Education

Coverage of schools from kindergarten through higher education, including trade and online classes.

President Obama coming to Kalamazoo Central commencement

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Education
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May 6, 2010

Talk about a "wow factor" that puts Kalamazoo front and center in the national spotlight. The White House announced this week that President Barack Obama will be the graduation speaker for Kalamazoo Central High School June 10.Central was declared the national winner of the Race To The Top High School Commencement Challenge. The competition included   applications from over 1,000 schools. The list of applicants was narrowed down by the White House Domestic Policy Council and Department of Education to six high school finalists. President Obama personally chose the winner among the final three schools. Read all about it on the White House site:Excerpt:Congratulations Kalamazoo Central High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the winner of the 2010 Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge! We received over 1,000 applications that were narrowed down by the White House Domestic Policy Council and Department of Education to six high school finalists. Between April 26th and April 29th, over 170,000 people weighed in on short videos and essay from the six finalists. President Obama selected the national winner from the three high schools with the highest average ratings.Source: thewhitehouse.gov

Latest in Education
The proof the arts make a difference is in the data
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Economic Development
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May 6, 2010

Battle Creek will host an opportunity for arts organizations to get their act together.At the informational event, representatives of arts organizations will learn about the Michigan Cultural Data Project. It's an online management tool designed to build arts and cultural organizations by giving them the information they need to analyze financial and other related information. The information collected allows organizations to put together 70 different reports that can then be used to bolster the case made in grant applications. The information also can be used to seek out funding partners and to keep board members, potential donors, advocates and policy makers informed.After completing an online form each year, nonprofit groups can generate instant annual reports and trend analysis, benchmark performance against other organizations and use the data as part of applications to participating foundations.  Michigan launched its Cultural Data Project May 3, the eighth state to do so nationally.Among those attending the Battle Creek informational session will include Jennifer Hill, Director of Special Projects, ArtServe Michigan; Linda Holderbaum, Executive Director, Art Center of Battle Creek; Katie Nelson, Collections Manager, Kingman Museum and Jennifer Sellers, Special Projects Manager, Kingman Museum. The event is 2 - 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 25, at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, One Michigan Avenue East, Battle Creek. It is one of 14 events ArtServe is sponsoring across Michigan through October.Sponsors of the program include: ArtServe Michigan, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, Battle Creek Community Foundation, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Council of Michigan Foundations, Frey Foundation, Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, MASCO Corporation Foundation, The Skillman Foundation, and Southfield Community Foundation.The Michigan Cultural Data Project is operated by the Pew Charitable Trusts.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Jennifer Hill, Director of Special Projects, ArtServe Michigan

Green manufacturing is topic for two days of events at WMU
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Economic Development
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May 6, 2010

A broad-based group of Southwest Michigan companies came together May 5-6 on the campus of Western Michigan University to pursue green manufacturing projects and programs. Representatives from about 75 companies gathered May 5 at WMU for presentations from a number of Southwest Michigan firms using green practices.The gathering is part of a green manufacturing initiative funded last fall with a $1 million federal award to WMU.The meeting was called to help build a critical mass of West Michigan companies actively pursuing green manufacturing techniques. Executives from Herman Miller, Subaru, Cummins, Perrigo, Kellogg Co., Cascade Engineering and DENSO are expected to offer presentations.The next day a smaller group launched an industrial consortium to explore how to develop greener manufacturing and supply chain. The day of activities was intended to provide the companies attending with an opportunity to learn and network with university representatives as well as companies that represent a broad cross-section of the manufacturing sector and are committed to green manufacturing. The initiative will provide services to help companies become greener. Status reports and updates of some initial projects undertaken by a new university and industry consortium that focuses on green manufacturing were presented the morning of May 6.The reports reviewed work done by WMU researchers and their industry partners at Armstrong International, Burroughs Corp. and Ottawa Gage. Those attending heard presentations by Randal Hountz, associate director of Purdue University's Technical Assistance Program, and Dr. Michael Sharer, WMU's director of intellectual property management and commercialization.A smaller group of industry leaders in green manufacturing also gathered in the afternoon May 6 for the inaugural meeting of the new consortium.The Green Manufacturing Industrial Consortium is an industry and university cooperative research and development body modeled after the National Science Foundations successful Research Centers Program.The group's members are companies engaged with the university to collaborate on green manufacturing projects and programs. The consortium will identify and promote projects of mutual interest throughout the manufacturing enterprise. The efforts they undertake will range from focused projects such as material selection in product design and green manufacturing processes to general activities such as waste reduction or elimination in manufacturing (lean manufacturing), and energy conservation, says Dr. David Meade, associate director of the Green Manufacturing Industrial Consortium.The Consortium also is supported by the federal funding received by WMU last fall, but is primarily funded through the dues paid by member organizations. Thursday's afternoon meeting will be the Consortium's first official gathering. The afternoon is a closed business meeting for members only. Writer: Kathy JenningsContact: Cheryl Roland, Western Michigan University

