Daytona State awarded scholarship grant from Mexican government

Alberto Fierro of the Mexican Consulate in Orlando presents an IME
scholarship grant check to Daytona State College President

Carol Eaton.

The Mexican government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has awarded $16,600 to Daytona State College to provide scholarships and financial assistance to Mexican-Americans and international students from Mexico enrolled in its college credit and adult education programs.

Sponsored by the ministry’s Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME), the scholarship program will help up to 150 students enrolled in GED, ESOL and other adult education programs pay for classes and expenses such as testing fees, educational supplies and textbooks. In addition, the program calls for up to eight low-income students enrolled in college-level courses to receive as much as $1,000 each in scholarships.

The Sister Cities Association of Volusia County also has earmarked $2,500 for the Daytona State College Foundation to supplement the grant.

“This represents a great partnership and couldn’t come at a better time,” said Daytona State President Carol Eaton, citing recent legislative changes which require the college to charge fees for historically free adult education programs. She noted that the fees which were instituted this past fall semester have placed a hardship on a student population that can least afford them, resulting in a significant drop in adult education enrollment. “This partnership,” she said, “will help ensure that our doors stay open to anyone who chooses to pursue a better life for themselves and their families through education.”

This week, Eaton and Alberto Fierro of the Mexican Consulate in Orlando formalized the scholarship agreement during a gathering of consulate, Sister Cities and college officials, and students attending ESOL classes at First Baptist Church of DeLeon Springs. A majority of IME scholarship-eligible students reside and attend classes on the west side of Volusia County, many of them at community based locations.

Dixie Blake, president of the Sister Cities Association, introduced Maria Velasquez, a Taylor High School graduate who was awarded a scholarship by the association to begin classes at Daytona State. “She is now a senior in the nursing program there,” Blake said. “We did this in partnership with the Daytona State College Foundation because we feel that scholarships are important and it is part of our mission to help young people. We are very pleased to have been able to help Maria and we look forward to helping others.”

Established in 2003, the IME BECAS Scholarship Program is designed to raise the education levels of the Mexican and Mexican-American communities in the United States. Grants are provided to educational institutions and non-profit social organizations across the US to train Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans interested in continuing their education and jobs skills development.  The program’s ultimate goal is to help Mexican communities living abroad to better assimilate into their extended societies by opening doors of economic opportunity through education and workforce training.

The Sister Cities Association of Volusia County is a non-profit organization which promotes international exchanges between cities and people. The organization is twinned with Campeche, Mexico, and Bayonne, France, to establish mutually beneficial cultural, educational and business opportunities.

Last year, more than 500 students of Mexican origin attended Daytona State, including international students from Mexico and Mexican-American citizens. The vast majority enrolled in the college’s School of Adult Education. All US citizens of Mexican descent and international students from Mexico are eligible for the IME scholarship.

For more information about the IME, please visit http://www.ime.gob.mx.

QEP survey distributed online to college faculty and staff

A new component of Daytona State’s Quality Enhancement Plan topic selection process has been initiated in the form of a survey distributed this week to all college faculty and staff, seeking their opinions on what they feel might be the top three topics out of a field of 10 remaining possibilities.

“I am excited to see how much interest and support have been given thus far at all levels of the college community during the first phase of the QEP topic selection process, and I look forward to your survey response and continued participation,” said college President Carol Eaton in a campus-wide email sent this week.

The QEP will take Daytona State College into the future with a plan of action designed to enhance teaching and student learning. It is a required part of the reaffirmation process for accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Its topic development requires broad-based participation by the entire college community. The final topic and its resulting plan of action must meet specific SACS criteria, be research-based, measurable and fiscally feasible.

More than 200 faculty and staff participated in workshops during Fall Planning 2011 to rank an extensive list of potential topics developed during brainstorming sessions held this past spring, as well as from requests for pre-proposals sent out to key constituents in the Volusia and Flagler communities.  The result was a list of nearly two dozen potential topics which have since been merged or refined down to 10. The possibilities as they appear on the survey and what they might include are:

Enhancing Student Retention

• Reduce or eliminate barriers to student learning
• Identify student needs in order to line up support services with demand
• Strengthen student motivation through career advising and intrusive academic advising
• Increase student engagement through co-curricular activities tied to student learning outcomes

Increasing Student Motivation

• Create opportunities for students to clarify learning goals
• Increase career planning for all students
• Introduce job readiness skills across all programs of study to include honesty, teamwork, and professionalism
• Increase student motivation through active learning

Fostering Student Engagement

• Develop a college-wide first-year experience initiative to engage students in activities to enhance learning both in and out of classes
• Develop real-world applied learning through service learning
• Encourage civic engagement through leadership development

Increasing Critical Thinking Skills

• Incorporate critical thinking skills into the academic and career advising goal-setting processes
• Add critical thinking skills to co-curricular learning activities
• Apply critical thinking skills to any subject, content or problem to help students with effective communication, creativity, reflection and problem-solving abilities

Enhancing Character Development

• Infuse ethics, honor and responsibility in a civil society across the curriculum
• Develop an Honor Code with appropriate sanctions that focus on developing responsible citizenship
• Implement service learning opportunities to foster empathy toward community and responsible stewardship
• Infuse character development and leadership through co-curricular learning activities

