Cooper Smith is an anomaly in his family – a redhead in a clan full of people with black or brown hair.

Curious about his heritage, Cooper, an honors student at Valencia College, has embarked on two research projects that will teach him more about his ancestral background. 

“When no one else in your family has red hair, it makes you really curious  about where that came from,” he says.

The first is his formal honors research project. For that project, Cooper is investigating the different cultures that may have influenced the ancient Celtic peoples.

And, because he doesn’t know much about his family’s heritage, Cooper has launched into another research project: a DNA study of his own ancestry.

To find out where his family hails from, he has sent a sample of his DNA (taken by wiping a cotton swab on the inside of his cheek) to the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C.  There, a team of scientists is using DNA samples from people around the world to compare DNA strains and determine where people originated from, based on their shared chromosomal traits.

It’s called the Genographic Project, and since 2005, more than 594,000 people around the world have participated in the project, sending in their DNA for testing and mapping.  (To learn more about the Genographic Project, go to https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/)

Originally designed to map the movement of indigenous peoples, the National Geographic project has expanded and now is working to map the migration of humans from Africa to the far corners of the earth.  Participants such as Cooper Smith are contributing their DNA to the research project, but in return will learn about elements of their own ancestry.

Scientists at National Geographic run a comprehensive analysis to identify more than 3,000 genetic markers on participants’ mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down each generation from mother to child, revealing a person’s direct maternal deep ancestry.  For male participants like Cooper, the team also examines more than 10,000 markers on the Y chromosome, which is passed down from father to son, to reveal direct paternal deep ancestry.  The team also looks at more than 130,000 other markers from across the entire genome to reveal the regional affiliations of ancestry, offering insights into ancestors who are not on a direct maternal or paternal line for both males and females.

This summer, Smith, who’s 19, will receive the results of his DNA tests. And as he accumulates information, he’s adding it to a web page that he’s created to document his findings.

“The only thing I know about my family’s history is from word of mouth,” says Cooper. “I know my grandmother was Cuban. Her family came to Cuba from the Canary Islands. And my grandfather on my mother’s side was Russian. His grandfather came here  and changed the family’s name,” he says. “But on my father’s side, I don’t know much, so I’m very interested to learn about it.”

The two research projects, which he has undertaken as part of his classwork for the James M. and Dayle L. Seneff Honors College, have inspired Cooper to think about the broader field of anthropology and archaeology.

“I originally planned to go to the University of Central Florida, but given my major, I’m now looking at multiple schools,” says Cooper.  Among those on his list: Rollins College in Winter Park, the University of South Florida in Tampa and University College of London.

]]> http://news.valenciacollege.edu/valencia-today/curious-about-his-heritage-valencia-honors-student-embarks-on-genealogical-research/feed/ 0 http://news.valenciacollege.edu/press-releases/valencia-student-tuition-to-stay-the-same-for-third-straight-year/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=valencia-student-tuition-to-stay-the-same-for-third-straight-year http://news.valenciacollege.edu/press-releases/valencia-student-tuition-to-stay-the-same-for-third-straight-year/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 19:04:49 +0000 Carol Traynor http://news.valenciacollege.edu/?p=9744

