The Miles Community College Learning Center was awarded with a $5,000 grant as a recipient of the 2019 Mid-Rivers Educational and Tech Grants, sponsored by Mid-Rivers Communications. Grants totaling $50,000 were given to a total of 14 applicants throughout Eastern Montana.
The staff at the Learning Center applied for the grant in October by creating and submitting an informational video about the resources available at the center. The Learning Center offers resources for a large portion of Southeast Montana for both adult and non-traditional learners, along with MCC students. Some of those services include free one-on-one tutoring, high school equivalency education, and English as a Second Language which are available to both MCC students and area community members.
Anne Anderson, Director of Student Success and Retention at MCC, saw the chance to help upgrade the services she oversees in the center by applying for the grant. “The Learning Center is such a wonderful asset to current students and the community. We want to be able to assist them in the best way possible.”
Anderson, along with Learning Center staff members Melinda Lynnes and Shelley Freese, were able to provide interviews and clips of students and staff to use as content in their video, explaining in detail the extent of their programs. They then enlisted the services of MCC freshman and student athlete, Emily Dale, a Graphic and Web Design major, who recently completed a video editing course offered by the college.
“It was a fun challenge,” Dale said. “They had an idea of what sort of video they wanted, so it was easy to work around them and build it.”
Anderson plans to purchase laptops with webcams with the grant funds to use for tutoring, as well as online curriculum. The Learning Center use laptops to stay in touch with students at a distance and help on-site students stay in touch with their families.
The winning Learning Center video can be viewed on the Miles Community College Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVAgUH-DYRI&t=6s
