Community college team members and all-stars: major high intelligence students
Community college team members and all-stars: major high intelligence students
Your community college experience - Community colleges’ alumni include lawmakers, leading activists and award-winning artists. Yet not every community college student is successful. Many start slipping through the cracks almost as soon as they set foot on campus, says a report out last year. USA TODAY reporter Mary Beth Marklein wants to hear from community college students and their families. Has your experience been positive or not?
Jacob Neal volunteers on campus as part of a service learning class pruning trees at one of the campus gardens at Piedmont Community College, in Charlottesville, VA.
Had you told Rhiannon Lombard just a few years ago that she would never amount to anything, she might have believed you. Even her high school principal had little good to say: Her junior year, he suggested to her mother that she drop out.
Lombard didn’t take that advice. Still, a pattern of failure persisted over the next several years in the form of dead-end jobs, mounting debt and a sense of hopelessness.
BIOS: First-Team All-Stars
BLOG ENTRY: Into the world of community colleges
That changed three years ago, when she set foot on the campus of Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, Mass.
“It was literally one of those moments where everything just clicked into place,” says Lombard, 28, of Hampstead, N.H. Today, she boasts a host of academic honors and awards, has a hand in campus policy as a full voting member of the board of trustees and is weighing admissions offers from four-year colleges. She credits much of her turnaround to the supportive environment she found at Northern Essex. “People were warm and friendly and genuinely interested in helping me succeed,” she says.
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Now, she adds another achievement to her list of accomplishments. She is one of 20 students named to the All-USA Community College Academic First Team, which recognizes outstanding two-year college students. First Team members receive a $2,500 cash award from USA TODAY and will receive trophies today during a ceremony at the American Association of Community Colleges convention in Philadelphia. Forty runners-up are on the second and third teams.
“This is a remarkable group of achievers, committed to academic excellence and making a difference on their campuses and in their communities,” USA TODAY editor Ken Paulson says. “USA TODAY is honored to recognize their many accomplishments.”
More than 1,500 students from 849 community colleges in 50 states and beyond were nominated for the award. The selection process is administered by Phi Theta Kappa, an international honor society for two-year colleges that encourages academic excellence and promotes community service. Membership in the society is not a requirement for eligibility, but nearly all of the First Team awardees are members.
Like Lombard, all First Team members have thrived academically. Nine have a 4.0 grade-point average; their average is 3.93. They embrace a range of academic interests, including art, engineering, diplomacy, education, finance and nursing.
Several have presented scientific research at national conferences. Others are putting their skills to work helping their communities.
Still others have made a difference on their campuses, whether it be tutoring peers, as Kojo Wallace, 22, has done at Bronx Community College in New York, or building fellowship within a largely commuter campus, as Eiko Tsukamoto, 20, has done by creating an Honors Community at Fullerton (Calif.) College.
And many have overcome great hurdles.
In 2004, Dharmesh Patel, 27, arrived in the USA from Zimbabwe — the “lucky winner” of a Green Card Lottery, he says — with $50 in his pocket and a burning desire to go to college. This spring, he will graduate from Richland College in Dallas, where he has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average while working full time and volunteering as a Big Brother.
And Ashley Odell, 22, a Manchester (Conn.) Community College student who was diagnosed seven years ago with a rare, debilitating neurological disorder, was forced for health reasons to occasionally withdraw from courses or lighten her load. Even so, she has held a variety of leadership positions on campus. Her proudest accomplishment, she says: “That no matter how ill I’ve been or how many challenges I’ve had, I still ended up achieving my goals and doing them very well.”
Patel and Odell, along with the rest of this year’s First Team members, reflect the diversity of experiences that community college students bring to two-year campuses:
• Mary Mansfield, 38, of Victor, N.Y., is a married mother of four who had always planned to go to college. But “once I had children, they were my No. 1 focus.” When her youngest entered kindergarten two years ago, she went to school, too: Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, her closest and least expensive option. The first in her family to go to college, she will transfer this fall to the University of Rochester, where she eventually hopes to earn a doctorate in epidemiology.
