March 19, 2001

Awards

The All-Florida Academic Teams have been announced and SCC is pleased that Jennifer Hawes (chosen as the best Honor's student in the state) is a member of the 1^st Team. James Threadgill was chosen for the 2^nd Team. Of the 28 community colleges in Florida, only 15 colleges had students placed on the 1^st team. Congratulations to the students and Dr. Chris Robbins, PTK and Honors Advisor!

Florida Collegiate Honors Conference

SCC took 15 Honors students to Jupiter in February to participate in the Honors Conference. Juliet Schwarz won first prize in the "Critical Thinking" Essay contest. Dr. Chris Robbins was elected secretary of the Executive Committee for FCHC and Beverly Costello was elected Student Representative to the Executive Committee for Community Colleges. SCC was well represented! Congratulations!

Florida Leader Magazine
Best of Florida Schools

• Oviedo - Best New Campus
  
  
• The Scribe - Runner up for best school newspaper
  
  

Women's Basketball

News from the Lady Raiders, courtesy of Coach Ken Patrick:

Although we lost at the Regional Championships we had some highlights.

8-0 conference (never before-men or women)

2 All State players Gabrielle Blankenfeld and Yo Johnson

4 All Conference Gabby and Yo, and Narrie Berggren and Kiki Kindred

Freshmen All Conference Player of the Year Gabby

Honorable Mention All Conference Sue Gyarfas

Our GPA was between 2.5 and 2.7 with Gabby at 4.0 and Narrie 3.8

Next year with 10 players coming back (Yelena and Noelle Griffin possible All Americans) it very well could be a national championship!

Election to the AACC Board

Dr. McGee was elected to a three-year term on the American Association of Community Colleges’ Board of Directors. She will represent the Council for Resource Development. 7 individuals ran nationally for 2 seats.

K-20 Task Force

Dr. McGee has been named by Commissioner Crist to represent community colleges on the state's K-20 Partnership Committee . This group, comprised of Legislators, a university president, teachers, superintendents and parents will focus on alternative methods for certifying Florida's teachers. The State has received a $3 million federal grant to develop a national model to address the teacher shortage.

SACS Leadership Conference

March 22-23, at Canterbury Retreat - Dr. Jeff Hockaday facilitator.

Legislative

Orlando Chamber Tallahassee Fly-In -- March 27-28

Lake Mary/Seminole - April 10-11

Both Chambers will take SCC's issues to Tallahassee and assist in our lobbying efforts.

Relay for Life

March 30-31 - Lake Mary High School - 6:00pm - 12Noon

Annual Golf Tournament

April 2 at Sweetwater Country Club, at 11:30 AM

High Tech Announcement

Lake Sumter CC, Valencia CC and Seminole CC will make a major IT partnership training announcement at the Orlando Chamber’s Trustee Luncheon on April 20 at Church Street Station.  Also, that evening will be the Student Activity Banquet at 6:00 PM in the MPR.

Upcoming Graduations

GED Graduation - May 1 at 7:30 PM

Commencement - May 2 at 8:00 PM - Daryl McClain will be our outstanding graduate and graduation speaker.

Adult High School - May 3 at 8:00 PM

Leadership Seminole

Dr. Weldon and Everett Huskey will be honored by Leadership Seminole on May 18 at 11:30 AM at Church Street Station.

Upcoming District Board of Trustees Award Ceremonies

Each year the College awards the District Board of Trustees Scholarships to eligible high school students. Dr. Hank Hurley's office is coordinating the dates with the high schools. Linda will contact the Trustees to determine the dates that they will participate.

PEPC

The Post-Secondary Education Planning Commission approved the I-4 Site Designation for SCC's High Tech building at their March meeting in Ft. Lauderdale. The next presentation that I will need to make is at the State Board of Education meeting in Tallahassee on March 29.

Legislative Update

From all reports, it is going to be a very difficult budget year in Tallahassee. While there will be very little new money, community colleges have been doing what is termed "okay" in a bad budget year. The Governor did not cut the community college allocation in the same manner that all other sectors of education were cut. The Senate seems intent on putting more dollars into community college education; while the House has not released their figures.

Part of the bad news is that additional dollars are going into the Community College Program Fund (CCPF) and not into Workforce. Seminole Community College, because of our mix of programs, has twice as much of our base budget in Workforce as we do in the CCPF. Therefore, we are working to get the legislators to understand that they need to do more than give "lip service" to workforce development in Florida. They need to increase the pool of dollars, which has not been increased for four years.

In terms of PECO (construction) dollars, SCC has done very well. We got word last week that our request for $3.1 million in land and planning money for the I-4 HighTech Facility has been added to the PECO list for 2001-2002. Additionally, we are slated to get $1.8 million to complete the Oviedo Campus Phase I and $1.6 to renovate the HVAC lab area (with an additional $600,000 available in 2002-2003).

We are going to have to be diligent to hang onto these dollars and also work our way toward a better workforce allocation. Also, we have requested $10.1 to construct the I-4 facility. We have gotten an initial positive reading on this and hope to be able to make this happen this session. This would enable us to get the Workforce/High Tech Training Facility operational in the fall of 2003.

Did you know?

SCC's healthcare and paralegal programs are nationally accredited.