Author Archive for R. Oliphant – Page 220

Yavapai Apache Nation Transit System

New Yavapai-Apache Transit system adds Verde Valley campus in Clarkdale to route

The new Yavapai-Apache Transit system has added the Verde campus in Clarkdale as a stop on its route. 

Yavapai-Apache nation busThe northbound route, as reported by the College,  starts on the reservation at the YAN Medical Clinic and ends at the tribal community in Clarkdale. The southbound shuttle back to Camp Verde follows the same route in reverse. The YAT links into the Cottonwood Area Transit (CAT) system and Verde Lynx for those going on to the Sedona area. In Camp Verde, it links to Beaver Creek’s volunteer bus program. The system operates Monday through Friday, but not on tribal holidays.

For more information, please contact Dianna Bonnaha, Yavapai-Apache transit manager, at (928) 649-7129.  The full story of the addition of the bus system to the Verde campus can be found by clicking here.

Comprehensive review of campus projects and plans since 1994

Complete collection of Master plans, visions, projects, undertaken since 1994 now available in one pdf file

FUTURE PLANThe Blog has gathered together in one pdf file a history of College Master plans and documents created by others related to the College. The material goes from 1994 to 2013. and others since 1994.  There is an emphasis on the plans and visions for the future of the Verde Valley.    You can access the actual plans, visions and projects as they were actually written and presented by clicking here. MASTER_PLANS_VISIONS_PROJECTS_1994 TO 2014.  

East and West County High School CTEC training opportunities differ

Whether you live on the East or West side of the County makes a big difference to high school students when it comes to educational opportunities

CTEC6The opportunity for high school students in the County to take classes at the Yavapai Community College Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) differ greatly.  Whether you can attend turns on which side of Mingus Mountain you live on.

If you live on the Prescott side of Mingus Mountain, you can attend classes at CTEC, which is becoming a state-of-the-art training center.  If you live on the East side of Mingus Mountain, you cannot attend classes at CTEC.

The Blog has asked the College to provide it with the number of students from the West side of the Mountain that attended CTEC this fall (a spring 2014 estimate put the number at 200).    So far, it has not replied to the request.  It is clear that no students from the East side of the Mountain attended classes there.  Hopefully, when the College reopens following the holidays, accurate information about high school student enrollment at CTEC will be made available.

Prescott Campus Gym Floor Storm Damage

Construction started on replacing gym floor damaged by rain earlier this year–will take 3 months more 

The gymnasium on the Prescott campus suffered significant water damage in a storm earlier this year.  The replacement of the floor is underway and scheduled to take three more months.  The exact cost of replacing the floor was not available at the time this blog was written. (Photo from Governing Board Facilities Report, December 14, 2014.)

GYM FLOOR

Verde Campus offering deal for Students and Community Members

You don’t have to be a student to use our weight room!

weight room pass

Correction to November story: East County students did attend CTEC Career Day

Data shows that students from Mingus and Camp Verde High Schools attended Career Day

CorrectionThis Blog ran a story in November based on a newspaper article stating that only students from the West side of the Valley attended a career day on November 21, 2014 at the Career and Technical Education Center at the Prescott airport. The Blog has been informed that this was inaccurate.

Data from the Community College indicates that 40 students from Mingus Union High School and 30 students from Camp Verde High School attended the event. No students from Sedona Red Rock attended the event.

Here are the attendance figures as provided by the College:
Number of students who attended (and schools represented)
• Aspire = 6
• AAEC = 30
• Bagdad HS = 40
• Bradshaw Mountain HS = 50
• Camp Verde HS = 30
• Chino Valley HS = 40
• Mingus Union HS = 40
• Mingus Mountain Acd. = 10
• Prescott HS = 60
• Seligman HS = 13

The Blog encourages its readers to send corrections from reliable sources whenever it publishes information that appears to be in error. It appreciates receiving the above information from the Community College.