• After multiple sclerosis brought an end to her 22-year career in mortgage banking, Donna Gosbee, 52, of Cheyenne Wyo., began taking online classes at Laramie County Community College four years ago to “try to keep my mind active.” She says that she was reluctant to take a course on campus, but that her life changed when a friend finally persuaded her to do so. “When one door closes, another opens,” says Gosbee, who has become an advocate for people with disabilities and plans to pursue a bachelor’s in political science.
• Jacob Neal, 20, says a two-year school appealed to him in part because, having been home-schooled, he had concerns about a “full-on structured university experience.” His two years of study at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, he says, has served him well as a “steppingstone” to a four-year school.
• Jeffrey Arnold, 30, a U.S. Army veteran who served a year in Iraq in 2005, decided to start his work toward a doctorate in physics at the two-year Parkland College in Champaign, Ill., for similar reasons. After being out of school for 11 years, he says, “I didn’t know if it was a good idea to jump into lecture halls of 200 to 300 students,” which he suspects he would have encountered at the University of Illinois.
Though First Team members come from all walks of life, they share one key quality: They are masters of time management. In addition to excelling in their studies, they juggle multiple responsibilities at home and at work.
Yet all also make time —and feel an obligation — to make their corner of the world a better place.
• In addition to full-time work, a full load of courses and time spent helping to raise a son, Morris Sheriff, 25, founded a club at the Borough of Manhattan Community College aimed at students who, like him, attend classes primarily on evenings and weekends and have fewer opportunities to participate in campus activities.
He also is president of a student accounting club and puts in about 20 hours a month as a child-care provider to war-traumatized African children.
“I want to give back to people who I feel are disadvantaged like myself,” says Sheriff, a native of war-torn Liberia whose father was killed by rebels and whose brother was abducted. He fled to the USA in 2003 and was granted political asylum.
• Nigeria native Promise Olomo, 24, was instrumental in creating a student-to-student scholarship at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Md., where he is enrolled in the nursing program. “A lot of people don’t mind receiving gifts, but I think it’s very important that we … think outside of ourselves,” says Olomo, who works full time in an assisted-living facility to maintain health benefits. And though it took a lot of work to get the scholarship approved, he says, “I am convinced that anything we set our heart to do is indeed possible. … It’s little drops of water that make an ocean.”
• Troubled by what looked like political apathy among students on his campus, Jacob Lane, 19, set out to form a College Republicans group at Danville Community College in Illinois. Even more important, he says, College Democrats have since formed their own organization. With the upcoming presidential election drawing near, Lane, who aspires to a political career, hopes the two groups will hold debates, voter registration drives and related activities next fall, after he has moved on.
Lombard, too, will leave a legacy when she graduates this spring with a double major in graphic design and visual arts.
During her tenure, she was instrumental in creating gallery space on campus where students and local artisans can display their work. At her urging, the school also is moving forward on plans to offer photography as a major.
Today, her initial fear that community college would turn out to be “something else I’m going to fail at” is a distant memory. “I feel like a different person,” she says. “No longer hopeless and confused, but excited for new opportunities and adventures.”
USA TODAY’s 2008 All-USA Community College Academic Team
Here are the 20 members of the 18th annual All-USA Community College Academic First Team, selected from more than 1,500 students nominated by their schools. Each receives a trophy and a $2,500 cash award Monday in Philadelphia.
Student School Age/GPA Studying Bio
¼br> Jeffrey Arnold
Parkland College, Champaign, Ill. Age: 30 GPA: 4.0 Physics After 11 years out of school, including a year in Baghdad with the U.S. Army, he helped coordinate campus involvement in a tutoring program as a way to expose his classmates to different cultures. Today, 20 to 30 college students serve nearly 50 immigrant children weekly. He is a Big Brother, recently started a math club and works as a peer tutor, in some cases serving students from nearby University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.¼br> ¼br> Nathan Crock
St. Petersburg (Fla.) College Age: 20 GPA: 3.89 Mathematics He was the only freshman to participate in a campus engineering club’s project to develop and build a hydrogen-powered go-kart. Now the group is experimenting with a jet-powered go-kart fueled in part by vegetable oil from the school cafeteria. A member of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention State Advisory Group, he helps determine which state programs to reduce juvenile delinquency will receive federal funding.¼br> ¼br> Leanne Dogoldogol
Mount San Antonio College, Walnut, Calif. Age: 21 GPA: 3.68 Nursing Three years ago, she made a one-year commitment to intern as a care provider for hospitals and never stopped. Within a few months, she was asked to coordinate recruitment and training for the program, which requires her to travel through the Los Angeles area. She and another student also initiated a “big sister program that offers support to help nursing students persevere through the sometimes intensive demands.