Graduates volunteer to show gratitude for the Promise
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Education
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April 29, 2010

The first group of students to graduate from college with the benefits of the Kalamazoo Promise are grateful for the opportunity and are repaying the gift by volunteering in the community, the Detroit Free Press reports. The story goes on to say more than 1,500 graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools have shared in $17 million given out by the Promise, which covers all tuition for students who have been in the district since at least ninth grade. Excerpt: The recipients are full of gratitude toward the anonymous donors who gave them a shot at a college education. "I don't even know if I could find the words if they were to stand in front of me," said Torian Johnson, a music major at WMU. "To me, it still feels kind of unreal that I go to school for free." To find out more about what students are planning to do after graduation, read the entire story. Source: Detroit Free Press

Derek Jeter devoted to Kalamazoo
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Education
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April 22, 2010

A recent USA Today story tells of Derek Jeter's commitment to his former hometown. Almost as famous for his good looks as his skills on the diamond, the New York Yankees captain and celebrity formed Turn 2 Foundation, which promotes positive lifestyles in kids and is run by his family, according to the story. Excerpt: Jeter's foundation focuses its efforts in New York, Tampa ... and Kalamazoo. It maintains a satellite office on the Western Michigan University campus and has awarded more than $3.5 million in grants in the area since its 1996 inception. "I don't care if I'm playing and living somewhere else," Jeter says at the Yankees spring training base in Tampa. "Michigan is where I grew up, and it's where I had my first foundation event. It's where I'll continue to keep the foundation going." Jeter, 35, comes to town about once a year, and his father, Turn 2 vice chairman Charles Jeter, tends to foundation business in town every couple of months. The 10-time All-Star surprised about 250 children when he showed up at the Turn 2 holiday party in December. Later, he and girlfriend Minka Kelly, a 29-year-old actress, dropped by his alma mater, Kalamazoo Central High School, to say hello to former teachers. Jeter said he usually makes a point to drive by his old home, a modest split-level that backs up to the school's athletic fields.For more on Jeter's foundation, including comments from Kalamazooans, read the entire story. Source: USA Today

Art Shop Too brightens downtown Battle Creek
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Economic Development
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April 22, 2010

Officials with the Art Center of Battle Creek are painting a brighter picture for downtown Battle Creek with the May 3 opening of a satellite gift shop and smaller exhibit area at 80 W. Michigan Avenue.Linda Holderbaum, executive director of the Art Center, says road construction in front of the organization's East Emmett Street location prompted the opening of the downtown shop and exhibit area, known as Art Shop Too.The shop will feature the work of 170 Michigan artists, some of whom live in the Battle Creek area.A reception on May 2 for downtown merchants to welcome their new neighbor will precede the opening to the general public the following day. Store hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.Holderbaum says the move will enable patrons to avoid the road construction and make it easier for them to access the Art Center's shop. The move to the downtown is a temporary one, but there is no set date to leave the new site. A seven-block area of roadway along Emmett from Fremont Street to McKinley Avenue is scheduled to be closed until mid-September for street, sidewalk, water and sewer work.As part of a deal worked out between the Art Center and Battle Creek Unlimited, the arts organization will not pay rent for the previously vacant West Michigan Avenue property and will pay only those utility costs which go above what BCU previoulsy has paid to maintain the storefront.Holderbaum says downtown workers or those with a receipt from a downtown eatery will receive a 10 percent discount on gift shop purchases.For more information about the Art Center of Battle Creek, call (269) 962-9511 or visit their Web site. Writer: Jane ParikhSource: Linda Holderbaum, Art Center of Battle Creek

WMU to teach with planes that will offer commercial airline-like experience
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Economic Development
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April 22, 2010

Western Michigan University is calling its flight training program the most sophisticated in the collegiate world after entering a long-term partnership that will bring a new fleet of airplanes to student pilots and prepare them like no other school for commercial airline flying. WMU's College of Aviation partnership with Brown Aviation Lease Inc. and Avidyne Corp. of Lincoln, both out of Massachusetts, will have the college sending its current fleet of Cirrus aircraft to be retrofitted with new engines and flight deck avionics systems. Avidyne's Entegra II Release 9 flight deck avionics system is "a sophisticated new flight system that will give WMU flight students experience that is easily transferable to commercial aviation," says Cheryl Roland, WMU spokeswoman. For the past five years, WMU has leased a fleet of 26 Cirrus aircraft, Roland says. During the past two, the college has been involved in negotiations to trade the leased planes in for the next generation of Cirrus. The entire retrofit and fleet transition, valued at $8 million, includes the value of the airplanes, new engines and the new avionics. Dave Powell, dean of the WMU College of Aviation, says, "This is a tremendous deal and will allow us to offer our students the most advanced avionic system used in flight training anywhere. We'll continue to offer flight training equipment that keeps us four to five years ahead of every other program -- not just in this country, but in the world."Writer: Kim North ShineSource: Cheryl Roland, Western Michigan University

