These students are teachers too
December 22, 2008
Meghan Coil of Northside and Mary Conner of Fairfield will represent Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in the 2009 All-USA Academic Team competition.
They’ve got the credentials you’d expect in a contest of this sort – rigorous courses, terrific grades, enviable collections of awards.
But Coil and Conner are also distinguishing themselves in the way they’re spending their time outside the classroom. And that, it turns out, is a big part of what the judges in the All-USA competition will be looking for.
Take Coil, for example. She’s a product of Cincinnati’s renowned Walnut Hills High School. She has already earned a degree in English from Denison University, a private liberal arts school in central Ohio. And for several years she earned a living as a Suzuki violin instructor. Coil was drawn to Cincinnati State by its Midwest Culinary Institute, where she’s a first-year student with a special interest in sustainability and nutrition.
Her campus involvement includes the Surge Green Committee, where she’s active in waste management and transportation initiatives. She is also a member of the student chapter of the American Culinary Federation, and works at The Summit, the fine-dining restaurant on the Cincinnati State campus.
Away from school, Coil is a mentor for the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, which for years now has been working to build nurturing relationships with inner city students.
Another of her community activities – and the focus of her essay in the All-USA Academic Team competition – revolves around a cooperative venture near her home in Northside. Known as the MoBo Bicycle Cooperative, it is a volunteer-run non-profit aimed not only at promoting two-wheeled, human-powered transportation but also training adults and children to assemble and maintain their own bicycles. To that end, MoBo offers space where members, for a nominal cost, can work on their bikes and get help (including parts and use of tools) from expert mechanics.
Coil walks the walk, as it were – she does not own a car, and most days rides a bike to school. At the MoBo co-op, she helps organize volunteer activities and serves as coordinator for children’s programs.
The notion of student as teacher also describes the core of Mary Conner’s extra-curricular credentials for the All-USA competition.
Consider: In 2007, as a first year student, Conner was a midfielder for the Cincinnati State Women’s Surge soccer team. This year she’s participating at a whole new level – as head coach of a fledgling soccer team at her alma mater, Immaculate Conception Academy in Norwood.
Immaculate Conception is a small school – there were just 10 students in Conner’s high school graduating class. And Conner, who has been playing soccer since she was 7, knew that launching a program from scratch would be tough. But when she was asked to take on the job this year, she said “Yes’’ – even though she’s carrying a full course load at Cincinnati State, where she’s a second-year biology major.
She and a handful of assistants found themselves leading a team of 7th to 12th graders. Only five of their players had ever worn a soccer uniform before.
“We had six games. We won one,’’ Conner said, in a rather matter-of-fact voice. “You have to start from the very basics, the fundamentals, and teach it.’’
Conner, who plans to pursue an advanced degree in physical therapy after graduating from Cincinnati State, is accustomed to juggling classroom and community work. A long-time volunteer at her church, she has been a regular participant in “Adopt a Family for Christmas’’ programs and a variety of fund-raising activities, and since 2006 has participated in the Marine Corps Reserve Association’s disaster preparedness seminars.
She’s also a member of the Cincinnati State Honors Experience and a note taker for the Office of Disability Services.
The All-USA Academic Team competition for community college students is sponsored by USA Today, the Coca Cola Scholars Foundation and Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. In 2009, 60 students will be named to the All-USA Community College “Gold,’’ “Silver’’ and “Bronze’’ teams. Those chosen will receive stipends ranging from $1,000 to $2,500.
About Cincinnati State
Cincinnati State offers more than 75 associate degree and 40 certificate programs in business technologies, health and public safety, engineering technologies, humanity and sciences and information technologies. About 8,580 students were enrolled in the late fall 2008 term; last year 14,000 separate students participated in credit and non-credit classes.
Cincinnati State has a 93% placement rate within three months of graduation, and its students have a 91% pass rate on required licensing and registry exams. It has the largest co-op program among two-year colleges in the U.S.