Today, Valencia College trustees agreed to hold tuition for associate-degree classes at its current level for next fall. At $99.06 per credit hour for Florida residents, Valencia’s tuition and fees are the lowest among Central Florida’s state colleges, including Seminole State College and Polk and Brevard community colleges, and are about half the cost of a state university. While Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a tuition increase for Florida colleges on Monday, Valencia’s board could still have raised tuition on its own by up to 10.5 percent to make up for years when the college had not raised tuition as much as it was allowed. “I want to compliment the staff and the administration on doing something that’s really remarkable: holding the line on costs and still achieving remarkable results,” said vice chair Lew Oliver. Last year, Valencia leaders also declined to raise tuition although authorized to do so by the Florida Legislature. “The college will never be cheaper than right now,” said Valencia President Sandy Shugart, who encouraged students to enroll in the fall because a tuition increase is likely for next year. Bachelor’s level tuition will increase slightly—less than 25 cents per credit hour—under an automatic increase for inflation, mandated by state law. Current Florida resident tuition for bachelor’s degree classes is $113.64 per credit hour. Twenty-one students graduated this May from the bachelor's programs in Radiologic and Imaging Sciences, and Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology. Valencia educates more than 60,000 students a year at six campuses and centers in Central Florida’s Orange and Osceola counties. It was named the top community college in the nation for 2011-2012 by the Aspen Institute, a Washington educational- and policy-studies center. A panel of judges selected Valencia for the inaugural Aspen Prize based on the strength of its graduation and transfer rates, especially among minority students, as well as the high job placement rates of its workforce training programs.]]>

Valencia’s commencement exercises took place at 10 a.m. at Silver Spurs Arena, Osceola Heritage Park, on U.S. Hwy. 192 in Kissimmee.

But just as Nathan was hitting his stride at work—buying a house and beginning to take college classes in electronics—the realities of the global economy crash-landed on his doorstep.

Lucent Technologies was sold to another company and, then, in 2005, the Orlando plant closed down. The 1,600 jobs, making microchips, were sent overseas. And Nathan Maurer found himself with a home, a mortgage and no job.

Quickly, he scrambled to find a job and landed one working for a landscaping company, then working the night shift at Walmart. Meanwhile, he returned to Valencia, where he had taken a few classes earlier in his career. Here, he began ramping up his efforts to earn an Associate in Applied Science degree in Electronics Engineering Technology.  

Life, however, moved on while Nathan was in college. He got married. When his wife, a legal secretary, had their first child, Nathan continued to go to college, but became a stay-at-home dad instead of putting the baby in day-care. To help pay the bills, he began working as an online tutor.

After earning his A.A.S., he tried to find a job in his field, but with the recession gripping the nation, he couldn’t find anything. So Nathan signed up for Valencia’s new bachelor’s degree program in Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology. “When it started, I wasn’t sure what the coursework would be like,” he says. “But as the program started, I became more interested in electronics and engineering. And I was impressed by the level that they were teaching—especially since this was the first time for all these courses.”

Having taken classes at UCF, where many of the classes contained hundreds of students, Nathan was thrilled to find himself in classes with less than 20 students.

“At Valencia, if you need help at any point, you can sit down with that instructor and get help,” Nathan says. “At UCF, there is not one-on-one at any point.”

Now, at age 37, Nathan Maurer is proud to be in the first class of bachelor’s degree graduates from Valencia College. His wife, and three children, ages 9, 7 and 10 months, will be in the audience—and his mom, who lives in Michigan, will be watching the commencement on her computer, by live-streaming video.

After graduation day, Nathan wants to land an internship in the field—and then a job.

“My long-term goal,” he says, “is a permanent position with a power generation unit.”

It wasn’t. Although the health-care field is growing, Zenia discovered that the Orlando area was already full of nuclear medicine technologists—and even though the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts higher-than-normal job growth for workers in this field, Zenia couldn’t find any full-time jobs.

“There aren’t many positions and the people in this field tend to stay where they are,” she says. “They get a job and they stay there.” And with local colleges pumping out new graduates each year, Zenia  found the region was saturated with nuclear medicine techs.

Unable to find a full-time job, she settled for a part-time job at a hospital in Lake County—which means a one-hour commute from her home in Deltona.

Frustrated—and worried about paying back her student loans—Zenia started investigating going back to college to earn a bachelor’s degree in radiography. When she learned that Valencia College had started a new bachelor’s degree program in Radiologic and Imaging Sciences, Zenia was thrilled. Although she could have attended the same private college where she earned her associate degree, she was already feeling overwhelmed by the student loans she’d taken out to pay for that.

