Issuu

The Academics of Dance

March 2015

Got Gumbo?

Meet Mickey Ciokaljo

Combat Ready Art

Southwest Michiganâ€™s Magazine

The case for

Technical Education

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CONTENTS

March

2015

FEATURES Tech Ed Comeback?

‘What’s Happened to These Kids?’

There are jobs, but not enough workers for those jobs. Is it time to revisit technical education?

The Children’s Trauma Assessment Center aims to help kids recover from trauma

The Academics of Dance Dance education has more than just physical benefits

DEPARTMENTS 7 Contributors Up Front 8 First Things — What’s hip and happening in SW Michigan

Living History — Annual show makes history happen

Good Works

Benevolent Brewers — Boatyard Brewing Co. makes good beer for good causes

14 Enterprise

Vinyl Revival — Satellite Records is hitting a groove in a new location

16 Savor

Get Your Gumbo — Gumbo Cook-Off chefs share their expertise

46 Back Story

Meet Mickey Ciokajlo — Ushering in a new era in local journalism

ARTS

32 Forging Art Local metalworker teaches a new generation 34 Fretboard Fest Acoustic music abounds at annual celebration 40 Events of Note

On the cover: From left, Education for Employment students Shane Hyman and Zack Glascock show Deb Miller, executive director of KRESA’s EFE program, the project they are completing in the machining program.

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 5

The Academics of Dance

Got Gumbo?

Meet Mickey Ciokaljo

March 2015

Combat Ready Art

Southwest Michigan’s Magazine

facebook.com/fetzerinstitute

The case for

Technical Education

connect at fetzer.org

Publisher

encore publications, inc.

love : forgiveness : compassion

Editor

marie lee

Designer

alexis stubelt

Staff Writer

tiffany fitzgerald

Copy Editor

margaret deritter

Contributing Writers

kit almy, olga bonfiglio, andrew domino

Photographers

junfu han, brian powers, sam zomer

Advertising Sales krieg lee celeste statler kurt todas

Free 2015

Upcoming Shows MAR 7 - The Ventriloquist Curse MAR 21 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz MAR 28 - The Adventures of Johnny Forrest and Sue Magee in Pirates' Gold Special 4:00 pm performance at the Portage District Library

APR 4 - Ananse’s Return APR 18 - The Odyssey of Runyon Jones

Back in the ‘Golden Age” of radio, weekly radio programs brought the young and old to their living rooms to listen to adventurous, mysterious and comical tales. Dedicated to promoting this rich history, All Ears Theatre performs newly scripted radio programs for live audiences, complete with old school sound effects, from January through May. Shows are later broadcast on 102.1 WMUK-FM. Performances are at 6:00 pm at the First Baptist Church and are FREE to the public. Funding provided by For a complete schedule of shows, visit KalamazooArts.org 6 | Encore MARCH 2015

www.encorekalamazoo.com 117 W. Cedar St. Suite A Kalamazoo, MI 49007 Telephone: (269) 383-4433 Fax: (269) 383-9767 Email: Publisher@encorekalamazoo.com

The staff at Encore welcomes written comment from readers, and articles and poems for submission with no obligation to print or return them. To learn more about us or to comment, you may visit www.encorekalamazoo. com. Encore subscription rates: one year $36, two years $70. Current single issue and newsstand $4, $10 by mail. Back issues $6, $12 by mail. Advertising rates on request. Closing date for space is 28 days prior to publication date. Final date for print-ready copy is 21 days prior to publication date.

Kit Almy

ENCORE

CONTRIBUTORS

Kit, who writes about dance education in Kalamazoo Public Schools is this issue says she was intrigued to find that “learning dance is not just about physical fitness but also helps kids develop confidence and social skills and even helps them learn better.” Kit, who also wrote about Annie’s Big Nature Lesson for Encore (Sept. 2013), says she’s “fascinated by how nontraditional learning opportunities have such wide-ranging and often unexpected positive effects on kids’ lives.”

Olga Bonfiglio Olga. who has been in education for more than 30 years as a professor and a public relations director, says even she was surprised and excited about the amazing opportunities offered by career and technical education. She has previously written for the Huffington Post, U.S. Catholic, Planning (the trade journal for urban planners), America, and the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Andrew Domino

Andrew writes about the Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival this issue and says that after working on several stories about Kalamazoo-area musicians, he thinks he might be ready to pick up a guitar ... and hand it to someone who knows how to play. He is hoping organizer Chris Falk makes good on plans to expand the Fretboard Festival to an entire weekend, so there’s more folk and blues to be had by all. You can find more of his writing at www.dominowriting.com.

Tiffany Fitzgerald

Tiffany, Encore’s staff writer, tackled the compelling story of the work being done at the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center and its effects on kids not only in our community but across the state as well. “It was interesting to learn about the wide-ranging effects of childhood trauma and how the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center works to counter those,” she says. “I think this center deserves more attention and support — their work immediately influences our community in an important way.” Tiffany, who is also editor of FYI, Southwest Michigan’s Family Magazine, has two children of her own and teaches journalism at Western Michigan University.

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First Things Something Beautiful Get RAD at festival

With more than 60 choreographers and 250 performers from all

over the United States, Wellspring’s Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival is the place to check out the cutting edge of dance. “Wellspring and the Kalamazoo arts scene have made a big name for themselves in the national dance community,” says the festival’s coordinator, Rachel Miller. This is the sixth year for the four-day festival, set for March 1922 at the Epic Center, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall. It will feature five live performances, six master classes, a dance-for-the-camera film series, an interactive design installation, discussion panels and networking events. Tickets cost $10 for a master class; $12 for a performance; $20 for an evening pass, which includes both performances on either March 20 or 21; and $35 for a festival pass. All other events are free.

Something Illuminating Perspectives in print

Looking at a beautiful piece of art inspires questions about how it was created and what influenced its style and content. Local filmmaker and artist Mary Brodbeck answers some of these questions about woodblock printing in her self-produced, short-form documentary, Becoming Made. The film delves into the world of Japanese woodblock printing, exploring everything from the history to the process. Brodbeck travels to meet woodblock print artists, and she explains how the Great Lakes region influences her own woodblock art. Becoming Made will be screened at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, 314 S. Park St., from noon-1 p.m. March 31. The presentation is part of the KIA’s ARTBreak series, an hour-long brown-baglunch event that’s open to the public. Brodbeck will attend the screening and answer questions. The event is free, although donations are welcome. For more information, call 269-349-7775.

8 | Encore MARCH 2015

For tickets, class registration, the festival schedule and the lineup of performers, visit MidWestRADFest.org.

Something Delicious Tap into local syrup

March in Michigan means something more delicious than just spring — it’s the season for maple syrup production. The W.K. Kellogg Biological Station will host its annual Maple Syrup Open House from noon-5 p.m. March 21 at Kellogg Forest, which has a trailhead at 7060 N. 42nd St. in Augusta. The open house features wagon rides to the sugar bush, fresh syrup tasting, games and activities for children and guided tours of the tapping areas. Maple syrup made from sap tapped from Kellogg Forest trees will be for sale during the open house as well. Tickets cost $1, but admission is free for children age 2 and under. For more information, call 269-731-4597.

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Thirteen dollars and thirteen cents an hour: That’s the amount of money a family of four needs to earn to afford a two-bedroom apartment at market price in Kalamazoo, according to Housing Resources Inc. Unfortunately, only 47 percent of Kalamazoo-area families make that kind of money. That’s why HRI is asking for a little help from community members this month by inviting them to participate in the annual Walk to End Homelessness, starting at 9 a.m. March 21 at the Eleanor House, 522 Eleanor St. Last year more than 300 walkers, joggers and runners raised $80,000 to help the organization provide rent assistance, transitional housing or housing assistance in Kalamazoo. This year’s participants can register online at FirstGiving.com/ HousingResourcesInc to create a personalized fundraising page to solicit family, friends and coworkers for sponsorships.

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up front encore

History Comes Alive

Courtesy

Step back in time at the Kalamazoo Living History Show

Native American dancers, such as this one, will perform as part of the Kalamazoo Living History Show.

10 | Encore MARCH 2015

earning about history is usually a quiet, educational process. Reading historical accounts, holding artifacts or going to a museum can help us see a picture of the past, but that’s not the same as experiencing it.. Imagine being able to step back in time and become immersed in pre-1980 American history through reenactments, authentic dress, Native American drumming and dancing and artisan demonstrations. That is what the annual Kalamazoo Living History Show provides — history that feels alive. The March 21-22 event at the Kalamazoo County Expo Center will feature 10,000 visiting war reenactors (from the French and Indian War through the Civil War), history buffs, collectors, craftspeople and dealers. Such an interactive historical atmosphere connects modern-day Americans to their history, and bringing in so many different exhibitors allows the show to expand into as many American experiences as possible, says Leslie Conwell, the show’s executive director. “Our shared American history is at the center of the show, and all aspects of that experience make it important,” Conwell says. This is the show’s 40th year. Conwell says free admission for children as well as a room dedicated to kids’ activities allow the Kalamazoo Living History Show to create a kid-friendly space so parents can experience history with their families. “One reason we do the kids’ activities is because we noticed that we’re getting more and more young people in, and it’s a great way to engage them,” Conwell says. “We do period activities like putting on spurs, twirling lassos, beading — they are heritage-based and fun.” The Kalamazoo Living History Show also tries to bridge generations by offering a Kalamazoo Living History Horizon Grant to one artisan under age 28 to demonstrate his or her skills at the show. Discover Kalamazoo funds the artisan’s stay in a local hotel for two nights, and the Kalamazoo Living History Show provides meals and gas as well as a featured spot in the show. This year’s grant winner is Ashley Burton, a young artisan from Indiana who will demonstrate the American art of scrimshaw (engravings and carvings done in bone).

