Reading, PA – On Wednesday, September 11, 2019, over 250 people gathered at DeSales University to honor the top financial executives of the Greater Lehigh Valley at the 2019 Lehigh Valley Business CFO of the Year Awards. Sixteen financial professionals were recognized as finalists, with winners in a variety of categories.

Reading Area Community College Senior Vice President for Finance and Administrative Services/College Treasurer Kenneth E. Dearstyne, Jr. was the winner of the 2019 Lehigh Valley Business CFO of the Year (large nonprofit category). 

“It is an honor not only to win this award, but to be included in this group of talented individuals. In addition to thanking my wife, Janet, for her encouragement throughout my career, I wish to express my sincerest gratitude to my colleagues at RACC and our board of trustees for their support which makes this award possible. Also, thank you to the judges panel for the honor and recognition,” says Dearstyne.

Finalists in all categories were: Best Growth Manager: Timothy McNair, BRD Noise and Vibration Control, Inc.; John Snead, Polytek Development Corp. CFO of the Year-nonprofit (small): Ed Eppler, Discover Lehigh Valley; Art Troccoli PBS39. CFO of the Year-nonprofit (large): Lisa Hazler, Fellowship Community, Randy Lease, Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority, Devon Reynolds, YMCA of Reading and Berks County; Bob Richards, Phoebe Ministries. CFO of the Year (private company): Aelish Brooks, Good Life Companies; Ray Burke, Weiler Abrasives Group; Kyle Lance, Transform Rehabilitation, LLC; Mark Wilkin, Andesa Services, Inc. 

Judges for the event were: Tara Fleureton, CFO, Greater Valley YMCA; Gregory Krzemien, divisional CFO and senior financial director, NCR Payment Solutions; Maureen Michael, chief administrative officer and CFO, Da Vinci Science Center; and Gregory Yocco, CFO, MCS Industries, Inc.

For more information about the CFO of the Year Awards, visit Lehigh Valley Business.

The Schmidt Training and Technology Center will host the SMART Automation Summit on Thursday, October 3, 2019. Networking and coffee will begin at 7:30 am at the Miller Center for the Arts.

The summit will feature three keynote speakers:

• Craig McAtee from the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers will help us demystify SMART Automation
• Nimble Leader’s Steve Van Valin will bring to life extensive research on employee engagement.
• EVC’s Brett Wilmotte will share solutions for addressing cyber threats in manufacturing

In addition to the keynotes there will be SMART Technology demonstrations and multiple Industry 4.0 Workshops.
 
Learn more and register

Luke Degenhart, a 2018 Daniel Boone High School graduate, already earned his Associate of Science degree from RACC, and is on his way to Alvernia University to complete a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a minor in environment. Luke attended RACC on the Presidential Scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship for four semesters. He will attend Alvernia University with a $17,000 award in spring 2020.

Luke began taking dual enrollment courses in his junior year at Daniel Boone High School. These college-level courses are taught by approved high school faculty during the regular school day. He earned 14 credits at his high school and took online courses with RACC during his summers. He earned 26 college credits before graduating from high school.

Because of his Presidential Scholarship Award and Alvernia University’s generous transfer policy, Luke will take another four courses, post-associate degree, at RACC and one at Alvernia University this fall - all courses counting toward his bachelor’s. Already considered a junior in college, Luke has incurred very little debt by taking advantage of dual enrollment and dual admissions with RACC’s strong transfer partners. 

Much of Luke’s strategy for earning his degrees has been to “get his foot in the door” early, easing the transition to taking college-level courses. He says, “Dual enrollment helped me get a step ahead of my classmate and prepared me to be a chem major.”

He also credits RACC’s supportive staff in helping him navigate his debt-free, accelerated college pathway. Jane Dietrich, senior advisor/transfer specialist worked with RACC’s good partner, Brett Krotee, undergraduate transfer coordinator, to ensure all his courses fit his program. When Luke had some life concerns affecting his academic work, he says, “Dan Glass, [senior advisor], really helped me out when I needed some help with finishing my spring classes.” 