At Valencia, however, the cost of earning a bachelor’s degree was significantly cheaper than at a private college.

She was also excited because Valencia’s classes were primarily online, allowing her to do her classwork and homework anytime—even if that was 2 a.m. For Zenia, who has a three-year-old daughter, “that flexibility is great.”

Although most of her contact with her professors was online, Zenia enjoyed their interaction. “The instructors are very knowledgeable,” she says. “They really help you out. They’re there to make sure you get through the program and they really care about our success. That’s super important, especially for working professionals—to know that the faculty will really work with you.”

Like many of her classmates, Zenia, now 32, worked while earning her bachelor’s degree. And Zenia, whose bachelor’s degree specialization was quality management, now hopes to find a job in the field. “I really like the whole quality aspect—making sure that everything is done in a certain way, making sure the machines are up to date and working properly and everything is done according to regulations,” she said.

Eager to be one of the first students to earn a bachelor’s degree from Valencia, Zenia took more courses than she might have in order to finish by May 2013.

“I could have graduated in the summer,” she says, “but I took as many classes as I could so I could be in that first graduating class.”

Now her mom, her brother, her husband and her daughter, Leilani, have a special celebration planned for graduation. The family—originally from Puerto Rico, but now living in Deltona—plans to stay in a hotel near Disney the night before graduation and then watch with pride as Zenia walks across the stage the next day.

“I’m extremely excited,” says Zenia. “And so is my family. They are so proud of me and they’ve been so supportive. They’ve helped me through this whole experience.”

Bladimir had to make a decision. Because he had lived in Rhode Island the age of nine, when his parents emigrated from Colombia, he opted to stay at URI.  But with his parents in Florida, his residency status changed and, Bladimir, who was struggling with the large class sizes at URI, then lost his financial aid.

His path to college then detoured to Florida, where he worked for a year before enrolling at Edison State College in Fort Myers. There, he loved the small classes and the interaction with his professors. After earning his A.A. at Edison State, Bladimir moved to Orlando to study engineering at the University of Central Florida.

But after he arrived on the Orlando campus, he found himself facing the same problems that plagued him at the University of Rhode Island. “Once again, in those big classrooms, it was hard to concentrate,” says Bladimir. “It’s hard to listen to a teacher when he’s all the way down there… and you’re all the way up here.”

When UCF put him on academic probation, Bladimir decided to take a few classes at Valencia, in hopes of boosting his GPA. He knew the classes would be smaller, and if they were anything like Edison, he’d get more interaction with the instructors.

As luck would have it, one of his first classes was taught by Dr. Ali Notash, who taught the class about lasers. “I thought it sounded pretty interesting,” Bladimir recalls. “I began thinking, ‘Maybe I want to go into this field.’” So when Notash told Bladimir that Valencia was planning to take over UCF’s bachelor’s program in electrical engineering technology, Bladimir was excited.  Finally, he could get an engineering degree at a college that offered the small classes where he could thrive.

And after he started in Valencia’s engineering program, in classes of 20 to 30 students, he was excited to find that Valencia’s professors teach engineering from a hands-on perspective, not the theoretical material presented at most universities.

“When we came here, we didn’t know how to use some of the equipment in the lab, like oscilloscopes and that kind of thing,” Bladimir says. “So the professors took us back to basics.”

In addition to smaller classes, the professors reached out to help students. “My professors here know me,” Bladimir says. “One of my teachers said, ‘Email me any time of the day and I’ll get back to you.’ And they do. I sent him an email at 12 a.m. and I got an email back from him at 12:03 a.m.”

During the program, the students in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology program learn, among other things, how to program microcontrollers and microprocessors. For his senior design project, Bladimir and a classmate are designing and building a machine that will sort candies like Skittles and M&Ms by color.

“It’s definitely challenging, but you learn a lot,” Bladimir says.