The kids’ activities room, the artisan grant and the expansive list of 270 exhibitors and vendors have evolved over the years, Conwell says. She and her husband, Rick, took over administration of the event in 2008 and have worked to build on the legacy of founders Larry and Carol Coin by expanding the show and moving it to the Expo Center. The Expo Center location has allowed the organizers to add performance space for Native American dancing and drumming.

The Kalamazoo Living History Show When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. March 21 & 9 a.m.4 p.m. March 22 Where: Kalamazoo County Expo Center, 2900 Lake St. How Much: Adults, $7 a day, $10 for an all-weekend pass for adults; free for children under 12. For more information, visit KalamazooShow.com. This year’s show features the Bush Native American Drum and Dance group, the MatchE-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi Indians and the SouthEastern WaterSpider drum group. “We’re really excited to continue to be able to offer these groups and these dancing experiences,” Conwell says. “A lot of times the groups will ask the audience to participate, which allows attendees to connect directly with the experience. It’s important that we’re not interpreting Native American culture, but instead we’re allowing them to interpret their own culture.” Each year the Kalamazoo Living History Show focuses on a distinct period or type of history. This year’s theme is “Rangers Lead the Way — the American Ranger Tradition.” Conwell says to make sure to catch the featured speaker, Lt. Col. Danny Davis, a retired U.S Army Airborne Ranger, who will host his talk, “Rangers Lead the Way — the

American Ranger Tradition,” at 1:30 p.m. March 21 and 10 a.m. March 22, and Tim and Terry Todish’s presentation series about French and Indian War rangers, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and noon March 21 and noon and 2 p.m. March 22. Everyone participating is encouraged to dress in costume, Conwell says, with those wearing pre-1890 costumes eligible

to win a door prize. All artisan, vendor and exhibitor costumes are judged for accuracy, but attendees’ costumes are not. Costume watching is a favorite Kalamazoo Living History Show pastime, Conwell says. “We had someone who did a great Jack Sparrow impression once,” she says. “It caused quite an uproar. You never know who will walk through the door.”

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good works ENCORE

Drink to a Good Cause

Sam Zomer

Boatyard Brewing Co. taps specials brews for charity

For beer lovers, the act of imbibing a

delicious, cold brew is heavenly enough — but what if drinking beer supported local nonprofits at the same time? That’s the idea behind Boatyard Brewing Co.’s creation and distribution of two special brews, the sales of which help local nonprofits. The brews are one way that Boatyard’s owners are fulfilling a mission to connect to the local community through outreach work. “One of the things that Dan (Gilligan) and I committed to at the beginning was we wanted to be charitable,” says Boatyard coowner Brian Steele. 12 | Encore MARCH 2015

The Scotch ale Gimme Shelter, as reported in a recent issue of Encore, was specially created by Boatyard for Community Homeworks, a Kalamazoo-based nonprofit committed that helps struggling homeowners maintain their homes. But Boatyard also makes another special brew, EZ Ale, to benefit the Eric Zapata Foundation, a charity fund created in honor of the Kalamazoo Public Safety officer who died in 2012 after suffering a gunshot wound in the line of duty. EZ Ale is sold at fundraisers for the Eric Zapata Memorial Foundation; Boatyard then distributes it locally until it sells out.

Boatyard Brewing Co. co-owners Dan Gilligan, left, and Brian Steele brew up special ales for good causes.

The idea for creating the two special brews came after the Boatyard owners had hosted smaller-scale events to raise money for Crayons4Kids and for the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation. “After those events, we were asked in 2013 if we would make a beer to help spread the word about the Eric Zapata Memorial Foundation,” Steele says. “On April 18, 2013, we launched the EZ Ale at the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange and donated the first 10 barrels of those sales to the foundation.”

The Eric Zapata Memorial Foundation uses the brewery as a place to host events, like a function last autumn that raised money for scholarships and police training. “We produced another round of the EZ Ale for the event, except we made it an amber that time, had a big pig barbecue here, and they raised $7,000 that evening for their cause,” Steele says. “We’re gearing up the exact same thing to do on April 18 of this year at the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange to honor the fifth anniversary of Eric Zapata’s death.” Boatyard Brewing launched the other brew, Gimme Shelter, in October at a Community Homeworks fundraising event called Furnace Fest. The event raised about $6,000 that Community Homeworks used to buy new furnaces for struggling homeowners who couldn’t afford replacements for out-of-date or broken ones. Steele and Gilligan donated the brewery space for the event, provided staff and donated 20 percent of the sales to the organization. “We basically told Kristina at Community Homeworks that we were here for her — live auction, event at the brewery, designing a new beer — we were going to do whatever we could to support the organization,” says Steele. “Their goal was to raise awareness because very few people knew who they were. We had a large amount of people come through. We used social media, and I think it worked.” Steele says he and Gilligan are looking forward to hosting Furnace Fest again and are planning to distribute the beer locally sometime this year, with a portion of the profits going to Community Homeworks. The two are also looking to provide ongoing charitable support to two more local community organizations. “A lot of the local breweries do a lot for charity,” Steele says. “I think it’s just the nature of a brewer — we all want to find causes and want to help however we can.”

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Enterprise ENCORE

In the Groove

Satellite Records’ relocation hits the spot Since Satellite Records moved from West Main Hill to the Vine

neighborhood in June, business has been “awesome,” says the store manager. “Every day someone comes in and tells us, ‘I’m so happy you’re here,’” says Manager Sean Hartman, 25. “The neighborhood has good walking traffic, and there’s more of a crossover feel with businesses next to us, especially Crow’s Nest and Fourth Coast,” he says. “We’ve always tried to make it more of a community-oriented record store, and I think that’s been embraced here in the Vine neighborhood.” Satellite Records sells vinyl records, DVDs, BluRay discs, cassettes, CDs, VHS tapes, laser discs and 45s. It moved to 808 S. Westnedge Ave. from the Tiffany’s shopping complex on West Main Street, where it was located for six years and known as Corner Records. The store is owned by John McIntyre, of Grand Rapids. Hartman says McIntyre doesn’t keep in-store hours but talks to Hartman and the other employees almost every day. Hartman, who has worked at Satellite Records for about five years and been the store’s manager

for two, says he notices that, in addition to the store drawing heavier foot traffic during normal operation, the in-store, all-age shows it hosts have been better attended. “Again, we’re just easier to access here,” Hartman says. “A lot of the Vine neighborhood houses run all-age shows already so it’s easier to pull that same crowd.” Closer proximity to college students, who make up a large portion of the customer base, has contributed to the increase in business, says Hartman, who points out that students who live in or around campus often don’t have their own transportation. It was out of the way for them to make the trek to Corner Records on West Main, but now Satellite Records is right in the thick of the college foot traffic. “Right here we’re neighbors with everyone,” he says. Hartman knew relocating to the Vine neighborhood was going to be a good move for the record shop, he says, but he assumed there would be a transitional period during which the shop would have to gain new footing, get the word out and reestablish itself. He says he thought it might take a few months to get back in the groove.

Brian Powers

Vinyl records, old and new, are among the wares at Satellite Records. Opposite page, Sean Hartman manages the store.

14 | Encore MARCH 2015

“The traffic came in almost immediately, though,” Hartman says. “It was really overwhelming how much people embraced the place. It’s been a really good feeling.” Local disc jockey Erich Kupferschmidt, who hosts Orpheum Lounge at 7-9 p.m. Fridays on WIDR 89.1 FM, has been a customer of the store since its Corner Records days, having grown up close to the old location. “I saw it driving by one day,” he says. “I probably spent way too much money on records at the store.” Kupferschmidt, who has moved out of Kalamazoo and come back, says he likes the new location better. “It’s just a really good location, and it’s more lively than the other location,” he says. “I usually stop in and see if they have something new when I go to Fourth Coast. I’m back at Western so I don’t have the spending cash I used to, but I still stop by all the time to see if they have anything new.” Kupferschmidt says it’s the people who work at Satellite Records who make it a go-to record shop. They have good taste but aren’t snobbish or intimidating, and they’re interested in all different types of music so no particular type of music dominates, he says. “They have a lot of stuff I’ve never seen or I don’t know what it is too,” he says. “And they have a listening station where I can listen to it. I just like the vibe there.”

That’s exactly how Satellite Records staff members want people to feel, says Hartman, noting that the store’s three full-time employees (there are also a couple of on-call employees) are always on the lookout for improvements to the store and development of its concert functions and retail stock. “Never do we sit back and say, ‘It’s done. It’s time to relax and let the money come in.’ Any time there’s extra profit, it goes right back into the store,” Hartman says. “You can really tell there’s a high level of care and attention here.” Hartman says he and the staff are busy developing the show schedule and open jam sessions and buying used collections and records to expand the in-store repertoire. They recently purchased a 6,000-piece jazz collection, for example. They also want to start fixing turntable equipment for resale in order to provide a cheaper, higher-quality option for people breaking into vinyl. With the success of the new location, Hartman says he’s just excited to see what the rest of the first year brings. “There is just something really special about the way Kalamazoo operates,” he says. “We’re really proud to be here.” Find more information, including show schedules, at SatelliteRecordsKZoo.com.

