Local production scene on Delta College Public Media are made possible with support from viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hello, and welcome to Dateline Delta.

I'm Dick Dolinski, a member of the Delta College Foundation Board of Directors.

On today's show, we will hear a year in review from President Gavin.

And talk about the importance of year end giving.

We will learn about a new book written by a Delta College English professor, and watch the next segment of Perspectives.

Next, we'll hear how a student is finding their way the Delta Way.

And after months of construction, we'll visit our K Wing dedication.

To wrap up the show we will learn about scholarships and listen in on the 20th annual Winter Holiday Concert.

2025 has been a very exciting and educational year here at Delta College.

President Dr.

Michael Gavin looks back at some of the highlights.

2025 was another inspiring year for our students.

For the fourth consecutive year, we successfully increased our enrollment and graduation rates with overall enrollment up 17.5% and completion up 33% since fall 2021.

While our overall numbers are exceptional, our work to remove barriers for our underrepresented populations is also noteworthy.

Male student enrollment has increased 19.5%, veteran student enrollment has increased 21%, and Black and Hispanic enrollment has increased 29% and 19%, respectively.

all at faster rates than our overall student increase, which is a promising sign that our strategic plan, the Way Forward is working.

We welcome students from all walks of life at all ages, from dual enrollment to adult students.

The work we are doing in the community is beyond exemplary.

For several years, we have maintained a partnership with STARS Public Transportation in Saginaw, which provides a direct route from our downtown Saginaw Center to our main campus, completely free for all Delta students and employees.

This year, that partnership is expanded to provide free transportation on all STARS routes.

I'm also pleased to share that for the 10th year in a row, Delta College has been named a Gold Level Status Veteran Friendly School by the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency.

We established new streamlined transfer pathways with Wayne State University for welding history and global studies students.

And completed a major renovation to our K Wing to better support students pursuing careers in the growing fields of cyber security, network administration, information technology, office management, and more.

In addition, this renovation will further support our efforts in building training pathways for semiconductor manufacturing addressing area employer needs.

Wins outside the classroom are also worth cheering for.

All three of our fall sports teams had exceptional seasons.

Our men's golf team claimed the NCCAA Eastern Conference title.

Our women's volleyball team claimed their second consecutive NJCAA region 12 championship.

And our women's soccer team secured their second consecutive NJCAA Division three National championship title.

All firsts in their respective program histories.

With so many great wins, there are bound to be some great losses, beginning with the loss of a true pioneer whose legacy is cemented in the very foundation of Delta College President Emeritus Donald J. Carlyon.

For more than three decades Don's vision of the evolving role of community colleges shaped Delta into the place of innovation and opportunity it is today.

Another loss comes in the form of cuts to federal funding for Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

As one of only a handful of community colleges in the nation with its own public broadcasting center.

We were directly impacted by the sweeping change.

We are still working to close this funding gap of nearly 1 million annual dollars.

But with the relentless support from viewers like you, we believe it's possible.

If you haven't already, please consider becoming a monthly sustaining member or increasing your current monthly gifts with your generous support.

We will continue bringing you locally produced documentaries, news and the shows you've come to love.

Finally, you may have heard the news of my impending resignation.

I've been asked to play a significant role at building a national coalition beginning the start of the new year.

Where I will continue my efforts to defend higher education.

It truly pains me to leave this wonderful institution, but I believe the culture and the level of excellence you've come to expect will continue in my absence.

A national presidential search is in progress and is being led by the Board of Trustees and informed by representatives throughout the college and the community.

I want to emphasize that we succeed at Delta only because of community support that we have.

And I want to thank you for all that support.

From all of us here at Delta College, we wish you a happy holiday season and a happy 2026.

Delta College is grateful for the generous financial contributions from individuals in our community that support students and their success.

Let's hear from Julie Dorsey, Foundation Manager, to learn why your gifts are so important this time of the year.

At this special time of year, it's my pleasure to say a sincere thank you on behalf of everyone at Delta College who has the privilege of seeing the impact your support has every day on the communities where we live and learn, work and play.

Students have just finished their finals and are taking a bit of a break before winter semester begins.

Thanks to generous scholarship support from donors, they know their dreams of earning a degree or certificate are achievable, and that's good news for local business, especially since 98% of our graduates stay right here in Michigan.

It's hard to put into words how much it means to us to know how much Delta Public Media means to you.

We continue to be so grateful for your support.

This on air programing that is simply unavailable anywhere else, and all it makes possible in terms of our station's outreach to families and educators, wherever our viewers and listeners live.

If you'd like to make a year end gift to Delta College and or Delta Public Media, we can promise a great return on your investment if your gift is postmarked or made online by December 31st, we will send you a tax receipt for this calendar year.

Simply follow the instructions on the TV screen.

If you are considering making a gift of stock or distribution from your IRA, you can call the foundation office at (989)686-9224.

While campus is closed from December 24th until January 5th, you will have an option to be connected to a staff member cell phone.

