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RCC awards grants for innovative ideas By Kevin Opsahl Updated: Dec 19, 2022 12:14 PM A A Students compete in a team fabrication challenge at the RCC Table Rock campus in 2020. A weld-a-thon is one of eight innovative ideas that earned a grant from RCC in an effort to help build enrollment. [Mail Tribune / File Photo] A student competes in a welding challenge at the RCC Table Rock campus in 2020. A weld-a-thon is one of eight innovative ideas that earned a grant from RCC in an effort to help build enrollment. [Mail Tribune / File Photo] A “weld-a-thon,” an e-sports club and a campus mural contest are just some of the initiatives Rogue Community College officials believe can help spur enrollment. Those ideas are among eight proposals that will be funded by RCC microgrants. In an interview, RCC President Randy Weber explained that, not long after he assumed leadership July 1, his administration had advised the college’s employees on ways to stabilize enrollment — but that kind of group-think could only go so far. “I wanted some of these strategies to grow organically,” Weber said. “So what if we were to create a microgrant that would allow individuals or teams to come up with ideas they feel could help with our stabilizing enrollment efforts?” A review committee looked at applications and made recommendations to college leadership, according to Weber. Overall, it’s a slate of projects he feels confident about. “The selected projects clearly demonstrate the variety of ways we can impact students and their success — whether it’s through direct learning strategies or continued, innovative ways to engage with the college,” Weber said. “It’s kind of a mixed methodology.” Melissa Polen, faculty chairwoman of the business technology department, praised the microgrant program. “Our team participated in the microgrants contest because we, like everyone here at RCC, want to give our students every possible support to succeed in their time here,” she wrote in an email. “New ideas are always welcome, and we were happy to share a new approach to the old problem of procrastination.” That methodology includes calling on the campus community and general public to pitch “We are Ospreys” mural concepts, which will be judged by a panel to decide the winner(s). Internet strategist Elizabeth Butler credits the college’s marketing with thinking of this idea before she wrote the grant. “We’re active in social media, and we’d seen example of wing murals on social media and we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have Osprey wings?’” Butler said. “When this microgrant opportunity came, we decided this (mural concept) would be a great fit and we decided to apply.” A quick internet search shows wing murals — from butterflies to dragonflies — are becoming more popular among city spaces, with people wanting to take pictures of themselves at the center of the artwork as a fun way to suggest they can fly. “They’re kind of a buzz,” Butler said. “We’re hoping our students will take the opportunity to (pose for a picture) and share that on social media.” For RCC, it remains to be seen what its wing mural will look like. But Butler is certain the artists’ rendering will boost school spirit and help with retention. “If you have a sense of belonging to a community — even if it’s your school community — that will help drive people to continue,” Butler said. “They can literally spread their wings and be lifted by faculty, staff and other students. It’s more of a feeling than anything you can put into numbers.” She anticipates the mural will be unveiled in mid-2023. The RCC microgrants funded so many more ideas, including a weld-a-thon, scheduled for this coming March. The event will include 220 high school students from 31 regional high schools hoping to win one of six single-term scholarships. Owing to its ever-increasing popularity in higher education, an e-sports club will be established, as has already been done at Southern Oregon University. The aim of the RCC iteration would be to “increase student engagement and open a pathway for skill development that can support degree-seeking in e-sports management and related fields,” the release said. A new kiosk on the Redwood campus will offer students the chance to complete their registration process immediately after their advising appointments. Members of RCC’s business technology department came up with the idea, thinking the kiosk would help shave off some students’ tendency to procrastinate on registering for classes. “We know that students sometimes delay completing their enrollments and felt that having advisers and enrollment technology in the same space would help students complete that final step more effectively,” Polen wrote in an email to the Mail Tribune. Speaking of registration, a campaign designed to encourage students to sign up early will also receive a microgrant. RCC will work with its faculty to not only encourage early registration, but develop a marketing campaign and incentives for students to make it happen. RCC also wants to improve retention, which is why the college’s counseling department developed a series of measures, like workshops to help students who are on academic alert, in suspension or on probation. RCC Adult Basic Skills (ABS) will offer industry-specific English language curriculum, with incentives, for students whose primary language is not English. The college enrolls nearly 200 students per year in the ESL category, so ABS will be able to provide students with “skill-based training to continue their college and career path at RCC and beyond.” A “math success lab” will begin spring term at the Redwood Campus, intending to help students’ math skills impacted by the pandemic. Weber acknowledged the eight microgrant ideas to be implemented are not a be-all, end-all to solving the challenges of RCC’s enrollment figures over the past several years. “There’s not a single approach that will fix it,” he said. The way Weber sees it, the microgrant program accomplishes two things: helping to connect different populations within RCC with the resources they need, while helping to “generate and create a spirit” throughout its campuses. “Let’s start thinking of ways we can grow enrollment and move past the only solution to what ails us is to continue to cut,” the RCC president said. Reach reporter Kevin Opsahl at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @KevJourno.