Hawraa Alabalal: Because of GCC, her American dream within reach

VIDEO

"For me, it was a dream coming to America," says Germanna Community College student Hawraa Alabalali, whose mother married an American soldier before they immigrated to the U.S. from Iraq in 2008. She says GCC counselors and faculty are helping her toward her goal of becoming a dentist, and that the college's affordability makes paying for graduate school later feasible. "It felt good to be part of a community," she said about coming to Germanna. Making friends was easier, she said, than it had been in high school.

We should honor veterans by giving them jobs and providing them with job training

By David A. Sam
Germanna Community College President

When I was young, I vividly remember my mother making a point to buy a poppy for each of us to wear on our clothing for “Remembrance Day,” as she still called November 11. We know it as Veterans’ Day, but she was born November 30, 1918, just nineteen days after the guns fell silent to end the War to End all Wars, and that is what the day was called when she was a child. She always reminded me of 11-11-11 because the Armistice took effect on November 11 at 11 am.

Today is another 11-11-11. And, unhappily, many wars have followed.

Today, at both Germanna Community College campuses, students, faculty, staff and community members read from the roll of those who have died in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today we also pause to thank our veterans and remember those not here to be thanked. It is the least we can do.

We can also:

- hire a veteran
- retrain a veteran
- assist a veteran in trouble
- pray for those who are serving and have served
or just feel a deep gratitude in our hearts for those who have answered the call and stood their ground so we can live without having to defend ourselves.

The poppies we wore memorialized the poppy fields in Flanders where many Americans lie instead of having come home. Around the cemetery, many battles were fought in the Ypres region. Heavy fighting over the years of the war cost about a million casualties. The battles were memorialized in a famous poem by a veteran of that war:

The poppies we were memorialized the poppy fields in Flanders where many Americans lie instead of having come home. Around the cemetery, many battles were fought in the Ypres region. Heavy fighting over the years of the war cost about a million casualties. The battles were memorialized in a famous poem by a veteran of that war:
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Veterans Department web site

GCC's Nov. 18 Educational Foundation Annual Dinner to be a celebration

Philanthropist Doris Buffett shares a laugh at the reception prior to a recent GCC Educational Foundation Annual Dinner. Buffett, a GCC supporter, is Warren's sister.

You are cordially invited to attend the Germanna Community College Educational Foundation’s Annual Dinner on Friday, Nov. 18, 2011 at the Fredericksburg Country Club.

This is not a fundraiser. Instead, it is a time when we celebrate philanthropy at Germanna, and show our appreciation to those who provide scholarship funds for our students and invest in faculty and staff professional development through programs like the Jane Ingalls Nurse Educator Fellowship and the President’s Leadership Academy. Foundation benefactors have also provided funding for the President’s Recognition of Excellence awards.

One highlight of the evening will be the moving testimonials from three Germanna students who have received scholarships.

The cost, including the reception and dinner, is $50 per person.

By Mail:

Please make your check payable to Germanna Community College Educational Foundation (or GCCEF) and mail to:

Germanna Community College

Educational Foundation

2130 Germanna Highway

Locust Grove, Virginia 22508

By Phone/Credit Card:

Please call 540-423-9060 and a member of our staff would be happy to assist

Please join us as we celebrate philanthropy, the positive impact of the mission of GCC, and the vital role Germanna plays in the lives of those we serve.

Best regards,

Mike

Michael A. Catell

Director of Foundation & Alumni Relations

Germanna Community College Foundation

2130 Germanna Highway

Locust Grove, VA 22508

540.423.9074

mcatell@germanna.edu

Germanna Center for Workforce & Community Education hosts Intelligence and Homeland Security Summit

The Germanna Community College Center for Workforce & Community Education will host an Intelligence and Homeland Security Summit from 9 a.m. to noon on Dec. 1 at Fredericksburg Square.
The conference will feature a panel discussion and breakout sessions by recently retired senior executives from the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Secret Service, National Reconnaissance Office, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency.
Learn about opportunities in homeland security and the intel community -- and how to pursue jobs effectively. Take advantage of the opportunity to network.
Seats are $20 and they are limited. Call 540/891-3012. GCC students with student ID will be admitted free, but must make reservations.
Fredericksburg Square is located at 525 Caroline St.

