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Hello and welcome to Dateline Delta.

I'm Diane Middleton, a member of the Delta College Board of Trustees.

On today's show, we'll get a preview of a future campus visit by an award winning author and take a closer look at Delta's welding program.

Will learn about a textbook written by a faculty member, and hear how a student is finding their way, The Delta Way.

To wrap up the show, we'll visit the Delta College Flute Choir.

Hear updates on the presidential search and listen in on Delta College's recent possible dream induction ceremony.

The Delta College Humanities Learning Center will welcome Curtis Chin, an award winning author, producer, and activist, to campus on Wednesday, April 15th for a reading and discussion of his memoir, everything I learned I learned in a Chinese Restaurant.

To preview this event, we spoke with Michael Evans, the Humanities Learning Center coordinator.

The Humanities Learning Center was established over ten years ago by my colleagues in the history department.

And we, exists to promote the humanities in Delta College and in the local community.

And as part of that, we have a series of speakers.

We have lunchtime events called Brown Bag Events, because you can bring along your lunch and listen to a speaker.

We've had a mixture of, Delta College, professors and employees, sharing their expertise and also external speakers.

So in conjunction with the President Speaker Series and the great Michigan Read, we are inviting Curtis Chin, who's the author of this year's chosen book which is “Everything I learned I Learned in the Chinese Restaurant”.

In his presentation, he's going to talk about his autobiographical book, about growing up in the Chinese community in Detroit.

It's important to bring speakers such as Curtis Chin to campus, because it links us in with a statewide program, which is a great Michigan read.

It, brings somebody who can talk about many different perspectives.

He's from the Asian American community.

He's from the LGBT community.

So it's very important for to representation.

We look forward to welcoming Curtis Chin on April 15th at 12:00 in the lecture theater here on the Delta College main campus.

If anyone has any questions about it, they can email the Humanities Learning Center at HLC@delta.edu Delta College offers over 140 programs designed to meet student and area employer needs.

Today, we'll take a closer look at the welding program.

Half of all the products made in the United States have some type of weld on it.

So we're talking about infrastructure, buildings, bridges, railroads.

It's one of the engines that make the United States of America go.

I mean, we we got to have these things for commerce.

And if we don't have the qualified people to do it, everything would come to a halt.

You wouldn't want to go on a roller coaster ride and it fall off when you're at the top.

It's really important to be able to hone in on your skills.

And no matter how pretty it looks, once they bend it, if there's holes in it, it's unfeasible.

It can't be used.

So that really takes someone having a certain level of skill and not just cosmetic looks.

Teachers are always here.

They put you through the trenches and they they kind of show you the roots of how everything is done, how it's supposed to be done.

So it's, it's important to know what you're doing in certain situations.

It's a very hands on and in the moment kind of a job.

You can't really be thinking about anything else.

You have to focus on what you're doing.

We have small class sizes, so that leads to a safer work environment, more one on one time with each student that we're afforded.

So more time is spent welding, less time waiting.

One of the critical things I tell students is you're here to make mistakes.

I make sure they understand that they're here to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes and do better on the next one, because once they get a job welding somewhere, those mistakes can be costly, affect deadlines.

So we really stress that so they don't strive for perfection.

I mean, that's the ultimate goal.

But just getting better.

Everyone getting better at that welding.

We have newer power sources here.

We have tools and cutting equipment here that resembles what they would run into out there.

Like we use art gouging, plasma cutting, oxy fuel cutting.

We have grinders just like they would use in the field.

It's exactly like it would be on the first job.

In the class they're only teaching you to pass the weld test.

They're also teaching you other, rules of the road and for down the line.

But your own development really happens, in the hours that you're on campus and you're actually trying to work.

I'm not saying they necessarily just threw us out there, but being able to have your own independence in the field and the trust to be able to be like okay, this is the tools I'm going to show you how.

And now you know, you do it.

You're going to be in moments when there's not a teacher in front of you, you need to know how to change a roller to change your wheel.

It really just depends on your own mark scene.

Willing to get new things done.

Anybody can do welding.

It doesn't matter who you are.

You can be welding.

You will get better at it day by day.

Usually it's the most frustrating days that you learn the most.

But yeah, prepare to sweat.

In a sabbatical project completed in the fall of 2025, Delta College Professor Kara Jimenez has written two wellness textbooks now in use at the college.

We talked to Kara to learn more about this initiative and how it benefits students.

So in fall 2025 semester, I was awarded a sabbatical.

And during that time, I was able to write two open educational resources for students that are going to be taking our lifelong wellness courses.

We wanted to develop continuity of learning across the disciplines.

So all lifelong wellness faculty who teach our wellness courses will be using these OER textbooks.

In all, we are going to save the students in the course of a year, over $400,000.

Inside the wellness OER textbook, I was able to branch out and focus on the different dimensions of wellness, and in turn, I was able to add, academic success and student success strategies inside every single chapter.

In addition to that, I collaborated with a lot of faculty, over 80 different faculty from across the college.