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Savor encore

Getting Good Gumbo

Gumbo Cook-Off chefs share their expertise March’s arrival signifies something of culinary significance in

Kalamazoo: the return of the Gumbo Cook-off, in all its delicious glory. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the event, which features 24 local chefs presenting their finest gumbo and battling it out for the People’s Choice Award. The cook-off takes place from, 2-7 p.m. March 1 at Louie’s Trophy House Grill, 269 Walbridge St.. Tickets for all you can eat at the cook-off can be purchased for $20 at GotOkra. com, and all proceeds will benefit Loaves & Fishes, the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission, Advocacy Services for Kids, Pretty Lake Vacation Camp and the Cheff Therapeutic Riding Center. All those brimming pots of gumbo goodness are inspiring, but making gumbo as a beginner can be intimidating — online forums are chock full of diverse and confusing directions, opinions and disagreements. Add tomato to a gumbo? Only above the MasonDixon line. Use okra, gumbo file or roux to thicken the stew? Depends on which tradition you follow. One indisputable fact seems to reign, though — no one makes a gumbo better than each opinionated gumbo lover’s mama. For those wanting to try their hand at gumbo or looking to perfect their efforts, three local chefs and Gumbo Cook-off participants — Emilio Dacoba, owner of Mangia Mangia, 209 S. Kalamazoo Mall; Allen Worman, chef at Comensoli’s Italian Bistro & Bar, 762 W. Main St.; and Andy Havey, chef at Bold, 6915 West Q Ave.— have taken time to ladle out some tips, tricks and advice offered here.

Getting started Why does Allen Worman love gumbo? “There’s a million different variations on it, and it’s basically peasant food,” he says. “For it to still be around today is just amazing, and gumbo gives you a chance to be creative.” Worman, who has been cooking in the Gumbo CookOff for five years, says he learned how to cook gumbo while working at the House of Blues in Chicago.

16 | Encore MARCH 2015

Trays of boiled crawfish accompany the gumbo at the annual Gumbo Cook-Off.

“As part of our training, we were sent down South to learn all the classic gumbo preparation. I loved it — it was great.” You might not have the resources to travel down South for gumbo school, but a good gumbo relies on the tastes and preferences of the cook, so

finding a good starter recipe and tweaking it to fit your own taste is a good place to start. Worman’s tip for finding a starter recipe? “A Paul Prudhomme cookbook would actually be a good place to start,” he suggests. There are also Prudhomme gumbo recipes available online at ChefPaul.com. “He is the grandfather of Cajun cooking,” Worman says, “and he brought in the formalities that we know now.”

The importance of roux Roux, roux, roux — there’s almost nothing more talked about in gumbo making than roux. All three chefs we talked to pointed to the importance of two main things when making gumbo: using quality stock and ingredients and taking time to hone your roux-making skills. Roux, a flour and butter mixture slowly heated to a color ranging from blonde to chocolate brown, is the main thickener in gumbo and sets the tone for the flavor. Andy Havey, a Gumbo Cook-off participant for six years, learned how to cook gumbo at a Cajun restaurant in Colorado after he

graduated from culinary school. The sky is the limit on the ingredients you can add to a good gumbo, but any good recipe comes down to one thing, he says. “In my opinion it’s all about the dark roux — that’s the basis of any good gumbo and

“It’s comfort food. There’s no doubt about it,” — Emilio Dacoba that’s the trickiest part of the whole process. With cooking the roux, you have to mix the flour and butter to the right consistency and cook it for 20-30 minutes, constantly stirring it to avoid burning it. If you burn it, you impart that taste to the gumbo. It takes practice and patience.”

Make a gumbo yours There’s nothing inherently difficult or complex about making gumbo — it’s a stew or soup that has roots in provincial cooking — and there’s something that compels people to love gumbo.

“It’s comfort food. There’s no doubt about it,” says Emilio Dacoba, who has been a part of the cook-off for seven years. “But when it’s made right, it engages all five flavor senses — sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami (a savory taste). It’s a down-home cooking kind of food.” In order to make gumbo your own “downhome cooking,” you’ll have to tweak the recipe with the spices you prefer, the cooking style you like best and the ingredients you love. Dacoba likens the process to perfecting a spaghetti sauce in Italy, and he has some pointers for how to do it. “You have to trust your senses,” he says. “I think a lot of what goes into gumbo is the loving part of it — you want to make something that tastes great and has a richness and depth to it. You might not get it on the first try, but just keep making it and tweaking it and don’t forget to write down what you’re doing so you’ll remember. It’s a labor of love.”

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The Heart of Childhood Trauma Local center leads research into trauma’s effects

Tiffany Fitzgerald

e all cry here, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” says Cara Weiler, a clinical social worker for Southwest Michigan Children’s Trauma Assessment Center. She’s addressing a table of Western Michigan University student interns during a Friday morning meeting, letting them know they can come to the staff during the day if they need support. Every Friday, the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center, on WMU’s campus, provides neurodevelopmental assessments of children age 3 months to 17 years who are survivors of trauma. Trauma can involve neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse, prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs, or a combination of all of these factors. Today’s meeting, led by Weiler and co-facilitator Amy Perricone, who is also a clinical social worker at the center, is a briefing on case histories of clients the center will see that day. For the children who come to the center, life has become unmanageable. Many are acting out in the classroom or at home, and caregivers are at a loss as to what to do to help them.

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“Children with a history of trauma are some of the most misunderstood kids,” says Connie Black-Pond, co-founder and clinical director of the center. “These kids have been exposed to danger and have learned to react from fear.”

in but having to tell them they have to wait nine months,” says Dr. Jim Henry, co-founder and project director of the center, pointing to funding as the culprit. “It actually costs us money each time we assess a child,” adds Black-Pond. After the history briefing, the staff splits up. Those who will be

Project Director James Henry and Amy Perricone, clinical social worker, listen during the client briefing.

Since the clinic opened its doors in 2000 (initially backed by a Kalamazoo Community Foundation grant and co-founded by Black-Pond, Dr. Jim Henry, Dr. Ben Atchison, Dr. Yvette Hyter and Dr. Mark Sloane), the faculty and staff have assessed more than 3,300 children in these Friday clinic settings. Of that number, 90 percent are in or have been in foster care and were referred to the center by caseworkers, therapists or physicians for assessment and diagnosis. Identifying trauma early in a child’s life helps in diagnosing the mental, physical and social problems that might result and in recommending appropriate and effective treatment, the center’s founders say. “The impact of childhood trauma hasn’t been fully identified,” says Black-Pond, who explains that identifying this impact is a focus of the center as well. “These children will grow into adults and be parents, though, so we need to know how to support these children better now.” The Children’s Trauma Assessment Center operates programs to reach child survivors of trauma and provide education to those who are in continual contact with these kids. Everyone from caseworkers to teachers needs to understand what causes trauma, what problems trauma can create for a child and how to help counter those effects, the center’s staff says.

Connecting with kids During the Friday meetings, the facilitating staff, the observing student interns and the clinical social workers and trauma interventionists review written histories of the children coming for the day. Each history is developed by a person who has spent time compiling information via interviews with caregivers and family members as well as any medical or psychological records they’re given. On this day, four children are attending the clinic. Currently there’s a nine-month wait to get into the clinic, so these children and their caregivers have been waiting a long time for this day. “Nothing is more painful than meeting a kid who wants to get 20 | ENCORE MARCH 2015

running assessments are assigned a case and a room number. Often two social workers or clinical interventionists are assigned to a child. The student interns split up and file into a room behind darkened observation windows, connected to the assessment rooms by twoway mirrors. Speaker systems and headphones enable the interns to listen in on the assessments. The interns observe the IQ and motor-skill screenings of the children, then move to another observation room when the children go to see Dr. Mark Sloan, a pediatrician and co-founder of the clinic, who measures their growth and performs a reflex test. He’s making sure the kids are on track for their age and is screening for fetal alcohol syndrome, which can present physical and psychological problems for children into adulthood. Diagnosis helps in treating the symptoms, Black-Pond says. During the afternoon, the children go through a psychological examination. At the end of the day, the staff and interns meet again to go over what happened: What did each person see? What questions did observers have? What conclusions can be drawn about the cases they viewed? Four more children have been assessed, but 175 more are on a waiting list for the same service. The center has trained about 300 interns from WMU — students in social work, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology and nursing. The staff is on hand throughout the day for support and direction, but, for many of the social work and psychology students, observing the sessions and helping to facilitate one provide the type of hands-on training they need in order to understand what the job entails and to decide if this work is right for them.

A trauma-informed system In-center assessments are just one part of what the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center does. The center also trains other

children’s trauma centers (six Michigan-based centers in the last five years), partners with the Michigan Department of Human Services’ MiTEAM to influence best practices in child welfare, coaches trauma-assessment teams across Michigan, and consults with state and community agencies. It has developed a nationally used trauma screening checklist for social workers, caregivers and medical personnel. Altogether the center has trained more than 70,000 people across the U.S. in these combined capacities, Henry says. “We have two main focuses really,” he says. “One is the assessments, of course, but another is to effect systemic change. We work to create a trauma-informed system.” A trauma-informed system, according to the center, involves across-the-board education for professionals about trauma so that children who have experienced it have a chance to receive specific aid and support. “We want the systems, whether child welfare services, schools, the medical system, caregivers, court systems, foster systems, etc., to look at these kids and ask not just ‘Why are these kids difficult?’ but ‘What can we do to help these kids overcome their behavioral differences, manage their emotions and relationships and respond to therapy?’” Henry says. Black-Pond adds, “It shifts the prevailing viewpoint or attitude of ‘What’s wrong with these kids?’ to ‘What’s happened to these kids?’” Effecting system-wide change isn’t just about connecting the supporting government and private care systems in a traumainformed perspective, but also about connecting different disciplines within the medical and mental health fields, says Dr. Ben Atchison, a center co-founder and chair of WMU’s Department of Occupational Therapy. “We work in a transdisciplinary role-release model,” he says. “We release our normal roles as occupational therapists, speech therapists, medical doctors or social workers to come together and join resources and knowledge to create a free dialogue and a unique support.” Bringing together different professional perspectives on trauma allows the center to move ahead in its research and approaches more

quickly and to help bring about a trauma-informed system. “It’s all about understanding these kids and helping others understand them too,” Henry says.