If you need to speak with someone.

Please know that all of us at your community college wish you the very best this season and in the New year.

Happy holidays and thank you again.

Delta College faculty member and author Jeff Vande Zande recently completed his seventh novel, titled Blood of the Witness Tree.

Delta College recently hosted a book reading and signing.

Let's listen in.

It turned its long snout toward the moon, and the sound out of its throat started as a howl and ended as a human scream.

Blood of the Witness Tree takes place in the Pigeon River Forest that takes place about ten years after the completion of the first book, The Dance of Rock Sticks.

And though he thinks he's taking his son on a fly fishing trip for them to bond, they too have been lured to the forest by forces that have other plans for them.

The creature approach slowly, dropping down to all fours and crawling toward him.

Its eyes stayed locked on his one open eye.

Saliva dripped over the edge of its lower lip and drooled and ropey strands to the ground.

Maggots crawled in and out of the holes of its rotting antlers.

I've been writing for, about, well, since I was early 20s.

I'm 55 now, so started with poetry and then eventually turned to short stories.

Eventually novels took a break from that and did a lot of screenwriting and filmmaking.

And now, as a result of the interest in horror, I'm back to working on novels.

I've had the opportunity to go to quite a few, Michigan libraries over this past October and do a presentation not only on my book, but I've been doing a presentation on the history of gothic horror and some of the elements that somebody, a reader would find in Gothic horror.

One of my favorite chapters, and I think because it gives me a good reading chapter for, Blood of the Witness Tree.

Chapter 15 has Isaac going into a, cabin, an abandoned cabin.

He hears an infant crying inside the cabin, and he has to investigate that.

And for me it's a fun chapter to read.

It's kind of a I need a little frontloading, but it is a standalone chapter too, and it does have very spooky elements.

So it can give a flavor for the, horror aspects of the book.

He climbed up to his feet and listened.

Above him, the cabin had gone still.

The voices and pounding were silenced.

The baby whimpered from somewhere nearby, sounding exhausted.

Most challenging part of writing either book was self-doubt.

That because I am not a... I can say definitively I've never read a horror novel other than if you would consider, like, things that I read during my English major, like Dracula or Frankenstein or, as, as horror novels.

But the biggest challenge with both books would be imposter syndrome.

Like, what am I doing writing in this genre that I'm unfamiliar with?

And so continuing to press forward with, with the fear that maybe it was going to be, you know, the books would be too serious for horror readers and to horror for serious readers.

But, some of those fears have been quelled because the book, especially The Dance of the Rotten Sticks, is has been well received.

For those interested in getting a copy of the book, probably the easiest way would be to go to Amazon.

It's on Kindle Unlimited, it's on Kindle, there's paperback versions available.

There's not an audiobook yet, unfortunately.

Also it is there are copies at Bookmarks, bookstore in Midland, which is, downtown Midland, a relatively new indy bookstore, definitely worth supporting.

And also at the Mill Street Diner up in Vanderbilt.

Now it's time for the next installment of perspectives, where Delta's president, Doctor Michael Gavin, shares a community college perspective on national topics in higher education.

Thank you for joining me again.

Last month, we talked about the implications of politics in higher ed and what they mean for you.

Some of those implications actually impact what you can learn in the classroom.

Having been a scholar of arts and humanities, you see that that right now there is significant worry about how those disciplines would be affected as a result, not only of the budgets, but also laws that are coming across the country that suggest that certain topics are not okay to teach or learn about.

In a world in which it seems like our civic discourse has been decimated.

One of the worst things that we could do is not pay attention to the art and the humanities that comes out of the best thinkers of our time, and before The way that we imagine the world often is a result of the books that we read.

And so what we study now actually predates the kind of world that happens tomorrow.

As we start to eliminate what can be taught, whether it's about race, gender, sexuality, or just general ideas through what we see through poetry.

We limit the imagination.

We limit the innovation that can happen.

And subsequently we really don't know what could be as a result of some of the decisions that are being made.

Moreover, there's something to be said that gets lost in a lot of the discourse in higher ed about beauty and art and art for art's sake and the esthetic, the pleasure that one can get from watching a really good movie, from seeing a statue or a nice photograph.

Those parts of what it means to be a human are often lost in the discussions about the value of higher education, how much money I'm going to make when I leave, and subsequently, I would argue that the world is a less happy place because of that.

In the last 20 years, we've talked about outcomes and measurements that are very important.

But in the end, what was lost in that is the heart and the humanity that comes from learning about those things that find themselves in arts and humanities.

And so I would argue that as people go on their holiday breaks, that pick up a book, listen to some good music and just enjoy it for its own sake and, let it saturate your heart so that we can have a better world in the process.

The next student feature is on Arianna Zaragoza.

She's a second year welding student who loves to tackle new challenges.

She admits she was first drawn to welding as a career path because of its difficulty level.

Combined with the artistic potential she envisions with this new skill set.

I knew I wanted to do a trade and, it just I just fell in love with it once I got more into it and actually, like, came and introduced myself to the, faculty here.

