The big news to report in our first column of the school year is that Kauai Community College has been honored with a ranking of 16th in the country among 700 community and junior colleges by Washington Monthly, a prestigious
The big news to report in our first column of the school year is that Kauai Community College has been honored with a ranking of 16th in the country among 700 community and junior colleges by Washington Monthly, a prestigious journal of public policy based in the nation’s capital.
The criteria used in the ranking include how well a college performs as an engine of social mobility, and how well it fosters scientific and humanistic research. No other Hawaii community college made it into the top 50, so this is a great honor.
Chancellor Helen Cox comments, “We are delighted to earn this recognition! The ranking is an acknowledgment of the hard work of our faculty and staff to create a supportive learning environment that helps students earn important skill sets and reach their dreams.”
Jimmy Trujillo of the KCC Apiary Program reports that the program will offer a wide range of beekeeping classes this fall for individuals interested in raising honeybees for value-added products or for increased pollination of flowering food crops. For more information contact Jimmy directly by phone at 346-7725 or by email at jtrujill@hawaii.edu.
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KCC Business Technology Instructor Cheryl Fujii announced that two of her students took first and second place in the Hawaii Business Education Association’s annual keyboarding contest. Erin Garabilez was the overall winner with a speed of 90 words a minute, while Teri Ann Kaleiohi followed with 71 words a minute. This is the first time that KCC has ever won this contest. Congratulations to Erin and Teri on a job well done!
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Congratulations also to marine biology student Elizabeth Kain who attended a course on Quantitative Underwater Ecological Survey Techniques (QUEST) at UH Hilo and then used her skills to investigate the cause of the coral disease outbreak on the North Shore of Kauai this summer.
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More than 30 KCC students spent a week at Math Bootcamp in mid-August, immersing themselves in math for five hours a night. Participants worked with peers to hone critical thinking skills and brush up on fundamental math to help prepare them for the coming semester. The Bootcamp and other efforts by the Math Department paying off in a record number of college-level math courses this fall.
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Philosophy Instructor Chris Tennbergis offering “Film and Philosophy” this semester, a new elective course that will analyze a group of movies in light of the philosophical themes that they embody. Participants in the course will critically evaluate specific philosophical themes in relation to traditional philosophical arguments and each individual’s own developing worldview.
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“Ka Leo (The Voice) O KCC” is the college’s newspaper and online website, with journalism students, photographers, graphic artists and creative writers on campus contributing. Editor Shaina Nacion sets the schedule and assigns the tasks, and students meet the deadline for monthly printed issues and weekly online publications. The online newspaper kaleookcc.org is updated every Wednesday. The FaceBook page is found at Ka Leo O KCC Campus Newspaper.
• Greg Shepherd is Associate Professor of Music at Kauai Community College.
