The Grand Rapids Community College Board of Trustees met on Monday, May 15 to approve a new job training agreement with SnackCraft LLC and other campus projects.
GRCC’s Student Government, previously known as Student Alliance, discussed their efforts to help increase wages for student employees. Student Government President Alex Miranda said he has reached out to Student Employment Services to learn more about the resources provided to student employees, as well as other campus administrators in hopes of making this a “colleague-wide project.”
During his report, GRCC President Charles Lepper announced that student employees would receive free parking starting in the upcoming fall semester.
“Student employees who park on campus will receive free parking for the semester. So that translates to $3.50 a day. If they work five days, that’s $17.50. And over the course of the semester, that’s $245 students will not be paying out of their pockets to come to work,” Lepper said. “We also hope that that is an incentive to have some of our students seek on-campus employment.”
The current list of campus jobs available to students pays $12.50 per hour.
During the meeting, Miranda said that it was a step back rather than a step in the right direction, stating that student employees received free parking in the previous fall semester, but later clarified his comment.
“I misspoke a bit when I said student employees used to receive free parking since I meant to say ‘free parking AND reduced costs’ as student leaders, such as (Campus Activities Board) CAB and Student Government members, used to receive free parking,” stated Miranda in a text message to The Collegiate. “This benefit was discontinued sometime in late 2022, early 2023. I mixed up student leaders and student employees and combined them into one when they’re different from each other”
He continued, “Though, we still believe that wages need to be increased for student employees as that’s what we’ve heard student employees would like and that parking costs should be lowered for every GRCC student.”
Lepper also discussed his plan to increase enrollment during the meeting. While the college fell short of their goal of 6,290 students this summer, with only 5,700 currently enrolled, Lepper said he hopes to meet his goal by enrolling more students before GRCC’s second seven-week summer session begins. He said the college hired ten high school guidance counselors and two college completion coaches, in addition to investing in 60 billboards, including some in Spanish, all in an effort to boost enrollment.
Over the past year, the college has had a 30% increase in students and a 57% increase in guest students.
The Board of Trustees approved a new job training agreement with SnackCraft LLC in hopes of creating job opportunities for students who are seeking future job opportunities. This new agreement will be one of the many training programs GRCC offers to students. These programs have helped several students receive certifications and connect with companies throughout West Michigan.
“They (SnackCraft) will over the next three years add 185 new positions that meet the qualifications of the 1.5 times minimum wage for the Michigan New Jobs training program,” said Lisa Freiburger, the Vice President for Finance and Administration.
SnackCraft LLC is located in Kentwood and produces healthy snacks, such as tortilla chips, extruded snacks, pellet snacks, and baked crackers. This agreement is worth $400,060, and will be paid through a five-year program.
The GRCC Foundation Executive Director, Erin Van Egmond, spoke of the Foundation’s achievements as the fiscal year is coming to an end. They have awarded $1.1 million to over 1,400 students over the past year, with $151,000 going to students during this summer semester.
The Board also approved an allocation for the items below, totaling around $308,000.
- A storm drain replacement for Parking Ramp B. $26,000.00
- 2 AERAS RV10-23 dental vacuum systems. $26,209.76
- A purchase order issued to provide a switch update for Core routing for Sneden Hall. $68,118.83
- A purchase order issued to provide a Nicolet Summit X FTIR Spectrometer. $28,162.32
- Purchase order issued to provide grant staff, fringe benefits and tuition for February
- 2023. $39,654.17
- A purchase order issued to provide three Zeus car diagnostic tools and information programs. $33,973.62
- Lab equipment for the Lakeshore campus. $58,993.97
- A purchase order issued to provide payment to the City of Grand Rapids per agreement for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant. $27,046.98
The Board also approved changes to GRCC’s Strategic Plan. The plan was extended to 2028 and College Action Projects (CAP) will now be called Strategic Initiatives (SI).
Eric Mullen, the dean of Student Success and Retention, introduced three students who were chosen to represent GRCC on the All Michigan Academic Team through Phi Theta Kappa. Kim Budde, Melissa Gheorghiu, and Jodi Holland are non-traditional students who demonstrated academic excellence during their time at GRCC, and showed leadership through services that exceeded beyond the classroom.
These students were recognized on March 13 during a ceremony in East Lansing sponsored by the Michigan Community College Association and Phi Theta Kappa.