The funding hurdle “Our most significant obstacle is money,” he says. “Let’s just leave it at that.” It turns out it’s hard to leave it at that, because the mention of funding brings up many of the center’s stopping points, almost all of which stem from funding issues — the long wait for children to get assessed, the fact that many of the staff don’t receive full benefits and the limit to the center’s reach. From an outside perspective, funding might not seem like an issue. The Children’s Trauma Assessment Center currently runs on four federal grants, two state grants, fees and private donations. Since the center’s beginning, it has received more than $11 million in grant funding. But, spread over 15 years, that grant funding averages only about $733,000 per year. That grant funding supports the center staff, outreach training, teaching student interns, screening programs in the community, trauma-centered community programming and working with state and local organizations to influence traumainformed systems and there’s just not enough money for the center’s staff to do what they want to do, say Black-Pond, Henry and Atchison. “Each of these grants provide a specific set of goals to accomplish,” Henry says. The grants can leave out services that don’t fall within their funding parameters, or they might cover only one discipline and leave out other aspects of the center’s multidisciplinary approach, which unites occupational therapy, social work, psychology, speech pathology and medicine. Atchison says, “We’ve been successful getting these amazing grants that have funded things that we need to do, but the donations fund us to help children directly.” He is talking about the clinic itself. The clinic and its assessments run as an auxiliary program to the center, funded separately and almost entirely by outside donations from the community, Atchison says. It operates on a year-by-year funding basis, with no permanent

Student interns observe a briefing on client histories at the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center.

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funding. The center co-founders have to figure out ways to fund the assessments outside of grant funding the center receives, and they often come up short. Even within the center’s grant-funded programs and operations, grants can’t be

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relied on for everything. “The grants end. Five of our grants end in the next two years,” Henry says. “We’re always thinking ahead to where we’re going to get money after our current resources run out. What do we do?” That’s not to say, though, that the center doesn’t greatly appreciate the funding it does receive. “Almost all of our work is done by way of grant work and contributions as well as our fees,” Atchison says. “We still struggle financially and depend on the community, and federal funding isn’t looking like a longterm option, but we’ve only been able to do the outreach we have because of it.” The staff hopes to continue that outreach and expand the center’s current capacity by obtaining more private donations. “People always say they’re for children — in politics, in government and in the university — but what they really do with their money is how that becomes true or not true,” Henry says. “Our kids need it most. We need the support.” To donate to the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center or to learn more about its assessments and programs, visit WMich.edu/TraumaCenter.

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Education for Employment student Zack Glascock works on a CNC milling machine at the computerized manufacturing program at Vicksburg High School.

Technical Education poised for a

Comeback? by

Olga Bonfiglio

ant a good job? Go to college. Many young people have heard that advice. But, more and more, folks are saying, “What a minute. That’s not the only option.” “Trades are the fastest-growing careers in Michigan and in the nation,” says James Taylor, Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s dean of health and sciences. “Students don’t need a four-year degree to pursue these occupations. However, industrial trades are not enticing because of bad perceptions about the work, the facilities and the wages. Parents who have these perceptions sometimes discourage their kids from such work.” The bias against technical education occurs on all levels: from the classroom, where students are encouraged to be a part of a college-going culture, to the highest seats in government. President Obama has even set a goal of producing 8 million college degrees nationwide by 2020. This “college prep mindset” has pervaded government, high schools and homes and has influenced both the reputation and programming of vocational education. Vocational education began in the 1950s, when noncollege-bound students learned various trades. By 2007, technical education programs had all but disappeared. All nine school districts of Kalamazoo County used to teach auto shop; now only two schools offer it. “Our society has dwelt upon the idea that the best jobs come from a four-year degree program, and everything else is lesser,” says Deb Miller, executive director of the Education for Employment Program (EFE) of the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA), which serves nine school districts in Kalamazoo County. “The perception is that if you steer students toward career and technical education, you are doing them a disservice.” Miller says the push for more college degrees misses the big picture, and job statistics support her contention. Today, some 20 million Americans with bachelor’s, master’s and/or doctoral degrees are doing jobs that require less than the skill levels associated with a bachelor’s degree, says Richard K. Vedder, a distinguished professor of w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 25

economics emeritus at Ohio University and senior fellow at The Independent Institute. Moreover, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that more than 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees, more than 8,000 of these are doctoral or professional degrees. More than 80,000 bartenders and 18,000 parking lot attendants have college degrees. On average, college graduates do earn more money than their lesser-educated peers, but, as the BLS statistics show, the demand for college graduates is not keeping up with the supply. College loan debt — and the ability of students to pay that debt — also calls into question the value of a college education, causing worry for students, parents, colleges and politicians. At the same time, however, millions of jobs requiring technical and trade skills go unfilled across the U.S. According to Gov. Rick Snyder’s office, there are at least 80,000 positions in Michigan listed on a state-sponsored jobs website that are going unfilled because of a lack of qualified candidates. One solution being embraced is career and technical education (CTE) — sometimes called “vocational education,” or training in the skilled trades. In fact, CTE has become such a critical need that Snyder is promoting it as a means of rebuilding the state’s economy. He has set aside $26.6 million in the state school aid budget to support CTE programs and another $9.2 million to help equalize vocational education millage revenue among intermediate school districts, says Sara Wurfel, press secretary for the governor. (KRESA is such a district.)

Education for Employment In Kalamazoo County, efforts to provide career and technical education have been in place since 1985. That’s when KRESA developed Education for Employment, which offers 36 programs to train future auto technicians, welders, machinists, electricians, framers, drywallers, HVAC specialists, plumbers and more. More than 3,200 high school juniors and seniors participate in EFE programs at Kalamazoo County high schools. These

26 | Encore MARCH 2015

programs may also involve cooperative education and work-based learning opportunities where students work 15 to 20 hours per week for a local business in their field of study. Students and their parents are discovering that EFE programs not only help students work toward state and/or national certification in a trade but also provide good personal and professional skills known as “soft skills.” EFE also provides students with the educational background needed should they go on to two-year or four-year degrees in business, communications, engineering, health care, human services, agricultural science or natural science. “We have a wonderful sharing system,” Miller says. “All nine districts embrace EFE, and we have many parents and students thanking us for these programs and the opportunities they provide. EFE is a big leap forward toward preparing students with good jobs that pay well and allow them to support their future families.”

What changed? Career and technical education today is not what many of us remember as “shop class,” or vocational education, which had a certain

Clockwise from top left: Deb Miller, executive director of KRESA’s EFE program; EFE students Shane Hyman, Zack Glascock and Kayleigh VanAtti learn computerized manufacturing; students at ACATEC learn trade skills including machining and welding.

stigma around it beginning in the 1970s. That stigma — the belief that college education was the only ticket to lifelong prosperity — did a number on technical education. And the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC) that

That adds up to 19 courses required for high school graduation. Before implementation of MMC, 80 percent of the area’s high school students could take at least one EFE course, Miller says. That percentage dropped to about 30 percent because students don’t have enough time in the day to complete all their academic requirements and EFE too. Moreover, EFE is an elective program that competes with other electives like art, band, music and athletics. Last June, Gov. Snyder tried to protect the integrity of CTE by signing two bills into law. One made the skilled trades more accessible to students, while the other allowed students to count certain mathematics and science

Roper, executive director of the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP), maintain that a rigorous curriculum with MMC requirements is the best way to prepare future college students and CTE students for careers in today’s society. CTE got a little boost in 2006, though, when the U.S. Congress passed the Perkins Funding Mandate, requiring all CTE programs to be certified and lead to “articulated credit” at a two- or four-year degree program. This requirement lets students save a lot of time and money should they decide to go on to college. A provision of the mandate also calls for “dual enrollment programs,” so students can explore future careers and earn college credit while still in high school. Comstock High School’s “dual enrollment” program, the College and Career Academy, “was born of a conversation about what to do for students,” Principal Josh Cunningham says. CCA students learn about various careers from professionals in those fields. They learn training and education requirements, expected wages, hours and benefits and what a day on the job is like. They visit college campuses and receive academic counseling to help them chart an Educational Development Plan. “We’d like the students to figure out for themselves what they want to do and then to offer them our support, not just academic credit,” Cunningham says.