Like many Valencia students, Bladimir worked throughout his college career. To support himself and his wife,who’s a student at UCF, he works nights as a valet at an upscale hotel. He and his fellow engineering students have become a tight-knit group, though they see each other primarily in class.

 “A couple of the guys have kids, some of them have daytime jobs,” says Bladimir, “so we socialize in class. But we’ve all gotten to know each other.”

Now, at age 29, he’s on the verge of making history—becoming one of the first students to earn a bachelor’s degree from Valencia College.  And Bladimir—who learned English by watching cartoons—now hopes to get a job in the power-generation field or communications engineering.

He also hopes that other students will discover Valencia’s small classes and hands-on approach to engineering education.

“Hopefully the word will get out about this program,” he says. “The only reason I found out about it was because I took Ali Notash in a lasers class … but it turned out to be pretty cool.”

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHhT7GHJICE[/embed]

In her short 19 years, she has bounced back from devastating losses – first, at age 13, from the death of her mother, then from the murder of her uncle. But with the help of her family, her church and her faith, Chacoryia has persevered and is the winner of this year’s Mary Smedley Collier Distinguished Graduate Award.

Every day, she is inspired by the words of her late uncle, who frequently told her one maxim: “Nothing comes to a sleeper but dreams.”

As a teenager, Chacoryia often pondered his words, uncertain exactly what he meant. Ultimately, she decided his message was simple: If you want your dreams to come true, you’re going to have to work for them.

And Chacoryia has worked relentlessly to make her dreams come true. 

A good student throughout her elementary and middle school years, Chacoryia was 12 when her mother had a heart attack. Hospitalized and diagnosed with congestive heart failure, 38-year-old Chelsea Howard, was transferred to a nursing home to recover. Unable to walk or speak, her mom would still smile when Chacoryia came to visit and talked about the books she was reading.

Yet Chacoryia – the eldest of three children — was devastated to come home one day to find her grandmother’s home full of family members. Her mom, they told her, had passed away. Full of grief and reeling from her mother’s absence, Chacoryia, then 13, struggled to find her footing. In school, she lost focus. She pressed on, however. And then, just as she was beginning to find her path, she experienced yet another setback: Her uncle, the one who’d given her those words of wisdom, was shot and killed.

But in 11^th grade, Chacoryia began to rebound. And by her senior year, she was back, pushing herself academically. She excelled in her honors English class at Evans High, prompting her teacher, Juan Chisholm, to push Chacoryia to attend college.

And though Chacoryia dreamed of going to Florida A&M University, Chisholm had another idea: He recommended she join Valencia’s Bridges to Success program.  Now, looking back over her college career, Chacoryia says Bridges was the key to her success at Valencia.

In her first two semesters at Valencia, she earned a 3.5 GPA and was soon invited to join Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society for community college students. Through the Bridges program, she joined Valencia Volunteers and soon began contributing articles to the Bridges monthly newsletter. She also began participating in REGAL (Remarkably, Elegant, Gifted, Ambitious, Ladies), the Bridges mentor program for young women.  And, along the way, she discovered more opportunities, including the chance to appear on local TV in public-service announcements for Black History Month.

Juggling her schoolwork with her other responsibilities hasn’t been easy. Chacoryia works 30 to 35 hours a week at Wendy’s, and has worked as a student assistant for Valencia Volunteers between 10 and 20 hours a week. With no car, she travels to and from campus on the Lynx bus.

Yet, for Chacoryia, the sacrifices have been worth it. “My mom and my uncle would be so proud of me,” she says. And she knows that her little brother and sisters – Zoria, 15; Kalib, 11; and Jamella, 9 – see her as a role model.

Now poised to enroll at Florida A&M University in the fall, Chacoryia has set her sights on her next dream – majoring in journalism, with the goal of working for Vogue magazine one day.

And she won’t rest until she accomplishes those dreams. After all, nothing comes to sleepers but dreams.

