Mixed Blood Theatre's Dr. King's Dream Comes to Pine City

Dr. King's Dream, Mixed Blood Theatre's acclaimed celebration of the life and career of Dr. Martin Luther King, will be performed in Pine City at Pine Technical & Community College auditorium on Monday, February 22. Sponsored by Pine Technical & Community College’s Diversity Team, the performance begins at 5:30 and is free and open to the public.

 

Dr. King's Dream features Warren C. Bowles in a stirring solo performance that movingly chronicles King's career from its beginning during the Montgomery bus strike to his death in Memphis. It captures all of the dignity, courage, and humanity of a unique American leader.

 

Both the external events in King's career (the marches in Selma and Birmingham, winning the Nobel Peace Prize) and his thoughts on topics ranging from Malcolm X to the police to President Kennedy are included, as his soaring "I Have a Dream" speech. Yet for all of the historical significance, what emerges is the spirit of a man dedicated to equality through non-violence, to an ideal, and to a dream.

 

Dr. King's Dream is produced by the Mixed Blood Theatre Company from its home in a century-old Minneapolis fire station. Founded in 1976 and dedicated to the spirit of Dr. King's dream, Mixed Blood is a multi-racial professional company promoting cultural pluralism, individual equality, and artistic excellence.

 

The show is one of four programs toured nationally by Mixed Blood. The others include Minnecanos, a look at Chicano cultural history in Minnesota; Daughters of Africa, a music-driven history of African American women; and Theory of Mind, about a college-bound young man on the autism spectrum.

 

 Warren C. Bowles, the talented actor featured in Dr. King's Dream, has toured for Mixed Blood since 1981. Among the most memorable of his scores of credits at Mixed Blood are Lucien in The Boys Next Door, the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac, and the professor in Oleanna. He directed Daughters of Africa and both wrote and directed African America and Black Eagle, a biography of Challenger shuttle astronaut Ron McNair.

PTCC receives NATEF accreditation

Pine Technical & Community College’s Automotive Technology program was recently reaccredited by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) through the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF). John Morin and Sheldon Gallmeier volunteered to serve on the NATEF evaluation team.  

 

Grant helps foreign-born PTCC nursing students

In an effort to increase enrollment, retention and graduation rates among foreign born nursing students, Pine Technical & Community College has recently earned a grant to support these efforts.

 

“According to my research, diversity in the U.S. has grown to 24% of the population, but nationally, the nursing profession hasn’t kept pace,” said Connie Frisch, PTCC’s dean of nursing and health sciences. “Only 17% of nursing professionals reflect a diverse population. This grant will allow us to support our foreign-born students in order to grow diversity within the nursing profession statewide.”

PTCC was one of two rural Minnesota colleges to earn the grant awarded by Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) Education Industry Partnerships. The intent of the grant was to support the success of foreign-born nursing students. PTCC will use the grant to provide cultural competence workshops for nursing faculty. The workshops will help faculty identify European American cultural influences in the nursing profession, as well as develop cultural competence in the classroom. Additionally, the grant will help identify students’ language ability skills and support systems and provide opportunities to offer formal diverse study groups to all nursing students.

“Because of our commitment to diversity and student success, we’re very proud to receive this grant. It will have a possible impact on all of our nursing faculty and students,” Frisch said. “Eventually, we hope to extend these workshops and practices to other programs. The grant will have a positive impact on our entire campus.”

 
The Education Industry Partnership grant honors the late Kathleen McCullough-Zander, a former nursing faculty at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Her husband, David Zander, in memory of his wife, worked with legislators in 2015 to provide an appropriation of $35,000 to support programming for foreign-born students. The legislature specified Century College and Minneapolis Community and Technical College as recipients in the Metro area for the funding, with two additional grants awarded to rural colleges – Pine Technical & Community College and Hibbing Community College.

PTCC’s Business Technology program supports today’s office professional

Administrative assistants, office managers and support staff, receptionists and clerks are all positions that continue to have a bright outlook, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. While the need for business professionals has remained steady, the skills employers seek change as quickly as the technology. In order to meet the needs of regional and state businesses, Pine Technical & Community College introduces its new Business Technology (BTEC) certificate and associate of applied science degree, starting spring semester.

