Published: April 27, 2008 04:48 pm            

Fantastic things going on at SCC

Our View

Dear Editor,

First, I’d like to thank the staff of the Commonwealth-Journal for the excellent coverage you give to the students, faculty and staff at Somerset Community College. We appreciate it very much.

Second, I’d like to brag about the College a little bit.

Your readers may have noticed a few of the fantastic things that have been happening at SCC, but I wonder if they have put them all together and said, “Wow!” as I have.

The SCC Vocal Ensemble went to Verona, Italy, and won a Bronze Medal at the Days of International Choir Music Festival. Everyone who cares about SCC would have been so proud of our Vocal Ensemble. They were competing against more than 30 choirs from 14 different countries.

David Evans, an SCC student who is originally from Great Britain, was selected as the Kentucky Community and Technical College System’s New Century Scholar for 2008. This, in effect, makes David the top community college student in Kentucky.

The SCC chapter, Omicron Zeta, of Phi Theta Kappa, the academic honor society for two-year colleges, won two Hallmark Awards and a Distinguished Chapter Award at the Phi Theta Kappa International Convention held in Philadelphia on April 5. This the first time in history that a Kentucky Phi Theta Kappa chapter has won two Hallmark Awards in one year. We can truly say that Omicron Zeta is one of the best academic honor societies in the world.

The SCC Physical Therapist Assistant Program has been rated #1 in the nation. All of the students, who graduated from the PTA Program at SCC last year, passed their state licensing exams. Students in the program have been named the American Physical Therapy Association’s National PTA Student of the Year Award for the past two consecutive years. In fact, the eight SCC health care career programs are noted for the high percentage of graduates who pass their licensing exams on the first try.

Somerset Community College was honored as one of the Top 25 Best Places to Work in Kentucky among organizations with more than 250 employees. This year, the College was named the 16th Best Place to Work in the state. SCC has been named to this prestigious award for three of the four years that the award has been in existence. The 2008 award was our best showing so far.

Many of the students in our technical programs participated in the 2008 SkillsUSA state competition held in Louisville April 1-5. At least eight from the Somerset Campus brought home first place honors and earned the right to go to the national competition in Kansas City later this year. Others from our London Campus also earned that right.

Donors to the College, which included SCC employees, helped us to raise $4.3 million for SCC during our Fulfilling the Promise Campaign. The total exceeded our $4 million goal. We think this is an indicator of the wonderful support we have in the communities we serve.

The SCC student newspaper won numerous awards from the Kentucky Intercollegiate Newspaper Association (KIPA) and was named the second best student newspaper in the 16-College Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

These are just a few examples of the hard work that our students and faculty put into making SCC a top community college.

I hope you are as proud of SCC and our students as I am. As we go out into the state, nation and the world, we always strive to represent the communities we serve and show what is best about South Central Kentucky.

Thank you for all you do to help make Somerset Community College the best.



Sincerely,

Dave Cazalet

Director of Public Relations

Somerset Community College

        

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