It was an automatic choice for me to get into welding.

I like something that I feel like not everyone is doing, especially for, women of color.

And just a lot of it's, men.

It's a male dominated field.

So when I kind of sat back and just thought about different trades, I wanted to kind of start with the one that I felt was going to be the hardest.

It's definitely been a challenge over time.

But, like I said, I like something that is a challenge.

I like something that's new.

I don't know, I just knew that it was going to be a field that I, that I enjoyed.

Really just the, the overall aspect of taking hot molten metal and turning it into something beautiful.

It could be to me, representative of, like, painting.

Honestly, I'm a big artist and it's been a great experience.

Even since when I started in 2019, I didn't really know what I wanted to do then, but, a lot of the faculty here was just very understanding of that.

When I first went into it.

Like I was doing third year full time.

Even my, like, professor all the time, he'd be on my back about it.

He's like, you need to stop being so hard on yourself.

Your basically doing the impossible right now.

Like going full time work and then also coming in here basically doing a free eight hour shifts, while you're learning and you're under hot material and you're getting, burned and all this other stuff and even through all that, I, I ended up being on the Dean's list.

My, my first year when I was doing my certification, it really just showed me that, I can do anything that, like, I guess men in the field can do.

You know, girls can do trades too.

Like they can do.

The more dirty your hands on works, just showing them that there's other avenues that you know aren't as explored.

Back in September, we received an update on how the reconstruction of the K Wing was going.

Recently, Delta College hosted a dedication ceremony.

As the renovation was completed.

Let's go visit the event.

I'm so glad that you're able to join us this morning as we unveil this renovation.

It's the home of our information technology and computer science based classes.

We know that these programs play a significant role in meeting the needs of employers throughout the region.

Delta is truly and I know you all will agree with us.

Essential to our communities and by providing the dollars needed to upgrade this high quality learning environment, we have invested in our citizens and in the continued growth of our region.

So thank you especially to our Lansing legislators for being here today, because they worked hard to secure the matching dollars for this project.

And we appreciate you.

The original 16,500 square foot facility was built in 1961 and not been renovated from that time.

And so it's electrical systems had reached the end of a life.

And obviously much of these other parts of the facilities had.

The renovation also addressed a lot of safety concerns that were, necessary to address and transform the space itself into state of the art computer labs, planned classrooms that will support a wide range of computer technology and business courses.

We had a 40 700ft of new space, including an an expanded cybersecurity room, multiple shared computer science rooms, and much needed storage and study lounge areas like we see here today.

We're expecting more than 1000 students to use this space just next semester with 80 courses scheduled.

Investing in state of the art education and setting an investment in the future of this region.

Soon, students across many academic disciplines will have the opportunity to learn and collaborate in this remarkable space.

This renovation not only strengthens our core programs, computer science and information technology, but also our administrative assistant programs, and it will expand to capacities beyond, reaching into high demand, technology driven fields such as data science and mechatronics.

This wing is also home to Delta College's Cybersecurity Center, recognized by both the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency as a center of academic excellence in defense, education, and cyber defense.

And we are incredibly proud that we remain committed to teaching technology skills that are relevant, adaptable, and applicable anywhere.

Our faculty and staff work tirelessly to ensure that our students are fully prepared, whether they enter the workforce directly, or whether they determine that they want to go on to a university for a bachelor's degree program.

Take time to tour the facility.

It's going to be open all day, so stay as long as you wish.

And thank you again for celebrating this exciting occasion with us.

Scholarships are crucial to many Delta College students who require financial assistance.

Not all scholarships are based on financial need, so all students are encouraged to apply.

For more information about the scholarship process, we spoke with Julie Dorsey, Foundation manager.

The fall semester has just wrapped up, and the new scholarship season is ramping up.

Thanks to the life changing support of generous donors who provided over $1.1 million during our last round of scholarships.

Current students are making tremendous strides toward their academic, personal, and professional dreams.

Applications for fall 2026 and Winter 2027 scholarships just went live, and we hope to award even more financial support to the next group of recipients.

There truly are opportunities for everyone and all applicants completing this simple online form before Wednesday, February 4th will automatically be matched with and in the running for each scholarship they qualify for.

It's just that easy and that impactful.

For more information, you can scan the QR code or visit the link at the bottom of your screen.

You can also call the Foundation office at (989)686-9224.

And if you'd like to be more involved in the process as a scholarship reviewer or donor, we would love to speak with you about the return on your investment.

I want to thank Julie and all the members of the Delta College Foundation for all they are doing to help Delta College students succeed.

Now let's see what's on the Dateline Delta calendar of events.

To wrap up our show, Delta College's chamber choir and jazz choir recently came together to perform a special winter holiday concert.

Both choirs are led by associate professor of music Tim Hendrickson.

And put on a beautiful performance.

Let's listen in on part of the concert.

Local production scene on Delta College Public Media are made possible with support from viewers like you.

Thank you.