Save time and money — make use of SMCC advising services
Want to save time and money and succeed academically? SMCC’s advising services are here to help.
November is Advising Month, when faculty and staff pump up their efforts to help students succeed. During the month, students are encouraged to meet faculty or staff advisors to review their degree audits, figure out which Spring Semester courses to take, create a schedule and register for classes for next semester.
Staff advisors are available for drop-in advising anytime during business hours — no appointment necessary — in the Advising Office and at ASK, the Advising Services Kiosk, in the South Portland Campus Center. On the Midcoast Campus, advisors are available in the L.L.Bean Learning Commons. You can also text Advising Office staff at 833-299-2957 or email them at advising@smccME.edu.
For instant answers to questions, use the Advising Chat tool on My Maine Guide, staffed from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. through the month of November. Outside of those hours, questions will be answered within 24 hours.
During Advising Month, students can also attend program-specific advising sessions or schedule a one-on-one appointment with their faculty advisors. The schedule for the program-specific advising sessions can be found on the calendar on My Maine Guide.
Registration for the Spring Semester begins Monday, November 14, for students who have earned at least 30 credits, and Wednesday, November 16, for students who have earned less than 30 credits.
Marine Science students get their hands dirty (and wet)
Marine Science students got their hands wet this month as part of an ongoing program that gives them hands-on experience while helping the state’s wildlife agency and recreational fishermen.
Students on Oct. 18 moved about 50 brown trout that were raised in Marine Science aquaculture tanks to the Spurwink River, where they were released into the wild.
Marine Science Professor Brian Tarbox has arranged the release of the fish each semester for more than a decade. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s fish hatchery in New Gloucester provides Tarbox with juvenile fish, which are grown out in aquaculture tanks in the Marine Science Center.
Each fall and spring, students scoop the grown fish out of the tanks and transport them to the Spurwink River in Scarborough. Besides providing sportsmen a game fish to go after, the partnership helps the state save money and gives students a hands-on learning opportunity.
“I hope this gives me the experience to get an internship next summer, and it also teaches me new information to have under my belt,” said student Matt Prout. “Who knows, I might end up working in a hatchery.”
Former, current Culinary students and faculty raise $ for slain alumnus
Current and former Southern Maine Community College Culinary Arts students and faculty raised more than $1,300 to help the family of a 2010 graduate who was slain last month in a home invasion in Texas.
Nearly 100 people came to the buffet-style brunch on Oct. 16 in SMCC’s Culinary Arts Dining Room to benefit the family of Adrianus “Mike” Kusuma. The funds will go to help Kusuma’s family with funeral and other expenses.
Kusuma graduated from the Culinary Arts program in 2010 and went on to work in restaurants in Portland and Kennebunkport. In 2013, he moved to Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, where he and his uncle opened a restaurant, Sunny Side of the Street, which became a popular breakfast and lunch hotspot.
On Sept. 18, Kusuma was fatally shot when two men burst into his residence and demanded money before shooting him and assaulting his brother, who worked at the restaurant. No arrests have been made, and investigators believe the brothers may have been targeted because of the success of their business.