 

No asbestos issue

Blog assured by College no asbestos issue in remodeling project

ASBESTOSThe Blog was contacted about the possibility of an asbestos issue in the Receiving area, Building 7, of the Community College. It is apparently being renovated. The Blog then contacted the College Third District College representative who forwarded the information to the College President.

In response to the inquiry, the Blog has been assured that College officials have looked into the matter and there is not an asbestos issue with Building 7 renovation.

Ribbon cutting ceremony for Tennis Complex

Administrators and Prescott residents joyous over new tennis complex; some taxpayers weep

The decision by the Yavapai Community College Governing Board to spend

Commentary

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more than $1.1 million dollars of taxpayer money for a state-of-the-art tennis complex on the Prescott campus was joyously celebrated December 11 by Prescott dignitaries and the Yavapai Community College administrators. The College paid $840,000 for the tennis courts plus $330,000 for surrounding road repair, drainage, parking lot, lights, etc.) The City of Prescott kicked in $25,000.

For taxpayers not living in the Prescott area, it was a sad day as the College continued its Country-Club-like attitude toward spending scarce County resources on such projects. This project comes as no surprise to Verde Valley residents as it continues a decades-long College mentality of using County taxpayer funds for athletic and cultural projects almost exclusively for the benefit of Prescott area residents. Read More→

District Board and Administration honors outgoing members

Dale Fitzner and Herald Harrington recognized at regular monthly meeting

lost electionDale Fitzner and Herald Harrington, both of whom were soundly voted out of office by County residents in November, were honored by the College Administration and three remaining Board members at the Tuesday, December 9 regular Board meeting on the Prescott Campus.

Harrington and Fitzner will have trees planted in their names on the grounds of the Prescott Valley Library (for Fitzner) and the Yavapai Community College Verde Valley Campus (for Harrington). Professor Vikki Bentz, president of the Yavapai Community College faculty senate, presented certificates of appreciation on behalf of the faculty to Fitzner and Harrington.

 

U of A to start Vet program in Camp Verde

University of Arizona to develop future veterinary extension campus in Verde Valley adjacent Wildlife Park

NEW 2Yvonne Gonzales, of the Verde Independent, reported on December 2, 2014 that the University of Arizona is planning a future Arizona veterinary extension campus on a piece of land along SR 260 in Camp Verde. The College intends to locate the facility adjacent the wildlife animal park on land donated by Verde Valley rancher Andy Groseta.

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Shane Burgess told Ms. Gonzales that the University needed “to work out curriculum details, but we absolutely know it’ll be a home base area for the medical education program in that part of the state.”

Facility a decade away:  Although the new facility is at least a decade down the road, Burgess said the program will be fully implemented by August 2016. Burgess also said that students can start looking into enrolling in January 2015 with the program operating out of existing facilities in the first year, with students likely be up at the Verde campus in August of 2018.

Burgess told Ms. Gonzales that the University will work with schools such as Yavapai Community College and, in Yuma, Arizona Western Community College to either directly offer programming, or share resources. Douglas, Yuma and Pinal County will also host extension programs. A class of about 100 students, will cycle through the facilities at the various locations during their course of study.

Community College role: Burgess also said that:  “We’ll work with the community college to help the state’s wine industry grow.” He wants to help winegrowers from soil to retail.  According to Burgess, Yavapai Community College could also provide the bridge for students to go from a two-year degree and into undergraduate programs that expand on their field of study.

Yavapai Community College Verde campus Dean James Perey told Ms. Gonzales that the college wants to align curriculum to whatever programming ends up coming from the University of Arizona. He said the university’s programming will also allow the college to work toward creating a pipeline from Mingus Union High Schools agriculture curriculum, which includes large animals, greenhouse and wine grape vineyard.

Perey also told Ms. Gonzales that “. . . as we look at high school curriculum, [we will look at] how that feeds into the agriculture curriculum here at the college, and ultimately what the University of Arizona wants to do.”  The complete article written by Ms. Gonzales may be accessed by clicking here.