‘Shop class’ has evolved

former Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed into law in 2006 didn’t help. MMC has the most ambitious core graduation requirements in the nation, according to a report by the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. It requires that all students take four English courses, four mathematics courses, three science courses, three social studies courses, one visual/performing arts course, one physical education course, one “online experience” and two world language courses.

skills they learned in CTE toward their MMC requirements. “We do things in extremes,” Miller says. “We should have high expectations for our students in subject areas, but is this realistic for every single student in every single course? For one thing, MMC eliminates mechanical geniuses and gifted IT students who may not do well in English.” While Miller and other CTE advocates are unhappy with the MMC requirements, the State Board of Education and Wendy Zdeb-

Despite a long hiatus and lingering negative perceptions, CTE is gaining steam all over the country as technical and trade jobs go unfilled. But the world of manufacturing and trades has changed and so, too, has “shop class.” “The perception is that ‘auto shop’ trained auto mechanics, where the work was dirty and didn’t pay much as a career,” says Matt Basse, automotive technology teacher at Comstock High School. “Today we are training automotive technicians, where the work is in a clean and computerized environment, full of electronics and much like the work of an engineer. Starting pay is $35,000 and can go to $50,000, with dealerships paying $80,000

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 27

to $100,000, mostly because they can’t find enough people to do the work.” Students in Basse’s program must be able to handle mathematics, physics, chemistry, reading and writing. A lot of people don’t know that, Basse says. They also don’t know that students often do better at these subjects because classes like automotive technology allow them to see how the principles relate to their work. Once his students graduate from high school, they can apply for certification as auto technicians by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence. Among the auto colleges offering certification are Lincoln Technical Institute, KVCC, Ferris State and Universal Technical Institute. “Kids are attracted to automotive because they think cars are cool,” Basse says. “It’s only later that they learn about the incredible opportunities available to them. Enrollment is high and there is a waiting list.” Matt Wesaw, 18, is a Comstock High senior studying automotive technology and planning to enroll in the University of Northwestern Ohio’s automotive diesel program. “I like everything about automotive — the complexity, the ingenuity behind it all,” he says. “It’s a ‘mechanical art’ to me, and I’m here to learn as much as I can learn so that I can do as much as I can do.” One of the few girls in the automotive technology program, Mirsaydez Watson, 17, has been around cars all her life because her father is a mechanic. She wants to join the U.S. Marines so that she can serve her country, travel and learn how to work on any vehicle she encounters. Another senior, Steve Beebe, 17, says that automotive technology is a place to go every day to do something he loves. “It gave me something to work for and to know that the harder I work, the farther I can go,” he says. “The more I learn, the more I want to learn.” Basse says of his students who have completed the program, “They’re out there turning into grown-ups and making a great living with a house and a family. What I teach them here is turning out to be a life.”

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Machining and manufacturing Computerized manufacturing is another wide-open career opportunity with more jobs available than skilled workers to fill them. Machinists can earn $70,000 to $90,000 per

year, with opportunities for a lot of overtime because companies are usually short-staffed. Machining involves making finished products with metals, alloys, plastics or wood as well as programming and running the equipment that designs the parts. Students in EFE’s computerized manufacturing program at Vicksburg High School learn how to use manual equipment as well as CNC (computerized numerically controlled), CAM (computeraided machining) and Master CAM software. The program’s instructor, Greg Mills, a tool and die mold maker and an engineer, has relationships with Stryker Corp., Flo-Serve, Humphrey Products, Eimo Americas, Kraft Precision and other companies, where he finds internships for students. He also serves on KRESA’s EFE manufacturing advisory committee. “Companies need quality employees, especially since the need for machinists is so great,” Mills says. “For example, Stryker Corp. could use at least 20 machinists right now.”

An ACATEC student in the machining program checks the measurements of a part.

Business and industry are so desperate for skilled industrial workers that high school students are getting paid for internships and co-operative work arrangements. Many employers will even finance students’ college tuition to keep them as employees. Machining requires a hands-on mechanical aptitude, says computerized manufacturing instructor Shawn Kolhoff, a paraeducator at the Allegan County Area Career and Educational Technical Center (ACATEC). “It’s very creative work that is needed in a variety of fields like aerospace, automotive, consumer products, firearms, medical, military,” Kolhoff says. “Somewhere a machinist has made it, whether it is pots, pans or knives.” Welding is another skill attracting more attention lately. The American Welding Society estimates a need for 500,000 welders by 2018. Training isn’t cheap, which is why companies help in the

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All CTE programs teach students “soft skills” like how to write a resume, look for work, assert leadership, communicate with co-workers, show responsibility and arrive to work on time. However, no program focuses on soft skills the way the Law Enforcement Program does. Soft skills account for about 95 percent of its curriculum. Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Officer Jeff Crouse says the program emphasizes soft skills because the nature of the work is with the public. “Society and the professional world hold officers to a much higher moral and ethical standard,” Crouse says. “The students are taught early on to be responsible for themselves and the decisions they make, so they can continue to develop the necessary skills to not only be able to take care of themselves, but also others.” Housed at Comstock High School, the Law Enforcement Program takes two years to complete, and nine credit hours will transfer to KVCC. Students in this highly competitive, intensive program must maintain a 3.5 GPA, have good attendance, wear a uniform to school and focus on the task at hand. The program features physical training, service projects and social consciousness-raising. Students also learn how to handle emergency situations, including basic life support skills such as doing CPR, opening airways and using an automated external defibrillator. They participate in crime lab and bomb squad simulations and “situational awareness” training to learn to notice what’s going on around them. They (continued on page 43)

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Arts ENCORE

Forged Skills

Local metalworker teaches a new generation W

Combat Ready Art’s Jon Reeves teaches as well as works in his studio at the Park Trades Center.

32 | Encore MARCH 2015

Brian Powers

hen in his studio, metalworker and blacksmith Jon Reeves usually wears an almost floor-length black apron over his jeans and T-shirt. His arms, covered with colorful tattoos, are bare. Oh, and he’s standing next to a hot-as-hell metal forge. At first glance, Reeves might seem like kind of a tough guy. Not so, says apprentice Katie Anderson, a Kalamazoo College student who is one among many who have studied metalworking with Reeves. “Jon is one of those people who seems really rough to begin with, but he’s actually really nice, a real softie. He’s incredibly patient, willing to guide us and answer questions. He’s as much a friend as he is a leader.” Reeves may be a softie, but the 3,000-degree-Fahrenheit metal forge? Not so much. “Fire can be intimidating to people, for sure,” Reeves says. “The work in this studio is hands-on and very physical.” That’s obvious from a quick glance around Combat Ready Art, Reeves’ studio in the Park Trades Center. A large metalworking table holds vases of steel and copper roses, the walls are adorned with metalworking and blacksmithing tools, and hanging from the ceiling are stage weapons such as knives, swords and axes. Handwritten in chalk on the hood of the forge are warnings — “Don’t touch the hot end,” “Everything is hot” — and a table of temperatures, from white flame, 2,552 degrees, to black surfaces, a mere 932 degrees. Creations by Reeves, such as refrigerator magnets and larger-scale sailfish, which he sells during studio hours and Art Hops, hang on the wall by the door.

Reeves has been a resident of Kalamazoo since 1989. Outside his studio, he teaches combat workshops and stage and theater design at Kalamazoo College and works as a technical director for the Kalamazoo Civic and Kalamazoo College theaters. A technical director supervises rigging and lighting, oversees building the stage set and ensures the safety of everyone working on the production. “Sometimes it’s easy,” he says, “and sometimes it’s not.” But it’s his blacksmithing that draws the most attention. Reeves demonstrates blacksmithing live during Art Hops, offers classes to the public in metal sculpture and blacksmithing, and takes on students from Kalamazoo College as apprentices. “We may never, as a species, get over our love of fire,” he says on a freezing-cold day in January. “Especially when it’s like this outside, I’m really popular.” There’s no set schedule for the classes he teaches in his studio — some people sign up for only one class and some for a series — allowing Reeves to maintain flexibility. Both the metal sculpture and blacksmithing

classes are $25 an hour, with all materials included. Reeves says he’s had students as young as 9 take his classes, which are offered in a two-hour block. “That’s just enough time to make a snake,” he says, “which is one of the first things we make together at the classes because it’s one of the most accessible beginner sculptures. I’m not big on lectures. I show you how to do it and then you do it.” That hands-on approach is the same teaching style he uses with his apprentices, who are looking to gain skills in specific metalworking techniques. For every two hours worked for Reeves, students get an hour of instruction from him for free. “They like to call themselves my minions,” Reeves says. “I make them grind wells and work with me all over the place, at local productions, and then they get to learn welding, metal cutting — skills they need for stage design and building but aren’t offered in conventional classes.” Anderson has been a student of Reeves since 2011. She wants a career working in technical theater and has set her sights on

the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre or the Milwaukee Theatre, among others. Reeves has been an important part of that inspiration, she says. “My biggest breakthrough moment was when he taught me lighting,” she says. “I took a lighting class with him, and he taught me how to hang and focus theatrical lights. He told me how to hang a light and I got it. I did it right the first time. It felt great. Also, I remember after my very first project, Jon gave me a thumbs-up, like I did well, and I knew, ‘Yeah, I really want to do this.’” The rewards go both ways — Reeves says working with students is fulfilling for him. “I like their energy and creativity and their curiosity,” he says. “I want to keep doing exactly what I’m doing. I bet you I complain a lot less than people who work behind a desk. I think they even gave me a desk at Kalamazoo College, in fact, and I never use it.” See what Reeves is creating by visiting www.Facebook.com/CombatReadyArt and find out more about his classes by visiting www.jonareeves.com or calling 269-569-1741.

