Dear Faculty and Staff:

Yesterday afternoon I was joined by the Board of Trustees, Cabinet, community members and Campus Police at a groundbreaking ceremony for our new Police Substation. As a reminder, this project was associated with the public-private partnership established to bring student housing to SCC. The developer donated $400,000 to help fund the new Police Substation. My appreciation is extended to Bob Ronkoski for his leadership over this project.

At the Board meeting last night, the trustees approved a resolution authorizing and directing the issuance, sale and delivery of general obligation bonds. This allows the college to move forward in spending funds associated with Proposition Community College. Additionally, Vice President Galbierz reviewed the updated website for our bond program which includes all the information related to each project, including recent photos. Please check it out: https://www.stchas.edu/lp/prop_cc/

Also, at the meeting last night, the trustees approved the tuition and fee schedule for the 2021-22 academic year. I am pleased to announce that we will not raise tuition this year.

Finally, Amy Koehler and Jen Bussen were surprised when they arrived at the Board meeting to present on COVID-19 and instead were greeted by County Executive Steve Ehlmann. Mr. Ehlmann presented them with a Proclamation from St. Charles County in recognition of the extraordinary service provided by our Nursing and Allied Health faculty and students who assisted with the vaccination of citizens at the Family Arena. Please join me in congratulating Amy, Jen, and our amazing students, faculty and staff at the Center for Healthy Living. Thank you for contributing to the health and safety of our community.

Congratulations to two of our track and field athletes! Freshmen Ryan Pendergast and Elisabeth Dunn were named the NJCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field National Athletes of the Week. More copy goes here. In her first college meet, Elisabeth was the top junior college finisher in both the 1500m (6:30) and 3000m (14:41). In a field of mostly fouryear schools, she was able to run consistent splits, help motivate her teammates, and move up throughout the race. Ryan made his Outdoor Track debut with a strong 4:28 performance in the 1500m, which happens to be a personal record. Later in the meet, he came back as the lead-off leg of the 4x800m relay which placed 3rd and moved SCC up in the overall team standings. No doubt, Track & Field Head Coach Jacob Sundberg is proud of these two student-athletes for their good work following the college’s first ever track meet.

Faculty and Staff – This week is Mental Health Awareness Week for our students. Please remind them that there is a strong list of events planned by Student Life to support them. Check out the schedule and the registration information here.

April 5-9 is SCC’s Week of Service! If you haven’t already found a virtual or socially distant project in which to take part, I encourage you to review the list here. I appreciate the good leadership of Bryonie Carter, associate professor of English and coordinator of the Week of Service.

As we welcome Spring and all the new growth it brings, I want to remind everyone to take some time to be mindful of the variety of spiritual, religious and cultural observances held during this time of year. Our colleagues and students represent many different faiths with a variety of practices and observances. For more information, here is a link to the Interfaith Calendar found on our Diversity web page.

Have a wonderful week,

Barbara

Here is this week’s COVID-19 update: