Get ready for "Student Success Week!"

PTC brings you "Student Success Week," Oct. 24-28. The week highlights important topics for students such as Advising, Course Planning, Counseling, and Tutoring. The weeklong event brings into focus events/themes that students sometimes push to the side while mainly focusing on academics. There are no classes scheduled for the mid-week event, "Advising Day," Oct. 26, and instead, students are encouraged to meet with their advisors to ensure they are on track.

Daily highlights Student Success Week brings include:

Mon. Oct. 24
"Recipes for Success!"
Free recipe book available from Student Affairs, featuring quick and easy recipes perfect for any college student, plus "Recipes for Student Success!"

Also, students will have the opportunity to participate in a GPS scavenger hunt and win prizes from the Academic Skills Center.

Muffins and mini donuts available outside Student Affairs.

Tues. Oct. 25
"Math RoundUp!"
Students can get their very own booklet of Math Success hints, available in the ASC.

Also, don't miss a special presentation at 11 a.m. in the auditorium (room 20) from Lakes State Credit Union - a free workshop on personal finance.

Plus, rice-krispy bars available in the ASC and room 94.

Wed. Oct. 26
"Advising Day!"
Students in developmental coursework (except ECD and Nursing) encouraged to meet program advisors between 11 a.m. and 12 noon in room 270 for ice cream sundaes.

5th Annual Open House!
4 to 7 p.m. campus/college-wide -- students are encouraged to bring their friends and family and show off their Pine Pride and campus! Instructors and staff will be on hand to talk with prospective and inquiring students!

Thurs. Oct. 27
"Study Secrets and Resources!"
Student Senate and student clubs will be available in the lounge and halls to showcase their activities.

Open House in the Academic Skills Center AND in Student Affairs. Get re-acquainted and connected with support services.

Hot dogs and chips available at the bistro tables.

Fri. Oct. 28
"Staying Healthy!"
Surround yourself with positive people, and spend some time in the ASC getting unfinished work finished! Drawings for prizes in the ASC for attendance at weekly events, and popcorn at the bistro table area.

PTC part of $19.6 million federal health training grant

PTC will partner with nine other two-year colleges across the country in a $19.6 million federal workforce training grant that targets the health professions. The U.S. Department of Labor announced the grant in September as part of a $500 million round of workforce training awards to community colleges by the Obama administration.

Under the three-year grant program, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College will take the lead in the partnership program in what will be known as the “Health Professions Consortium.” Part of the impetus for the grant came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a result of its research into a pioneering health workforce training program launched in Cincinnati. That program, known as the Health Careers Collaborative, has seen Cincinnati State, hospitals, and other organizations work together to help individuals acquire needed training to land jobs, or to improve their chances for promotion if they already have jobs.

Joining Cincinnati State and Pine Technical College in the grant program are: Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Minn.; El Centro College and Texarkana College, Texas; Ashland Community and Technical College and Jefferson Community and Technical College, Ky.; Owens Community College, Ohio; City Colleges of Chicago, Ill.; and Community College of the District of Columbia.

The consortium has three major goals:
• Provide low-skilled workers with adequate preparation, support and opportunities to complete postsecondary training in health professions that provide credentials aligned with job advancement;
• Expand and enhance the health care workforce with the competencies needed by industry;
• Build the capacity of community colleges to continuously assess student and employment outcomes and use the information to improve the quality of health professions programs.

PTC’s share of the grant totals about $1.7 million, and the college, in conjunction with the Healthcare Alliance, plans to expand its programs in healthcare training fields. The college currently offers programs in long-term care, nursing, and general health science, and with support from the grant, the college is tentatively planning to offer additional programs in limited scope X-ray technology, certified medical assisting (CMA), as well as phlebotomy and EKG certificates.

“This is an exciting moment for Pine Technical College. This grant will allow us to expand job training in healthcare, as well as work toward meeting critical workforce shortages in the industry,” says Robert Musgrove, Ph.D., Pine Technical College President. “The demand for healthcare professionals is expected to continue growing, and with our strategic partnership with the Healthcare Alliance, we remain on the forefront of pursuing innovative ways to expand our programs to strengthen the development of a skilled workforce. I congratulate all our partners on securing this significant award,” Musgrove adds.

PTC helps bring the Highway 61 Film Fest to life

The Highway 61 Film Festival comes to Pine Technical College this weekend, Oct. 14 and 15. The festival will feature 39 short and feature-length films. Doors open at the PTC auditorium (room 20) at 6 p.m. Friday for the first session of films. The price for each session of films is only $5.

FULL SCHEDULE

FRIDAY EVENING 6:30 pm @ Pine Technical College Auditorium

What If?
Director: Noah Schwell • Comedy • 6 min
A boy discovers what it's like to have all his wishes suddenly answered.

Boundary Waters
Director: Lee Houghtaling • Drama • 36 min
A gruff loner who lives in a remote cabin faces financial pressures and the encroachment of outsiders that threaten his way of life.

Five Bucks Til Friday
Director: Zach Hamill • Comedy • 28 min
Goofy slacker Scott wakes up Monday morning with five dollars to his name... and has to make it last for five frustratingly eventful days.

Stories Next Door
Director: Jeff Weihe • Documentary • 28 min
A close-up look at innovative programs that connect youth and seniors to record and celebrate local history as part of the Minnesota Historical Society's statewide Sharing Community Stories initiative.

Lumber Jill
Director: Tucker Lucas • Comedy • 29 min
Jill LeBlah, an urban misfit, decides to finally seek her birth parents. Her journey leads her to Cloquet, an old logging town in northern Minnesota, where she, in the midst of magical lumberjacks and talking taxidermy discovers … a home?

Songs to Enemies and Deserts
Directors: David Martinez and Shane Bauer • Documentary • 35 min
In Darfur, an area of Sudan controlled by two factions of armed rebels, farmers and herders go about with their daily lives as they interact with the rebels. It’s been said that 95 percent of a war is waiting, and this film is about that part: when the conflict comes to a standstill, and the men with guns become part of everyday existence. Life is hard in Darfur, but it continues on nonetheless.

FRIDAY LATE NIGHT 10pm @ Danny C's BeachRocks Resort

Recreation
Director: James Vogel • Documentary • 8 min
An observational documentary about drug use, and how it relates to our social activities.

All Over the Walls
Directors: Ryan Anderson, Greg Paape, Joe Galegher, Jake Johnson, and Alex Grangaard • Documentary • 77 min
This documentary follows eccentric and charismatic mixed media artist and body painter Jacob as he pursues his dream of building an art gallery that doubles as an underground party space in downtown Minneapolis. Experience the many difficulties and meet the collection of characters Jacob encounters.

The True Story of Peter Pan
Director: James Vogel • Comedy • 13 min
A mocumentary about what might happen if Peter Pan existed in the real world.

Night Surf
Director: Brittany Gustafson • Drama • 16 min
In an alternate reality where the Nazis won WWII and are now creating human-animal hybrids, the lives of five people intersect at a top secret medical facility.

Cocainine
Director: Jack Deflorin • Action/Horror • 20 min
A villainous plan to sell moondust as a drug brings chaos and murder to the city, and a detective is forced to get up earlier than he wanted to.

Your Mother's a Hunt
Director: John Karsko • Comedy • 14 min
Meeting her boyfriend's mom for the first time, a young woman goes toe to toe with her when the discover each is hiding a supernatural secret.

Hunting Buddies
Director: Bill Cooper • Action/Horror • 77 min
Old friends gather for a weekend of fun and hunting. But when one of them goes missing, dark secrets emerge.

SATURDAY 11:30 am • Family-Friendly @ Pine Technical College Auditorium

Rhythm Sticks
Director: Kristin Seuntjens • Animation (Not for competition) • 28 min
The whole family will love visiting the wonderful world of Rhythm Sticks, where learning about music is always fun!

Spaceman from Space
Director: Jack Deflorin • Comedy • 3 min
When a young space cadet crash-lands on an unknown planet he is forced to survive without a bunch of stuff, and in his search for stuff he finds himself in a battle of wits with the local inhabitants.

Whistle
Director: Mike Gainor • Comedy • 8 min
An unhappy boy looks for a cure for his sadness, and finds it... at the Pine County Fair!

Underwater Ocean Visit
Director: Bonnie Menigo • Documentary • 23 min
Join scuba divers as they discover underwater creatures in a world few people get to see.

Welcome to America: 50 states in 50 days
Director: Rodney Johnson • Documentary • 90 min
Roger Johnson and his travel partner Haley Chamberlain began a journey to all 50 United States in only 50 days. Starting in New York City, the two drove over 15,000 miles ending their journey in Honolulu, Hawaii on the 4th of July.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON 2:30pm @ Pine Technical College Auditorium

Ink Blots
Director: Sara Maki • Documentary (Not for competition) • 5 min
A trailer version of a documentary exploring the meanings and reasons for people's tattoo choices.

Out of Character
Director: Barbara P. Flees • Drama • 21 min
The world inside the mind of author Zander – once a heavy drinker and womanizer. He cleaned up his act and is ready to move on by killing his main character, Zeke, who represents Zander's unpleasant past. As he considers his options, Zeke tries to dissuade Zander from ending his book series.

Games Men Play
Director: Norm Barnhart • Comedy • 3 min
A news report on the destructive and addicting game that is sweeping the nation.

Cento
Director: Michael Thompson • Animation • 5 min
A strange and mysterious exploration of art and meaning.

Sun Gods
Director: Nial Hopkins • Drama • 16 min
When a stranger rolls into town with only a map to his name, he enlists two brothers to guide him on his journey.

Masquerade
Director: Jennifer Prettyman • Drama • 27 min
Two lost souls are brought together through an evening of drinks and conversation at a local bar.

Payback Time
Director: Mark Kopischke • Comedy • 7 min
An inventor uses his time-travel machine to wreak revenge on enemies and former girlfriends.

Harold Crumb
Director: Christopher Jopp • Drama • 24 min
Poor Harold. Too many fortune cookies to fill, and that yellow rabbit always out of reach...

The Suit
Director: Adam Chown • Comedy • 7 min
After receiving their tax refund, two friends purchase new suits with the sole intention of destroying them.

Lambent Fuse
Director: Matt Cici • Drama • 99 min
The choices of a depressive man, a kleptomaniac, two amateur thieves, a mysterious chef, and a corrupt cop cause their intertwining lives and dynamic outcomes.

SATURDAY EVENING 6:30pm @ Pine Technical College Auditorium

Love Notes
Director: Canyon Lalama • Action/Horror • 11 min
Lovelorn Victor is rejected by his beloved Henrietta. He is in the process of killing himself when he finds a magical accordion on the train tracks. He uses the accordion's magic to try and seduce Henrietta, but it backfires when she is stabbed by a fork. Victor must defeat the evil accordion and come to terms with the rejection.

Stitches
Director: Mason Makram • Action/Horror • 13 min
Jolene is wanted for the murder of a state trooper. Bullet wound in her stomach, she must do whatever it takes to get a passport to the border to Canada.

Bloodshed Love
Director: Mason Makram • Action/Horror • 17 min
1927: Handyman Daniel Coyle is called to yet another job at the house of the beautiful Becky Darling. As love buds, his boss takes him to a speakeasy where he finds Becky in the lap of her procurer, McLintock, whom Coyle discovers is her procurer. Coyle convinces her to stand up for herself, but McLintock will have the final say. Instead of taking her to a new life, Coyle finds ...

Roadside Assistance
Director: Mark Kopischke • Comedy • 8 min
Stranded in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire, an unhappy couple's journey to find a jack turns into a bizarre adventure as they meet some interesting characters along the way.

Dope Sick
Director: Elijah Woodcock • Action/Horror • 18 min
Todd Parker finds himself lost in a maze of a rundown hotel. Lovely Terra Crowe guides him through the twists and turns of his own mind in an attempt to escape his doomed fate.

Birthmarked for Death
Director: Matt Olson • Comedy • 8 min
A reluctant hitman and an inept informant bond over substitute teaching on the way to an execution.

Ghost from the Machine
Director: Matt Osterman • Action/Horror • 86 min
A young man, raising his even younger brother after the death of their parents, plunges himself into the murky science of the supernatural and invents a machine intended to be a conduit to the other side. He reaches an unintended level of success that not only threatens his safety, but also those around him.

SATURDAY LATE NIGHT 10pm @ Danny C's BeachRocks Resort • Adult content

The Missing Frame
Director: Elijah Woodcock • Action/Horror • 12 min
After finding his wife's dead body in their motel room, Johnny Keys goes on a hunt to find the man responsible. His only clue a car with a busted out back window he sees fleeing the scene.

Attack of the Moon Zombies
Director: Christopher R. Mihm • Action/Horror • 99 min
On Jackson Lunar Base, scientists stumble upon a seemingly impossible discovery: alien plant life on the surface of the moon! Unfortunately, exposure to the spores of this otherworldly flora cause instant death. Too bad those killed by them don't stay dead, and want nothing more than to replicate!

Some Fangs
Directors: Mark L. Nielson and Destiny Soria • Action/Horror • 9 min
A girl gets revenge on her human ex-boyfriend after a mysterious vampire turns her into one of the undead.

Potpourri
Director: Brandon Van Vliet • Action/Horror • 90 min
A group of students are faced with expulsion if their final philosophy papers are not satisfactory. As a result, the inept group of friends decides to experiment with a series of illicit drugs to help them understand some of the mind-bending concepts of the course – but the students begin to realize how severely they've underestimated the effects of the drugs...


Photo: Kristin Seuntjens introduces her film "Rhythm Sticks" Sat. morning at the festival. (Photo added Oct. 17)

PTC takes its show on the road!

Pine Technical College staff members have been traveling and representing PTC at various college fairs and public events over the last few weeks. Affectionately called the "PTC roadshow," the outreach efforts work to increase the college's visibility and reach. Staff members have recently attended college fairs in PTC's very own Pine City, Cambridge, and the national college fair is set for this week in Minneapolis. Additionally, admissions staff has been a featured guest presenter at several area high schools and job club meetings.

"Attending outside functions like college fairs and speaking at special events helps prospective students, at the very least, become aware of us as option. And, when they're ready to apply, we're top-of-mind," says Dani Chandonnet, PTC's Director of Marketing and Admissions. "September and October of every year is always a super-busy time for events like this, and the payoff, as far as increased visibility and reach, is well worth it," Chandonnet adds.

Don't miss the next PTC-hosted special event, set for Wed. Oct. 26 -- the 5th Annual Open House, 4 to 7 p.m.

Photo at top: Dani Chandonnet and Marlene Mixa, Ph.D., CBJT Grants and Outreach Coordinator, pause for a photo at the National College Fair, hosted by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. (photo added Oct. 4)