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Arts ENCORE

Acoustic Admiration

Festival celebrates stringed instrument makers and musicians by

Andrew Domino

Who Hit John? will be one of the many acts performing at the Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival.

here can you find a luthier, lap steel guitars and lots of local musicians? Try the Fretboard Festival at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum March 21. This is the 10th anniversary of the annual festival, which celebrates guitars, guitar-makers and any kind of stringed instrument. At the free event, bands will play, instructors will help people with their first lesson and vendors will offer everything a musician could ever want. “There’s a lot of talent in this town,” says Chris Falk, special events coordinator at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. “It’s a celebration of Kalamazoo musicians, or those that play here on a regular basis.” The museum regularly features local musicians in its Friday Night Highlights series during the winter and spring, and the success of those events led to the creation of the Fretboard Festival in 2005. While it is currently a one-day event, Falk says its growing popularity is making him consider stretching the festival to encompass a weekend. This year’s festival actually kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday, March 20, with a concert by The Real Fantastics, a Kalamazoo-based “classic soul” group (think Aretha Franklin). Last year’s festival set an attendance record of 2,800; Falk expects to see more than 3,000 this year. Most attendees are from Michigan or

34 | Encore MARCH 2015

nearby Indiana and Illinois, says Falk, although musicians from as far away as New Orleans have attended before. When Falk took over coordination of the festival in 2012, eight bands were on the agenda, with local musicians leading five workshops, and 12 local businesses in the festival’s vendor area. This year’s festival will have performances by 13 bands and offer 11 workshops, from a “play with anyone and everyone” for those new to the guitar, to “Kalamazoo Gals,” a presentation on the history of Gibson guitars produced by women during World War II. This year’s performers include several from Kalamazoo, including Who Hit John? and Mark Sahlgren and the Fragile Ego (if Sahlgren’s name sounds familiar, you may be a fan of “Grassroots,” his acoustic music show on WMUK radio each weekend.) Other performers, true to the original intent of the festival, are making it a stop on their ongoing tours. One of those acts is the duo Don Julin and Billy Strings from Traverse City, who will close out the festival at 5 p.m. “On the west side of Michigan there’s a scene, a lot of cool music,” Julin says. In addition, folk and country singer Bob Rowe is returning to the festival this year and bringing something new along: a camera crew. His performance with the Green Valley Boys will be filmed for “Instrument of Healing,” a documentary on his work bringing traditional music into senior care centers, or “bringing the old songs to Grandma and Grandpa,” as he puts it. The film is set to appear on Netflix and WGVU once it’s complete. For now, though, Rowe says he’s glad to come back to the Fretboard Festival. “It’s an opportunity to catch up with old friends,” he says. “The people that come there love music. You don’t have to do a lot of work to win them over.” The festival concentrates on acoustic instruments and welcomes musicians of all skill levels.

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How Much: Admission is free “There are bands that have electric guitars, but the focus is on folk and blues,” Falk says. Bands will perform starting at 11 a.m. on three stages inside the museum. A new highlight for the 2015 festival is the tower stage, a place for children to try out instruments and sing. BenJammin Educational Music, a Vicksburg-based duo specializing in upbeat, learning-based music for kids, will perform three concerts there, and children will be invited to come on stage and play along. “Our performance is scaled to who’s in front of us,” from pre-schoolers to eighth graders, says Ben Gauthier, one-half of Benjammin. “It’s all interactive, with lots of percussion.” Every song in Benjammin’s repertoire is learning-based, from “Wash Your Hands,” which is about exactly that, to “Introducing the Cell,” which describes the basics of biology. While Benjammin’s music is aimed at children, education is part of a lot of folk music, Gauthier says. “Folk music is political activism — it’s another type of music that teaches,” says Gauthier. Each year the festival hosts a Play-In Contest, set this year for 8 p.m. March 6, at which performers try out for a spot during the festival and to join the lineup of the museum’s Friday Night Highlights for the next season. Previous winners include Kalamazoo guitarist Bryan Warren and the Turnips, a blues-rock band out of Big Rapids. “It doesn’t matter who comes through the doors, you’ll find something to enjoy,” Falk says.

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A Leg Up Dance education programs benefit students in moving ways by

Kit Almy

photography by

JunFu Han

ancing can improve writing. At least that’s been the experience of Debra Norton, who provides dance education as the artist in residence at Kalamazoo Public Schools’ Woods Lake Elementary, a Magnet Center for the Arts. Norton, along with the school’s fourth-grade teachers and writing coach Peg Luidens, taught narrative writing to fourth-graders by incorporating dance into their teaching. Kids were shown photographs of athletes and asked to develop a narrative related to the photo. The students “had to start to recreate what was in the photograph, and then they had to start to imagine, if they were actually that athlete: What would their story be? What would their narrative be?” Norton says. The students developed storylines with a beginning, middle, climax and end and then developed a series of movements that corresponded to the story and had a logical order.

36 | Encore MARCH 2015

encore ARTS

Debra Norton leads first grade students, including Corvell Clopton (black shirt) and Hudson Richardson (green shirt) in a dance exercise at Woods Lake Elementary.

â€œThe dance was directly connected to their writing. Two years ago was the first time we did it, and their MEAP scores in writing went through the roof,â€? Norton says, referring to the 20-point increase in fourth grade writing proficiency scores experienced from the 2011-12 to 2012-13 school years. In an era when schools and parents are focused on academic achievement, dance education may seem like a nice-to-have choice rather than a have-to-have subject. But, from an elementary school where dance is as much a part of the routine as reading and math to a yearlong daily high school class open to students across the county, dance education has benefits

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beyond the physical, educators say. And professional teaching artists are doing their utmost to get kids to move, be creative and improve their learning in academic subjects. Dance education is more multi-faceted than studio-based dance lessons, exposing kids to many traditions and styles and adding extra dimensions of learning on top of technical skills, educators say. “I try to expose them to a really broad range of dance, so dance is not just what you see on TV or in a music video, but there is depth and breadth to what is out there,” Norton says. In simple choreography lessons, Norton provides a basic framework and asks kids to choose movements to fill in the dance. In this way, the students learn about decision-making. “When you’re the choreographer, you get to create how to do (the dance),” Norton says. All Woods Lake students attend dance class once a week, and fourth- and fifth-graders have the option of joining the school’s performing dance companies. “Dancing is part of our school day. It’s just what we do,” Norton says. Although Woods Lake is unique in that respect (a similar program at KPS’s Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts ended in 2010), it isn’t the only local educational entity that embraces dance. The Education for the Arts (EFA) program offered by the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency is another rich source of dance and other arts experiences for Kalamazoo County students. In EFA’s Aesthetic Education program, teaching artists and classroom teachers collaborate to give K-8 students an immersive experience with a work of art, such as a live performance. Norton, who teaches dance at Western Michigan University and Ballet Arts Studio, is also a teaching artist and a teacher trainer for EFA’s Aesthetic Education. She says the program’s approach affords students a more powerful connection to the art. Rather than lecturing about what the students are going to see ahead of time, educators plan lessons around the choreography of the work to be performed. “We (lead students) through activities where they have to make decisions as a choreographer would,” she says. “Once the students see the performance, their reaction is typically, ‘Oh! I’ve done something like that!’” High school students can receive a much more in-depth dance education through yearlong classes in the visual and performing arts in EFA’s Excellence in Arts program. The program exposes students to disciplines not covered in their school’s regular curriculum. Classes 38 | Encore MARCH 2015

are taught at various locations around the area by working artists and are open to public, private and home-schooled students. Patricia Plasko, a professional dancer and founding member of the local Wellspring dance company as well as a choreographer and costume designer, joined Excellence in Arts in 1998 as a dance educator. Under her direction, the program has grown from one to three dance educators and from two to nine classes, ranging from beginning to advanced levels. Although some EFA students have had prior dance experience, participants in Excellence in Arts are “mostly kids who have not had dance and most likely would never have had the opportunity,” Plasko says. EFA programs “enable the student to become the artist. They learn the skills so that they have the tools to do the art,” she says. In addition to learning techniques of ballet, modern dance and jazz, students learn choreography and have opportunities to perform in WMU’s Shaw Theatre and other venues. This year Plasko is teaching a new nontraditional performancebased class called “DancEXperiment Lab.” Students create works for non-theater settings such as public spaces. Their projects include collaborations with other EFA classes and arts organizations as well as independent “surprise movement” performances (think flash mobs). Dance education benefits students in many ways, from improving their physical fitness to developing their self-confidence and social skills to actually helping them learn other subjects, educators say. In addition to teaching dance for its own sake, Woods Lake integrates it into the academic curriculum. “Arts integration is where we take a classroom subject such as math or science or language arts … and we infuse dance into the learning process. So each subject has an equal voice in the process. We actually use dance (and other art forms) to teach writing. We use dance to teach science,” Norton says. Remember those improved MEAP scores Woods Lake experienced? The improvement is the result of something called kinesthetic learning, Plasko says. “When you experience something physical in your body, it stays there because it’s not just an idea in your head. You actually had a physical experience, and that is coded in your muscles.” Kids also learn practical life skills through dance, Norton says. “There are so many things I think that it connects to. They might not realize it at the time, but through dance education you learn so much just about being in society. You have to learn how to get along with

other people to make a dance work. If you’re doing a partner dance, you’re not going to be dancing with your best friend all the time. You have to learn how to get along with everybody.” Plasko believes the opportunity to perform helps kids appreciate the value of responsibility. She says that after their first show, beginning dance students “totally get what the whole thing is about, why you work so hard every day, why you repeat things so many times. It’s really exciting to see students take that on and then really own the work.” Dance also “teaches kids to be comfortable in their own skin,” Norton says. For example, “someday when you go to an interview (you will be able) to sit in front of somebody and look them in the eye and talk to them and (understand) your body language.” Danna Ephland, a former teaching artist with EFA and a writing teacher who has taught workshops integrating movement and writing to all ages, says that for some students dance class may be the first place where they do not “see themselves as a failure in school, because suddenly there’s this thing that they not only succeed at but they’re one of the best at.” “It’s just this whole new way of seeing themselves,” Ephland says. Diana Hart Johnson, a former soloist with the renowned Martha

From left, dance instructor Patricia Plasko (center) leads students, from left, Alissa Rose, Taylor Sayers, Aitana Carrascosa Roldan and Ashley Randall in class; Woods Lake first-graders Odin McDougal, left, and Brian Demo, work on their moves; Aitana Carrascosa Roldan, left, and Alissa Rose practice movements; Ariyanna Burton performs a dance step over a classmate.

