Official SLCC Blog

El martes primero de noviembre de 2022, Salt Lake Community College West Valley Center y el Centro de Soñadores (Dream Center) le dieron la bienvenida a estudiantes y miembros de la comunidad. Una celebración arraigada en las tradiciones aztecas donde las personas pueden celebrar a sus seres queridos que han fallecido. El centro celebró la noche repleta de actuaciones notables y actividades para que todos participaran en las festividades del Día de Muertos. La velada comenzó con una actuación del Mariachi Academia Mis Raíces de la Escuela Primaria Esperanza. Una de las canciones interpretadas por el mariachi fue La Malagueña, una antigua canción folclórica española, la cual llenó a los asistentes de emoción y dejó a varios de la audiencia llorando. Posteriormente, Isabel Lucero, pequeña bailarina folclórica mexicana cuya actuación deleitó a los asistentes con su baile, algunos coreografiados por la propia Isabel.   A lo largo del evento, los asistentes se deleitaron con el pan de M...

Jevahjire France Name: Jevahjire France, [ goes by Jevah, pronounced "Gee Vah."] Pronouns: He/Him Residence: Millcreek Major: Mechanical Engineering Academic goals: Obtain an Associate of Pre-Engineering (APE) at SLCC then transfer to a 4-year institution. Dream job: Being the owner or co-owner of a firm or foundation that is socially conscious in my home country [Haiti] . Plan B: No plan B. Why higher education? It was never a question that I really had to ask myself. It always felt like the right thing to do. I was always told from a very young age that school is the way to success and getting the career of my dream, so here I am. Why SLCC? It is close and affordable. I see it as a smart start when it comes to college. What motivates you or inspires you at school or in life? Family. I want to be able to assist my loved ones, make my parents proud, and be able to provide for my own family when I have one. I want to be in a good position to help out m...

We are deeply saddened by the news that at least five people were murdered and over 25 were injured in a mass shooting this past weekend at Club Q—an LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs. Our hearts go out to the victims and survivors of this shooting, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in the Colorado Springs area who are navigating the trauma that comes with an assault on one’s life and communities.  Our thoughts are also with those in our own community who identify as LGBTQ+ or have loved ones who have been emotionally harmed by this incident. On Monday, we had a moment of silence during the meet and greet hosted by Institutional Equity, Inclusion and Transformation to remember the victims of this attack as well as victims of the recent shooting at the University of Virginia and the four students who were murdered at the University of Idaho.  The incident in Colorado Springs is reminiscent of the violence and harm that some use to instill fear and to share their hatred. We know tha...

Professor Darin Jensen meeting with student Makenzie Zundel. The bookshelves in Professor Darin Jensen’s office are packed full of graphic novels, some that he uses to teach with, and posters hang on his wall of pop culture references to connect with his students and help them feel comfortable when they visit. His first teaching job was at a community college in Omaha, Nebraska in 2009. He fell in love with the students and with the mission of community colleges. Now at Salt Lake Community College since January of this year, he teaches classes such as American Lit and Pop Culture. This semester he expanded that class to include Queer Lit, since he has a large group of students who identify as LGBTQ+. “[Community college are] the best place,” says Darin. “Doing this kind of work with working class students, students who are raising a family on their own, in helping them navigate post-secondary education is enormously satisfying and challenging.” Darin, a first-generation college stud...

    The Strada Education Network awarded a $400,000 grant to Salt Lake Community College’s (SLCC) Surgical Technology Program as part of Strada’s Employer and Community College Partnership Challenge. The grant aims to support innovative collaborations across the country between community colleges and employers in their region. Together, SLCC and Strada will participate in learning from other select community college   employer partnerships nationwide. As part of the grant, SLCC will partner with Intermountain Healthcare, the region's largest healthcare provider, to meet urgent healthcare workforce needs. This initiative specifically focuses on providing training programs and creating career exploration pathways for surgical technicians. The college will offer an accelerated program track, expand and upgrade training facilities, support students in the training pathway and partner with local secondary schools to recruit students. Intermountain Healthcare will provide tuiti...

Hijab Forum held at the Student Events Center at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus on Nov. 9. On August 31 a student at Salt Lake Community College was disrespected on campus for wearing a hijab. In the Islamic religion, a hijab is head and body covering typically worn by Muslim women. In response the Bias Response Team (BRT) collaborated with the Global Connections and Kurdish Student clubs to hold a panel discussion on Wednesday, Nov. 9.  The purpose of the event was to help others learn more about the hijab. The panel was made up of hijab-wearing student and staff member, along with Dr.  Kamal Bewar,  Student Success coordinator and  advisor to both clubs, to discuss the practices and meanings of hijab-wearing in local and global communities. Kamal expressed that this issue affects him because it affects his students. “I know a lot of you in this room, you care about this topic, and you care about inclusivity and diversity that we have at this institution,” say...

