Thanks to grant, surfing joins planting, harvesting

Chamber forum: Tech center top priority here

Dual credit program growing

Teens get a jump start on college

Coping day-by-day

Thanks to grant, surfing joins planting, harvesting
Hopkinsville Community College provides free computers and training for farmers

HOPKINSVILLE - Until this fall, 72-year-old Lois Brown had never turned on a computer. The same day she learned to turn one on, she was surfing the Web.

Not only has Brown gained computer skills through a class offered to local farmers, but she's learned to type, too. The Crofton woman now owns a computer that she couldn't afford on her own.

Participants in the Computers for Farm Use program received free refurbished computers and 12 hours of computer training through a grant at Hopkinsville Community College.

Computer instruction covered the fundamentals of using a computer, including introductions to the Windows operating system, the Internet and e-mail. They also learned about bookkeeping systems and received textbooks for the class.

"Things are changing. Farmers recognize the need to know computer technology," said Carol Kirves, continuing education and community services coordinator for HCC. "This whole project started when a big need was seen to educate farmers in this area."

For some, it was their first computer and training, she said. For others, it added another computer and more farm-based computer skills to expand operations.

Brown plans to use the information she learned to check prices and information online, and to e-mail relatives who live outside of Kentucky.

Jeff Kincaid, a self-described "hobby farmer" with about 100 acres near Hopkinsville, said he will use the computer for finances.

"I'm really tickled to get the opportunity to do this," said Capitola Charles, who lives on a farm with her husband in northern Christian County.

Charles said the class has taught her everything from how to hook up a computer to how to create a spreadsheet online.

The workshop was offered at HCC through a partnership between the Commodity Growers Cooperative and an $18,070 Workforce Alliance Grant.

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System and McConnell Technology and Training Center provided the computers.

Twenty people registered for classes this month, and another 20 are registered for classes next month.

A waiting list for the workshops contains more than 50 names. Kirves has requested additional funding for future workshops.

The Henderson Gleaner
December 11, 2004

Chamber forum: Tech center top priority here

A new technology center at Henderson Community College as well as regional economic development efforts were ranked as the community's top priorities during a Friday forum sponsored by the Henderson Chamber of Commerce.

The approximately 30 community leaders who attended the forum heard seven presentations and then were asked to rank the projects they thought most important to the community's progress. The proposed tech center and economic development tied for first place. Coming in third was the continued work of the Tri-county Business and Industry Training Consortium, which has been funded by federal grants to start up. Those grants will end next year.

HCC President Pat Lake noted that the tech center is "not a new project," because it was first proposed 13 years ago. The building, which would cost in excess of $13 million, would provide technical training to workers and support services to local employers.

"We're in a foot race with other schools," Lake said. "Some have already gotten technology centers," despite HCC having been named a higher priority by statewide higher education organizations.

Strong support at the forum was shown for regional economic development efforts when participants were asked whether that or the training consortium should benefit most from local dollars. The split was 18 for economic development to 6 for the training consortium; not every participant voted on every question.

Participants narrowly split when asked whether federal and state money should go to the Henderson City-County Airport or the Henderson County Riverport. The riverport won by one vote.

Riverport Director Greg Pritchett touted the river's advantage in shipping costs. "It's cheap to move stuff up and down the river," he said, noting that a gallon of fuel will move a ton of cargo 514 miles by barge, as opposed to 202 miles by train and 59.2 miles by truck. "We think we're an economic engine," he said. "We want you to think the same way."

The airport caused some disagreement when air board member Chuck Stagg, while making his presentation, said that the airport's runway length recently lost the community a new industry that could have provided up to 500 new jobs. The runway currently is about 5,500 feet; the industry needed 7,000 feet, Stagg said.

But Judge-executive Sandy Watkins disputed that point. "Nobody with those people said anything about our airport," he said.

"Our runway was never brought up," confirmed Jimmy Jones, executive director of the Economic Development Council. "If the length of the runway was a problem, they never mentioned it."

Paul Kuerzi, the chamber's vice president for public policy development, in opening the forum noted that the results will be used to help government officials decide where to best spend the public's money, "so the folks who represent us will know exactly what our community's priorities are."

The Daily Independent
December 6, 2004

Dual credit program growing

The 18-year-old student at the Russell Area Technology Center has been quietly racking up college credit since his freshman year.

Bowling is one of about 600 Northeast Kentucky high school students taking advantage of Ashland Community and Technical College's dual credit program.

By now he's got 37 credit hours in drafting, much of it transferable to ACTC. The credits also count toward his high school diploma and, perhaps best of all, didn't cost him anything.

Since first offering dual credit to high school students three years ago, ACTC has seen the program grow six fold, according to a associate dean Jack Trautwein.

What started with 100 students now includes 600. The program is offered to schools with occupational technical programs, including welding, electricity, auto technology, office systems, and drafting.

Participating districts include Ashland, Boyd County, Carter County, Greenup County and Russell.

"We'd like to have dual credit agreements with all the schools in the FIVCO area, because if they're getting training equal to college, they should get credit for it," Trautwein said.

Students who start at ACTC with some credit under their belts have a better chance of success because it takes some of the pressure off, he said. "It can be hard to get all the requirements in a two-year period," he said.

"The kids like it and we like it," said Keith Parsons, principal of the Russell school. "It's good for the kids because it saves them a lot of money, and there are no fees to our school."

About a dozen students at Boyd County's vocational campus are taking dual credit courses this year, said principal Richard Cyrus. It's the first year Boyd County has been involved and Cyrus thinks it's a bargain.

"If they can bypass an entry-level course it's one less they'll have to pay for."

The dual credit helps students "take that first step" into college because they already have an investment in it, said Marcia Martin, principal of the Greenup Area Technology Center.