Developing Technology and Information Literacies

• Develop information literacy standards to improve retrieval and analysis of information
• Develop training in instructional design to integrate technology and information literacy skills broadly into the curriculum
• Develop a college-wide training program to assist students and faculty in mastering technology
• Use technology to motivate students to achieve higher levels of success

Engaging Students in the Community

• Create opportunities for internships and jobs
• Foster empathy toward society through service learning
• Develop real-world, applied learning experiences
• Increase communication, partnerships and collaboration with the community

Improving Reading Competence

• Improve students' ability to read material in all content areas
• Provide professional development for faculty to foster reading in content areas
• Encourage faculty to require meaningful reading
• Engage students in a book club

Improving Writing Competence

• Set standards across the curriculum for student writing, including research writing
• Revise the English composition sequence to provide adequate instruction in college-level writing
• Develop opportunities for life application of writing skills
• Use writing skills in career planning to include resume and cover letter

Developing Global Awareness

• Increase knowledge of other cultures across the curriculum
• Revise the curriculum for the General Education core to strengthen global awareness
• Develop service learning opportunities in other countries
• Maximize opportunities for students to experience travel to other countries
• Maximize opportunities for students to learn foreign languages

Staff and faculty are encouraged to complete and submit the survey promptly. A final topic will be selected during spring 2012. The QEP will be submitted to SACS for approval during summer 2013.

Student newspaper continues its tradition of excellence

In Motion, Daytona State College’s student newspaper, has again taken top honors in the Florida College System Publication Association’s annual journalism competition.



Daytona State's award-winning 2011-2012 InMotion staff
(Photo by Denise Hayes)



In Motion staff received the coveted General Excellence Award during the association's 52nd annual convention and awards banquet held last month in Orlando. The newspaper dominated the competition, earning first-place honors in a total of eight categories and placing in the top three in eight others.

Journalism Professor Elena Jarvis, who is co-adviser to the newspaper with Bruce Cook, dean of Student Activities, commended the students - most of whom only joined the newspaper this fall semester - for their hard work and discipline. “I think they really care about quality,” she said. “We try to emphasize that winning awards is fun, but that isn’t the point of what we do and why we do it. It’s more about learning to write well and how to get along with different kinds of people, and to try together to make a difference.”

In addition to this year’s award, In Motion holds the Division A General Excellence Award for 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010. It was a runner-up in 2006 and 2009. Competition categories include various types of news writing, photojournalism, design and art work.  Industry professionals judge the contest entries and the total number of points awarded for first-, second- or third-place entries determines the General Excellence winner. 

In Motion took home honors in the following categories:

·         General Excellence, Division A — First Place

·         First Place, Editorial — Austin King

·         First Place, Arts Review — Lisa Swearingen and Jennifer Howard

·         First Place, News Photo — Brittany Fournier

·         First Place, Feature Photo — Jason Weingart

·         First Place, Picture Story —Jason Weingart

·         First Place, Illustration — Andrew Pierce

·         First Place, Comic Strip — Andrew Pierce

·         Second Place, Design — Denise Hayes

·         Second Place, Sports Photo — Jason Weingart

·         Second Place, Feature Story — Stephan Saunders

·         Second Place, Sports Writing — Jennifer Howard

·         Second Place, Sports Column — Jay McQuade

·         Second Place, General Column — Austin King

·         Third Place, Ad Design — Denise Hayes

·         Third Place, News Story — Jennifer Howard

Judges’ comments and a complete list of winning entries can be found on the association’s website.

Jarvis also is adviser to the student-produced Aeolus literary magazine, which also took home honors in the following categories:

·         First Place, Photo — Christina Storozkova

·         Second Place, Contents Page — Denise Hayes

·         Third Place, Illustrations with Text — Quenby Sheree, Jason Weingart, Michael Caveney

·         Third Place, Editing — Lisa Swearingen

Notables. . .

Two recruitment publications developed by Daytona State’s Marketing and Communications Department took home honors during the 62^nd annual Association of Florida Colleges Convention held last month in Naples. The college’s Viewbook took first-place honors in the Best Viewbook/Recruitment Piece category, and its Travel Piece took second place in the Best Bang for Your Buck category. Electronic versions of both pieces, developed by Creative Services Manager Gabriel Gomez, can be found at http://www.daytonastate.edu/marketing/creative_services/publications.html.

No Vacancy, John Lewis' award-winning

screen print.

John Lewis, Volusia County artist and adjunct instructor at Daytona State, has received the Museum Purchase Award at the Springfield Art Museum’s prestigious PRINTS USA 2011 national juried competition. Lewis’ work - called "Visit Florida. . . Before It's Gone!" - is a series of screen prints that reflects his experiences as a nearly lifelong resident and his concerns about the future of the state's fragile ecosystem.

Prints U.S.A. 2011, a national, biennial competitive exhibition, opens at the Springfield Art Museum Nov. 19. The competition attracted 109 print artists from 37 states. For additional information contact John at jelfl@yahoo.com.

The Association of Florida Colleges has launched a Certified College Professional Program which provides members the opportunity to earn a designation related to their work as college professionals. The program covers aspects of the Florida College System that current employees may not be exposed to in their day-to-day work environment. The CCP designation will be recognized by all colleges in the Florida system and can lead to opportunities for professional advancement.  For more information, please visit www.myafchome.org.