Special Sections - Olympic College - Aspen Award

Congratulations

Named one of the top 10 community colleges in the United States by the Aspen Institute

Olympic College enriches our diverse communities through quality education and support so students achieve their educational goals.

O lympic c Ollege - ASPEN PRIZE Top 10

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Harrison Medical Center

Congratulations to Olympic College Harrison Medical Center, part of CHI Franciscan Health, congratulates Olympic College on being named a finalist for the 2015 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, placing Olympic College in the top ten in the nation. We applaud your commitment to student success.

Learn more about Harrison Medical Center at HiBestCare.org

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Congratulations Olympic College from the Bremer Trust for being selected as one of the top 10 finalists for the 2015 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. OC is such as important part of this community, we are proud of you!

Bremer Trust Trustees Michael Connolly John Mitchell Barbara Stephenson

John Bremer & Ed Bremer Consolidated Trust C/O Bradley Scott 400 Warren Ave No, Bremerton, WA 98337

In the Top 10 O lympic c Ollege - ASPEN PRIZE Top 10

Olympic College is rated one of the best community colleges in the United States

By MICHELLE BEAHM Sound Publishing

P

OULSBO — Olympic College didn’t win the money, but it won bragging rights.

Every other year, the Aspen Institute picks 150 community colleges in the nation to consider for its prestigious Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The 2015 award is only its third, but twice OC has been asked to apply for the honor.

This year, OC was chosen as one of the top 10 community colleges in the nation when it comes to student success.

The Aspen Institute, after narrowing down the choices to the top 10, then chose a grand prize winner (Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida) and three runners-up.

Santa Fe College received $800,000. The runners-up — Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown, South Dakota; West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah, Kentucky; and KennedyKing College in Chicago, Illinois — each received $100,000.

The finalists: Brazosport College in Lake Jackson, Texas; El Paso Community College in El Paso, Texas; Eugenio María de Hostos Community College in Bronx, New York; Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida; Olympic College; and Renton Technical College in Renton.

While OC wasn’t the winner or a runner-up, being in the top 10 in the

entire nation is still a huge achievement for the community college, which is based in Bremerton with additional campuses in Poulsbo and Shelton.

“I think it’s recognition of the hard work that many people at the college have been engaged in, worked around helping students progress, helping to retain our students and helping them complete their educational goal,” said Mary Garguile, OC’s vice president of instruction.

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C. According to its website, its mission is to “foster leadership based on enduring values and provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues.”

The institute’s 74-member board of trustees includes former U.S. secretaries of state Madeline Albright and Condoleeza Rice, former Disney Corp. chairman Michael Eisner, former nine-term member of Congress Jane Harman, former CNN CEO Walter Isaacson, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Selection of the Aspen award winner, runners-up

and finalists is no small process.

Leading researchers and community college practitioners examine data and advise the Aspen Institute on measures by which community college performance and improvement in performance can be measured fairly and accurately.

Former community college presidents and faculty, along with researchers and policy experts, review applications and data for each eligible community college and select a set of finalists. Teams of experienced researchers and practitioners conduct twoday site visits to each of the 10 finalists. Then, a jury of former elected officials and other prominent business, labor, education and civil rights leaders review the final data and select a winner and three runners-up.

The 10-member jury was co-chaired by former Indiana governor Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., and former member of Congress George Miller of California.

Honorees were selected based on student learning, certificate and degree completion, employment and earnings, and “high levels of access and success for minority and low-income students.”

“It’s really in line with our mission to serve all students,” OC president David Mitchell said. “We were just thrilled when we heard about it. We didn’t win, but being in the top 10 puts you in the top 1 percent in the nation.”

Garguile said being recognized as one of the leading schools in the

areas of student success does not mean the school is satisfied.

“We know that there’s more that we can do, and certainly with more resources and more hard work and more thinking and strategizing,” she said.

“We’re going to just keep pressing on and working to do the best we can. There [are] some things we can learn from these other colleges.”

According to an OC press release, OC has a 57 percent student retention rate — 5 percent higher than the national average of students remaining at a school for a second year.

And OC’s close ties with its communities are “reflected in dozens of programs in skilled trades, from which 90 percent of students complete and 100 percent are placed in jobs.”

Also, OC’s close partnerships with Western Washington and Washington State universities, as well as a collaborative engineering program on the Bremerton campus, provides students with clear pathways to earning a bachelor’s degree.

“Olympic College is a great school and we’re very fortunate to have it in our community,” Garguile said, “and have the wonderful faculty and administrators and staff. It’s a great benefit for our community that we have the college here.”

She added, “We have to applaud the students.

They’re certainly the ones doing the hard work.”

Olympic College and Old Dominion University.

2004: Olympic College Poulsbo campus opens.

