Welcome to the first edition of this year’s News from KCC column, a chance for the community to get to know a little bit more about Kauai Community College, the island’s only institution of higher education. With this monthly column,
Welcome to the first edition of this year’s News from KCC column, a chance for the community to get to know a little bit more about Kauai Community College, the island’s only institution of higher education. With this monthly column, we highlight the people, places, and events that make the college the hub of so much of what happens on Kauai.
With the support of Kauai High School science teachers Kevin Johnson, Monique Chow, Andrea Bell, Ryan Kakuda, and Stephanie Camp, KCC Agriculture instructor Dr. Sharad Marahatta and KCC student Christina Martiney have designed a month-long agricultural science project focused on experimental teaching and learning models for high school students. For more information, contact Dr. Marahatta at sharadch@hawaii.edu
The KCC Nursing Program welcomes a new cohort of 28 students this semester. The University of Hawaii Board of Regents recently approved the college’s Certificate of Achievement in Medical Assisting. Medical assistants are skilled health care professionals who work in doctors’ offices and clinics.
This summer, students met for a total of 20 hours over the course of four days for KCC’s Math Bootcamp. Faculty members Coco Chi, Loni Delaplane, and Jonathan Kalk teamed up with tutors Raeanna Rodriguez and Jameyia Shamia to conduct the workshop, which was free to students. In addition to refreshing fundamental math concepts, “bootcampers” also worked on critical thinking and developing a growth mindset. Students with a growth mindset are more likely to persist in solving difficult problems and learn from their mistakes instead of getting discouraged and giving up. Congratulations to the Math Department!
Applications are being accepted for the college’s Massage Therapy Program. The current cycle runs until May 2015. For more information, contact instructor Berna Akiona at bakiona7@hawaii.edu.
According to International Education Coordinator Kyoko Ikeda, the fall semester will be a busy one for international programs, with four groups visiting the college from Okinawa and Japan for short-term programs designed for their specific fields of study.
From now until Sept. 17, engineering and chemistry students from Toyama College’s National Institute of Technology will be attending the classes of KCC instructors Georgeanne Purvinis and Dr. Michael Hannawald as well as taking English classes and workshops on Hawaiian culture and history.
Later this month, students at the Maritime Technology Department of Oshima College will be taking intensive English classes, as well as workshops that focus on the themes of the history of Japanese in Hawaii, as well as Hawaiian culture and natural resources.
Also this month, the college will be offering a professional development program for eight professors from a consortium of five national colleges of maritime technology. The focus of the program will be improving the professors’ English skills through discussions and presentations on selected themes.
For more information on these and other international education programs at the college, contact Kyoko Ikeda at kyokoi@hawaii.
•••
Greg Shepherd is professor of music at KCC.
