Grossmont profiles: Ricks, McCoy and Lego

By Barbara Boyd

GROSSMONT COLLEGE –Walking around the campus can bring you into contact with many interesting people. Recently, I had a chance to learn a little about three of them.

A volunteer with a cause

Joshua Ricks

Joshua Ricks, who is taking a critical thinking class on campus, has been working on a drive to help the Boys and Girls Club.

He seeks old clothes, canned food, shoes, toys, and anything else that can be used to help kids from impoverished families. He’ll be out on the Main Quad on Wednesday, Sept. 28, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m in the quad collecting donations for the boys and girls at the Boys and Girls Club.

Faculty member urges ‘study abroad’ programs for Grossmont and Cuyamaca students

By Barbara Boyd

CUYAMACA COLLEGE–Dr. Lyn Neylon, a professor of English and English as a Second Language at Grossmont’s sister-school, Cuyamaca College, has requested a sabbatical leave to create an office that could facilitate study aborad at Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges.

In her application for the sabbatical, Neylon said she wanted to create a “self-sustaining International Studies and Programs Office at the district level that would assist students and faculty at both colleges in participating in study abroad; enhance relationships with international institutions of higher education for student/faculty exchange, international student recruitment, and global curriculum/program development; and to research possible funding streams to both support the International Studies and Programs Office as well as assist students financially, so they can participate in international programs.”

Neylon asserted that  study abroad “engenders greater comprehension and retention” for languages and culture.

Her proposal is now being reviewed by the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.

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Boyd is a student in MediaComm132; contact her at barbarab@gcsummit.com

GC students contribute to SD Blood Bank

Grossmont students donate blood on campus.

Story and photo by Barbara Boyd

GROSSMONT COLLEGE  — Tuesday, Sept. 6, and Wednesday, Sept. 7,  are days  to donate blood on campus. In the quad is the San Diego Blood Bank recreational vehicle.  As a regular donor of blood, I highly recommend students  try and donate blood if they can.

The process is fairly easy: a couple yes or no questions, a little reading to make sure you know what you are doing, and then they test your blood to see if you have a high enough blood count.

My experience on Tuesday was pleasing. The nurses were polite.  They care for you from the moment you enter to the point when you leave.

There’s a new dean on campus

By Barbara Boyd

GROSSMONT COLLEGE — There is a new Dean on campus, but  she is far from being new to the school. Debbie Yaddow who has devoted  21 years to the Grossmont College Nursing program, is now the Dean of  Allied Health and Nursing.

Yaddow related that she “fell” into her career, how she never planned to have it take her this far. She said that she started as a  respiratory therapist, and later on became a nurse once.  Still later she decided to become a teacher, where she could help others learn the nursing profession. “ I  love teaching, because you really make a difference in students’ lives,” she said.

As the Dean her responsibilities are still to students, but in addition she  is “working behind the scenes” on such tasks as securing “the best state-of-the-art equipment, facilities for the students, ” she said.

Even though Dean  Yaddow is not working with the students directly, she said she stills want them to feel  free to come and see her just to say “Hi. ”

She said she will maintain an open door policy for students, explaining:   “It keeps me in a loop of what’s going on in their lives.”

If there is a school-related problem, the students are encouraged to first see their teacher and then their  director of nursing, before coming to her, Yaddow said.  She added that  if she needs to get involved then she  will.

When asked where she will like to go from here, she responded “ I plan on  being here a lot longer.”
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Boyd is a student in Media Comm 132.  She may be contacted at barbarab@gcsummit.com

Textbook sellers compete for your dollars, loyalty

By Barbara Boyd

GROSSMONT COLLEGE — The semester begins, you find yourself feeling lucky that you have your classes… then you look up the books you will need. That smile you had is gone, and the first thought that comes to mind is, “how am I going to pay for these?”

It would be safe to say that second or third year students know some tricks for buying books–where to go and where not to go.  As a first year student, all I knew, before researching for this article, was that I needed those books.

I assumed that the only place I could get my books was from the campus bookstore. However, I learned that there are stores and Internet sites that specialize in selling and even renting college textbooks. These stores and sites in some cases offer books at cheaper prices than the campus bookstore.  But, I found, there are pitfalls.  For example, buying books from different bookstores can be time consuming. You have to locate a store, then spend time to determine if  your book  is even there.

Purchasing  books through the internet can present problems too.  Although said to be  “just a click away,” they may take a long time to get to your house.  Waiting for your books to come, and knowing that there is a possibility that your books might get lost in shipping–such tension can make buying textbooks through the internet unacceptable to some people.

Although potentially more expensive, buying textbooks from the campus bookstore can be rewarding. Upper classman Jeff Barnes said that even though he spent close to $300 on his books for this semester he feels he made a better choice buying at the campus bookstore  than elsewhere.