 “Business professionals need to have a variety of experience and skills in order to support an office, especially in small organizations that require staff to wear a lot of hats,” said Gavin House, BTEC instructor. “Today’s office professional also needs to be familiar with marketing, accounting software, desktop publishing and management principles, as well as the fundamental communication and organization skills. Our new program covers all of these topics, along with an internship or capstone to give the graduate some real-world experience. ”

 First-year courses emphasize the basic knowledge and skills necessary to prepare students for entry-level office positions. Second-year offerings include advanced courses in business and technology as well as an internship and/or capstone course to prepare students for higher levels of employment. 

 PTCC’s BTEC program provides opportunities to become proficient in computer, business, and communication skills used by administrative and technology support positions in a wide variety of business office and customer service settings.

Coursework covers the fundamentals of business culture, written business communication, business presentations, computer fundamentals, use of current software applications and interpersonal and team development skills.

 To learn more about the program, please go to http://pine.edu/programs/business/business-technology/ or call 320.629.5100.

PTCC students complete program’s first mold and plastic articles

The goal of technical colleges is to provide their students with the hands-on, practical skills they will need to be successful in their careers. At Pine Technical & Community College, students are also bridging the gap between programs to create collaborative projects that prepare them for the job ahead – and blazing some trails as well.

 

 

Recently, PTCC Advanced Manufacturing student Mitchell Frommader has completed the first mold manufactured at the college.  He designed the part, programmed the CNC machine(s) to machine and engrave the mold. He also machined the mold base to accept the new mold along with the ejector retainer plate and ejector pins in the plastic molding machine.
 

 

After the mold was complete, it was ready for PTCC Plastic Technology students to put the piece to use.  Plastic Technology student Paul Linnerooth set up and cycled the molding machine for the first articles. He optimized the all parameters including pressures, speeds, shot size and cycle time. 





Mitch Frommader made mold in advanced manufacturing

Student Shawn Raykowski then set up the mold in the 110 ton Toshiba and programmed the robot and optimized the cycle for this press. Both molding machines are all electric servo-driven state of the art machines that were part of the Advanced Manufacturing Education Alliance (AME) to help the college focus on the high demand for skilled people in advanced manufacturing.

 

Paul Linnerooth set up and processed 1^st articles

Shawn Raykowski set up and processed with the robot

“This was truly a student-led project from start to finish,” said Plastic Technology instructor Bryan Schaupp. “With the mold modifications that Mitch has made, it will be easy and inexpensive for students and anyone who has idea for smaller plastic parts to have cheap alternative to develop their project.” Size of the inserts are approximately .5 x 2.75 x 6 inches.



For more information about the Advanced Manufacturing and the Plastic Technology programs, please call 320.629.5100 or online at www.pine.edu/programs/advanced-manufacturing-technology-programs/.




 

Technology improves access to child care training

 

Technology is helping programs like Child Care Aware (CCA) connect with their constituents in every corner of their 17-county service area, from as far north in Grand Marias to their own neighbors in Pine City. In an effort to improve accessibility to training courses, CCA is introducing mediated telepresence courses.

Mediated telepresence (MT) courses allows participants to access training from sites throughout the district to a trainer located at another site. MT training even allows for remote connections from anywhere via computer or mobile device, so providers can access face-to-face training from home.

Child Care Aware – whose mission is to promote high-quality, affordable and accessible child care of all Minnesota families – provides training courses to those in child care, whether they are licensed family daycare or center-based. Not only are many of these courses required for licensing purposes, but they are also used to earn star ratings under the voluntary Parent Aware rating system.

The goal of CCA courses are to provide high-quality training for providers to get children ready for school.  MT will expand CCA’s ability to offer courses, while increasing the availability of training to established and new providers.

“For some providers, the drive to a training site can be more than two hours, and this is after a long work day. So this gives them options,” said Wendy Walburg, district coordinator.

Mediated telepresence classes will help providers in Pine City, too. When there aren’t enough students to fill an on-site class, the training might be cancelled. Because MT courses are broadcast from an originating site to multiple locations, CCA is able to offer a wide variety of classes without the concern of the number of attendees per site.

 

Go online for more information about CCA's professional development and training. To register for training or to request more information, call 320.629.5164.

Anderson earns Mark Welter World Citizen Award

Pine Technical & Community College student Kevin Anderson is one of 20 students from Minnesota State Colleges and Universities selected for the Mark Welter World Citizen Award. The scholarship award honors MnSCU students who exemplify the thoughts, words and actions demanded by a 21st century world citizen. Anderson is enrolled in the gunsmithing and firearms technology program at PTCC.