ECE students promote childhood literacy
Students in SMCC’s Early Childhood Education program are having an impact on young children in the Portland area through a program that promotes early childhood literacy.
The ECE department and the Portland Public Library are collaborating on a project to loan 44 tote bags with filled with picture books and “story extensions” to local child care providers.
Students in SMCC’s Children’s Literature and Language Arts course designed and created puppets, flannel and magnetic story pieces, and other items that are included in the totes along with the books.
Those creations aim to “extend” the picture book stories and expand children’s experiences with language and literature.
Survival Guide helps students succeed
The latest Semester Survival Guides are off the presses chock-full of tips and information to help students have a successful semester.
The guides – one for the South Portland Campus and one for the Midcoast Campus in Brunswick – have tools to help with finances, important dates to remember, tips on how to get involved in college life, and what steps to take to get to graduation.
The guides can be found on at the Advising Services Kiosk (ASK) in the Campus Center and other locations on the South Portland Campus, and in Orion Hall on the Midcoast Campus.
SMCC to go tobacco-free in August
SMCC is going tobacco-free.
A 21-member committee made up of faculty, staff and students has drafted a policy that would ban the use of any tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, on any SMCC property beginning August 1.
Maine Community College System trustees voted in 2013 to have all seven community colleges go tobacco-free. Five of the seven, plus all seven Maine public universities, have already become tobacco-free.
As part of SMCC’s process, the college’s Planning and Safety Committee solicited volunteers (both smokers and non-smokers) to form a Tobacco-Free Subcommittee and guide SMCC’s transition. The draft policy now reads:
“The use of any tobacco product or any object or device intended to simulate that use, including electronic cigarettes, is strictly prohibited on any Southern Maine Community College property beginning August 1, 2015. The sale, distribution or advertisement of any tobacco or tobacco-related product is also prohibited.
For purposes of this policy, ‘tobacco’ is defined to include any cigarette, cigar or other smoking tobacco as well as smokeless tobacco, dip, chew or snuff in any form. This includes any electronic smoking device that produces vapor of any kind.
Pursuant to the tobacco-free policy, smoking, or any other use of tobacco products described above, is not permitted in or on any college facilities including buildings, parking lots and college grounds, or in any vehicles on property owned or leased by the college. Failure to comply with the policy could result in progressive discipline or referral for disciplinary action under the student code of conduct.”
The College has created a Google document where interested persons can give their input.
Fire academy to graduate 16
Sixteen Maine firefighters are completing training at the Maine Fire Service Institute’s Officer Training Academy to prepare them for leadership roles at fire departments across the state.
A graduation ceremony is being held Saturday, Jan. 17, at MFSI, located on SMCC’s Midcoast Campus in Brunswick. The institute is a department of SMCC and provides training and education services to Maine’s fire agencies and firefighting professionals.
This year’s academy began on Jan. 9 and includes firefighters from fire departments in Appleton, Aroostook County, Auburn, Augusta, Bar Harbor, Bath, Calais, Lewiston, Rockland, Saco, Sanford and Windham.
Out with the old, in with the new Campus Connections
The arrival of the new year brings the arrival of the Campus Connections newsletter in a new format. With this edition, Campus Connections will be distributed as an e-mail newsletter every other week. The newsletter will continue to inform you about students, faculty and alumni and what’s going on around SMCC, but in an easy-to-read and attractive e-mail format.
Because it is coming out more frequently, Campus Connections will include news and events in a more timely.
We are confident you will like the new format and welcome your suggestions and comments.