Were able to give me ideas on things that they saw their students struggling with academically, so I could make sure that I targeted those things within our chapters in our wellness textbook.

In addition to that, I have, provided Delta College resources in every single chapter that students will able to utilize, as they're going through the chapter.

So, for example, when we discuss intellectual wellness, we will talk about, the academic coaching and what we offer here at the college for students in regards to intellectual well-being and how to study and prepare for tests.

And so they'll be able to utilize those resources as they're going through that chapter in our textbook.

Feedback from instructors has been phenomenal because the, platform that I've used was called Soft Chalk, and I was able to integrate soft chalk into our e-learning course site.

And inside every single chapter I have into, interactive learning activities, where the students will read a little bit and then they'll answer a couple of questions, and then they'll read a little bit more, and then they'll do maybe a drag and drop activity or a matching activity.

And so every chapter has embedded interactive learning activities.

And those scores are automatically transferred into our gradebook.

As the students are reading the chapter, they're interacting and learning.

So faculty really like that aspect.

And the student feedback has also been very good as well, in relationship to obviously it's a free textbook.

They enjoy that, but they also enjoy the interactive learning activities that require them to really assess what they're learning at that point in time in the chapter.

This winter, 2026 semester, we're piloting, the textbooks, both of them in multiple lifelong wellness courses.

We're making tweaks and changes over the spring semester.

And then come fall 2026 semester it will be fully implemented in all lifelong wellness courses across the board.

The next student feature is Joshua Gorm, a U.S.

Marine Corps veteran in Delta's information technology program who shares it's never to late to take a chance and make a change.

Trying to figure out what I wanted to do for school for a very long time.

I've had a lot of different careers.

That's Marine Corps, but a law enforcement officer.

EMT over the course of those years, I found that I really tend to gravitate towards technology.

So now I'm studying IT here at Delta.

Like, one of my previous careers was, a federal law enforcement officer.

I worked for United States Border Patrol.

Then I switched over to United States Customs when I was working those jobs.

I realized, how important digital media is, especially in the law enforcement side, trying to, you know, people would hide stuff there.

And that's where we were.

You know, you could find stuff.

And I always kind of tinkered with it at home.

So it's kind of just been over the years, progressed progressively.

Now I'm like, oh, wait, I'm actually really interested in this.

I enjoy it.

So why can't I do this for school?

And like, why can I do this as a job?

I was really nervous coming back into school, especially being in my 40s, and wasn't sure how I was going to interact with the younger students.

But here at Delta there's, a big mix of students and all age ranges.

When I came back to Delta, I was actually able to get a student employment job down at the Veterans Service office, working with the school certifying official.

And it's something I actually really enjoy.

I didn't know that I was going to enjoy it this much.

We help all the veterans coming in to use their education benefits.

We sit down with them, figure out which one is going to be the most beneficial for them to use so they can maximize, every educational benefit they have.

And it's actually really rewarding when you see you know, you're getting people actually back into school better in their lives and being able to help them out with that.

Especially with me being here right now.

It shows my son that a degree is important.

College is important.

He saw me, you know, give up a career to come back to school.

So I think he can take that and realize, you know, even.

And later on in life, you just stuck to doing what?

You know, if you realize you don't like your job, you aren't stuck.

The Delta College Flute Choir has been entertaining the community for over 50 years.

As one of Delta's most popular cultural contributions to the area.

The harmonies they produce continue to captivate audiences, attending a range of public and college related programs.

To learn more about this talented group of musicians, we talked to Anne Livingston, Choir Director.

The Delta Flute Choir started with the founding by Mary H. Anderson, resident of Essexville.

Who taught flute at both Delta College and at Saginaw Valley State University.

In 1974, she decided to start a flute choir with her students there at Delta College The Delta Flute Choir is sponsored by the Anderson Foundation, of Delta College, Currently we have a flute choir of between 15 and 20 members.

Our group is comprised of flutist from the tri county area.

But in addition to that, currently have three flutes that come from the thumb area, Bad Axe.

Also from Tawas and from Gladwin area.

Throughout the year, we participate in several events starting with in the fall Delta College is A Chocolate Affair.

It's usually our first event of the fall.

And as we get into Christmas season, the Christmas walk at Dow Gardens is always an event for us.

We try to schedule other events as well in the community at assisted living Homes, and school assemblies, church services, anything we can find to play we are glad to do In addition to we were honored to do a program for our 50th anniversary in October of 2024, Throughout the years, we've had many flutist of varying degrees we have an eighth grader currently playing with us.

We have different levels of skill that we use in our pieces.

And, we welcome everyone to come.

The piece you are going to hear is entitled Cactus Flower.

It is movement from, from a three movement piece by Ricky Lombardo.

And the reason I chose this piece is that Ricky Lombardo was a very special friend, Mary, at all the flute conventions and throughout the years, Rick he has Ricky Lombardo has written many pieces for the for flute choirs.

He's composed and arranged many pieces.

And any flute choir could probably tell you that could probably name a dozen pieces.

They played by Ricky Lombardo.

