The Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering is scheduled for August 8, 9 and 10 on the Prescott Campus at the Performing Arts Center. Click here to purchase tickets. Below are some of the shows that are scheduled. Click here to see the full schedule of events.
The August/September 2019 issue of the Prescott Woman magazine devoted 26 pages that featured Dr. Lisa Rhine and ten female staff and faculty. The spread included four-color photos of each person featured and a theme for each individual. The overall theme of the article was “Education as a Catalyst for Change.” In 2018 the same magazine featured former Community College president Dr. Penelope Wills and nine faculty/staff in another 26 page spread.
The theme for the featured article on Dr. Rhine in the 2019 issue was entitled, “Dr. Lisa Rhine’s Personal Experience Gives Her the Passion to Guide Yavapai College to its Full Potential.” The ten women featured in addition to Dr. Rhine and the theme for each follows:
Megyn Felton, “Here to Protect and Serve, . . . “I’ve always had an interest in wanting to help people. I really want to help children. That’s my ultimate career goal: to be a detective in crimes against children.”
Stacey Hilton, “Keeping an Open Heart and an Open Mind, . . .Our student population is the reason why each one of us comes to work each day, driving us to be the best we can be.”
Emily Weinacker, “Making Y.C. the Greatest Place to Work, . . . This is a wonderful campus. There are good people here, and the students are excited.”
Jennifer Jacobson, “Influencing Students to Make a Social Difference, . . . YC professors know your name–you truly are an individual student.”
Helen Stephenson, “Lights, Camera, Passion, . . . I just love film and I understand the power for good that film can be. It can be a life-changing force.”
Valerie Wood – From Student to Entrepreneur, “Living the Dream and Paying it Forward, . . . We are literally ‘living the dream’ and making our own wine in the Verde Valley.”
Diana Dowling – “Where I am Meant to Be . . . Making Education a Seamless Experience for Every Student.”
Carissa Bond, “That’s Bond, Carissa Bond, . . . A Yavapai College Alum Lands Her Dream Job. . . . I stayed at YC because of the incredible opportunities that I have been able to pursue in such a short amount of time.”
Mary Talosi – YC Foundation Major Gifts Officer Considers Her Job—to Align Donors’ Passion with Their Purpose—‘The Brass Ring,’ “Living and Celebrating Purpose, . . . Every day, when I put my head on the pillow, I can think, ‘That was one hundred and ten percent.’”
Lisa Raygoza – Embracing Diversity and Versatility as Community Relations Coordinator, “I love the challenging aspect of my job. YC really does hold our community members’ bests interests at heart.”
You may read the entire feature article online by clicking here
Front cover
Ron Corbin
Cottonwood City Manager Ron Corbin has been asked by Yavapai Community College to coordinate an effort to convene a group of 8-10 industry leaders who can assist with giving input to potential Career and Technical Education (CTE) areas and programs. Once the group is selected, the College will meet with them during the fall 2019 semester.
Perey is quoted in the Verde Independent of August 1, 2019 as stating that he expects “by the end of the fall semester, we will have a solid plan and more specifics to the Skilled Trades Center.”
Source: Verde Independent, August 1, 2019, p. 7.
Some of the grapes are ready for harvest on the Yavapai Community College Campus vineyard in Clarkdale–about two acres will be picked. The Community College is located at 601 W Black Hills Dr, Clarkdale, AZ 86324. Volunteers will begin harvesting these grapes this Saturday, August 3 around 5:30 a.m. Any help will be appreciated.
Volunteers should bring a hat, gloves, pruners (the College has some if you don’t). You will be helping the College’s Southwest Winery in making hand crafted wine and the experience will be enjoyable.
Volunteers should go to the Upper Vineyard, which is located at the “end” of Black Hills Drive. Volunteers should drive past the two Community College entrances and follow Black Hills Drive up to the Upper Vineyards (about 2 acres of Viognier are ready). The remaining acreage will be harvested as grapes become ripe over the next month and a half. You will see two large water tanks and a shed. Please park in this area and a member of staff will be there rounding up volunteers to help with harvest.
The Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering presents their first “Western Art Exhibit” at the Art Gallery on the Prescott Campus featuring five outstanding western artists whose art has been featured on its collectible souvenir posters. The exhibit dates are August 8, 9, and 10 (Thursday to Saturday) from 10:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. A live poetry event is scheduled for Saturday, August 10 from noon to 2 p.m.
Artists Joe Netherwood, Bill Nebeker, Steve Atkinson, Shawn Cameron and Marless Fellows have been chosen for this exhibit which coincides with the Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering.
Construction has begun on building the future home of the Yavapai Community College Foundation offices at the library on the Prescott Campus. The library began removing all magazines, papers, etc. earlier this week. Construction began in earnest today.
Requests by various persons to local Governing Board officials and the College for general information about the decision to move the Foundation offices to this location have gone unanswered.
The LEAD program at Yavapai Community College has just completed its fifth year in offering an eight-week campus experience for students. This year 21 students completed the program, however, only six of the students were listed as from the Verde Valley
There should be concern with the drop in the number of students attending from the Verde Valley over past years. In 2015 the program enrolled 12 students on the Verde Valley Campus, according to Executive Dean Dr. James Perey. In 2016 there were 14 students enrolled on the Verde Valley Campus for the LEAD program. President Penelope Wills reported to the District Governing Board at its June 13, 2017 meeting that 11 students had enrolled in the program on the Verde Campus. (Yes, the Board once used to meet in June.) The Blog was unable to obtain the number of Verde Valley students enrolled in the 25 students who completed LEAD in 2018.)
The program this year began May 29 and ended July 25, 2019. The program is an introduction to college designed to prepare first year students transitioning from high school to college. Students with social, academic or financial need may qualify for this program. The program is offered on both the Prescott and Verde campuses.