¼br> Donna Gosbee
Laramie County Community College, Cheyenne, Wyo. Age: 52 GPA: 3.88 Political Science She collected nearly 120 signatures last fall urging Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., to ensure that language benefiting disadvantaged college students remained in a federal bill. It did. She is a state representative for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and a member of the Cheyenne mayor’s council for people with disabilities. She created a support group for people with multiple sclerosis and volunteers with a YMCA swim therapy program.¼br> ¼br> Kahee Joanne Jo
Skyline College, San Bruno, Calif. Age: 25 GPA: 3.84 Microbiology She co-presented research on the effectiveness of certain plants as a natural food preservative last fall at a national conference, where she stood alongside 400 undergraduates, nearly all of them from four-year schools. The research was conducted through a summer research program funded by the National Institutes of Health and held at San Francisco State University. She also tutors low-income Korean students in math and science.¼br> ¼br> Rhiannon Lombard
Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, Mass. Age: 28 GPA: 4.0 Graphic design/ visual arts A class project led to a collaboration with school officials to provide space on campus for students and local artisans to display their work. With her prodding, the school is working to add a photography major to its art program. A student member of her college’s board of trustees, she sits on several committees, including one to reduce the campus’s carbon footprint. An AmeriCorps volunteer, she focuses on serving foster children.¼br> ¼br> Felipe Matos
Miami Dade College, Wolfson campus Age: 22 GPA: 3.81 International relations He established a partnership with student governments of the seven other Miami Dade College campuses, and was, among other achievements, able to galvanize their support for immigration reform legislation. He also has lobbied local, state and federal governments on the issue, and helped establish a mentoring program aimed at familiarizing local schoolchildren to the possibility of college.¼br> ¼br> Jacob Neal
Piedmont Virginia Community College, Charlottesville Age: 20 GPA: 4.0 Science His research, conducted with a partner on water from parts of the nearby James River, was submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency, which has been monitoring the area for pollution from heavy metals. It prompted a local commissioner to request that he test new road salt for lead levels. To ensure a student voice in discussions of campus renovations, he and a group of peers founded a student government association.
¼br> David Kariuki
Essex County College, Newark, N.J. Age: 23 GPA: 4.0 Mathematics/ biomedical engineering His research on bacterial resistance to antimicrobial drugs led to a NASA-funded internship last summer at Stevens Institute of Technology, where he worked on projects related to alternate cancer treatments and the use of AIDS antiretroviral drugs. He is editor in chief of the student newspaper and is active in his school’s association for African students. He is leading a service project that provides medication to children living with AIDS.¼br> ¼br> Jacob Lane
Danville Area Community College, Danville, Ill. Age: 19 GPA: 4.0 Political science/law He formed a College Republicans group on campus as a way to stimulate political participatio — since then, campus Democrats formed a similar group. He also helped revive his school’s student government association. He interned in the Vermilion County State’s Attorney office. He is a member of the percussion section of the Danville Municipal Band and is an Eagle Scout, the Boy Scouts of America’s highest honor.¼br> ¼br> Mary Mansfield
Finger Lakes Community College, Canandaigua, N.Y. Age: 38 GPA: 3.98 Biology She stirred debate with an opinion piece she wrote in her local newspaper about processed foods served in school lunches. A local children’s baseball club began discouraging post-game snacks after a local paper ran an article she wrote quoting experts who said snacks do not replenish nutrients lost during physical activities. She has served as a children’s baseball and soccer coach, an assistant Brownie leader and a volunteer in local schools.¼br> ¼br> J. Ashley Odell
Manchester (Conn.) Community College Age: 22 GPA: 3.93 Liberal arts Concerned about low student voting rates, she and three other students created a group to stimulate discussion of issues such as health care, the war in Iraq and global warming. Attendance was modest at first, but programs eventually drew overflow crowds and national media coverage. She interned for a state representative, worked on the campus news-paper, serves as student trustee and volunteers for several organizations.
