Tag Archives: asap

Ivy Tech Northeast student makes his commercial debut

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Cassius

Cassius

I met Cassius Stallings last semester. We were filming a video for the ASAP program, a project that explained the program to high school guidance counselors, and the ASAP coordinator suggested Cassius as a good student to talk about the program.

Cassius, it turned out, was great in front of the camera. He was natural and succinct. He answered honestly and without hesitation. I’ve interviewed a number of people in front of a camera for various Ivy Tech videos, and Cassius was about as natural as I’d seen anyone during taping. (Check out Cassius in this ASAP video  at :33, 1:36, and 3:49.)

A few months later, a call out came from Ivy Tech’s Office of the President looking for students and young faculty members to be in a new set of commercials that would air throughout the state. Cassius immediately came to mind as an ideal candidate. I wrote up a short synopsis of his story, sent in a brief snippet from his interview and sure enough, a few weeks later, the Office of the President contacted Cassius to be in the commercial.

They filmed earlier this month, and he says the process was fun. Initially, he was given one line to read, over and over.

“I said it so well, they gave me a few more lines,” he says.

“I am a problem-solver.” “I choose a college that cares about me.” “I choose a college that’s affordable.”

If anything, Cassius was too happy to be there–they asked him to tone down his big ol’ grin more than once, he says.

Some of the photos Cassius snapped during the commercial taping in Indianapolis

Some of the photos Cassius snapped during the commercial taping in Indianapolis

After meeting and learning more about Cassius, he is certainly the kind of student Ivy Tech should be glad to promote: He graduated from South Side High School in 2012 and was immediately drawn to the ASAP program because he wanted to finish with his associate degree in just one year. As a member of the program, he signed a pledge that he wouldn’t work during the school week; because the program is so intense, the College asks ASAP students to look at their program as their 40-hour-a-week gig. So Cassius can only work on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays–eight-hour shifts at Wal-Mart, assuring he doesn’t have much free time in a regular week.

Some of the free time he does have is spent with My Brother’s Keeper, a mentor group that starts kids out in middle school and pairs them with older teens and adults throughout the program. Local business owners come in and talk about the importance of higher ed, as do the older mentors. Cassius said he has talked up Ivy Tech on more than one occasion. He also volunteers at Youth for Christ.

Cassius plans to graduate from Ivy Tech Northeast at the end of May, and he hopes to transfer over to IPFW and look into joining the National Student Exchange, which would allow him to spend time at companion schools.

“I’m thinking Arizona,” he says. “I really wanna go somewhere hot.”

Ivy Tech Northeast ASAP students find elementary school pen pals

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Fatima Al Timeemy is a college student, but on this particular day, she’s playing with colored pencils, markers, and crayons.

And it’s all for elementary school students.

ASAP3Ivy Tech Community College Northeast students in the Associate Accelerated Program, or ASAP, have third grade pen pals at West Noble Elementary in Ligonier.

It’s part of  No Excuses University, a program that pairs elementary schools that have a high number of students on free and reduced lunch with colleges and military personnel to encourage the elementary students to stay in school. At the end of the semester, the elementary students will tour Ivy Tech Northeast and get to meet their pen pals, who they will write to throughout the semester.

“And you’ll be superstars, and they’ll be so excited to meet you because you’re in college,” Kim Myers, Ivy Tech Northeast’s ASAP coordinator, told her students before they began writing their letters earlier this week.

And the college students get something out of it, too — they get to learn the importance of letters.

“People don’t write letters. Handwriting is a lost art,” Myers said. “I think there is a personal touch that you get with a handwritten letter that you don’t get when you’re emailing, and I think that’s what’s exciting for the kids. Nobody gets mail anymore.

The college students had fun with the letters, referring to their pen pals as minions and little sunshines.

ASAP 2

ASAP studenet Amber Puran writes to her West Noble pen pals.

Keyara Mere, an ASAP student, said she hopes her letter is inspiring to the third graders.

“I hope it means that they’ll always remember that someone they don’t know wants them to do well,” Mere said. “That would inspire me if someone I didn’t know wrote to me, (to know that) someone out there is rooting for me.”

Keyara Mere, center, says she asked her pen pals about their dreams and encouraged them to be whatever they wanted when they grew up. She told them that finishing high school and going to college is the key factor in being able to follow those dreams.

Keyara Mere, center, in grey hoodie, says she asked her pen pals about their dreams and told them that finishing high school and going to college was the key factor in being able to follow those dreams.

Ivy Tech Northeast partnering with Ligonier elementary school to encourage students

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For the second year, Ivy Tech Community College Northeast has partnered with a regional elementary school for No Excuses University.

No Excuses is a program for schools with a high percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunches. Classrooms in these schools are sponsored by military personel or higher education institutions to encourage students in three areas:

  1. Completing homework
  2. Graduating high school
  3. Finding and choosing a career path

Ivy Tech Northeast’s partnership with West Noble Elementary in Ligonier began last semester, though this semester’s events kicked off Friday, when Harold McCard, program chair of Public Safety at the College, spoke with a third grade class about fire science. Ivy Tech Northeast speakers will visit West Noble monthly throughout the semester. The list of speakers includes Ivy Tech Northeast deans, program chairs, and students.

Ivy Tech Northeast will provide more than speakers for the West Noble partnership. This week, students in Ivy Tech Northeast’s ASAP (or accelerated study in associate programs) class wrote pen pal letters to the third grade class, encouraging students to complete high school and sharing their favorite things about college. At the end of the semester, the elementary class will tour Ivy Tech Northeast.

Ivy Tech Northeast ASAP student Fatima Al Timeemy writes a pen pal letter to third graders at West Noble Elementary in Ligonier.

Ivy Tech Northeast ASAP student Fatima Al Timeemy writes a pen pal letter to third graders at West Noble Elementary in Ligonier.

“The staff of Ivy Tech Community College Northeast has spent numerous hours planning presentations and corresponding with the students,” says Tanya Young, the College’s community outreach coordinator. “The elementary students are being encouraged to think about training beyond high school and consider Ivy Tech as part of their not-so-distant future.”

For more information on No Excuses, visit noexcusesu.com.