Hello to all who have decided to read! I hope your having a great 2012 and are finding ways to enjoy this semester. I for one have been enjoying our supposed last year on this planet (this is a joke but I do love talking anything Inca or Mayan, and I dig Ancient Aliens) and have to give ECC a lot of credit for this amazing year.

For those who don't know I have been serving as our Student member of the Board for the past year and will replaced tomorrow. The experience has been a roller coaster ride and now that it is ending I can say the ride was worth it. It taught me a lot about organizational structures and leadership while showing me the life of a Trustee. It taught me a lot about myself and has helped me get a better handle on my strengths and weaknesses. And I believe it may have led to an amazing job/career!!! So instead of getting all serious about any of the various issues I get fired up about I would like to take this time to thank the people who have helped me along my way at ECC.

First is Amybeth...I had her as my Col 101 teacher for my first semester here and she helped me get my first job on campus as an Orientation Leader, which lead to a position as a Col 101 Peer Leader. She also helped me get a job in the office of Student Life and encouraged me to run for Student member of the Board. Amybeth has been invaluable to my college experience and I can't thank her enough.

Next is Dr. Katie Storey. Many times I have popped into her office to ask her for help and she has always taken time even if I came at an inconvenient moment. Katie helped me look at situations from a different perspective and I feel it has and will continue to help me in my professional life. And she also cares about students not only as students but as people, and I thank her for asking questions that others might not. And I can't forget to thank her for maintaining the running jokes of the office. Thanks!

John Karnatz has been a huge influence on my time here at ECC. I have taken his speech class and have worked with him inside a COL 101 class for 3 semesters. I can't say enough about how much John has helped me in multiple ways. All I can say is if you haven't taken speech, take it with John. Thanks for all your time John.

Beth Santel for being an awesome counselor,

Robert Steinbach for being my favorite teacher and an amazingly interesting character. What a great summer we had in 2011.

John Dalton for being a great addition to our board room.

And last but not least...thanks to all my peers who have been apart of this college experience. Coming to college has had its moments of difficulty but what makes it all worth it is coming to school and seeing everyone. I have met more people than I would've ever imagined and some of the relationships will no doubt be long lasting. Thanks to everyone whos keepin it real...its nice to see people who walk instead of just talk.

I started this blog with the intent of not being so serious, but I think it still came out a little serious. Hope I didn't bore anyone to death. Next one wil be lighter, more funny, and hopefully fun to read.    

Since I did a long and in depth blog on one topic last week I figured I would touch on a few topics quickly.

Campus Sustainability - Great news our campus has finally set a date become paperless. Its not till Spring 2013 but I am so glad our school is making this environmentally and financially responsible decision. Hopefully there are more to come.  

No spy, no fly...I missed the presentation and book signing but enjoyed the article from our observer news paper. Not because I like to read about our crazyass government harassing and blackmailing people but because the story exposes a truth about our government. They're a desperate group.

Pro-life Club....I love the groups effort. I've never seen a club put up so many poster in such a short time. To bad I disagree with their core values & often wonder where there point of view comes from. People have told me it could be religiously based but I don't think people are silly enough to allow there religious beliefs to empose on others. I wonder what the world would be like if Hitler had been aborted.

Facebook...am I missing out? I still don't think so, but I'm currently watching the Social Network for the first time and can't help but feel like I might be missing out on a part of the college experience by not being connected to hundreds of people that I can update about my daily happenings or my relationship status...hahaha. How will anyone ever get to know me...

Sleep...So I have one weekend of late nights and now I'm back on my night owl schedule. It's 12:30 right now and this is the most awake I've been all day. I wish the working world started later than 8am.   

        This is my longest yet, but it is very important. Please read entirely.

        Something I’ve spent a lot of timing thinking about since the beginning of fall semester is the issue we have with the Trustee Leadership Scholarship (TLS). For those who do not know, there are some students, including myself, who have been trying to change a requirement for our TLS, which rewards student leadership with a $500 per semester scholarship. The issue with this scholarship is students are required to apply for FAFSA (financial aid) in order to be eligible. This is a problem for more than one reason.

