green category, then that obviously is going to decrease the end-use issues – or disposal issues – with regard to your product.”

Huehn-Brown said the paper will be used in SPC courses to help students understand the process and thinking that occurs in the supply side and the legal side.

“Those are two different classes that we teach in this field,” she said. “We’re going to use it in the classes, but we’re more into applied research and looking at the practicum side of how we can take this knowledge and help companies be more competitive in the global market place.”

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Looking back at Summer Graduation 2011

The college’s 116th commencement took place Saturday, July 25, 2011 at First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks. Summer term graduates totaled 1,022. View graduation slide show.

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SPC grants 3,279 associate degrees, ranks 14th in nation

The college ranks 14th in the nation in the number of associate degrees awarded during the 2009-10 academic year, according to Community College Week.

Every June, the weekly newspaper lists the top 100 community colleges in terms of associate degrees awarded. It displays both two-year and four-year institutions; SPC ranked 14th overall, and eighth among four-year institutions.

Among Florida community colleges, SPC ranked fourth, behind Miami-Dade, Broward, and Florida State College of Jacksonville.

SPC graduated 3,279 associate degree candidates, a 12 percent increase over the previous year. Miami-Dade graduated 9,090; Broward, 4,903; and Jacksonville, 4,209.

SPC also was ranked highly among community colleges awarding associate degrees to minority students. The college was ranked 19th in the country, graduating 567 minority associate degree-seeking students, an increase of 14 percent over the previous year.

Among African-American associate degree seekers, SPC ranked 57th in the nation, with 262 graduates. That represents a 13 percent increase over the previous year.

The rankings were in Community College Week’s June 13 issue.

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SPC grad gets Fulbright Foundation award

 A St. Petersburg College graduate has been awarded a Fulbright Foundation Award to design and build a media center in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Ty Adams

Tyrone Adams, Ph.D., is the Richard D’Aquin Endowed Professor of Journalism and Communication at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. He will oversee design and construction of the media center, which will be built as part of the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP).

The $10,000 salary grant will allow Adams to administer a $4 million budget, which is already in place for the facility.

Adams graduated from what was then known as St. Petersburg Junior College in 1988 with an Associate of Arts degree. From there, he went on to the University of Florida and majored in speech communication, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990. That was followed by a master’s degree from Florida State University in 1992, and a doctorate in communications in 1995.

He specializes in Educational Leadership, and is considered an expert on new media and Internet communication technologies.

While highly successful in his field, Adams never has forgotten his time at the college, especially Bonnie Jefferis, Professor of Speech Letters at the Clearwater Campus. Her name at that time was Bonnie Clark.

“I fondly recall my first academic beginnings at then-SPJC under the mentorship of Dr. Bonnie Clark,” Adams said. “She always demanded the best academic effort from us, and commanded a presence in her classrooms that made you want to do more to impress her and sharpen your communication skills.

“I could not have done what I am doing today – traveling completely to the other side of the world as an expatriate scholar – had it not been for Dr. Clark and the quality of education that I received at SPC during my early years as a young academic,” he said.

Jefferis said Adams was in her first SPJC class in 1987.

“I convinced Ty and three other students from that class to be the core of the speech team I would start up in the fall of 1987, even though they would only compete one year before graduating,” she recalled. “In November, Ty won four awards at the Brevard Community College tournament: first in novice debate, second in varsity debate, fifth in impromptu speaking, and he was judged to be the third-best debate speaker at the contest.”

Adams and the team went on to a number of successes that year, she said.

“Ty is an exceptional young man, who has worked hard,” she said. “He has a natural aptitude for technology, which has served him well as he was one of the first people to write a textbook on computer-mediated communication. I am very proud of him, and I am excited about his Fulbright opportunity!”

Funding for the media center in Kazakhstan is being provided by Exxon Mobil.

The Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research is the leading all-English host institute for training capitalism and modern media theory among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). As an independent Republic rich in oil and gas reserves, Kazakhstan is experiencing significant growth.

Adams said he believes Kazakhstan is on the verge of great progress, and he hopes to seek a long-term contract with the institution once it is built.

“There are massive opportunities available to expatriates in these developing countries,” he said. “All you have to do is maintain a strong work-ethic, be culturally flexible, and know how to communicate.”

The Fulbright Foundation is governed by the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), and is an official diplomatic arm of the U.S. government, which extends grants to prominent scholars who are willing to go overseas to share their academic expertise about Westernized education models.

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