By Jamie Miller
On Wednesday, Aug. 20, Grand Rapids Community College held its annual Opening Day ceremony to welcome faculty and staff to the new school year. In addition to including free breakfast, the event featured speeches from multiple administrators.
The event started with a short video on the history of GRCC’s presidents and GRCC as a whole, narrated by GRCC Interim President Dr. Steven Triezenberg. This was followed by a speech from the man himself, who opened with a talk based on the book “Lessons from Plants,” by Beronda Montgomery.
“I think we all recognize that identical seeds planted in different conditions will show different characteristics as they grow,” he said, referring to how the environment is important for both plants and people and affects the ultimate path that seed’s life will take. He concluded by saying, “We are inherently diverse, we are inherently transient or temporary, we are linked together here for this time. We choose to be excellent, to be equitable, to be inclusive, to be empathetic. We choose to be, and we are, the community’s college. We are the faces of GRCC. Together, we’ve got this.”
Triezenberg then gave a shout out to the members of the GRCC Board of Trustees in the audience, thanking them for their “deep and long-standing commitment to the mission of this college and to the well-being of this community.”
He also welcomed three new members of the college leadership team before handing off to GRCC Provost Sheila Jones. Jones shared enrollment updates including increased enrollment among Black and Latinx students, with Black student enrollment up by 11% and Latinx students being up by 9%, compared to last year. She added that there is an increasing number of students from older age groups, with enrollment of students between the ages of 18 and 24 up by over 3%, with a further increase of students between 25 and 29 years of age. Lakeshore Campus enrollment is also up by 14%, and MTEC is up by ??% compared to last year. Fall Retention is up by 4.03%, with there being 11,799 students currently enrolled.
Jones also informed the audience that the new GRCC Rec Center will be open next Monday, Aug. 25. She also reminded everyone that GRCC has officially switched from Blackboard to Canvas for course management.
Jones also shared the timeline for GRCC’s new mascot reveal.
“Based on research and nominations from last year, our marketing and communications team will send out ballots on the GRCC Raider,” she said, adding that voting is set to occur sometime after Labor Day.
Triezenberg then gave out awards. The first award was the Excellence in Education faculty award, which went to Julie Lackscheide. Director of Medical Imaging and Allied Health Programs. Next was the Excellence in Education staff award, which went to Interim Associate Dean of Strategic Outreach Marisol Blanco.
Triezenberg concluded by advising staff to arrive earlier for the first week of classes than normal, before expressing gratitude to the Information Technology department for all their help with making the transition from Blackboard to Canvas as seamless as possible.
After the event, Triezenberg shared his advice for students with The Collegiate. First and foremost, he encouraged students to arrive early, as traffic will be heavy the first week. He also advised students to “engage deeply in your classes. The faculty are eager to see you in the classroom, so put your heart and soul into it.”
During a later evening meeting with adjunct faculty, Triezenberg gave out the Adjunct Faculty Award to Business and CIS Adjunct Professor and Distance Education Faculty Liaison, Chad Sytsma.
For a last piece of advice, Triezenberg said, “Connect with other students. We are a community college and I encourage you, students, to be a part of the community, to find a small niche, or a bigger part of the community– to join in.”