"They already feel like they're a part of the post-secondary system," she said.

Bowling, whose long-range plan doesn't end until he's got his doctorate in engineering or some related field, said getting the ACTC credit added to his sense of accomplishment.

"I'm going to be pretty confident when I start college," he said.

Teens get a jump start on college
Editorial

There are at least two major advantages to the dual credit program offered by Ashland Community and Technical College to area high schools enrolled in occupational technical programs:

" It allows students to earn college credit toward an associates degree while still in high school. At the same time, the same courses for which those students are earning college credit also earn them credit toward their high school diploma. (Academically demanding Advanced Placement courses also allow high school students to earn college credit.)

" There is no charge for the college credit earned by the high school students. In addition to reducing the time required to earn an associate degree, the dual credit program significantly decreases the cost of obtaining that degree. Thus, young people can complete their training and begin their careers much quicker and with less college debt than they would have without the credit they earned in high school.

It's no wonder then that enrollment in the dual credit program has increased by six fold in the three years since ACTC launched the program. Some 600 high school students from Ashland, Boyd County, Carter County, Greenup County and Russell now are enrolled in the program. They are working toward associate degrees in such occupational programs as welding, electricity, auto technology, office systems and drafting. Some students have earned up to half the credit hours needed for a two-year college degree before ever leaving high school.

It's really not a question of whether high school students interested in becoming electricians, welders, auto mechanics and the like should be enrolled in the dual credit program. The advantages are such that it would be foolish for them to not enroll.

Kentucky New Era
December 7, 2004

Coping day-by-day
Soldier's widow deals with grief by helping others

FORT CAMPBELL -- It's still hard for the widow of a soldier killed in Iraq to come home to an empty house full of memories.

Shipping care packages, attending meetings for spouses, and talking one-on-one with other widows, Christine Bellavia tries to cope with her loss by helping others.

"Just remember, even day-to-day, even if they aren't military, they could walk out the door and it may be the last time you see them," she tells spouses dealing with deployments.

To widows, she offers someone to talk to who truly understands.

Christine and her husband, Staff Sgt. Joseph Bellavia, had been together almost five years when he died in a firefight Oct. 16, 2003. When he shipped out that March, Christine was several weeks pregnant, but later miscarried. The baby had been due Nov. 7, 2003 -- the day the Army originally set for Joe's burial.

This month, Reader's Digest features a story on the Bellavias and two soldiers of the 194th Military Police Company whose lives changed forever that October night in Iraq.

"You can tell he was a nut," said Christine, 33, as she looked through a scrapbook. "It's really hard to cry because he was so funny, so full of life."

Included in belongings sent back from Iraq were pictures of Joe, 28, taking a camel ride and sitting on Saddam Hussein's throne. Christine just shakes her head and smiles as she looks through the pictures.

"That was him," Christine said. "He was always smiling, always cracking jokes."

But she also described him as considerate and romantic.

She shared stories about a puppy he adopted because neighborhood children came to the door begging him to adopt it so they could visit. She talked about a guy who wasn't too macho to teach himself to cross stitch so he could make her a unique anniversary gift, and a young soldier who swept her off her feet when they danced.

"He is so handsome," Christine said as she looked at a picture of her husband in his tuxedo on their wedding day.

On the night of his death, Joe and other members of the 716th MP Battalion were sent to a Karbala mosque to deal with a crowd of armed Iraqis breaking the 9 p.m. curfew.

According to news reports, the military police were attempting to negotiate when the crowd of Shiites wrestled U.S. commander Lt. Col. Kim Orlando to the ground. Another soldier fired a warning shot into the air and a deadly clash ensued.

Joe perished in the firefight, shot in the cheek with an AK-47 while trying to rescue Orlando, who also was killed. A third soldier, Cpl. Sean Grilley, and two Iraqi policemen also died. Seven soldiers were wounded in the attack.

Eight of the Iraqi gunmen were killed and 18 wounded.

Less than 16 hours later, as Christine was getting ready for work, the chaplain came to her door.

"Joe really believed in what he was doing," Christine said. "The Army was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was a career soldier."

She said the only thing that bothered him about his job was time away from home, but he wouldn't have been happy any other way.

"If someone told him, you're going to die, but five of your buddies are going to live, he wouldn't have done things any different," Christine said.

She's proud of the medals -- two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart -- her husband earned while in Iraq.

Christine received a letter Joe had written "just in case" before his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.

She waited until she was alone in the viewing room to read it. Outside the closed door, family and friends heard her cry for the first time.

Joe apologized to his "beloved princess" for not being able to fulfill her dream of being a mother.

"I'm sorry I was unable to return home to you," Joe wrote. "I hope you can forgive me for this."

Christine shared her own letter with Joe before placing it with him to be buried.

"I'm a completely different grieving widow than most people. I think because I have no regrets," Christine said. "We had figured it out."

"I may have only gotten five years, but those years were full. I'm 30 and I had what everybody looks for."

She said she is comforted knowing that Joe is watching over her and that she will see him again someday.

She wears Joe's wedding ring next to her own. A flag flies at half-staff in front of the couple's home and flowers that arrived for her birthday, just a week after Joe's death, are preserved above the china cabinet.

Christine has always been independent and kept busy, which she thinks has helped.

Joe's family still considers her one of their own and his friends have adopted her as a sister.

Christine, a full-time nursing student at Hopkinsville Community College, is pursuing a dream Joe encouraged.

Recently Christine went on her first date since Joe's death, but she's still not ready.

"I say ‘my husband' a lot. I talk about him a lot. I don't act like a single person," Christine said. "No one is ever going to measure up. They broke the mold with him."

Christine said she still talks to Joe and the hardest thing is thinking about being with someone else.

"My heart is so full," said Christine.