Graham Dance Company, led the middle school dance program at Maple Street. “Dance engages people, and that is just as important, maybe more, as any scientifically proven link to the enhancement of academic subjects,” Johnson says. “Dancing speaks to something very basic in people that must be spoken to, and perhaps some kids stay in school just so they can experience that each week.” Dance educators continue to look for new ways to broaden students’ exposure to the world of dance, such as Plasko’s DancEXperiment Lab. Norton is adding tap dance to Woods Lake’s repertoire this year with funds that came to the school when her program won the Greg Jennings Foundation’s Be Great School Challenge last year. Johnson, who now teaches Spanish at Kalamazoo Central High School, has been impressed with the number of dance and other arts programs in Kalamazoo Public Schools during her 13 years teaching in the district. “That is rare,” she says, “and should be touted, not taken for granted.”

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PERFORMING ARTS THEATER Plays Cat on a Hot Tin Roof — Tennessee Williams’ explosive tale of a Southern family, 7:30 p.m. March 6, 7, 12, 13, 14,19, 20 & 21; 2 p.m. March 8, 15 & 22, Parish Theatre, 426 S. Park St., 343-1313. Murder at the Howard Johnson’s — A comedy by Sam Bobrick and Ron Clark, 8 p.m. March 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27 & 28, New Vic Theatre, 134 E. Vine St., 381-3328. Charlotte’s Web — University Theatre presents a stage adaptation of the classic children’s book, 7:30 p.m. March 20 & 27; 1 p.m. March 21 & 28, 4 p.m. March 28; 2 p.m. March 29; Shaw Theatre, WMU, 387-6222. Stepping Out — A comedy about a weekly tap dance class, 7:30 p.m. March 20, 21, 26, 27, 28, April 3 & 4; 2 p.m. March 29, Civic Auditorium, 329 S. Park St., 343-1313.

Tony & Tina’s Wedding — A dinner theater production of a comic Italian wedding, 7 p.m. March 26, 27, 28, April 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 & 11; 5 p.m. March 29 & April 12; Cityscape, 125 S. Kalamazoo Mall, 387-6222. Musicals Ivy + Bean, The Musical — A story of an unexpected friendship between two second-graders, 3 p.m. March 1, Miller Auditorium, WMU, 387-2300. Goodnight Moon — Musical retelling of the children’s book, 7 p.m. March 13 & 20; 11 a.m. March 14, 21 & 22; 2 p.m. March 14, 15, 21 & 22; Farmers Alley Theatre, 221 Farmers Alley, 343-2727. Peter and the Starcatcher — A musical addressing how Peter Pan become The Boy Who Never Grew Up, 3 p.m. March 29, Miller Auditorium, 387-2300. MUSIC Bands & Solo Artists Booth Brothers — Gospel trio in concert, 7 p.m. March 6, Chenery Auditorium, 714 S. Westnedge Ave., (800) 965-9324.

Tab Benoit — The Cajun blues artist, special guests Samantha Fish and Mike Vito, 8 p.m. March 6, State Theatre, 404 S. Burdick St., 345-6500. Buckwheat Zydeco – Lousiana’s zydeco masters; special guest Joshua Davis Trio, 9 p.m. March 6, Bell’s Eccentric Cafe, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave., 3822332. Fonn Mór — Traditional Celtic folk music, 9 p.m. March 7, Bell’s Eccentric Cafe, 382-2332. PFX: The Pink Floyd Experience — The band, the lights and the sound for the ultimate Pink Floyd fan, 8 p.m. March 14, Miller Auditorium, 387-2300. The Rock Show — A Journey tribute band, 8 p.m. March 14, State Theatre, 345-6500. The Women of Ireland — A group of artists showcasing Ireland’s traditions of song and dance, 3 p.m. March 15, Miller Auditorium, 387-2300. Gordon Lightfoot — The Canadian singer-songwriter, 7:30 p.m. March 16, State Theatre, 345-6500. Greg Allman — Rock and blues by the legendary rocker, 7:30 p.m. March 17, State Theatre, 345-6500.

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HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT… literacy in Kalamazoo? • visiting authors and artists? • making reading fun for all ages? •

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Bookstore Hours: Weds: 12 - 7 Thurs, Fri & Sat: 10 - 4

Drive-By Truckers — Alternative country/Southern rock band, 8 p.m. March 19, State Theatre, 3456500. The Blue Man Group — An explosion of comedy, music and technology, 8 p.m. March 20, 3 & 8 p.m. March 21, Miller Auditorium, 387-2300. The Go Rounds — Kalamazoo-based band combining country, rock and soul; special guest Chris Bathgate, 9:30 p.m. March 20, Bell’s Eccentric Cafe, 382-2332. The Travelin’ McCourys — Traditional and progressive bluegrass; special guest Billy Nershi, 9 p.m. March 24, Bell’s Eccentric Cafe, 382-2332. Harper & Midwest Kind — Blues and world fusion, 6:30 p.m. March 28, Mangia Mangia, 209 S. Kalamazoo Mall, 226-3333. Chamber, Jazz & Concert Guest Artist Recitals — Peter Miyamoto, piano, 7:30 p.m. March 2; Miguel Zenon, saxophone/jazz, 8 p.m. March 13; Kip Hickman, trombone, 7:30 p.m. March 16; Kate McGarry, jazz vocals; and Keith Ganz, guitar, 8 p.m. March 27, Dalton Center Recital Hall, WMU, 387-2300. Garrick Ohlsson — Fontana presents this pianist who will perform selections from Beethoven, Chopin and Alexander Scriabin, 8 p.m. March 7, Dalton Center Recital Hall, 382-7774. Murray Perahia — The pianist performs as part of The Gilmore’s Piano Masters Series, 8 p.m. March 18, Chenery Auditorium, 342-1166. Arcadia Woodwind Quintet & Ensemble Des Amis – Ladies’ Library Association Chamber Music Concert Series performance, Ladies’ Library Richmond Auditorium, 333 S. Park St., 344-3710. Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra’s chamber ensembles — 7:30 p.m. March 28, Dalton Theatre, 349-7557. Symphony Kalamazoo Philharmonia — 8 p.m. March 7, Dalton Theatre, Kalamazoo College, 337-7070. Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra — With guest conductor Michael Christie and pianist Arnaldo Cohen, 8 p.m. March 28, Miller Auditorium, 349-7759. University Symphony Orchestra Pops Concert — 3 p.m. March 29, Dalton Center Recital Hall, 387-2300. Vocal All Ears Theatre — Live radio performances for later airing on WMUK 102.1: The Ventroloquist Curse, March 7, First Baptist Church, 315 W. Michigan Ave.; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, March 21, First Baptist Church; and The Adventures of Johnny Forrest and Sue Magee in Pirates’ Gold, March 28, Portage Public Library, 300 Library Lane. Kalamazoo College Singers and Women’s Ensemble — 3 p.m. March 8, Stetson Chapel, Kalamazoo College, 337-7070. Gold Company Invitational Vocal Jazz Festival — Closing concert featuring WMU’s Gold Company, 8 p.m. March 28, Dalton Center Recital Hall. DANCE Regional Alternative Dance Festival — 60+ choreographers and 250 performers celebrate dance innovation, March 19-22, Epic Center, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall. Schedule at MidWestRADFest.org. Ballet Arts Ensemble Spring Concert — 2 & 7 p.m. March 28, Chenery Auditorium, 714 S. Westnedge Ave., 345-3433.

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VISUAL ARTS Kalamazoo Institute of Arts 314 S. Park St., 349-7775 How to Return: Contemporary Chinese Photography — Visual examination of post-boom China, through March 8. Wired and Wrapped: Sculpture of Seungmo Park — Wire sculptures by contemporary Korean sculptor, through March 15. Redefining the Multiple — Exhibition of 13 Japanese artists whose printmaking has transitioned into other media, through April 26. Second Sight/Insight II — Works from the KIA permanent collection paired with poetry from local writers, through May 10. ARTbreak — Free presentations on art-related topics: The Story of Women and Art: Part 1, video, March 3; From Functional to Fine Art: Screenprinting on Fabric, talk and demonstration by Sue Caulfield, March 10; The Story of Women and Art, Part 2, video, March 17; Documentary Photographs and the Great Depression: The KIA Collection, March 24; Becoming Made, video and Q&A with local artist Mary Brodbeck, March 31; all sessions begin at noon; KIA Auditorium. Richmond Center for Visual Arts Western Michigan University, 387-2436 NYPOP Emerging Curators Series II: Nature Loves Courage — Emerging New York artists interpret nature through the lens of the city, through March 6, Monroe-Brown Gallery. HOME: An Artists and Writers Project — Local artists and writers express the idea of home, through March 6, Netzorg and Kerr Gallery. Alumni/Regional Artists — Works by Alissa Lamarre, Lynn Batchelder, Gabriel Craig and Amy Welks, March 26-June 5, Netzorg and Kerr Gallery. Annual Gwen Frostic School of Art Student Exhibition — March 26-April 16, Monroe-Brown Gallery. West Michigan Glass Art Center 326 W. Kalamazoo Ave., Suite 100, 552-9802 Roaring March — Live glassblowing and flameworking demonstrations, 5-9 p.m., March 6.