WMU students support sustainability with their pocketbooks
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Economic Development
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April 22, 2010

Western Michigan University Students have volunteered to pay for something important to them: a campus culture focused on sustainability.Students led the way, asking for a referendum and then voting to approve a new $8 per-semester fee. The fee will generate an estimated $440,000 annually. It will be used to fund student-designed and student-led sustainability initiatives. It also will support a Sustainability Office, a green jobs program for students and student research.Details and logistics for distributing the funds have not yet been determined. To decide the best way to allocate the funds, a committee made up primarily of students will work with the President John Dunn's University-wide Sustainability Committee and Diane Anderson, the vice president for student affairs. The fee referendum appeared on a ballot in a March 15-19 general election sponsored by the school's elected student government organization, Western Student Association.Of those voting, 60 percent -- 1,002 students -- supported the fee, while 40 percent -- 662 students -- opposed it. Western Michigan University trustees have now gone on to give final approval. Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Cheryl Roland, WMU

Air traffic control training approved for lift off at WMU
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Education
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April 15, 2010

Western Michigan University is one of five new colleges and universities that will be part of the Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI), reports the aviation magazine Avstop.com.The story says the five schools were chosen from 21 institutions that submitted applications early last year. They were evaluated based on schools' organizational foundations and resources, organization credibility, air traffic basic curriculum and facilities. Excerpt:CTI institutions are not given federal funds to teach air traffic control courses, however, the FAA does provide curriculum and instructor notes on air traffic basics. The institutions independently incorporate the material into their aviation programs.The AT-CTI curriculum provides appropriate education, experience, and training which meet the basic requirements for the terminal and en route air traffic occupations. As a result, AT-CTI graduates may be permitted to bypass the initial five-week air traffic basics training when they report to the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City. No jobs are promised to students, but from fiscal years 2005 until 2009 over 3,000, or 41 percent, of the air traffic controllers hired graduated from an AT-CTI school. To find out what other schools will offer the program, read the entire story.Source: Avstop.com

Battle Creek students create snack bar for the stars
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Economic Development
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April 15, 2010

Battle Creek students' snack bar creation may feed astronauts one day. For now, it wins them money and opportunity.The winning students, from the Battle Creek Area Mathematics and Science Center, won one of three grand prizes in the Spirit of Innovation Awards' Innovation Summit at the NASA Ames Conference Center in Moffett Field, Calif., by creating a healthy snack bar for astronauts.The competition took place from April 8 to 10 and winners, none of whom have reached the junior year in high school, were chosen from 21 finalists from around the country. Top winners receive grant money that can be used to turn their projects into commercial reality, and winners in each category receive $5,000. All finalists receive $1,000 in matching grants.On top of that, venture capitalists often check out the participants' ideas and inventions for possible product and program launches.The competition encourages high school students to solve the challenges of the 21st century by creating breakthrough technologies in one of four categories: aerospace, green schools, renewable energy and space nutrition.  Battle Creek's team, AM Rocks, created Solar Flare the Star Bar. The snack became a favorite not only of the judges but of the public as it took the People's Choice Award. The award went to the team with the most votes cast during an online, public voting period. As the top vote-getter, AM Rocks received two seats on a zero-gravity flight. The team describes the bar as a "light textured satisfying snack with a blend of whole oats, puffed rice, and dried fruits with a touch of honey and cinnamon. ... It is a chewy granola bar with an apple cinnamon craisin flavor. Solar Flare the Star Bar is a delicious and healthy 'pick-me-up' bar that keeps you going through anything." The team says the light and portable bars can be enjoyed any time as either a meal or snack whether you are in space or on Earth. "Our bar has the just right mix of carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, and minerals that a body needs for sustained energy," the team says.Team Members were Mikayla Diesch, Ethan Rutherford, Shannon Diesch, Naomi Joseph, They were coached by Diane Schear.The Spirit of Innovation Awards and Innovation Summit are presented by the Conrad Foundation in partnership with the NASA Ames Research Center.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Julie Arnold, Griffin Communications Group

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