2008: Bachelor of science degree in nursing is offered.

2010: Partnership

between Olympic College and Washington State University established.

2013: Partnership between Olympic College and Western Washington University established.

2014: Bachelor of

Message from President David C. Mitchell

I

am proud to announce that Olympic College was named as one of ten finalists for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation’s preeminent recognition of high achievement and performance in America’s community colleges.

The prize, awarded every two years, recognizes outstanding institutions selected from an original pool of more than 1,000 community colleges. With a singular focus on student success, the prize assesses community colleges’ achievements in four areas: student learning, certificate and degree completion, high rates of employment and earnings for graduates, and high levels of access and success for minority and low-income students.

Olympic College was selected as a finalist because: “Olympic College does an exceptional job meeting the growing demand for higher education in its community and among its students, over two-thirds of whom are the first in their families to attend college,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program in Washington, D.C. “With graduation rates on the rise and programs aligned to workforce needs, Olympic is showing how concerted, college-wide efforts can deliver what students need most.”

Olympic College stands out as one of the nation’s top community colleges for many reasons, including: ■ Steadily improving retention of some of the least academically prepared students (retention rate 57 percent, compared to 52 percent nationally).

■ Close ties with local industry, reflected in dozens of programs in skilled trades, from which 90 percent of students complete and 100 percent are placed in jobs.

■ Strong, well-established pathways to a bachelor’s degree, including a collaborative engineering program at Olympic College in Bremerton.

Olympic College is very proud of this recognition of our collective efforts to make our community college one of the best in the nation.

Learn more about the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence at: www.aspeninstitute.org/ college-excellence.

— David C. Mitchell, president, Olympic College

Sound Publishing will use a portion of proceeds from this special section to establish a scholarship at Olympic College

OLYMPIC COLLEGE: A TIMELINE 1946: Olympic College opens.

1954: Apprentice program established.

1995: Olympic College Shelton campus opens.

1998: Direct transfer agreement between

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applied science in information systems offered.

2015: Bachelor of applied science in organizational leadership and technical management offered.

— Olympic College

Publisher: Lori Maxim Editor: Richard Walker Advertising Director: Donna Etchey Creative Services Manager: Bryon Kempf Cover Design: John Rodriguez

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Olympic College’s Bremerton campus is located at 1600 Chester Ave. OC also has a presence on Naval Base Kitsap Bangor and Bremerton.

Olympic College

Olympic College’s Poulsbo campus is located at 1000 Olympic College Way. The Poulsbo campus is also a satellite campus of Western Washington University.

Olympic College

Olympic College’s Shelton campus is located at 937 W. Alpine Way. The campus is also the site of a trades center.

Olympic College

OC now offers three undergraduate degrees Associate’s degrees, certificates in 56 fields of study Olympic College is a public two-year community college that educates more than 13,000 students a year.

Founded in 1946, the college now has three campuses — in Bremerton, Poulsbo and Shelton — and serves a population of 280,000 residents living in Kitsap and Mason counties.

The college’s service area contains two major Navy instal-

lations: Naval Base Kitsap and Naval Hospital Bremerton.

college’s first honorary degree.

Olympic College opened its doors as Olympic Junior College on Sept. 5, 1946. It had 575 students (423 men and 152 women) and the tuition was $35 per quarter, or students had the option to pay for three quarters in advance for $75.

Olympic College has attracted dignitaries and well-known performers during its history. Harry S Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, visited Bremerton and Olympic Junior College in 1948 and received the

Olympic College serves an area of more than 1,617 square miles.

Here’s a look at the college’s three campuses: ■ Olympic College Bremerton is centrally located in Bremerton, 1600 Chester Ave., on a 33-acre campus. Olympic College also has a presence on Naval Base Kitsap Bangor and Bremerton.

■ Olympic College Poulsbo is located on a 20-acre campus in north Kitsap County, 15.9 miles from the main campus.

FOUNDING

CAMPUS AND CLASS LOCATIONS

OLYMPIC COLLEGE: PARTNERS In addition to the twoand four-year degree programs offered by Olympic College, the following partnerships provide peninsula residents with a larger gateway to higher education.

■ Western on the Peninsulas is a satellite of Western Washington University at Olympic College Poulsbo.

Western on the Peninsulas offers community programs and undergraduate degrees in the following fields: Business administration Environmental science

Environmental policy Elementary education Human resources Contact: Kathy Johnson, 360-394-2733, kathy.john son@wwu.edu.

■ Washington State University: WSU offers a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering at Olympic College Bremerton.

Program coordinator: Dr. Marvin Pitts, professor, WSUME at OC Bremerton, Science & Technology Building, Room 110. Call 360-475-7543, email pitts@ wsu.edu.