What’s the best artwork that Valencia students produced this year? Come see when the 2013 Annual Juried Student Graphic and Fine Art Exhibition opens in the Anita S. Wooten Gallery on Friday, April 12, with a reception from 6:30-8:30 p.m. There will be an award ceremony at 7:30 p.m. for outstanding work that includes drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics and design as well as graphic design and interactive design.

From over 300 submitted entries, 120 were selected for display. The jurors for the fine art selections were: Kevin Haran, a professor in the art department at the University of Central Florida, and Rick Lang, who heads the photo department at Crealde School of Art in Winter Park. Eleven graphics professionals from the Valencia Graphics Advisory Board selected the works for the graphics area.

The exhibition will run through May 17.  The Anita S. Wooten Gallery, which is on Valencia’s East Campus in Building 3, room 112,  will be open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (excluding college closed breaks), and is free to the public.

Valencia’s East Campus is located at 701 N. Econlockhatchee Trail.

Accompanying Allred will be Michelle Mailhot, who teaches jazz vocals at Valencia, and the Valencia Jazz Lab Band, a student group directed by Chris Dolske.

The musicians will perform Duke Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood,” and Quincy Jones’ arrangement of “Honeysuckle Rose.”

Also performing will be solo guest trombonist Bill Allred, John’s father.  One of the original staff musicians hired to perform at Disney World in 1971, he is known today as the leader of Bill Allred’s Classic Jazz Band.

Raised in Orlando, John Allred moved to southern California after graduating from high school to perform with the Jazz Minors, a six-piece Dixieland group that performed at Disneyland.

Allred later performed with Harry Connick Jr.’s Big Band and, in 1999, moved to New York, where he has played with   Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band, the Woody Herman Orchestra and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. He is currently the trombonist for the new Broadway play, Cinderella.

The concert is supported by the Valencia Student Government Association.

Valencia College’s Performing Arts Center is located on Valencia’s East Campus, 701 N. Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando.

The public is also invited to an open rehearsal prior to the concert. The rehearsal will be held on April 3 from noon to 1 p.m. at Valencia’s East Campus, Building 3, Room 126.

Each year Valencia’s Film Celebration showcases feature-length and short-subject films produced by Valencia film students in conjunction with industry professionals.

Here is a schedule of films for Thursday-Saturday:

The gentle drama, “The Way Back Home,” directed by television veteran Reza Badiyi, was filmed in Sanford and features actress Ruby Dee, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, “American Gangster: (2007), and Tony award-winner Julie Harris. The story follows a successful New York lawyer (played by actor Michael King), who returns home to care for his ailing grandmother (Harris), who shares a lifelong friendship with Dee’s character. Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.

“Silver Wings and Civil Rights,” written and directed by Jon Anderson, a documentary about the first group of African-Americans to pilot for the U.S. military during World War II. Using vintage footage, photographs, reenactments and first-hand accounts, the documentary presents a remarkable and awe-inspiring record of black history, while calling to attention the racial prejudice and segregation the airmen faced both in the Air Force and at home. The film was widely praised when first released in 2003 and won the Audience Award at the Miami International Film Festival. Several original Tuskegee Airmen will be present for a post-screening discussion with the audience. Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.

“Just Another Day,” directed by Academy Award nominee Peter Spirer, is set in Miami and follows an up-and-coming hip-hop artist struggling to survive after a nightclub shooting takes place. The film features Wood Harris (“The Wire,” “Next Day Air,” “Remember the Titans”), with appearances by renowned rappers Ja Rule, Petey Pablo, Trick Daddy and Lil Scrappy. Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.

Admission to each night is $7, $5 for non-Valencia students with ID, and free for Valencia students and employees. To purchase tickets, contact the box office at (407) 582-2900. All proceeds will go to Valencia College’s film program to help fund student-produced films. For more information, call (407) 582-2413 or visit http://18thvalenciafilmcelebration.com.

