Community Education Group

Community Education is a subdivision of the Adult Basic Education, GED & ESL department as a whole. Within the Community Education group you have select key professionals who have been selected and positioned by the college to serve and implement the various educational needs of individuals within District 532.  Operating from three main programs (Family Literacy, Repatriation Project and Volunteer Literacy Tutoring) along with managing the unpredictable needs of twenty extension community sites, this group has made tremendous strides in making sure that students are put first no matter the cause.

In an effort of highlighting the community education group and examples of past efforts that have gone forth and continue to be so, please take a moment and allow me to introduce you to some of CLC’s finest.

Sari Oosta Is the Family Literacy Coordinator. In her role she is responsible for managing seven Family Literacy extension sites along with four head start literacy extension sites. Sari, has worked effortlessly in making sure that the Family Literacy program is promoted within the various communities of District 532. Going above and beyond the call of duty by testing, registering, developing a quantitative student tracking system, maintaining grant requirements and making herself available to meet with students and adjunct faculty members when called upon, Sari has taken this program and exceeded expectations! She is pushing the awareness that “parents are their kids’ first teachers!” If you think about it for just a moment, what other program is available where a single mother or father with child can come to school together and obtain a GED or perfect their English skills? Erasing the red tape of mom and dad finding a babysitter just to come to class, Sari works with our Childserv agency to make sure that children are able to receive the level of education needed in an effort to prepare for kindergarten.  And this is just on a light note….Sari has done so much more!

Take a look at Laura Sherwood she is the Volunteer Tutor Literacy Coordinator. Laura has recently been added officially to the Community Education team to help promote and boost the department’s volunteer literacy tutor group. Laura has an exceptional ability to think “Outside of the box” which has been the motivating factor in her continued success of connecting with community partners and articulating the need for more tutors. Just to give you an example of the type of work that Laura has implemented recently, which, caught the attention of outside publicity along with CLC’s PR department. Laura partnered with the Lake County Jail to implement a new literacy project called “Read to Me.” Taking current LCJ inmates and matching them with a volunteer literacy tutor afforded an opportunity for forty families to receive a recorded voice CD along with a book that was sent home to encourage the children of the inmates that education is of the utmost importance. The program is in high demand and is scheduled to air on the Lake County local station soon. Laura in her professional role has also worked on projects that were out of her scope (i.e. taking on the challenge of ordering GED books for 12 Community extension sites, sorting the order upon arrival which took two days and facilitating the drop off of each order by including her two older sons as her help due to shortage of staff).  Laura has proven that she is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty in an effort of producing a fruitful outcome even at the expense of her own physical rest.

Then there is Mr. Warren Thomas, Repatriation Coordinator. Warren works specifically with the ex-offender student population. Warren has gone the extra mile in creating avenues and opportunities for this population to receive additional services beyond the status quo. Recently Warren produced a mini workshop at one of the community extension sites which allowed select employers to come and accept employment application on the spot from all those who were in attendance, also including CLC’s enrollment services and career and placement center, the workshop proved to be very positive and successful.  To be honest, not everyone is passionate about working with the ex-offender student population, but the sincerity and commitment level that Warren possesses is a rare find. Warren always makes himself available even off of the clock for his students. He understands the various barriers and hurdles that this select population has to deal with and for this reason alone, Warren has taken the Repatriation project, which is comprised of other community partners and the probation & parole department to break the stigma that is attached to this group and bridge them over to employment or post secondary opportunities. Warren is a rare find…a jewel that CLC was able to access!

Community Education Clerical support staff – Onice Pitts (Part-time Literacy Clerk) and Carolyn Sawyer (Temporary Administrative secretary) both have displayed outstanding efforts in support of the subdivision. It was during the tight moments when Community Education was moving to B119, which is the noted temporary office space, where both Carolyn and Onice took charge by preparing the boxes for packing, creating labels, working with other internal staff to negotiate what would go over and what would not. Producing outstanding results in what seemed to be impossible situations; both clerical staff members became the pillars for the community education group to lean on. Taking on the challenge to reproduce department forms and practice procedures with very little time both ladies work together effortlessly. After the move, both clerical staff members worked with other internal CLC departments to find out last minute questions and procedures. All of this was done with a smile! I have never witnessed such positive feedback and quick turnaround from support staff they are truly a rare find.

