New Professors MCCC hires English and Early Childhood professors
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Raising the bar
History professor Edmund La Clair is coordinator of the new Honors Program.
Rose Younglove Agora Staff
Honors Program plans a limited launch in Winter Semester Todd Salisbury Agora Staff
Students at MCCC will soon be able to show how high they can raise the bar. MCCC plans to roll out a new Honors Program with a partial launch in Winter 2019 and a full launch in Fall 2019. History professor Edmund La Clair, coordinator of the new program, said the college will begin contacting students who qualify in the next month or two. He said the program hopes to keep students at MCCC longer by enhancing scholarships, offering more in-depth courses, and helping them get into better universities. During the soft launch, La Clair said he will be looking for roughly 10 students to get the program off the ground. The requirements to enter into the program include at least a 3.5 GPA, two letters of recommendation, and an essay by the student displaying their writing ability and interest in the program. La Clair said the program is open to all students on campus, and that exceptions to the 3.5 GPA may be made on a case-by-case basis. He said most students will enter the program coming out of high school, but it is open to older students, too. “The honors college is going to be available to anyone who wants into it, it’s just going to be the easiest roadmap coming in out of high school,” he said. Among the goals of the new Honors Pro-
Serving Monroe County since 1968
Beaudrie named president
gram are to assist students with their education, transferability to universities, and future employment, La Clair said. To strengthen a member’s resume for transferring and employment, the program will require contributions in citizenship and leadership, as well as improving their scholarship, he said. For example, La Clair said members may
“Students here at Monroe County Community College are some of the best students I’ve seen.” Edmund La Clair Assistant Professor of History go to high schools in Monroe County to assist in tutoring roles, allowing them to give back to the local community. The program will show members how to package their college experiences, such as being a writing fellow or club president or Agora editor – all of which would count toward the leadership piece of the program. The program aims to improve scholarship by placing students in accelerated seminar courses that dig deeper into subject matters on required classes, La Clair said. In addition, participants in the Honors Program will receive an extra $500 on their
merit scholarships. “This might convince some students who wanted to transfer early, to stay with Monroe County Community College because $500 here is probably the equivalent of $20,000 at most other colleges,” La Clair said. One of the points of this program is to keep students enrolled for two years. “Declining enrollment is a problem across the entire state,” La Clair said. He said he has reached out to the high school honors programs in Monroe County. So far, Ida High School has expressed interest in the program. Most students don’t think they would get into advanced colleges because they believe they are not smart enough, La Clair said, adding that the Honors Program will help change that. He said he hopes to establish partnerships with universities, which will make it possible for MCCC students to transfer into their honors programs. “Students here at Monroe County Community College are some of the best students I’ve seen, and I’ve taught at class one research universities – really good schools who had really mediocre students and I see the students here who are sometimes brilliant, brilliant students” LaClair said. “You can dream bigger than Eastern Michigan University; it’s a good college, but you can dream bigger than that.” (Courtney Dunbar and Evan Franzel also contributed to this story)
October 8, 2018
Samantha Beaudrie is the new president of Student Government. About 25 students gathered on Sept. 25, to vote for new officers. Tom Ryder, the director of campus student activities, announced MCCC’s Samantha Beaudrie new Student Gov- President ernment officers: Samantha Beaudrie won the position as President, Seth Daniel as Vice President, Allie Warner as Secretary, Timothy Feaganes as Treasurer, Ethan Harbaugh as Liaison and McKenzie Lamour as Histo- Seth Daniel rian. Vice President The vote began with the candidates introducing themselves and their intentions for each position. “I have lot of experience in leadership roles,” Seth Daniel said. “I was president of Allie Warner the community ser- Secretary vice club last year so I have a lot of experience working with others.” When asked by Samantha Beaudrie what aspect of being a vice president was most important, Daniel discussed the im- Tim Feaganes portance of equality Treasurer and respect. “You want to foster an environment that
Continued on Page 2 Vol. 66, Issue 1