Originally written by John Webster in 1612 and performed at London’s Globe Theatre in 1613, this visceral and violent tale is based loosely on the life of Giovanna d’Aragona, the Duchess of Amalfi.

The macabre and tragic play has long been considered one of the greatest tragedies of the Renaissance. Violence, revenge and destruction abound in this tale of courtly corruption.  Malfi is a treacherous place, with political and personal allegiances in constant conflict as revenge breeds revenge, love turns to hatred, and destruction is the tragic end result.

Valencia College Theatre presents this rarely seen work in a vital and new adaption written and designed by Michael Shugg and directed by John DiDonna, with lighting design by Kristen Abel, and costume design by Virginia McKinney.

All performances will be in the Valencia College Black Box Theater, located on Valencia’s East Campus in Building 3.

Curtain times will be 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Sunday performances will begin at 2 p.m.

General admission tickets cost $10. Senior citizens, Valencia faculty, staff and students may purchase tickets for $8. Tickets can be purchased online at www.valenciacollege.edu/arts.

Use the code “VALENCIAWEB” for a $2 discount on each ticket. The discount is for online purchases only. Tickets and more information are also available by calling the college box office at 407-582-2900.

Seating is limited in the Black Box Theater, so advance purchase is advised. Latecomers will not be seated until intermission.

Please note: The play contains adult subject matter and moments of violence that may not be suitable for children

Valencia’s East Campus is located at 701 N. Econlockhatchee Trail.

]]> http://news.valenciacollege.edu/valencia-today/valencia-college-theater-unveils-new-adaptation-of-duchess-of-malfi/feed/ 0 http://news.valenciacollege.edu/valencia-today/from-big-brother-to-africa-activist-john-prendergasts-unlikely-journey/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=from-big-brother-to-africa-activist-john-prendergasts-unlikely-journey http://news.valenciacollege.edu/valencia-today/from-big-brother-to-africa-activist-john-prendergasts-unlikely-journey/#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:07:16 +0000 Linda Beaty http://news.valenciacollege.edu/?p=9220