“On behalf of the Bremerton School District, congratulations on becoming one of the Top Ten Community Colleges in the Nation. Now the rest of the world knows how fabulous you are!”

Dr. Aaron Leavell, Superintendent Bremerton School District

www.bremertonschools.org

The Poulsbo campus is also a satellite campus of Western Washington University.

The Poulsbo campus is an educational gateway for students from Bainbridge Island and the north Kitsap Peninsula. A variety of credit and non-credit courses are available.

The land for the Poulsbo campus was donated by the Olhava family in 1993.

■ Olympic College Shelton is located on a 27-acre campus in Mason County, 38.4 miles from the main campus. The Shelton campus is also the site of a trades center.

Features include com-

puter labs, a media center, student services, study and social areas, and the Johnson Library.

The land for the Shelton campus was donated by Simpson Timber in 1990.

DEGREES AND CERTIFICATES

Olympic College offers two-year degrees and certificates in 56 fields of study, as well as three undergraduate degrees: ■ Bachelor of applied science in information systems.

■ Bachelor of science in nursing.

■ Bachelor of applied science in organizational leadership and technical

management.

In addition, OC offers courses so residents can update their job skills, get job training, or enjoy personal enrichment.

Students achieve many of their personal and professional goals by attending Olympic College.

In recent years, the college has undergone many changes, including construction of a Humanities and Student Services building on the Bremerton campus and expansion of services at the Poulsbo and Shelton campuses.

— Source: Olympic College

OLYMPIC COLLEGE: STUDENTS STUDENT PROFILE (2013-14) Fall 2013 headcount: 8,087 Fall 2013 FTE: 5,794 Female: 54% Male: 46% Students of color: 32% Students with disabilities: 8% Full-time (12 or more credits): 48% Part-time: 52% Under 20: 25% 20-29: 41% 30-39: 18%

40+: Median age:

16% 25

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT B.S. in nursing: 28 AA/arts and science: 704 Associate in technical arts: 485 Associate in science: 46 Certificates: 1,549 GED certificates: 52 Adult high school diplomas: 110 President’s Scholars: 1,934 Dean’s Scholars: 3,129

Congratulations Olympic College from Bremerton Rotary

OC Foundation scholarships:

108

OTHER Academic transfer and support : 49% Fulfill freshman- and sophomore-year requirements for a bachelor’s degree, and provide support for vocational education in areas such as mathematics, English, and science.

Workforce education: 36% Prepare students for entry-level jobs and provide

retraining and improve work skills for the current work force.

Pre-college: 11% Courses that prepare students for college-level classes.

Basic skills: 4% Enables students to achieve an eighth-grade education, complete high school, and overcome deficiencies that may prevent achievement in college-level studies.

— Source: Olympic College

Congratulation! Honored to be a part of the Alumni Family Tracy S. Flood, Attorney at Law Olympic College Alumus – “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character- that is the goal of true education.”

Martin Luther King , Jr. Thank you Olympic College for your leadership, dedication, hard work and continued growth with career–oriented programs!

O lympic c Ollege - ASPEN PRIZE Top 10

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“I have just had an honor conferred upon me right here. The Olympic Junior College has made me an Honorary Associate in Arts. You know, my daughter graduated from George Washington University a year or two ago to receive a degree, and they gave me one too. She worked four years to get hers, and I got mine right then and there, without any effort!”

— President Harry S Truman, June 10, 1948, downtown Bremerton

History made: The first honorary degree and birth of a famous phrase Olympic College’s most what was then Olympic Junior College, where he famous alum? The 33rd was presented with an president of the United honorary associate of arts States. degree — the first honorPresident Harry S ary degree presentTruman paid ed by the college. a two-day visit Truman then to Washington spoke in downtown state June 9-10, Bremerton, where 1948. another historic On June 9, he moment took place. visited Spokane, HistoryLink.org’s Grand Coulee report on the presiDam, and dent’s day omits his Wenatchee. His President Harry honorary degree, train arrived in S Truman but he mentioned Olympia at 2:10 the honor in his a.m. June 10. remarks downtown (the The president got some quote is above). sleep in the governor’s Here’s HistoryLink.org’s mansion. account of the events of After breakfast with the June 10, 1948. governor, Truman visited

■

■

■

Truman woke up early for a pre-breakfast stroll.

Accompanied by one Secret Service agent, the president walked through the gardens at the governor’s mansion and the Capitol grounds. Police kept onlookers a block away.

After breakfast with the governor, the party left for Bremerton by automobile for an outdoor talk in front of the Elks Club. They arrived just after 11 a.m., and Truman began speaking at 11:40. He told of his cross-state trip the day before and the beautiful sights he saw. He talked

Elliot Gregg President/CEO

Congratulations Olympic College on your selection as a one of ten finalists for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Your designation is a well-deserved recognition of the quality education you provide the people who live and work in our local communities.