Once accepted, a student’s tuition is free and two college courses are offered for eight weeks. Books are included. According to the College announcement made in the spring 2019, “LEAD students will stay in the Yavapai College Residence Halls and experience living on campus.” It is unclear from this announcement that the residence hall requirement applied to Verde Valley students. In the past it has not. (Program requirements can be found here https://www.yc.edu/v6/enrollment-services/lead.html.)
The program was originally created in 2015 by former Community College Vice President for Instruction and Student Development, Dr. Stuart Blacklaw. When asked about the program, he explained that “the LEAD seeks to create an environment that leads to a successful start in college. Some students have no trouble moving from high school graduation in the spring to college matriculation in the fall. Others find those intervening months filled with distractions. The LEAD program is designed to move college-minded students directly to campus after high school graduation, before life elements deter them from their college aspirations.”
The Blog remains concerned that all 48 possible seats, the historic goal, have never been remotedly filled in any of five years of the program. This is a concern because the program can apparently provide the kind of educational lift that may be of significant benefit for many in the underserved population of students. This is a group that former president Penelope Wills and others claim they are particularly concerned about.
Following is a list of the Yavapai Community College early-college LEAD program completers and their hometowns. Congratulations for a job well done!
Alex Cyr, Prescott Valley
Anahi Fuentes, Chino Valley
Candelydia (Yanelli) Mayorga, Paulden
Christopher Grgurich, Rimrock
Christopher Saluski, Black Canyon City
Emilia (Skye) Wurtz, Prescott Valley
Erin Razo, Prescott
Faye Richey, Cottonwood
Gabriel Esparza-Baker, Prescott Valley
Grace Mullins, Cottonwood
Hanna Burress, Cottonwood
Helena Molina, Cornville
James Hanson, Chino Valley
Jaren Bond, Prescott
Jonathan Umali, Prescott
Laura Hernandez, Chino Valley
Lily Angel, Prescott Valley
Maria De La Luz Soto, Paulden
Morgan Hermanson, Chino Valley
Olivia Williams, Sedona
Rachel Stickles, Mayer
Dr. Perey addressing the Sedona City Council.
When they addressed the Sedona City Council on July 23, Verde Valley Campus Executive Dean Dr. James Perey and Yavapai Community College President Dr. Lisa Rhine emphasized that the new Career and Technical Education Center must be flexible. President Rhine said that “we want to make sure that we build the space so it is flexible so that if we need to change course; if we saturate a market, we can change course and offer different programming in career and technology so we can support whatever is emerging at that time. We are trying to be smarter and create and develop the facility so that we can be responsive to student needs.”
Perey emphasized that the College must make sure it meets current needs in building the new facility but is always looking into the future. “What will the workforce potentially look like in ten years,” he asked. The facility needs to be one that we can “ramp up and down fast depending on what that exact need is.”
Neither Dr. Rhine nor Executive Dean Perey were ready to estimate the number of students that would be needed for the new facility once it is completed and in operation.
Yavapai Community College president Dr. Lisa Rhine has created a Verde Valley Planning Committee to help with the first phase of developing a Career and Technical Education facility on the east side of Yavapai County on the Verde Valley Campus. A subset of the total Committee members visited various College facilities on the west side of the County Wednesday, July 24, 2019.
Among those Committee members touring west side facilities on Wednesday were: Yavapai-Apache Nation Tribal Council Chairwoman Jane Russell-Winiecki, Cottonwood Mayor Tim Elinski, and Camp Verde Town Manager Russ Martin. The purpose of the tour was to give the Committee members a sense of how the Community College delivers its programs on the west side of the County and help better inform Committee discussions about an east side CTE facility. The Community College has not yet furnished the public with a complete list of the membership of the Committee.
Here is what Dr. Rhine told the Sedona Council about the Planning Committee:
Dr. Lisa Rhine
“At a board meeting in the early spring I heard a message loud and clear from this side of the mountain. That was a need for a skills trade center in this region.
“I followed up that meeting with a convening of the elected officials on the east side of Yavapai County to announce that we would begin the planning phase of a skills training center on the Verde Valley campus. The participants at that meeting agreed to come together and identify community people that the college could begin to work with to plan that facility. The planning committee that we will convene will work with us to design the academic programming that will take place in that facility and will guide our design process.
“Tomorrow, Yavapai College is hosting a subset of those participants, elected officials from the East side and they asked to tour West side facilities. Our Chino Valley facility, our Prescott Valley facility, and the Career and Technical Education Center at the Prescott airport. So that they have a sense of how we deliver our programs on the west side and that will help to inform the discussions when we discuss what we will do here on the east side.”
[Blog transcription. The transcription may be checked for accuracy by viewing Dr. Rhine’s statement to the Sedona City County by clicking here.]
Yavapai Community College President Dr. Lisa Rhine appeared before the Sedona City Council Tuesday, July 23 to update the members on expectations about Building “L” and a future Career and Technical Education Center on the Verde Valley Campus. She was accompanied by Verde Valley Campus Executive Dean Dr. James Perey and Richard Hernandez, who is the Director of the Regional Economic Development Center (REDC).
Dr. Rhine said the renovation of Building “L” should be completed by the fall of 2020. She also said that the new Career and Technical Education Facility should be open by the fall of 2021.
She told the Council that her “intentions are pure and I have the best interests of our community at heart. I’d like to build the strongest working relationship possible with you. … I hope that we can continue to have an open and honest conversation and communication with one another in the future.”
The Council was very supportive.
You can view Dr. Rhine’s presentation by clicking here. (Approximately 13 minutes in length.) You can view the entire city Council meeting including Dr. Rhine’s presentation by clicking here.
