The GSC Journal

With a great team of students, alumni, faculty, and staff, the Granite State College blog features a variety of perspectives from across our community.

When there is a special occasion that falls outside of the regular "beat" of our bloggers, that's when the GSC Journal steps in!

Student stories, college events, interesting photos or videos...

The GSC Journal is a behind the scenes look at Granite State College.

We are DELIGHTED to share that Faith Greene has been named Middle School Special Educator of the year!

Faith earned her initial teaching certification in General Special Education through our School of Education and went on to achieve an advanced endorsement in Learning Disabilities.

This June, Faith will officially be honored at the New Hampshire Excellence in Education Awards.

Faith was on the front cover of Tuesday's (April 2)  Concord Monitor and you can congratulate her in the comments section of their website!

Photo source:  Alexander Cohn, Concord Monitor.

If you're in the Nashua area on Tuesday, April 2nd  -  Check out the "Light It Up Blue"  event at Nashua Communtiy College!

At 7 p.m. on the campus' front long, the exterior of NCC will be illuminated in blue lights and custom projection images. Several speakers, including NCC's President Lucille Jordan, will join the event line-up in recognition of Autism Awareness.

At Granite State College, we have a wide network of special education teachers, including faculty members, alumni, and future educators in our Special Education Teacher Certification programs. This month, we'll celebrate the good work that they do and their efforts to raise autism awareness each and everyday!

To learn more about becoming a teacher, get in touch with our School of Education to discuss your career possibilities!

Our students juggle.

70% are working full-time and 18% have part-time employment. For most students, having a steady and reliable job is the cornerstone of making everything work - but in today's economy, it's never easy.

This is why we are thrilled to invite our students to the New Hampshire College & University Council's (NHCUC) Job Fair!

This fair is *exclusively* presented to students in New Hampshire who attend an institution that is a member of NHCUC, like Granite State College!

If you're on the job hunt or looking for a new opportunity, this is an AWESOME place to start - there will be over 50 employers present and ready to hire!

Here are the details:

Granite State College will soon reach a fun milestone - our first 1,000 Likes on Facebook!

Once we reach our goal, we'll have a few surprises in store for those who helped make it happen.

Everyone who likes our page will be automatically entered into a drawing. Our top prize is a Kindle Touch and 10 runners-up will receive a grab bag with GSC gear & gifts!

As a bonus, anyone who "SHARES" our page on their own timeline will receive an additional entry into our drawing.

Note: To share our facebook page, visit facebook.com/GraniteStateCollege. Select the pull-down menu next to the like button. Click on Share. Write your accompanying post - voila!

Thank you for helping us hit 1,000 likes - we appreciate it!

Lifelong learning is a concept that GSC takes seriously - It doesn't start or end with your degree!

The OLLI program at Granite State College is a perfect example.

OLLI offers affordable, enriching classes for people over 50. The program operates out of GSC's campus locations and has a broad network throughout the state!

Tessa McDonnell, GSC's Dean of Students and External Engagement, will be featured on "Money Basics" on WTPL (107.7 FM) from 12-1 p.m. on Tues. March 12th to share more about the OLLI program!

Tune in to learn more and be sure to check out their website!

Exploring the history of fashion:

Learning the art of Japanese flower arrangement:

Discovering the wonders of the universe:

The entire GSC community depends on their online connection to the college and nearly every single one of our students takes classes online… but what happens when technology isn’t cooperating?

Students (faculty and staff, as well!) who are having service issues can report them online or by calling 888.372.4270. In January 2013, GSC added some new features that make this resource even more useful for students.

Now, after you file a report, you’ll receive updates throughout your case including notifications when its created, when comments are added, and when the case is closed. Additionally, you can check in on your its status while it’s being worked on—a new feature!   

Afterwards, the Service Desk will provide a brief survey to make sure that each of your needs was met.

The Service Desk is open:

Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Friday, 8:30 AM­—4:30 PM
Closed Saturday & Sunday.

A staff member will respond to your case within 2 hours when received during service hours and within 24 hours if your request is submitted when the Service Desk is closed.
 

This week the Nashua Telegraph published this special feature:

Image source:  nashuatelegraph.com
 

What we think is especially compelling is the section that profiles the business leaders of the next 20 years. We were proud to read about Nashua Community College's President, Lucille Jordan, and honored that GSC was mentioned as part of her story:

"Forty percent of [NCC] students transfer to four-year institutions to earn their bachelor's degree.

Making that easier is this year is the fact that Granite State College, part of the University System of New Hampshire, is now 'co-located' at NCC."
 

We are new to Nashua and this feature served as a great inspiration for what we can accomplish with their community. For example...

We have the opportunity to provide a convenient pathway for NCC students to expand their education goals and pursue a bachelor's degree with GSC

We can help business leaders retain their best employees with our master's degree programs like the M.S. in Leadership and M.S. in Project Management

We can engage with the healthcare community through our RN to BSN degree program

K-12 educators can pursue teacher certifications in the critical shortage areas in education and help to make a difference in the Nashua School District

These are just a few of our current goals in Nashua and we can't wait to lay our roots deep and explore the possibilities.

Congratulations to ALL who were honored in the "Nashua 50 and Next 20." Thank you for all that you do!
 

