Coconino Community College — A quick word from the President and more news

Last spring semester, when classes began at Coconino Community College, students were busily passing through the halls of our campuses on their way to classes. Their attention was on their studies and on achieving their educational goals.

Then, just before Spring Break, the world started to take notice of the virus that was making its way across the globe – COVID-19. The world went on lockdown to try to halt the spread of the virus. Safety measures were put into place at CCC. Our halls and classrooms grew quiet. Faculty and staff, dedicated to delivering a quality, affordable education to students, worked long hours to offer classes online and through Zoom videoconferencing to keep the machinery of education moving so students could keep working toward their goals. Events were canceled, or they were held “virtually” in the digital world. A new kind of normal developed. Some of our students decided to wait until they could rejoin their fellow students and faculty in the classroom. Many of our students adapted to taking classes virtually, even if that was not what they preferred.

This spring, our halls and classrooms are still mostly quiet. All classes, except for ones that absolutely require an in-person component, continue to be online and through Zoom. Big events like the Commencement and Nurses Pinning ceremonies will again be virtual this May. Our signature fundraising event for the CCC Foundation, Palette to Palate, which supports the Fine Arts Department at CCC, will reimagine itself as a virtual event this April.

Soon, spring will give way to summer which will give way to fall and the start of another academic year. It’s never too early to start planning and preparing for that new academic year. There are federal financial aid forms to fill out, and, currently, the CCC Foundation is accepting applications for scholarships to help qualified students afford their educational goals. For more information about the CCC Foundation, visit www.coconino.edu/foundation.

I wish all of us a healthy and safe start to the spring semester, and I am hopeful the wait will soon be over so that I get to see and hear students roaming our campus halls and filling our classrooms again.

Onward! Náás! Adelante!

Colleen Smith, PhD

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Grain or barley. Hops. Yeast. Water.

Like the chords of a great blues tune, the ingredients to make beer are simple and few, but they are infinitely interchangeable for a complexity of experience that borders on heavenly.

Beginning Feb. 16, Coconino Community College Community Education will be hosting the non-credit course, “Northern Arizona Home Brew Academy,” led by Flagstaff-based Brewmeister Adam Harrington, owner of High Altitude Homebrew Supply and Bottle Shop.

“I love teaching what I know,” Harrington said. “It seems daunting, but it’s actually pretty easy.”

The four-session course, offered virtually via Zoom, will be the equivalent of Intro to Homebrewing, Harrington added. He will introduce students to the science, steps and supplies that make the art of brewing possible.

People interested in taking the Home Brew Academy may register at https://coconino-community-college.coursestorm.com. Have a non-credit course idea? Contact Meghan Remington at Meghan.Remington@coconino.edu.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Originally from Phoenix, CCC student Jake Zimmerman moved to Israel to explore his Jewish roots.

While there, he did his duty with the Israeli Army, serving as a medic until his release in 2017. When he returned to the states, he decided to come up to Flagstaff to live with a brother and begin his studies for a degree in Physical Therapy.

“I want to help people in a hands-on fashion,” Zimmerman said. “I find great meaning in helping people.”

His time as a medic showed him, too, that he wanted a career in the medical field. Physical Therapy, because it helps others recover from injury, where one can get to know clients on a personal level, appealed to Zimmerman.

At 25 and with “no time to waste,” he started at CCC to get his undergraduate requirements satisfied affordably before moving to NAU and field-specific courses. He has maintained a 4.0 GPA.

His ultimate goal: To be a doctor of Physical Therapy.

“I’m really grateful for my time at CCC,” he said.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Jiyoung Lee comes from South Korea, and Jose Landaverde comes from El Salvador. Kaoru Pierre comes from Japan, and Aurora Silleni comes from Italy. There’s Victor Parra from Mexico and May Henao from Colombia.

They may have come from all over the world, but they have one thing in common: They’re all taking classes with the Adult Education program at Coconino Community College to improve their English language skills.

“It’s college and career preparation,” said Jennifer Dennis, Adult Education instructor at CCC, of the class, which is an advanced English language-acquisition class. “A lot of our students have been through university in their home country.”

For instance, Landaverde has training in architectural design, Parra was an industrial engineer, Lee taught special education in Korea. Silleni is a post-doctoral researcher in vulcanology.

They were all in a recent class, via Zoom videoconferencing, to discuss phrasal verbs – like the differences between “take off, take on and take over,” or “speak up and speak out,” Dennis said. Additionally, because it was recently Martin Luther King Day, she included some topics to familiarize the students with U.S. government structure, voting rights and history.