        First it is a merit based scholarship, which means you are being rewarded for something tangible, such as leadership on campus. It is NOT A NEED based scholarship which is based off your or your family’s income and assets. (Thus requiring tax information & Fafsa application) Requiring FAFSA for merit based scholarships is not uncommon because for some scholarships schools use financial aid first then scholarship money next. If financial aid covers your tuition and books then the scholarship goes back to the foundation. BUT the leadership scholarship is different, it is applied first (as it should be). Therefore the school is only blocking certain students (students whose parents refuse to file for fafsa, or students who don’t have the necessary documents) from applying and receiving a very helpful and honorable scholarship.

Secondly, this policy appears to violate the mission statement and shared values of our college and restricts opportunities to students who are deserving. But I have received word from a respectable source stating money from the state cannot be given to undocumented students.<-------Yes, that’s a period at the end of that sentence. That statement has led to a few interesting conclusions, one ending in discrimination, and the other with laws already being broken by Colleges across the state and probably the whole country.

I'm not going to get into the details of these conclusions at this time because we have yet to exhaust all of our options and want to wait and see how this plays out during the next few months. One thing I will say is I have yet to see a document which clearly details the awarding of funds to undocumented students in college as illegal and even if it was illegal, I would be wholeheartedly against it. The source of education funds in this state comes from property tax, which immigrants pay into whether it’s through a mortgage and paying property tax or by paying rent (property tax is built into rent). So the student and their family pay into property tax and they pay tuition as well, yet I'm told it’s illegal.

I personally feel if it is indeed illegal that it would be a great law to break. It is not in the best interest of our community, and it doesn’t align with our mission statement or shared values! Here are quotes from the former mentioned school policies....

Mission statement

3. “Improving success milestones among key focus populations: first-time, developmental, adult, black and Latino students”   

5. “Fostering a spirit of inquiry to increase understanding of racial, ethnic and global diversity, and of domestic and world cultures”

6. “Ensuring key focus populations have equal access to learning opportunities.”

Shared Values

 “Equity. We believe that everyone must have an equal opportunity to grow through learning and pledge to provide all who take part in our learning activities with the opportunities and supports needed for success.”

 “Respect for Diversity. All constituencies are important to achieving our vision. Therefore, we must respect the unique and diverse perspectives each person offers and embrace those differences as the means for developing the strongest learning community possible. We promote individual growth and a positive sense of self-worth for all members of the college community. “

Wow….that last sentence gets me every time. As you can see the position our Community College currently takes is in-between contradiction and hypocrisy. How can we tell student leaders, “sorry we know it’s not right but it is what it is?!!!” We live in a diverse community. We need to educate our students, we need to reward and encourage outstanding students more now than ever before. In most families, an extra $500 allows the repairing of a car in the winter, or covering an emergency visit to the doctor, or food, or clothes, or rent. 

I want this policy changed. And so do others. It is immoral, unethical, and I would argue it is discrimination. If there are any of you out there who think it won't be fair to the students who have the necessary documents and chance losing out on a scholarship to an undocumented student....get this, in the last 10 semester only three times have all 16 scholarships been handed out! Would you rather let scholarship money sit un-used, or create competition at a position where it’s desperately needed?

So, I guess it starts with us. Our laws are not set up to serve the best interest of our community and our College has an opportunity to set the tone for change in this area. This is not the time to hold back some of our best students! It’s actually time we do something great and take a stand for our students, even if it means breaking a law. Please let me know how you feel about this and feel free to contact me at dgood@elgin.edu if you’d like more information. If a student is willing to put in hard work and dedicate time to a leadership role I feel we, as a school community, should help support those students regardless where they have come from. This requirement is a detriment.

Hello again. Procrastinating on homework so I guess its time to get to my blog that I've procrastinated on...to talk about things that I'm procrastinating on, while trying to procrastinate on this yawn....but anyways this blog is not about procrastination and all of its wonders. Its about the things that I'm doing and want to do. And awesome music! Feel free to add dates of things you want to do in the upcoming year.... 