This morning, instead of heading to Granite State College, GSC’s President paid a visit to a different kind of education institution:  Bow Elementary School!

Dr. Todd Leach, along with fellow college and university presidents across New Hampshire, joined young children in classrooms around the state for Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, a world-record-breaking campaign in which adults and children nationwide will read the same book on the same day to establish the largest group of people ever to collectively read the same story on a single date.

This year Jumpstart’s featured book is the New York Times bestselling children’s book, Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad by David Soman and Jacky Davis.  

The purpose of this event is to shine a national spotlight on America's early education achievement gap and to highlight Jumpstart's programs as a way to address this crisis. It’s a goal that GSC certainly understands.

In our School of Education, the teacher preparation programs focus in on the critical shortage areas that exist in education, which includes our early childhood education major.

GSC is proud to support Jumpstart’s mission through Read for the Record and proud to contribute by empowering future educators in our undergraduate degree programs and post-baccalaureate programs for teacher education.

On a personal note...

As a Jumpstart alumni, I was excited to learn that the New Hampshire College and University Presidents were going to participate in 2012's Read for the Record and it was a pleasure to help coordinate on behalf of GSC! I did three terms of service while I was earning my bachelor's degree and even have some photos to prove it (note the "vintage" Jumpstart blue from 7 years ago!). 

-Jacqui Lantagne
Marketing Specialist, Granite State College
Jumpstart Corps Member and Team Leader, 2004-2007
 

It's official. Our mobile classroom is up and we're ready to enroll students at our new co-location at Nashua Community College for the Fall term!

On Thursday, July 26th, we co-hosted a celebration with NCC to announce our new partnership. The highlight of the event was the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.

Here's an "action shot" of NCC President Lucille Jordan, Governor John Lynch, Mayor Donnalee Lozeau, and GSC President Todd Leach cutting the ribbon!

The courses offered on NCC's campus are designed so those with an associate degree can easily leverage this experience into an affordable bachelor degree program. We will be featuring classes for the B.S. in Business Management, B.S. in Psycholgoy, B.S. in Applied Studies (Management Option), the B.A. in Individualized Studies, Teacher Certification Courses, and classes in the Masters Degree in Project Management and M.S. in Leadership programs.

Click here to learn more!
 

When the image on the cover of the Granite State College catalogue was taken, Jessyca was anxiously awaiting the big moment:  Commencement!

Earlier in the year, Jessyca joined us for one of GSC’s photoshoots and it was a pleasure to meet up with her once again at graduation.

As she crossed the stage in academic regalia to receive her diploma with the Class of 2012, Jessyca included a special message on her cap from a favorite Dr. Seuss book:

“And will you succeed? Yes!! Yes indeed! Kid, you’ll move MOUNTAINS!”

She certainly has! As an Individualized Studies of English Language Arts Major, Jessyca's goal is to become a kindergarten or first grade teacher.

Thank you for participating, Jessyca, and best of luck in your career!

We hope that when students see the new catalogue, they’ll envision their own Commencement day and gain that much more motivation to reach success in their studies.

Catalogues are available at each regional campus and online.
 

The Concord Campus will have a new home as of July 1, 2012. Today, the campus is buzzing with Granite State College staff members who are busy packing away the offices and taking care of the many details.

Here's a behind the scenes shot of how members of the I.T. Department spent their morning prepping the computer lab for the big move:

Our new location at 25 Hall Street (which is just down the road!) is going to have some awesome resources for students, and we can't wait for the Summer term to begin so we can show off the new space.

At Granite State College, we are proud to serve students of all ages!

Typically, these students are at least over the age of 18. However on May 10th, we experienced a notable exception for the 5th Annual Mount Washington Valley Regional Science and Technology Fair.

Middle and High School students from across New Hampshire (and even some in Maine!) came to our Conway Campus to share their projects and explore the results of some incredible work!

Granite State College annually hosts the fair, and members of our faculty and staff work to produce the event and serve on the judging panel.

We were incredibly impressed with the students' work! Personally, I learned which type of fire wood is the most effective, the type of fishing line that can bear the most weight, what color t-shirt will dry the quickest, and which genre of music I can listen to without affecting how many words I can type per minute.

Congratulations to all of the students, and please enjoy some of the moments that were captured at the fair:

In the past year, Granite State College has launched Graduate Studies and celebrated the newly formed School of Education. With these two exciting initiatives, GSC needed two exciting sets of promotional material for prospective students!

Where to begin? Like many other journeys GSC has taken, the process always starts with the students.

In our Graduate Studies brochure, you'll find two students from the Project Management Master's Program and you may even recognize their classroom at the Rochester campus! They are joined by the Dean of Graduate Studies and several other staff members from Granite State College that prospective students will actually see and interact with when they enroll.

Our School of Education photo shoot featured students from the Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Certification program. We had a dynamic venue filled with energetic 3-7 year old children who are the same age as the students these future educators will teach!

It means so much to us to have real live members of the GSC community in these photos and we had a blast spending the day with the students.

Special thanks to Leslie Bowering, '10 ,B.A. Liberal Studies: Self-Design in Language Arts. She opened the doors of her business, The Reading Room for Kids, in Rye, NH, for our School of Education photo shoot.