News

SMC Success Story Told at Automotive Day

Southwestern Michigan College’s Dowagiac campus hosted 225 Michiana high school students Oct. 3 for Automotive Day. Participants included Dowagiac, LaPorte, Berrien Springs, Van Buren Tech, Lawton, Buchanan and Elkhart Area Career Center.

She Set Herself Up for Success

After earning an associate degree in social sciences and admission to Phi Theta Kappa in 2015 at Southwestern Michigan College, Cassidy Purucker Bourdon seemed poised for a career in social work.

SMC Narrows Presidential Search to Four Finalists

In the search for its ninth president, Southwestern Michigan College has narrowed the field to four finalists.

Hitting All the Right Notes

Deanna (Phillips) Russell (Class of 2012) did it all for Southwestern Michigan College Performing Arts. Originally from Three Oaks, she graduated from River Valley High School in 2010. Russell performed in Symphonic Band, the Jazz Band, Select Voices, Concert Choir, Women’s Choir and Show Choir. She was also part of a saxophone quartet her freshman year.

More Than 500 Attend SMC College Fair

More than 500 students attended Sept. 24’s Southwestern Michigan College Fair in the Charles O. Zollar Building, encompassing 1st Source Bank Fieldhouse and the Student Activity Center. Representatives from 46 colleges and universities were available to visitors from 10 a.m. to noon. High school students could talk to representatives from a wide variety of colleges and universities in one convenient location to get answers to questions about admissions, programs and financial aid.

SMC Hosts Michigan School Counselors

Southwestern Michigan College updated local educational partners at the annual Michigan Counselor Breakfast Sept. 18 in Mathews Conference Center East on the Dowagiac campus. Counselors received a preview of the academic year and met SMC’s admissions team. Eighteen counselors attended from Berrien Springs, Brandywine, Bridgman, Dowagiac, Edwardsburg, Heritage Southwest Intermediate School District, Marcellus, New Buffalo, Niles, Phoenix High School of Kalamazoo and Three Oaks.

SMC Accomplishments Reviewed

Interim President Brent Brewer detailed an “historic fall” Sept. 10 for the Southwestern Michigan College Board of Trustees. From an economic impact study and three capital improvement projects to 1,100 students participating in 17 Welcome Week activities, SMC is “firing on all eight cylinders,” in 2025, as Chairman Tom Jerdon put it.

Good Boy Founder Speaks to SMC Business Club

Alex Pratt, founder of fast-growing Good Boy Vodka, shared his story Sept. 16 with Southwestern Michigan College Business Club, which packed the Student Activity Center theatre. President Cole Kilboy presented Pratt with a Business Club shirt members autographed.

SMC Music Majors Hear Renowned Trombonist

Southwestern Michigan College music majors were treated Sept. 12 to a guest speaker, trombonist Tim Coffman. Coffman, a performer and educator in the Chicago area, was in town to perform Sept. 13 at the South Haven Jazz Festival with the Lake Effect Jazz Big Band through a Jupiter Music grant. Coffman began by playing a 1941 Billie Holiday ballad, “Lover Man,” accompanied by a play-along track on his laptop he pulled from YouTube.

Make It a Laughing Matter

Automotive Professor Kyle Schrock isn’t ready to give up his seven-year day job, but at the same time he’s serious about nurturing his fledgling comedy career. Stand-up comedy implies a fusillade of jokes. That’s not Schrock. He’s more of a storyteller.