This is part of a bigger suite called the Southwestern Sketches.

And this is the middle movement up, which I think showcases the piccolo.

And also, you'll hear the altos in the bass in the back row as well.

The flute choir and I would like to give our thanks to Delta College for their support throughout the years.

For the 50th anniversary concert.

That was very memorable to all of us.

We are welcoming to any flutist who would like to come and join our group.

For more information about the Delta Flute Choir, contact us with the information that's on your screen.

Last September, Delta's president announced his impending departure from the college.

Since then, a nationwide search began to identify his successor.

To share updates on this process we heard from Stacey Gannon, Chair of the Delta College Board of Trustees.

Hi.

I'm pleased to be here today to give you an update on the Delta College Board of Trustees search for a new president for Delta College.

I'm pleased that we're making progress.

And we remain on schedule to have our new president in place by July 1st, 2026.

This is a process that many community colleges around the country are undertaking at the same time.

Selection of a new president typically takes place around the cycle of an academic year.

And so we are embarking on this search to look for the absolute best candidate for Delta College.

We started several months ago, and a lot of behind the scenes work has been done.

We put together a search advisory committee that was chaired by Trustee Diane Middleton, who did an extensive amount of work with the assistance of our consultant from ACCT.

We had 63 applicants apply.

We had some of those that did not meet minimum qualifications, but we had 49 qualified applicants that we reviewed both by the search committee and by your board of trustees.

The search committee put together the strengths and weaknesses of all of these candidates, along with some recommendations that they felt were outstanding candidates.

Then the Board of Trustees reviewed all of those 49 candidates themselves, along with the recommendations made by the search committee that resulted in the recent selection of ten candidates, that we would like to request additional information from.

Those candidates are currently producing that additional information, and that will be coming forth in the next week or so, when the board will again convene to review those ten applicants and reduce the field to finalists.

So we're on schedule.

Things are going as planned, and we look forward to presenting a new president to you on July 1st.

If you need additional information, you can visit the website for Delta and look for the Presidential Search tab.

For over 30 years, the Delta College Possible Dream Program has helped area middle and high school students to realize their highest potential and know that pursuing a college degree is a dream within reach.

74 new Dreamers were recently inducted into the program.

To tell us more, we talked to Rachel Chaltraw, Possible Dream Coordinator.

The Possible Dream Program is a program designed for students that are academically successful but may face other challenges as to why they're not looking at college as the next step.

So our possible dream students join when they are in sixth, seventh, or eighth grade and then they stay with us all the way until they graduate in high school.

Our program offers events and activities that are designed to help them not only see college as that next step, but also introduce them to different career pathways and cultural experiences, opportunities they wouldn't normally have otherwise.

So there's lots of different options for them to explore some of the different areas that they might be interested in.

Also supporting them academically, but then encouraging them to be thinking of whats next for them.

All of the events and activities for our students are completely free of charge thanks to the Chocolate Affair event that is hosted every year by the Delta College Foundation that fully funds our program.

The goal of our program is for students to graduate from high school and then hopefully attend college.

And since its inception in 1991, the Possible Dream program has a rate of about 79 to 80% of students that go on to some form of higher education.

We recently welcomed our latest induction class for 2025 to 2026.

The process for our students actually began back in September when nominators, were able to nominate students that they thought would be a good fit for our program.

Those students were then invited to apply for our program, They found out at the end of November, that they were welcomed into our program.

The Delta College Possible Dream program is an amazing opportunity for students that are pursuing their educational goals, but may have some challenges or barriers that they face in that process.

If you have any questions or would like more information about our program, you can reach out to us via the information on your screen.

Thank you Rachel and all Delta College staff and community members who, through their support, are helping students succeed.

If you'd like to contribute to this wonderful program, save the date for the annual fundraising event, A Chocolate Affair.

Thursday, November 5th, 2026 at Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw.

Now let's see what's on the Dateline Delta Calendar of Events.

The Delta College Planetarium will be hosting a series of shows during the month of April.

For more information about these shows and events happening at the planetarium, visit their website at delta.edu/planetarium.

Join us for Delta College's mobile food distribution, providing free groceries to individuals and families in need.

No appointment necessary and the drive thru event is open to the public.

The event will be on Tuesday, April 7th from 10 a.m.

until noon at the Dow Diamond Parking lot, 825 East Main Street in Midland.

The Great Lakes Bay Employment Job Fair will take place on Thursday, April 9th from noon till 3 p.m.

in the Pioneer Gym on the Delta College campus.

The job fair is open to all.

For further information on these events or other campus activities, contact the Office of Marketing and Public Information at (989)686-9490, or visit our website at www.delta.edu Well, that wraps up our show.

Please join us again on April 19th when we highlight what's happening here at Delta College.

One of America's leading community colleges.

Now let's return to St.

John's Amelith school to hear more from the Delta College Flute Choir.

For Dateline Delta, I'm Diane Middleton.

Thanks for watching.

Local production scene on Delta College Public Media are made possible with support from viewers like you.

Thank you.