One of my current goals is to help educate people on the topic of Sustainability. I have realized Sustainability is a new concept for a lot of people and would like to just start with a basic foundation. The below clip is short and informative. I'd love to hear what you thought of the clip.

youtube.com/watch?v=FFCNCQLeCuK 

Hope that link works, this browser won't let me copy and paste!

Next...Concerts

Red Hot Chilli Peppers....May 28th, Allstate Arena...boo...the Aragon would've been so much better. Still don't have tickets...anyone going?

Gotye...don't know much of his music but like alot of what I've heard. Have a ticket for an April 3rd. Supposed to be at Park West but last I heard it was moved to the Aragon. Anyone else going?

I'm sure I'll hit up Summer fest in Milwaukee this summer, and Rumors have it that Lollapalooza 2012 headliners were leaked. Such names as Metallica, Beyonce, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Killers, Beck and Sonic Youth. Perry Farrel, the festival organizer and front man of Janes Additions, was extremly pissed and said via twitter that the set list has not been finalized, so its not in stone yet. I've never been to a Lolla but this might be the one to go to. Anyone else?

And if you haven't seen the line up for Bonnaro 2012 I suggest you check it out, its impressive.

Spartan Race April 21st in Indiana. If you like to run and think the normal 5k is boring....you should check this race out. I know there are a few ECC's students making there way out for the event.

http://www.spartanrace.com/indiana-obstacle-racing-spartan-sprint-2012.html

And to finish this one here are two songs that you may like

The first is from MuteMath from New Orleans, they just played a show Friday at the House of Blues. I just watched the acoustic version which blew my socks off so I'll post this version but I strongly suggest you check out the offical video as well cuz it is unique and awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9d5wd7wbXg

So I have good news! Elgin Community College has made a recent improvement to their campus in the form of a bioswale. For those of you who are thinking wtf is a bioswale here is a definition from a non-credible but sufficient source wikipedia:

Bioswales are landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water. They consist of a swaled drainage course with gently sloped sides (less than six percent) and filled with vegetation, compost and/or riprap.^[1]:19 The water's flow path, along with the wide and shallow ditch, is designed to maximize the time water spends in the swale, which aids the trapping of pollutants and silt. Depending upon the geometry of land available, a bioswale may have a meandering or almost straight channel alignment. Biological factors also contribute to the breakdown of certain pollutants.^[2]

A common application is around parking lots, where substantial automotive pollution is collected by the paving and then flushed by rain. The bioswale, or other type of biofilter, wraps around the parking lot and treats the runoff before releasing it to the watershed or storm sewer.

So as you can read from the wiki source it is meant to treat water runoff by means of natural filtration. Our brand new bioswale is located on both sides of the walk way leading from SRC parking lot in to SRC building by the bookstore. You can see how the land was carved out and filled with filtration material to treat runoff water. This is not only good for reducing our impact on the surrounding environment but it also scored ECC points in pursuit of LEED certification. What is LEED Certification you ask? LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is an independent third party verification that a building, home, or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable sites development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

So there you have it. ECC is moving in the right direction by installing the bioswale and now needs to look at other ways to continue forward in an effort to be environmentally responsible as well as addressing the growing interest in Sustainable practices.

Hello again and welcome back. I hope everyone enjoyed their brief break from classes. I for one did because I was able to see some long time friends and eat some good food with the family. But on to the point of this blog.

While talking with one of my friends who is an eletrictian he was telling me stories of how he has gone to a house where power has been out for three hours and arrived to sobbing mother and daughter because they weren't able to access the web and facebook. I'm sure they were bothered by other inconveiences but facebook was their main concern. The conversation eventually ended up with thoughts about a massive power outage lasting a week or more in America. We both felt many people would struggle and wondered how best to combat the situation. This leads me to the idea and practice of sustainability.