In closing, I would like to say that the Community Education group works with the vision of the institution, submitting to Strategic Goal 2: Outreach, which is noted for strengthening its outreach to the community. Truly, I have never witnessed individuals who are so passionate about building up the lives of others! I mean this is what its all about, isn’t it? They represent the college very well in the community and they keep in mind that serving students is #1. They never complain about the amount of work that they produce, which is above their confined schedules because they realize that without the students where would we be as an institution?

It is my pleasure to nominate the Community Education group as SOAR award recipients.

Jim Papp

In the past year, CLC started offering General Physics I and General Physics II at the Southlake campus.  An entire physics lab, including all equipment, needed to be ordered, received at Grayslake, transported to Southlake, and finally put into place in order to offer these classes.  Needless to say, this was a monumental task.  Jim Papp played an essential role in ordering hundreds of items (in excess of $100,000) from numerous vendors, receiving them, moving them to Southlake, and organizing the new physics lab at Southlake.  Without Jim, this would not have happened.

Jim is responsible for setting up and taking down all labs and demonstrations at both campuses, as well as maintaining all equipment used at both campuses. Physics classes have been running very smoothly at both campuses due to the dedicated work of Jim Papp.   At times, I don’t know how he does it.   Jim truly makes my job much easier.  At least to me, Jim Papp is worth more than his weight in gold!  Jim Papp is never satisfied with just getting the job done.  Jim is only satisfied when he knows that the job has been done to the best of his ability.  CLC is absolutely a better place because of all that he does, and for what he stands for.   Jim Papp truly does SOAR with the eagles.

Melanie Kessler

In my more than thirty years in business and academia Melanie Kessler is one of the most professional and knowledgeable resources for support I have encountered. As Division Operations Assistant Melanie often times has to present information at Division meetings. Her presentations are concise, relevant and accurate. Her depth of knowledge about the Division and the College makes her an invaluable resource. This Spring semester opened with our Dean and Division Assistant absent due to illness and injury. Melanie stepped up and provided backup for these positions while doing her own job. She follows up on every inquiry, but more than that she is both approachable and understanding of the needs of students and faculty alike. She lends an understanding ear and expresses genuine interests in our concerns. She’s that unique combination of a ”team” player while still being very much her own person. She’s also that rare colleague who fills her supportive role while always being cheerful, compassionate and professional.

Brent Passarella and Chris Umbricht

My name is John Curtis and I am the Technology Coordinator for the college and I want to nominate Brent Passarella and Chris Umbricht for a SOAR award for their contribution for developing and implementing a Ghost Server for the college.

The College made the decision to go to IP Phones several years ago.  An unforeseen result was the User Support Technicians could no longer perform Multicast Ghost sessions, meaning they lost the ability to copy prebuilt images of software onto multiple computers.  A multicast session may interrupt the IP phones causing loss of service.  This is dangerous as the IP phones are the college’s resource for emergency functions such as calling 911.  This left the Technicians to image computers one at a time.  By comparison, before IP phones 25 computers could be imaged in 10 – 40 minutes, while after IP phones, only 1 computer could be imaged in 10 – 30 minutes. This was a serious drop in service.  Ghosting computers became a time intensive project that took time away from other duties a Technician could perform.

Taking their own initiative, Brent and Chris researched possible solutions.  They came up with the idea of using available resources and built a dedicated Ghost Server to improve service.  The Ghost Server allows the Technicians to remotely access computer across the campus from their office.  They no longer have to spend valuable time physically walking to rooms to start/restart computers and begin the Ghosting process.  Additional features include performing routine maintenance remotely, setting up an automatic queue for Ghosting where as soon as one machine has been Ghosted, the next machine automatically begins, and from their office a technician can add software on the fly to computers without having to go through the timely process of re-Ghosting.  If an instructor needs any specific files on a computer, the Technician can push down the file to that machine without interrupting the class.

Vicki Eiden

The Southlake Branch Library opened a year ago. Vicki Eiden, a long time library staffer volunteered to serve as full-time Circulation supervisor at the new library. She has done an outstanding job launching the new library. As the only full time staff member at the Southlake Library, he excellent customer service approach makes students, faculty, and staff want to visit and use the library when they are at Southlake.  Her accomplishments include updating circulation procedures and training Reference Librarians on basic circulation functions so they can also assist patrons when a circulation staff member is absent. This insures that all visitors to the library are served promptly.