Student Congress members, from left to right, include Parliamentarian Dan Watkoski, new Vice President Jared Flanagan, and Communications Director David Woolworth. (Photo by Ryan Tyrell/Collegiate)

GRCC offers ‘green’ transportation
By Sarah Messer
Collegiate staff writer

GreenRide has become another option to the high gas prices and the pain of parking on the downtown campus for GRCC students.

The firm Ecology and Environment, Inc.’s, GreenRide program is an international carpooling system that promotes alternative transportation for business organizations, universities, and transit agencies. The GreenRide Web site reports the program is an award winning solution that is being used by customers in 21 states to over 37 million people.

Mary Anne Ferris-Young, project and sales manager for GreenRide said that the program began in 2003 in Buffalo, N.Y. by the environmental consulting firm. GreenRide’s web and Geographic Information System (GIS) has the ability to integrate trip planning, manage ride matching programs, as well as the flexibility to customize the program to the rider’s specific organizational needs.

The Rapid was already offering GreenRide to the community through their Web site but GRCC wanted it to be geared more towards their own community, said Paulo Teles, Raidercard manager.

“We felt a ride share program would be more effective if we could tie it to our Blackboard system and limit access to the GRCC community,” said Teles. “Szymon Machajewski from GRCC Information Technology and GreenRide engineers were responsible for coming up with an innovative and seamless Blackboard-GreenRide integration.

“I feel GreenRide has been a tremendous success. Our goal was to have over five percent of our student body signed up, and we were able to surpass that number after just a couple of months of going live with GreenRide,” Teles said.

Teles said that over 1,000 GRCC students are currently signed up for the program. He also included that GRCC is interested in furthering the carpooling trend and promote alternative forms of transportation. GRCC is in the early process of gathering a team of different departments to discuss a variety of initiatives to encourage students to use carpooling.

The program is supposed to help the customer find carpooling partners by searching for others that share a similar schedule and area of residence. This all can be done through the Web site, but finding the right match is the problem.

The Collegiate contacted 50 GRCC students via email through the GreenRide community on Blackboard. All responses received from students in this sample indicated that they were signed up, but not currently carpooling with anyone.

GRCC student Leigh Snedeker said, “I am trying to use green ride, and I’ve found a few matches, but no one has a similar class schedule. So, I am signed up for it, but not using GreenRide.”

According to the GRCC Web site, the program helps conserve fuel, promote better health, preserve air quality, conserve traffic congestion, and help save money.

The website goes on to inform that signing up is easy, just log onto blackboard and click on the ‘community’ tab.Then, find the GreenRide link and fill out your information.

More information about this program can be found at ridetherapid.org by searching GreenRide or visit greenride.com.

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Culinary Arts class taught in Spanish
By Chyrice Phillips
Collegiate Staff Writer

There is a new Spanish Speaking Culinary Arts class.

Culinary Arts Program Director Randy Sahajdack said that the class has taken off to a good start.

Instructor Carmela Zapata, who also created Spanish classes for criminal justice classes, has also assisted in setting the foundation for this Spanish Language Arts course.

The class, Ca 141, is an extremely interactive and fast paced class, Professor of Spanish Carmela Zapata said. Students are required to learn various vocabulary words in Spanish that are applicable in culinary arts related situations.

“The majority of the course consist of students listening, repeating, and participating in various classroom activities, and applying the vocabulary via ‘role play’ and delivering in front of their peers,” Zapata said.

Sahajdack said that they “ started it this summer of ‘08. The idea of this class came from students and faculty who were constantly challenged with Spanish speaking people.”

Spanish speaking culinary arts class is held Monday through Thursday from 9:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. in the main building in the Language and Thought Department.

There are 20 students enrolled in the class this semester with the capacity of 27, Sahajdack said.

“This class is a three credit hour class built especially so folks can be successful working alongside Spanish speaking people in a hospitality setting,” Sahajdack said.

The entire class is taught in Spanish Sahajdack said.

Managing Chef of the Bakery and Pastry Department, Robert Garlough said, “I think the class is very important to the faculty and for the students because there are an increasing number of Spanish speaking customers in our restaurant.”

“I think it is the responsibility of managers to be able to communicate to all their staff,” Garlough said. “We need to make an effort if you have people where English is their second language.”

Garlough added that it’s important to communicate with Spanish speaking customers, and that learning about their culture and how to embrace their culture is a very important part of a solid communication.

The final project of the class consists of exploring a Spanish speaking country, learning a little about the culture and cuisine of that country, and preparing a meal to end the year.

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Campus Events for November 12, 2008
Compiled by Collegiate Staff

Diversity Lecture Series: Amy Dickison “Aging in the 21st Century”
November 12, 7 p.m.
The lecture will be held in the Calkins Science, admission is free. Amy Dickison is an author, syndicated columnist (the ‘Ask Amy’ column), and a frequent contributor to NPR.

Amy Dickinson Forum
November 13, 9 a.m.
Students and staff will have a chance to talk to Amy Dickinson at the Calkins Science Center Auditorium.

Being Tobacco Free @ GRCC
November 14, 9:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.
A session for faculty, staff and students to explain the new GRCC smoking policy. It will also cover how to approach people ignoring the ban. This will be held in room 420 of the Cook building.

Non-Traditional Opportunities (Workshop)
November 18, 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
This workshop is held in the multipurpose room on the second floor of the Student Center. It will cover crossing gender stereotypes through career choices.

The Ordinary Radicals (Movie and Presentation)
November 18, 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.
This film is about a movement within Christianity to do small things with great love, and looking at biblical history as it relates to the current state of American politics. Held in the auditorium of the Applied Technology Center and is sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Effective Note Taking (Workshop)
November 19, 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
This workshop is held in the multipurpose room on the second floor of the Student Center. It will cover different note taking techniques for both lectures and reading.

GRCC International Guitar Series: Marcin Dylla
November 20, 7:30 p.m.
Marcin Dylla is the winner of more than 17 first place prizes in guitar competitions around the world. This acclaimed Polish guitarist performs as part of a North American tour. This event will be held in room 200 of the Music Center, admission is seven dollars for students and $10 for general admission.

Building Healthier Relationships (Workshop)
November 20, 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.
This workshop will be held in the multipurpose room on the second floor of the Student Center. It will cover techniques to strengthen relationships with your family and friends.

PC Clinic
November 21, 1 p.m. - 7 p.m.
November 22, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
This clinic will be held in room 317 of the Applied Technology Center. Bring your PC to this student ran computer repair clinic.

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Current Edition:
November 12, 2008

Next Edition:
November 26, 2008