Community invited to participate in GCC reading the names of the 6,200-plus casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan

To volunteer to be a reader, please call Kathryn A. Denner at 540/423-9123 or email her at kdenner@germanna.edu.

Members of the community are encouraged to join Germanna students, faculty and staff in a nationwide grass-roots effort to honor American service men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past decade.
On Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, campus and community volunteers at more than 170 college and universities across the nation will spend eight hours reading the names of the 6,200-plus casualties of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, now called Operation New Dawn.
The reading of the names will take nearly eight hours to complete as readers announce the names in chronological order.
Each GCC campus (both at Locust Grove and Fredericksburg) participating in Remembrance Day National Roll Call will organize its own full day of reading of names. At the two Germanna campuses, the readings will begin at 8:45 a.m.

PHILANTHROPIST ROSE BENTE’ LEE OSTAPENKO HONORED FOR GIFT THAT HELPED BUILD GERMANNA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DANIEL CENTER

Philanthropist Rose Bente’ Lee Ostapenko is met by current Germanna Community College President David A. Sam (right) and former GCC President Frank Turnage today upon arrival for a visit to the Daniel Technology Center in Culpeper.

Germanna Community College honored philanthropist Rose Bente’ Lee Ostapenko Thursday by inducting her into the “President’s Circle” for cumulative, lifetime giving. She has donated over $1 million to the college, and was one of the benefactors who made construction of the Joseph R. Daniel Technology Center possible through her donation of land, along with Kaye and Marie Andrus, Nicholas and Flora Tomasetti, and Philip and Susan DeSiato.
Current Germanna President David A. Sam, former GCC President Frank Turnage, Daniel Center Director Russell James, GCC Educational Foundation member Connie Kincheloe and Foundation Director Michael A. Catell gave her a tour of the facility, built in 2006.
The 39,000 square foot facility is designed primarily for workforce development instruction and technology training. A wide variety of credit classes are also offered.
“Your generosity made this possible,” Dr. Sam said in thanking Mrs. Ostapenko, an Arlington resident. “The college would not have been able to grow and help all these people without you.” He told her GCC, which has been one of the fastest-growing schools in the country in recent years, will serve 15,000 students, all of them local, during this academic year.
Her 2000 autobiography is entitled “Rose Bente’ Lee: An American Dream.” It tells the story of her immigration to the U.S. from Germany in 1939 and how, over time, she built one of Washington, D.C.’s most successful businesses, The House of Fine Fabrics.
In the book, she recalls, “One of my earliest memories is a desire to help the poor, sick and elderly.”
She is the first of a series of donors who are to receive GCC President’s Circle recognition.

Germanna students, faculty, staff, public to spend eight hours reading names of Iraq and Afghanistan casualities in Veterans' Day ceremony

Germanna Community College has joined a nationwide grass-roots effort to honor American service men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan during the past decade.
On Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, campus and community volunteers at more than 170 college and universities across the nation will spend eight hours reading the names of the 6,200-plus casualties of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, now called Operation New Dawn.
Each GCC campus (both at Locust Grove and Fredericksburg) participating in Remembrance Day National Roll Call will organize its own full day of reading of names. At the two Germanna campuses, the readings will begin at 8:45 a.m.
Lt. Col. (Ret) Brett Morris, the National Roll Call coordinator, said, “We wanted to rally campus communities across the nation to send a powerful message to the troops currently serving that their peers have not forgotten their sacrifices, or those of the fallen.”
The reading of the names will take nearly eight hours to complete as readers announce the names in chronological order.
For information about the Germanna roll call, and to volunteer to be a reader, Kathryn A. Denner at 540/423-9123.