¼br> Promise Olomo
Prince George’s Community College, Largo, Md. Age: 24 GPA: 3.80 Nursing He was instrumental in establishing and raising funds for a student-to-student scholarship (named the Promise Scholarship Initiative by the student governance board). He was the first student invited to participate in a committee to mark his school’s 50th anniversary. He co-organized a drive that collected books for elementary school children. He works full-time in an assisted-living facility for people with mental and physical disabilities.
¼br> Dharmesh Patel
Richland College, Dallas Age: 27 GPA: 4.0 Finance He helped plan a campus event featuring a Holocaust survivor that drew a crowd of more than 100 people. As a follow-up to that, he recruited more than 75 students to join a campus group he revived that focuses on peace and justice issues. “Knowing that I helped convert passive bystanders into active peacemakers truly made me proud, he says. He also is a Big Brother and has participated in environmental awareness campaigns.
¼br> Viktoryia Schnose
Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, Kan. Age: 23 GPA: 4.0 Political science She translates for, organizes field trips for and mentors Belarussian children as part of a summer program bringing youngsters affected by Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster to the Kansas City area. On campus, she organized a project providing Halloween costumes for children who fled their homes because of domestic violence. “What child does not like to dress up and go on a little adventure, searching for candy with their friends? she says.
¼br> Morris Sheriff
Borough of Manhattan Community College Age: 25 GPA: 3.73 Accounting He created a club to meet the needs of students who, like him, attend class primarily on weekends and evenings. The club publishes a newsletter, maintains a website and has sponsored programs on a range of topics, including investing, how to dress for success, human trafficking and transferring to four-year colleges. He provides child care for African Refuge, a community group for war-traumatized African children.¼br> ¼br> Ana Tavares
Bevill State Community College, Hamilton campus, Alabama Age: 22 GPA: 3.86 Economics A native of Brazil, she chose to attend college in northwest Alabama, where she had been a foreign exchange high school student. Since 2005, she has volunteered 135-plus hours as a translator for various agencies, including the Department of Human Resources and the local courts system. On campus, she organized campaigns to raise awareness of several issues, including domestic violence, teen pregnancy, and alcohol and drug use.¼br> ¼br> Eiko Tsukamoto
Fullerton College, Fullerton, Calif. Age: 20 GPA: 4.0 English Her peers call her the “Icon for the Honors Program. As an intern, she has streamlined the program’s operations, developed new programming and launched an Honors Community aimed at deepening relationships among commuter students. She also is a writing tutor and was a senator in the school’s student government. She works with a non-profit group dedicated to promoting peace, and she volunteers at an annual youth camp.
¼br> Kojo Wallace
Bronx Community College Age: 22 GPA: 4.0 Liberal arts and sciences His research focuses on methods to remove toxic heavy metals from contaminated bodies of water and plots of land — he says his experiences being raised in Ghana, West Africa, have shown him how catastrophic such contamination can be on human health. He has presented research findings at local, regional and national conferences. He says his work tutoring fellow students is “one of the best things that has happened to me so far.¼br> ¼br> Michelle Word
Tarrant County College, Northeast campus, Hurst, Texas Age: 29 GPA: 3.95 Education Lauded by one professor for her willingness to “attack a task, she doubled, to about 200 students, participation in a program to support a school in Northern Uganda. She also helped organize a drive to collect coats, pillows and blankets for a shelter for battered women, and volunteers at a local food pantry. She is a troop leader in the Girl Scouts, has been involved with the Parent Teacher Association and teaches scrapbooking part-time.¼br> ¼br> You see what happens when you take the time to go the L-I-B-R-A-R-Y and open & READ a Book!!! The diverse list of high achievers featured in this article proves my point that so many people (and you all know who I am talking about) need to quit complaining about racism and focus on making education a priority. I, like millions of other right thinking Americans, are sick and tired of the excuses made for personal FAILURE. Get it together, people! Get a life - and get it done!! Like I said, I’m SICK AND TIRED of the lame excuses!!!
Why would you tarnish the achievements of these students with your ANGRY RHETORIC? Don’t use this article to prove your fallible point. ALL the people on this list did something in the lives DESPITE angry hateful people like you ANGRYWHITEMOTHER. Take your white anger and put it to something useful. Do like they did and work on your own life. Don’t worry about what other people are doing or not doing. Don’t poison good news for a change!
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