There are so many different areas of sustainability but the one I will focus on is energy. Think about this situation....either a natural disaster or a attack on Americas energy grid...power is out for everyone. No computers, no phone charger, no phone signal, no washer, no dryer, no refridgerator, no xbox, no lights, no heat, no air conditioner, no microwave, and for many no stove. Now imagine the first day goes by and still no power. The night temp is below freezing so you can at least keep your food outside, but its cold. Now day two comes and goes, then week one roles by and people begin to panic. Children and the elderly are getting sick, people are unable to work, unable to access their digital currency, all while the energy companies and governement promise a quick recovery to normallity. Its not hard to imagine the negitive side effects to such an event, but instead try to imagine the very same situation except with yourself in a self sustaining home. A building that gathers and stores its own energy while maintaining a stable comfortable temperature year round. Also a home that harvests its own water, and is set up intentionally for year round indoor food production!

I for one enjoy thinking of the later situation and have often wondered why people have yet to demand these features in most buildings. The good new is there are people already building these sorts of structures. One of the organizations I find interesting is one by the very strange name of "Earthships". I know the first time I heard the name I was thinking like flying saucers, but their actually beautifully designed sustainable homes. Completly off the energy grid. The creator of this organization is Michael Reynolds. He is a renegade architect who wants to change the way we live and interact with our planet Earth. The project is still a work in progress like everything else but big steps have been made since the start and now the biggest obsticle to this idea is current building codes. This country has been making rules for a while now which help prevent lawsuits and not rules which help the population or the planet which we are forever tied to. Check them out see if the concept makes sense to you. It may be an option for you when you decide to buy a house. For those who already own a house, think about an energy bill under $50 dollars for the year! (estimated cost for natural gas tank to be filled on your property) Again if you have Netflix you can see a documentary on the topic called "Garbage Warrior" but you can check out a news report on the subject here: http://earthship.com/education

As you can see this exact concept is not for everyone but the idea is on the right track. It would allow for humans to focus on other more important issues.

Welcome back! Last time I posted I was fired up about the IT department and promised another bit of info about the department and how its costing us money. If you were here last semester you may remember how our entire registration program AccessECC shutdown. It caused a pushback in the registration date for the whole school and delayed a very important and calcuted process. The problem originated in the IT department and required outside experts to come in and clean up the mess. If you want details on how much this cost email a trustee and ask. You know what! I just checked to see if Trustee Emails are posted on-line and they are NOT....I find this interesting. Lets fix this. Please email boardoftrustees@elgin.edu and request our trustees email address be posted as part of their biographies. 

Next topic....I went to Chicago for meetings with all the other student trustees in Illinois this weekend and I have come back with some objectives for this campus. I sit as the Chair position for the Local Issues Committee and we are tasked with finding movements worth our efforts. This year it was decided our time would be best spent improving students knowledge of how there schools operate and more about local politics. Trust me I don't like politics but I do feel this upcoming election is going to be one for the ages! I don't care which way you vote so long as you are informed have good reason. So statewide, community colleges are going to bring in canidates, local elected officals, as well as department heads at your school. It's time we ask the hard questions and put calculated presure on our elected officals. Is it just me or does it smell like a worldwide revolution is cooking?

Another issue the committee felt was important for every region of Illinois is Sustainability. It was exciting to see everyones interest in this topic. For me I feel this is such an important concept for everyone to think of. If your not familar with Sustainability I will give you this quote from the Illinois Green Economy Network..

"Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainability is a way of doing things which supports social, economic, and environmental needs. There are many choices you can make to pursue the goal of sustainability. Think about what you can do…"

If you too feel this is important contact me @ 224-636-0996 and we can discuss ideas and get you to work on making our communites more sustainable.

I will now leave you with some media you may enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrkeR3ZKPcI - John Legend and the Roots "I can't write handed" A long song about a soilders perspective with a slow building climax which delivers everytime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK3TOHLFL50 - 180 Degrees South Trailer - One of my favorite documentaries. If you liked the clip you can find the full lenght version on Netflix.