See TRUMAN, Page 7

CONGRATULATIONS TO OLYMPIC COLLEGE FOR BEING VOTED ONE OF THE “TOP 10” SCHOOLS IN THE NATION.

Congratulations Olympic College!

On your recent Aspen Award and becoming one of the top 10 schools in the nation!

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CONGRATULATIONS OLYMPIC COLLEGE FINALIST IN THE ASPEN TOP 10 Sound Publishing delivers community.

Sound Publishing Olympic College Alumni

Sound Publishing, Inc. is the largest community news organization in Washington State. Our newspapers and websites deliver relevant, local news that directly affect the lives of those who raise families and work in the communities we serve.

Michelle Beahm

Brandon Giddens

Vanessa Calverley

Billi Jean Gurnsey

Shawn Elliot

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Proud to be a part of the OC community

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Congratulations to Olympic College

Recognized as among the Top 10 Community Colleges in the US by the Aspen Institute KEDA values OC as a key partner in economic development!

ECONOMIC D E V E LO P M E N T ALLIANCE

Truman

Continued from page 5 about the Columbia River and its awesome power.

And then he lit into the 80th Congress.

“You know, this Congress is interested in the welfare of the better classes. They are not interested in the welfare of the common, everyday man. They said if we lifted price controls, and things of that sort, business would take care of prices.

Well, business has taken care of prices, for the welfare and the benefit of the fellows at the top. The poor man is having to pay out all his money for rent and for clothing and for food at prices that are certainly outrageous.”

At this point, a voice boomed from the audi-

Caringfor Genrations

ence. What was said is still under debate. The newspapers stated that a man yelled, “Lay it on, Harry!”

“Congratulations to Olympic College” Kathy Davis-Hayfield

Advisory Board Member

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O lympic c Ollege - ASPEN PRIZE Top 10

Presidential notes claim that the voice said, “Pour it on, Harry!” But there are those in Bremerton who insist that what was

A plaque in Bremerton notes the first occurrence of the phrase that would become forever tied to President Truman: “Give ’em hell, Harry!”

Olympic College Foundation will award $300,000 in scholarships for 2015-16

Chris Tucker / Sound Publishing

BREMERTON — The Olympic College Foundation will provide more than $300,000 in scholarships to students attending Olympic College during the 2015-16 academic year.

Eligibility requirements for scholarships vary and are not solely based on academic achievement.

The foundation has a wide range of scholarship criteria based on program of study, career goals, community service, leadership and/or interests.

The Olympic College Foundation works with private donors to provide

said was “Give ‘em Hell, Harry!,” to which Truman responded, “I’m going to! I’m going to!”

A plaque in Bremerton notes that this was the first occurrence of the phrase that would become forever tied to President Harry S. Truman …

After a tour of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, the president and his family boarded the governor’s yacht Olympus and headed for Seattle.

Congratulations to everyone at Olympic College for obtaining the Aspen Award – one of 10 out of 1000 Community Colleges in the US. I was so proud to be on the Foundation Board for 9 years – I grew to love Olympic College and admire all of those who attended and worked there.

College We are proud to be your partner in higher education

Bremerton is home to Olympic College and we congratulate President Mitchell, his leadership staff and all professors that have enabled this academic jewel to be in the top ten of the Aspen Award nationwide.

Our students at risk, military families and first generation college students continue to be a top priority for the college’s standard of excellence.

In 2017 the City of Bremerton supports and encourages Olympic College to again apply for this coveted Aspen Award.

Mayor Patty Lent City of Bremerton

wwu.edu/Peninsulas

South Kitsap Schools We proudly support Olympic College!

Congratulations on being named one of the Top 10 Schools in the Nation!

Thank you for all you do for the students of our community!

360.874.7000 www.skitsap.wednet.edu

Named one of the top 10 Community Colleges in the Nation by the Aspen Institute

CONGRATULATIONS

scholarship support for students attending Olympic College.

To be considered for any of the more than 125 scholarships, applicants must fill out a scholarship application, which can be found online at www.

TheWashBoard.org.

Students should make sure the online application is filled out and completed by the scholarship deadline.

Deadlines vary from midMarch to mid-April.

For more information, go to www.TheWashBoard. org or www.olympic.edu and click on “Paying for College.”

Fondly, Marilee Hansen

www.MarthaandMary.org • 360.779.7500

Olympic

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Congratulations From Kitsap County Board of Commissioners

One of the Nations top Community Colleges Top 10 finalist in Aspen Prize for Excellence

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is proud to honor Olympic College for their placement in the prestigious 2015 Aspen Institute Award as one of the “Top 10” Community Colleges in the nation.

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