Explore Glass Art Day — A hands-on exploration of many facets of glass art, 10 a.m- 4:30 p.m. March 21. Miscellaneous Art Hop — Local artists and musicians at various venues in downtown Kalamazoo, 5-8 p.m. March 6. LIBRARY & LITERARY EVENTS Kalamazoo Public Library Jerry Dennis — Author of The Living Great Lakes will discuss his book, 7 p.m. March 3, Kalamazoo Central High School Auditorium, 2432 N. Drake Road, 3429837. Lake Effect Nature — Naturalist Nate Fuller discusses the role Lake Michigan plays in wildlife and habitats, 6:30 p.m. March 10, Oshtemo Branch, 7265 W. Main St., 553-7980. Whiskey Before Breakfast — Local Celtic band, 7 p.m. March 18, Central Library, 315 S. Rose St., 342-9837. Lost and Found: Lake Michigan Shipwrecks — Author Valerie van Heest discusses the sinking of several ships on the Big Lake, 6:30 p.m. March 31, Oshtemo Branch. Portage District Library 300 Library Lane, 329-4544 Five Pennies — A screening of the 1959 film starring Danny Kaye, 2 p.m. March 8. Top Shelf Reads — Book group discussion of Tina Fey’s Bossypants, 7 p.m. March 9, Latitude 42 Brewing Co., 7842 Portage Road. MUSEUMS Kalamazoo Valley Museum 230 N. Rose St. 373-7990 Kalamazoo for the Union — The Civil War through the eyes of Kalamazoo County residents, through May 17. Evidence Found: Explorations in Archaeology — The science and methodology of archaeology, through Aug. 30. Township History: Richland — A program exploring the 19th century history of Richland, 1:30 p.m. March 15. Fretboard Festival — Meet instrument designers, attend workshops on stringed instruments and hear live performances, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. March 21.

Friday Night Highlights Series — Peat in the Creel and Belfast Gin, Celtic music, March 13; The Real Fantastics, Motown/Stax revival group, March 20; Rebel: Loreta Velazquez, Secret Soldier of the American Civil War, a documentary on a Cuban woman who served in the Civil War, March 27; all events 7-9 p.m. NATURE Kalamazoo Nature Center 7000 N. Westnedge Ave., 381-1574 Veggie 202: Seed Starting — Learn the basics to starting garden plants, 6 p.m. March 3, County Building, 3299 Gull Road. Vibrant Vegetable Gardens: Planting for Success — A discussion on seed starting, 6 p.m. March 5. Maple Sugar Festival — A pancake breakfast, demonstrations of making maple syrup and more, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. March 14 & 15. Vibrant Vegetable Gardens: Square Foot Gardening — Learn about getting the most out of your garden space, 6 p.m. March 26. Green Living Series: Raising Backyard Chickens — Explore raising your own chickens, 6 p.m. March 31. W.K. Kellogg Biological Station Birds and Coffee Walk — Join an experienced guide for a short birding walk and discuss the morning’s sightings over coffee, 9 a.m. March 11, Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, 12685 East C Ave., 671-2510. Maple Syrup Open House — A wagon ride to the sugar bush, children’s activities and more, noon-5 p.m. March 21, Kellogg Forest, 7060 N. 42nd St., 731-4597. MISCELLANEOUS St. Patrick’s Day Parade — 11 a.m. March 14, starting at Kalamazoo Mall and Michigan Avenue, downtown Kalamazoo. 372-7332 or kalamazooirish.org. Kalamazoo Living History Show — Indoor event featuring reenactors, vendors and costumes, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. March 21; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. March 22, Kalamazoo County Expo Center, 2900 Lake St., kalamazooshow.com.

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Lansing

Technical Education (continued from page 30) practice making decisions in stressful situations through scenarios and role playing. During the second year of the program, students are placed in internships with organizations including the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office, the Michigan State Police, Michigan’s Departments of Natural Resources and Corrections, the Vicksburg Police Department, and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety. Student Danny Alvarez, 18, says he enjoys the challenging curriculum, especially the physical training, and that the life skills he’s learning are not available in academic classes. Alvarez plans to go to KVCC and then to Grand Valley State or WMU for a degree in criminal justice and then attend the Police Academy at KVCC. Leah Savage, 17, says, “This class has helped me with my other classes because it teaches me to be independent, and it’s moving me toward the real world. We’ve grown. We represent this school and this class.” Savage plans to attend North Park University in Chicago and, after graduation, join the ROTC National Guard and attend the KVCC Police Academy.

Cooperative work programs and internships While college-prep courses provide a strong background in the liberal arts and sciences, they do not always tap students’ passions or teach career skills. That’s how CTE students have an advantage. They learn the principles and practices of a trade before they invest time and money into certification or post-secondary education. Vicksburg High senior Zack Glascock, 18, is currently on a co-op assignment with Humphrey Products, working from 6-9 a.m. every day learning what machinists and engineers do. He wanted to be an architect, but through EFE he discovered engineering. He plans to go to WMU, where his tuition will be paid by Humphrey Products.

“My goal is to design parts that help people in everyday life,” Glascock says. “I want to build parts that no one else has designed for someone’s home or for equipment for someone who is disabled.” These EFE programs, internships and cooperative work opportunities often help students learn as much about what they don’t want to do as what they want to do. John Ferraro, 18, a Comstock High School senior, took automotive technology and found that, while he is good at it, he doesn’t want a career in it. He contends, however, that none of what he’s learned is wasted. He knows what to do if his car breaks down and has learned to be a problem solver. “The class makes you have a different perspective,” Ferraro says. “There’s always something else to fix — and to fix it better. It’s a great class to take.”

Motivation to succeed For many students, though, EFE is not only a prelude to a future career, but can provide the impetus for them to complete their high school education. Basse says students who take his automotive classes often acquire a reason to focus more on academics because they see how it applies to the work they want to do. “When they find something they’re good at, they suddenly become good at other things,” he says. “Their grades go up, and they graduate. They come away from high school with skills that give them a path to careers so that they can be more than oil and tire changers.” Counselor Regan Tubbs has seen similar changes in students. “I love working here at Allegan County Area Technical and Education Center,” Tubbs says. “It is an option for students who choose to be here. The programs feature cool hands-on learning, and those who struggle with school can succeed here and make plans for a full life after high school.”

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If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!

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WMUK BUSINESS NEWS FIRST !

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Marketplace

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WMUK

102.1

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44 | Encore MARCH 2015

BACK STORY (continued from page 46) by the group in Michigan. I was brought into the fold and asked if I would be the leader for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Was that a hard transition? We had been getting the message that we needed to be more digital and do our news online, and we had been heading that direction. For me it was not about the newspaper. It was about the journalism and serving the community through journalism regardless of the medium. It’s really thrilling for our staff to go out and shoot photos and videos, write stories and have them online right then and there. We’re back in the breaking-news game now. Newspapers had ceded that to radio and television years ago. What can be challenging now is that it never stops — there are no longer once- or twice-a-day deadlines. The deadline is now. For us to be relevant, we have to be on the spot and give readers important and interesting stories that matter to them and their community, but in a way that is digestible digitally and makes sense digitally. What was the biggest challenge? Working through community expectations of who we are and what we do. People who read the Kalamazoo Gazette for years had come to expect the Gazette to do the same things. But we are not the same Gazette we were five years ago or 10 years ago. We are a public trust — people see us that way — but we need to change with the times and stay relevant both journalistically and digitally. What do you like most about what you do? I truly believe that journalism is a form of public service. My greatest satisfaction is doing stories that are interesting, relevant and important to the community. For example, Julie Mack and Rosemary Parker just did a fascinating series on vaccinations in Michigan — it was a statewide project that they wrote out of the Kalamazoo hub, and it ran on the front page of all eight of our newspapers. It was well written and captivating; it was good stuff. What keeps you up at night? Thinking about what stories we’re missing, what stories we should be doing. I don’t care if you have 100 reporters, there are always stories out there that you aren’t getting. I’m constantly thinking about

ways to present stories digitally and use the latest digital tools to do meaningful journalism that makes for a great reader experience. Do you consider MLive to be a trailblazer? We absolutely are trailblazers. Around the country, newspapers are making this transition, but we switched three years ago so we went a little earlier than some. Among newspaper companies, we are seen as one that’s pushing the envelope digitally. Of the Advance Digital Media Group properties, MLive went digital first. We were the trailblazer in our own company. What’s an ideal day like for you? I love come to work every single day. I have to love coming to work. The hours are too long in this business to not do it for the right reasons. This is much more than a job. It’s a passion. It’s a calling. I love doing journalism and I love this community — I moved here intentionally to raise my family here. What do you do when you aren’t at work? I have two lovely young kids — my daughter’s 9 and my son’s 7 — and we spend a lot of time together. That’s a reality, a good reality. One of the great things about their ages is that they like spending time with their parents. I also play a little guitar, but I’m not very good. I was a drummer when I was kid, but I didn’t play for 20 years. Recently, though, I hooked up with some guys and play in a garage band. What was the most influential moment in your life? My decision to go to WMU, because it’s what got me to Kalamazoo. It’s where I got serious about journalism, and it’s where I met my wife. It wasn’t a great epiphany, but deciding to go to WMU was pretty huge in my life. All three of my older siblings went to WMU, so honestly, I went to Western because it was comfortable, but I am so glad I did. It was a great experience. How is Ciokajlo pronounced anyway? It’s cha-KYE-low. You won’t be the first one or the last one to get it wrong.

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Brian Powers

BACK STORY encore

Mickey Ciokajlo Editor, Kalamazoo Gazette & MLive.com/kalamazoo

he son of a newspaper reporter and a printer, Mickey Ciokajlo has ink in his blood. The Jackson native, who graduated from Western Michigan University and has a master’s degree from the Columbia School of Journalism, worked for a number of newspapers, including the Kalamazoo Gazette, before landing at the Chicago Tribune. In 2008, Ciokajlo returned to the Kalamazoo Gazette. Three years later, the Kalamazoo Gazette and its parent company became “a digital media company,” putting an increased emphasis on daily digital reporting and printing a newspaper only three days a week. The man at the helm of this dramatic, daunting and daring shift was Ciokajlo. How did you get to be where you are today? I was working at the Gazette when the great recession hit, and it was a very challenging time for everybody. The newspaper industry had been experiencing changes and there were cutbacks every year. In the fall of 2011 the leaders of MLive media group conceived the idea of creating a media company from all the other Booth newspapers owned (continued on page 45) 46 | Encore MARCH 2015

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