As he reflects on his college journey of dual enrollment into earning an associate degree with RACC, Luke says, “I struggled at first with the dual enrollment courses, but by the time I got to RACC, I never got a B as a grade again.” 

“Dual enrollment started at Daniel Boone my sophomore year, my Dad found out about it and signed me up for courses my junior year, Trigonometry, Chemistry I, and Chemistry II.” 

Now a chemistry major, Luke will tackle organic chemistry this fall. He’s academically ready, he’s ahead of his class, and he has relied on RACC to help him figure out how to earn a bachelor’s without taking on massive student debt.

Learn more about RACC's dual enrollment program

Reading, PA – On August 20, 2019, Reading Area Community College (RACC) President Dr. Susan Looney and Kutztown University of Pennsylvania President Dr. Kenneth Hawkinson signed an agreement for Kutztown University (KU) to teach a Bachelor of Science in Education (BSED) with Prek-4 Teacher Certification program at Reading Area Community College’s (RACC) campus starting fall 2020.  

The agreement frames a teacher certification pathway through leveraging Berks County public institutions, Reading Area Community College, Kutztown University, Reading Muhlenberg Career and Technology Centers, and Berks Career and Technology Center and addresses workforce projections for qualified early childhood teachers in the region.
Students will be able to begin taking college courses this fall at the Career Technology Centers (CTC) through the Teacher Academy, a college-credit bearing career pathway in CTC Early Childhood Education taught at both CTC’s. Students will be able to complete their AAS in Early Childhood Teaching in a year after graduating from high school before transitioning to Kutztown University’s BSED (PreK-4 Certification) program offered at RACC’s campus. At the center of these agreements, which creates a seamless pathway from the CTC’s to Kutztown University, are the students who graduate from RACC’s AAS Early Childhood Teaching program and need an accessible and affordable pathway to better employment opportunities through earning a  Bachelor of Science in Education in the community where they live, work, and raise their families. 

“The BSED at RACC’s campus will help our students achieve their career goals and help our community with well-trained early childhood teachers. These students want to stay in Berks County and teach our very youngest students in Berks County. To partner with the Career Technology Centers so high school students can begin their career programs with college credit helps accelerated the pathway to completion,” says Dr. Susan Looney. 

For more information about KU – BSED Cohort starting fall 2020 at RACC’s campus, please contact Jim Garraway, KU’s Assistant Director of Transfer Admissions, 610.683.4787. For more information about the Teacher Academy contact Jodi Corbett, director of academic partnerships/special assistant to the president, 610.607.6219.

Written by Karen Shuey/ReadingEagle

Muhlenberg Township, PA — Muhlenberg High School Principal Michael Mish has experienced some uncomfortable silences.

Those silences usually come when it has been painfully clear that the parents staring at him have no clue what he has been attempting to tell them. He offers a smile and then they wait. They wait for someone who can help them move past the barricade that separates those who only speak English from those who only speak Spanish.

"We know how important it is for parents to be engaged in the education of their children, so when you can't communicate with them about that it creates barriers," he said. "Those uncomfortable silences can be embarrassing because you know they want to be there to help, but you have nothing you can say to them."

And with Latinos now making up more than half of the Muhlenberg School District student population, those silences have become much more frequent over the last several years. 

So when Mish heard the district was partnering with Reading Area Community College to offer a Spanish program this summer to school administrators and their support staff he said he embraced the opportunity.

"I may never become fluent in Spanish but understanding more about the language and the culture will help make those interactions more comfortable for me and for the parents," he said. "It's a lot easier to communicate with someone when you have an appreciation for where they come from."

Mish was not alone in his enthusiasm for learning.

He was one of about 30 faculty members across the district who took the course. They spent the last several weeks learning and speaking basic words and phrases, researching Spanish-speaking countries, tasting the local cuisine from those countries and listening to the experiences of those who lived in those countries.

Lori Morris, an assistant high school principal, said she's hoping those bilingual skills and cultural experiences will come in handy when it comes to building relationships with those students and parents who can sometimes feel isolated because of the language barrier.

"We have to walk the walk and talk the talk," she said. "Our students and parents are going to appreciate the fact that we are making an effort. I think the effort to better understand them is what really matters to them."