Being a Big Brother, says John Prendergast, means that you have seen every bad movie imaginable. "As a Big Brother to 10 Little Brothers, I've seen all the worst movies ever made -- all five 'Fast and Furious' movies, 'Real Steel,' -- and I've taught long division -- and know it much better than I did when I was in school," Prendergrast told the audience at Valencia's Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, Jan. 30. But for Prendergast, becoming a Big Brother was the beginning of something much larger. Not only did he vow to continue being a Big Brother for many other children, but the experience also set him on a lifetime spent as an activist. Prendergast, an internationally-known human rights activist, has spent a lifetime fighting for peace. He co-founded the Enough Project, a 2007 initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity. He has worked for the Clinton White House, the U.S. State Department, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group and the United States Institute of Peace. He was at Valencia College as part of the Peace and Justice Institute's Conversation on Peace. His talk was also sponsored by Valencia's Humanities Speakers Series. His journey to becoming a rock star among human-rights activists, however, started at a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C. In 1983, as a 20-year-old college student, Prendergast was visiting a friend in Washington, D.C. who was working at a homeless shelter. While at the shelter, Prendergast met 7-year-old Michael Mattocks. While talking to Michael, Prendergast discovered that the child didn't know how to read -- so Prendergast took him to the library.  And that, he says, was the beginning of a lifelong friendship and mentorship.  "That was the beginning," he says. "I didn't know it was something I'd do for the rest of my life." Although he was going to college in Philadelphia, Prendergast made it a point to stay in touch with Michael -- though he admittedly bounced in and out of his life.  At one point, when child welfare officials wanted to take the three oldest children from Michael's family and put them in foster homes, Prendergast -- then 21 -- stepped in and volunteered to take the three kids for the summer, until Michael's mother could get back on her feet. Child welfare officials agreed and Michael and two of his siblings went to Philadelphia to live with Prendergast.  "I didn't even know how to cook," says Prendergast. In more than 20 years serving as a Big Brother, Prendergast learned the most important rule for mentoring a child: Just keep showing up. Doing that, he says, will mean that you haven't abandoned them -- as so many other people in their lives have. "You give a little dose of affirmation to someone -- a belief in them -- and remarkable things can happen," says Prendergast, who has written a bestselling memoir, "Unlikely Brothers: Our Story of Adventure, Loss and Redemption," which he co-wrote with his first Little Brother, Michael Mattocks. But Prendergast didn't stop at being a Big Brother. One night, while nursing a bum ankle twisted in a basketball game, the 21-year-old Prendergast was watching TV and a documentary about the famine in Ethiopia came on. Too hurt to get up and change the channel, he watched. By the end, he was inspired. "It hit me like a lightning bolt," he said. "I knew I had to go to Africa." He applied for a visa to visit Africa and shelled out all of his money for a one-way ticket to Mali, one of the few countries in the region that was still welcoming Americans.  Although he didn't know anyone in the country and had no plan of action, serendipity struck. On the plane, a man recognized Prendergast from his tryout for the Georgetown University basketball team.  Now a government official from Mali, the man had been a student at Georgetown during the year that Prendergast was also studying at Georgetown. "I walked on to try out for the Georgetown basketball team -- anyone could try out -- but he was an avid basketball fan and he remembered me," Prendergast recalled. Now head of security for Mali's agricultural ministry, the Georgetown grad agreed to show Prendergast around Mali and explain the economics of famine.  "He was just the person I needed to understand famine," Prendergast said. "He drove me to all these places -- Timbuktu and Gao -- it was like a college class. He was teaching me the economics of how and why people starve." Armed with the kind of first-hand knowledge that many Westerners never learn, Prendergast began a lifelong quest aimed at helping Africans: He worked in Zanzibar and Somalia; he lobbied the U.S. government to stop sending military aid to the Somalian government; he worked for the Clinton administration and later partnered with National Security Adviser Anthony Lake to forge a peace agreement in the Eritrea-Ethiopian war. He also began to cultivate the power of celebrities.  In 2003, Angelina Jolie traveled with Prendergast to eastern Congo and recorded a travel journal from that trip for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 2008, Prendergast and NBA star (and Orlando native) Tracy McGrady started the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program to fund education in Darfur refugee camps. Along the way, Prendergast also worked with Nelson Mandela, who was helping to negotiate peace in the troubled nation of Burundi. And it was there that he discovered how much home-grown activism can play a role on the international stage.  While black South Africans were struggling to fight apartheid, they were amazed to find that American college students were holding rallies to advance their cause. And it was the efforts of American college kids -- demanding that their universities divest investments in South Africa -- that turned the world against apartheid. "He told me: 'These students in America, I'm still amazed that they cared about us. It gave us so much hope," Prendergast said. Likewise, college students in Europe and the United States began protesting outside jewelry stores to spread the news about "blood diamonds," the illegal mining trade that fueled and funded horrible civil wars in Liberia, Angola and Sierra Leone. From working as a mentor to kids at your high school to sparking an international movement, everyone can change the world, he told the 150 students gathered for his speech. Do a personal inventory and figure out what skills you have that you can use. Join a movement, like the college students against apartheid, use social networks, and find your passion. "For me," he said, "that magical phrase -- making a difference -- is about how we make change not only in the big broad world, but also in our own neighborhood."]]>

Come hear the nationally ranked Rollins College Debate Team tackle this hot topic in a debate with the Beijing Foreign Studies University Debating Society on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at Valencia College’s West Campus.

The debate starts at 7 p.m. and will be held in the Special Events Center (Building 8) room 111. The event is free and open to the public.

As in all parliamentary style debates, audience members are encouraged to participate. Be prepared for a lively debate – in which heckling is permitted and short, witty interruptions are allowed. There will be an opportunity for audience members to ask questions or make statements.

