Coconino Community College — A quick word from the President

Community colleges like CCC can be nimble and quickly respond to industry needs.

As you’ll read below, the Arizona Commerce Authority announced an initiative with Amazon Web Services Inc. with a goal of training and certifying 5,000 students in the state for entry-level cloud computing careers in the next two years. CCC is joining that effort, and our Computer Information Systems (CIS) faculty are preparing coursework that will help students in Coconino County work toward multiple certifications that will give them opportunities at high-paying technology careers. We plan to have the first course offerings this Spring semester.

Also, CCC is preparing faculty and instruction for a Google IT Support Professional Certificate that will help the industry, which is struggling to find qualified candidates for Information Technology support. The plan is to begin offering certificate and degree options in the next academic year.

CCC has already launched a new Cybersecurity program, and up north in Page, staff and faculty are working on creating a Marine Technology Maintenance program to address the needs of the community on the edge of Lake Powell.

A lot of exciting opportunities are underway or in development for students to find success on their educational journey – all because CCC quickly responds to meet industry needs.

So, onward! Let’s gear up for Spring!

Colleen Smith

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Coconino Community College Nursing student Wes Grove put a bandage on Pauline’s arm after he gave her a flu shot.

“I didn’t feel a thing,” she said in a Brooklyn accent. Although her face was mostly hidden by a mask, her eyes squinted and suggested a smile.

Pauline was one of a line of people waiting in their cars for their annual flu shots available during a number of clinics through the Coconino County Department of Health and Human Services. CCC Nursing students will be helping out every other Saturday.

“We are a community college, and I want our students immersed in the community,” said Katherine Costa, Director of Nursing and Allied Health at CCC. “And this fall, this is the best way to do it.”

To her, math is the language of the universe and helps her to be a better person.

So, it’s only fitting that Coconino Community College student Niousha Toroghi would be offered the prestigious American Mathematical Association for Two-Year Colleges Wanda Garner Presidential Student Scholarship.

“This scholarship is a blessing for me,” Niousha said. “It means I have achieved my goals so far. I have higher goals to achieve, and I look forward to striving for them.”

Niousha has been one of the most outstanding students CCC Mathematics faculty Maya Lanzetta has had in her career, and it was why she and other CCC Math faculty joined her in nominating Niousha for the scholarship.

“She has an innate ability to reason through problems and understand the bigger picture of the concepts we are studying,” Lanzetta said. “I learned a year after I first had Niousha in Precalculus that she had only been in the United States for seven days when class started.”