News

SMC STEM Camp Explores Ocean Acidification

Whether you’re saving oceans from climate-change acidification one chicken egg at a time, coding moves for animated dancers, making oobleck or engineering truss bridges, hands-on activities stress problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaborative teamwork. Southwestern Michigan College’s fifth STEM camp July 25-27 for students entering grades 4-6 this fall attracted 183 children — 43-percent female — from across Michiana to the William P.D. O’Leary Building.

SMC's STEM Camp Cultivates Growth Mindset

Southwestern Michigan College Educational Talent Search’s (ETS) STEM Camp July 10-14 was frustrating by design. Whether it’s building “brush bots” from a motorized toothbrush for racing or assembling a footlocker from a pile of panels to store their credit card-sized Raspberry Pi computers, there were no directions, forcing campers to “practice your growth mindset.”

SMC Names Jay Jenkins as Head Coach, Women’s Basketball

Southwestern Michigan College announced today that Jay Jenkins will join the athletic department as Head Coach, Women’s Basketball.

"You Gotta Love It" Still Sums Up SMC Wrestling

Southwestern Michigan College’s wrestling team reappeared last fall after a 30-year absence, and they made their presence felt. Among other honors, the team earned the college's first Michigan Community College Athletic Association championship in school history.

Michigan Reconnect Helps Veteran Find Her Welding Passion

Katie Brownlow earned her one-year Southwestern Michigan College welding certificate in April and parlayed her internship into a job with Cotton Gin Smokers, premium, hand-crafted barbecue smokers made on Terminal Road, Niles. Brownlow, a single mom and veteran who turns 38 in July, plans to continue to her welding associate degree. “I’ve got that fire in me again,” Brownlow said, “and it’s not burning out. I’m not going backwards anymore.”

SMC Museum Artifacts Auctioned July 29

Some 1,500 artifacts collected by Southwestern Michigan College when it operated an on-campus museum, including hundreds of circus posters and a hand-carved walking stick from James Polk’s 1844 presidential campaign, will be auctioned July 29.

2015 SMC Graduate a Combat-Trained Clarinet Player

A decade has gone by since Bradley Coleman graduated from Berrien Springs High School, but his trajectory is quite well established. Coleman graduated from Southwestern Michigan College with honors in 2015, then transferred to Western Michigan University to study music education in the clarinet studio. While at WMU, Coleman performed in the University Symphonic Band, University Pep Bands and the Bronco Marching Band, where he met his wife, Melissa.

49th Steve's Run July 14

As the Original Road and Trail Race nears the half-century mark, it has been known as Steve’s Run since 1992.

’19 SMC graduate adds degrees from MSU, Notre Dame, and publishes children’s book

Audrey Bakerson keeps busy. The 2019 Southwestern Michigan College 4.0 graduate in 2022 finished her Michigan State University bachelor’s degree in human biology with a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation. This May she added her master of science degree in management from the University of Notre Dame while publishing a children’s book, The Little Egg.

SMC Creates New Degree in Athletic Training/Sports Medicine

Dean of Nursing and Health Services Melissa Kennedy, DNP, CNE, began developing Southwestern Michigan College’s new Associate in Arts in Athletic Training/Sports Medicine degree almost immediately after the Board of Trustees on July 22, 2020, unanimously authorized the return of NJCAA men’s and women’s cross country for Fall 2021.