FALL PHOTO CONTEST WINNER PAGE A2
VOL. 25, NO. 7 The student publication of Washtenaw Community College
A NATIONAL PACEMAKER AWARD NEWSPAPER
MONDAY, NOV. 20, 2017
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
www.washtenawvoice.com
Explore campus
CAMPUS BUILDING TO BE RENAMED AFTER DAMON B. FLOWERS BY
SUNI JO ROBERTS
Deputy Editor
Chris Troiano, a full-time lab assistant for the culinary arts department talks to potential WCC students, during the “Campus Explore” event, held on Nov. 17. The event helped about 200 high school students explore the different programs offered at WCC. The high school students experienced what it’s like to be a WCC student. They attended mini-class sessions, toured the campus and had lunch.
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE New student loan counseling helps students realistically plan repayments for, by state. That’s pretty rad,” said Cousino. Then students are asked to log into the National Student Loan Database system, nslds. ed.gov, to see what their loan debt is at. “A third of students were not aware of their total debt,” said Trapp, who had compiled data from a short survey given to students participating in the loan counseling sessions from Oct. 1 to Oct. 24. “Actually, because I do qualify for grants, [...] it showed me how much Pell Grants I have left too,” said Cousino. After viewing both sites, students are then guided to studentloans.gov. “It takes their individual debt and shows them what their repayment amounts will be monthly. The different payment options, which can vary, but that’s a very eye opening experience for a lot of students,” said Trapp. Trapp is a self described “big proponent” of the in-person counseling. “I think it makes a difference to the students,” said Trapp. “We really want to get that loan debt in front of students, show them the tools that they have available to them.” According to the survey administered to students following the session, 60 percent indicated the session would definitely impact their borrowing in the future. However, when asked about their concern over their loan debt amounts, the majority of students replied indifferently. “Student loans are an investment in yourself. I understand that, and they aren’t a bad thing, but they are a loan. And you will owe that money back,” said Trapp.
STUDENTS HAVE GONE THROUGH THE NEW LOAN COUNSELING
STATED THEY WERE NOT AWARE OF HOW MUCH THEY HAD BORROWED PRIOR TO THE SESSION
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The financial aid office at Washtenaw Community College, along with 48 other colleges and universities across the U.S., has partnered with the Department of Education to run an experimental loan counseling initiative. A federal register notice from the Department of Education explains that the purpose of the experiment is to test the effectiveness of additional loan counseling. “It’s not for first time borrowers at all. We’ve always had loan counseling for first time borrowers, that’s been in the regulation for years,” said Lori Trapp, Director of Financial Aid at Washtenaw Community College. “The experiment is for students who have completed entrance counseling and are borrowing again.” The experiment will split students who have gone through entrance counseling before into two groups: the treatment group and the control group. The Department of Education determined that the students in the treatment group would be those whose social security number ended in an even number, including zero. The 2017-2018 school year is the first year the experiment has been implemented. “When the experiment came around, and we’ve talked about how we can have an impact for years, it just seemed like a good fit for our philosophy here in the office,” said Trapp. Student’s seeking to borrow loans will be notified of the need to attend the session. Trapp estimated that the sessions typically take about an
hour to complete. “After I got there, it was pretty informative. I learned some stuff that I didn’t at my other entrance loan counseling,” said Tim Cousino, Washtenaw Community College student who’d undergone a loan counseling session in August. Sessions are completed in a computer lab on campus, and students are asked to bring their FSA ID and password to access websites during the counseling. “It really is to make our students more informed borrowers. In the immediate timeframe, to just to think about the impact that it will have on them. Because that impact stays with you for many, many years,” said Trapp. The purpose of the session is to show students where they stand: what their projected income is after graduation, where their loan debt is, and an estimate of their monthly repayment amounts. Typically the loan counseling sessions are handled and run by Gillian Gargiulo, a financial aid coordinator. However, any and all financial aid administrators can be responsible for running the session. It begins with showing students an estimated projected income. “We have them look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics to get an idea of what their income will be,” said Trapp. Navigating to the Occupational Outlook Handbook on bls.gov allows students to search for professions either alphabetically, by pay, education, training or growth statistics. “The best thing about it was there was a website where you can look up what the average pay is, for the job you’re looking
INDICATED THE SESSION WOULD DEFINITELY
ST/M ARS
BECKY GORDON
Staff Writer
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The Plant Operations building on WCC’s campus will be renamed after Damon B. Flowers, vice president of facilities, development and operations in light of his retirement after 23 years of service at the college. The announcement was made at the most recent board of trustees meeting on Oct. 24, which recognized Flowers’ work toward ensuring the campus has run “smoothly, efficiently and with a keen respect for the environment” under his supervision. During Flowers’ time at WCC, the campus has expanded in size from 600K gross square feet to 1.2 million gross square feet, according to the board resolution. Through this expansion Flowers has supervised the construction of numerous buildings on campus including the Gunder Myran, Health and Fitness and the Landau Skilled Trades buildings, to name a few. As a member of the sustainability council, this campus expansion occurred under Flowers with an eye toward environmental responsibility. This has earned buildings on campus silver and gold internationally recognized LEED green building certifications. “Obviously totally, unexpected, bizarre, a very nice honor,” said Damon Flowers on hearing that the Plant Operations building is being renamed the Damon B. Flowers Building. Bill Ghrist, manager of Energy and Systems Integration at WCC, has worked with Flowers since he started in 1994. Ghrist started just three months before Flowers and has been able to see Flowers’ approach in making sure the college runs efficiently for years to come. Ghrist mentioned a project Flowers took on about four or five years after he started at the college to fix the electrical infrastructure of campus buildings. At the time, campus buildings were connected in such a way that to perform preventative maintenance on one
building, other buildings’ electricity had to be taken down as well. So, Flowers implemented a loop fed electrical supply that allows maintenance to isolate just one building without affecting any other buildings. “He and I have always clicked and seen the benefits of each other’s abilities,” said Ghrist. “I’ve looked up to Damon in many respects as a mentor that has helped me to develop as a better and more well rounded facilities professional. I like to think that I’ve always kind of been his right hand person to assist at providing him with information or services or just a person to bounce ideas off of for the full 24 years of working together. I’ve always enjoyed working with him.” Penny Hill, executive secretary to Flowers throughout his time at WCC has also worked with him from the beginning of his tenure. “He was a big catalyst in making sure that we brought the campus up to speed in meeting with all the other technology growth and things that were going on,” said Hill. Hill also mentioned the close work relationship they’ve developed over working together for many years. “Personally I worked for him for 24 years,” said Hill. “I have an immense amount of respect for him. He is a very particular type of guy. He is very detail oriented, but he is very fair. It’s almost beyond a bossemployee, it almost feels like family with him so I have a lot of respect for him and it’s been a joy for me.” In retirement, Flowers plans to focus his energies on volunteering, which is something he has done in the past. “I was on the board of directors for habitat for humanity and my plan is get back on the board and to one of the builds, hopefully, in Haiti next Spring, is my goal,” said Flowers.
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THE MAJOITY OF STUDENTS ARE NOT CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR LEVEL OF DEBT
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