Valencia’s West Campus is located at 1800 S. Kirkman Road, Orlando.

ORLANDO – How do you find happiness – and is your inner peace contagious? Can Hollywood help promote peace? And what role does each of us have in creating a more peaceful world?

Those are a few of the questions at the heart of Valencia College’s four-day Conversation on Peace, which will be held Jan. 28-31.

Among the highlights: Valencia College will show the award-winning documentary “Project Happiness” and will host two African peace activists: one a Nigerian native who is working for peace between his country’s Christians and Muslims, and an American author who leads an initiative to end genocide in Africa.

Sponsored by the college’s Peace and Justice Initiative, the Conversation on Peace includes workshops, lectures by national and international experts, reading circles and festivities on Valencia campuses.

As part of the week’s events, students, faculty and staff are forming reading circles to talk about “The Peace Book: 108 Simple Ways to Create a More Peaceful World.”

Throughout the week workshops will be held on East Campus, addressing issues from nonviolence, to gender equality to justice. At Osceola Campus, Dr. Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba will conduct presentations on Jan. 30. Ivorgba, who serves as the global study circle director for the Dalai Lama Foundation, started a private school in the conflict-torn city of Jos, Nigeria, where the staff hopes to instill in young people a profound sense of ethics, peace and character to build a productive society.

On Jan. 30 from 1 to 2:15 p.m., the public is invited to a speech by John Prendergast. Prendergast, a human-rights activist in Africa, is the co-founder of the Enough Project, an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity. He is also the author of “Unlikely Brothers: An Inspirational Story of Mentorship.” The book chronicles the 27 years that Prendergast spent as a Big Brother and mentor to Michael Mattocks, whom he met at a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C.  He will speak at the Performing Arts Center on East Campus. This event is sponsored by the Humanities Speaker’s Series.

On Jan. 31, Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba will spend the day with students on the West Campus, culminating with the 7 p.m. showing of “Project Happiness,” a documentary which will be shown at Valencia’s East, West and Osceola campuses. In the documentary, four ordinary young people take viewers on an extraordinary journey – from Nigeria to California to India – to find the meaning of lasting happiness. Along the way, they interview Richard Gere, George Lucas and even the Dalai Lama. The award-winning documentary is being sponsored by the West Campus HEROS club and the Global Peace Film Festival.

After the film, Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba will discuss the film with the West Campus audience (the discussion will be live-streamed to East and Osceola campuses). In addition to his work with the Dalai Lama Foundation and his school, Ivorgba has been a student and participant in Project Happiness since 2006 and became the program director for the African continent in 2011.

Ivorgba’s visit is sponsored by Valencia’s Peace and Justice Institute and the Study Abroad and Global Experiences office.

For more information about the four-day Conversation on Peace, please go to http://valenciacollege.edu/pji/Conversationonpeace.cfm

For a complete schedule of events, go to http://valenciacollege.edu/pji/documents/ConversationonPeaceSchedule-Vertical.pdf

Valencia’s East Campus is located at 701 N. Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando. Valencia’s West Campus is located at 1800 S. Kirkman Road, Orlando. Valencia’s Osceola Campus is located at 1800 Denn John Lane, Kissimmee.

Geared toward helping high school juniors and seniors prepare for college, this free event will offer guidance on how to choose a major, applying for financial aid and navigating the enrollment process, as well as special sessions for parents and guardians.

A light breakfast and lunch will be served. Door prizes include a chance to win two $500 scholarships to Valencia. Admission is free, but space is limited: please go to http://valenciacollege.edu/rsvp to sign up.

• a “green screen” room where students and faculty members can create their own videos for use in presentations;
• outdoor learning spaces that feature benches and glass boards, complete with markers;
• large science-related murals, such as a giant mural of the periodic table of elements;
• and a multipurpose room next to the bookstore, which allows the bookstore to expand during times of heavy use, such as book buyback periods.