  Eric Watchman As part of Native American Heritage Month, This Meet Our Students blog will feature the president of SLCC’s American Indian Student Leadership Club, AISL, Eric Watchman.   Name: Eric Watchman.   Age: 27   The current city of residence: East Mill Creek, Utah   Hometown: Holladay, Utah   Major: Pre-med   Academic goals: My big goal is to become a doctor. I will most likely go to the U.   Dream job: I want to be a pediatrician with cardiology or just a general pediatrician.    Plan B: Nurse   Why higher education: In the long run, it's well worth it. I have experience working in construction, but there are few job opportunities where I was living in the four corners area. So, I had to travel for work. I spent some time in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Las Vegas. It wasn't fun being by myself and away from my family. A lot of it, too, is influenced by my wife. She's the one that wanted to go back to school first, and the...

Students creating sand painting art November is Native American Heritage Month. A month where people are encouraged to learn more about the rich culture and traditions of the native people of our land. Throughout November, the American Indian Student Leadership (AISL) club at Salt Lake Community College hosted various events. Through these events, students experienced rich traditions by expressing themselves creatively in a safe environment that creates growth, community and mindfulness. Two of the events created by the AISL club encouraged students to celebrate Native American Heritage Month were Rich Tradition and Techniques of Beadwork and An Art of Healing: Sand Painting. Both events allowed students to actively immerse themselves into Native American traditions while learning from their peers, expressing themselves artistically through colors and being present by actively being mindful of their movements.   Creating intricate designs through beading takes more than creativity ...

Assistant professor David Lehleitner working with high school students on a spaceship film set   The swish, swish, swishing of swords. The thumping, rhythmic beat of music and feet on the dance floor. The “lights, camera, action” of capturing what it would look like floating in zero-G on a spaceship. For one day, high school students experienced what a classroom at Salt Lake Community College’s Center for Arts and Media would be like. On Friday, Nov. 4 at South City Campus, High School Workshop Day gave high school students from around the valley the opportunity to participate in three-hour workshops led by distinguished faculty from the School of Arts, Communication and Media. The workshops were open to all 9th-12th grade high school students where they learned stage combat, video animation, dancing, filmmaking and audio production. “I am such a stage combat nerd. I've been doing it for four years,” says high school senior Kjiersten Lavine [Skyline] who participated in the...

Nick and Nancy Ward Family Over 1,100 veterans/dependents attend SLCC each semester, and Salt Lake Community College was the first institution of higher ed in Utah to have a Veterans Center. The current center is the largest and most comprehensive center in the state. In a special Veterans Day Ceremony, the newly renovated space was officially renamed as the  Dale P. Wittaker Veterans Service Center .   In 1948, the Salt Lake Area Vocational School, now known as Salt Lake Community College, opened its doors and began serving and training veterans returning from WWII desiring to utilize their new education benefit called the Montgomery GI BILL ™. The first 145 students were veterans, and by the second semester, 589 military students were using their VA educational benefits to pay for school.   Donors Nick and Nancy Ward, set up an endowment for veterans students to receive scholarships at SLCC. In gratitude for their gift, the Veterans Center was named the Dale P. Whittake...

“ Being a Latina in STEM is giving yourself a taste of pride. Seeing that my ancestors could not fulfill their dreams due to various obligations, now I have the chance to do this for them and myself. That is what STEM is about, especially as a Latina. It is seeing the future while remembering the past. ”   Name:  Brisa Aguirre Jurado   Pronouns:  She/her   Age:  22   Residence:  Layton   From:  Tijuana, México   Major:  Animation. I chose to go into animation because I want to be able to express myself and what life has taught me in animations in order to help future generations of children to learn about themselves, their environments, and more.   Academic goals:  Graduate from SLCC with an associate's degree and transfer into a good school with a good animation program with the best grades I can get.   Dream job:  Children's tv show animator (think Nickelodeon or Disney channel)     Plan B: ...

    If you are injured in a car accident, fall while rock climbing, or suffer a heart attack in rural areas of Utah, your chances of survival are impacted by not only the distance emergency responders must travel but also by a shortage of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT). Salt Lake Community College’s Russell Malone, Emergency Medical Programs Manager, became aware of this shortage in July when he heard that rural areas were requesting emergency waivers to staff their ambulances with Emergency Medical Responders (EMR) instead of the required two EMTs. Malone found that the shortage of EMTs was due to a shortage of funding and access to training for these volunteer responders.   “Access to education was the biggest barrier,” says Malone. “Most of these folks are hours away from programs that offer this certification, and most work full time.” Malone, who has been teaching emergency response courses for over 30 years at SLCC, reached out to rural communities to partner i...