Gerardo Garay is recognized for his community service

DCTC Campus Lions Club President Gerardo Garay is on a roll this year, achieving another great success for the campus, the club and himself. He won the 2012 Junior Quarterback Service Award sponsored by the Minnesota Vikings.

“It’s a great honor,” said Garay. “It’s great knowing I’ve helped out the Lions Club and other people at the same time. And I have fun while I’m doing that.”

The award is given to students who provide outstanding volunteer service to their community. The Vikings were impressed with Gerardo’s leadership in fundraising for the Suicide Prevention Walk, the Woodbury Habitat for Humanity project, and the collection of used shoes and eyeglasses for those in need in Dakota County.

The $1,000 award will go to the DCTC Campus Lions Club, which sponsored Garay, and will be used for future service projects. The Minnesota Vikings Association presented Garay with a signed certificate showing the organization’s appreciation for his great accomplishment.

“Congratulations to Gerardo and the rest of the Lions board of directors and volunteers who have made the club such a remarkable success,” said Brett Kolles, DCTC Campus Lions Club co-advisor. “We rock and roar!”

For more information about the Lions Club at DCTC, contact:

• Brett Kolles
  DCTC Campus Lions Club Co-Advisor
  651-423-8395
• Laura Gardner
  DCTC Campus Lions Club Co-Advisor
  651-423-8526

Bethani Athey shares her experience at DCTC

Bethani Athey | #8 | Fastpitch Softball

Bethani Athey plays for the DCTC Blue Knights women’s fastpitch softball team. Bethani graduated from Elk River High School as a five-year varsity starter for the Elks. She became a starter at third base in 8^th grade. During her freshman year, the Elks won the 3A State Championship. As a junior, she was named 2011 All-Conference and 2011 All-Section. She was honored as a Minnesota High School All-Star in 2012. The All-Stars are selected by the Minnesota High School Fast Pitch Coaches Association to represent all graduating seniors. The players are recognized as the state’s premier softball players.

Bethani sat down with Real Magazine for a quick Q & A:

Real: How did you earn the MN H.S. All-Star award?

Bethani: It is based primarily on your softball skills, but also being a team leader and having a positive attitude. You need to be nominated by your coach and then all the coaches in the conference will vote. I was honored my coach nominated me, and very excited when I received the High School All-Star award.

Real: What made you decide to come to DCTC?

Bethani: The softball program instantly got my attention. I met with Tom Cross, the softball coach, and he talked to me about the program. I was also really attracted to DCTC when I found out they moved to the D2 Conference. It is very rare for technical colleges to play at that level.

Real: What do you think about DCTC?

Bethani: After graduating from high school I pictured myself going to a university, and was skeptical about going to a smaller technical college. After coming to DCTC, I like that it is a smaller school because I get more one-on-one time with the instructors. All the instructors here are really nice and are always willing to help.

Real: Favorite part about DCTC?

Bethani: Softball. I enjoy meeting the other girls and making friends. There are about four girls from last year, but all the rest are new. I really like how athletes from all the DCTC sports know each other, which is different from my high school. I did not expect that at all. For example, our team got together to watch a girl’s soccer game and a baseball game. The boys also came out to watch us. It is really cool that all the athletes support each other.

Bethani Athey | Elk River H.S. Elks

Real: What do you do in your free time?

Bethani: I work at Subway so I am there a lot. I volunteer as the assistant coach of youth softball camps at my hometown of Elk River. I enjoy working with the young girls on catching, pitching and all aspects of softball. I can definitely see myself being a coach in the future. I also enjoy shopping, but in my free time, I am mostly focused on softball.

Real: What is your biggest challenge about being in school?

Bethani: Balancing work, school and softball is the most challenging. We have softball practice every Tuesday and Thursday at 2 p.m. As the season gets closer, we will practice almost everyday. My advisor, Amy Eppen, helped me fit my classes in the morning, so I am done by at least 2 p.m. everyday.

Real: What are you looking forward to this softball season?

Bethani: We are taking a spring break trip to Florida and will play other D2 teams from different conferences. We will play about 10 games that week to sharpen our college level softball skills.

Real: What are you plans after DCTC?

Bethani: After DCTC, I will be transferring to St. Cloud Technical & Community College and pursue an ultrasound technician degree.

Fun Facts

• Favorite Food: Mashed potatoes
• Favorite Book: The Lovely Bones
• Favorite Movie: Despicable Me
• Favorite Course: General Biology with Kyle Forgette
• Pre-game Rituals: Listening to music
• Favorite Athlete: Crystal Bustos (USA Olympic Softball Athlete)
• Favorite Sports Memory: Winning the 3A State Championship in 2009

Bethani Athey | Minnesota High School All-Star

This story was featured in the Winter/Spring 2013 Real Magazine.

For more information about Blue Knights fastpitch softball, contact:

• Tom Cross
  Head Softball Coach
  651-423-8677

Rosealee Lee to be honored with 10 others

Since 2010, the Exceptional Businesswomen Award has recognized women who have distinguished themselves in Dakota County business and community efforts. Rosealee Lee, meeting and event management instructor at Dakota County Technical College, is one of 11 women who will be honored with the award during a recognition ceremony and breakfast on Tuesday, March 5, at Lost Spur Event Center and Golf Course in Eagan, Minn.

“It is an honor to represent Dakota County Technical College and women professionals,” said Lee about receiving the award. “I believe it is incumbent on all professionals, regardless of gender and occupation, to mentor others. One of the rarest gifts that’s forgotten all too often is that what we give, we get back.”

Annette Marquez | Founder/Owner of The Perfect Occasion

Annette Marquez is one such student who Lee mentored. Marquez graduated from DCTC’s Meeting and Event Management program and received the award in 2010. She founded The Perfect Occasion, a business that specializes in event planning for nonprofit organizations and small businesses. Read her full story in DCTC News: Annette Marquez Honored as Exceptional Businesswoman.

A panel of judges from the DCTC Foundation, the Dakota County Tribune, and Sun Thisweek reviewed the nominations. This year’s award winners represent a wide variety of community members, including small business owners, educators, organizers, manufacturers, motivators, innovators and barrier breakers.

“Building our industries forward, one person and one career at a time, benefits our students, our industry and us,” said Lee. “I hope this honor will shine a light on that practice. I am grateful to all of my mentees and associates, as well as the selection committee for this award.”

This year’s winners in the fourth class of Exceptional Businesswomen are:

• Sharon Hoffman Avent | Smead Manufacturing Company president and CEO | Hastings, Minn.
• Ruthe Batulis | Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce president
• Catherine Byers Breet | ARBEZ Inc. owner | Eagan, Minn.
• Jeanne Hutter | Lakeville Convention & Visitors Bureau director
• Rosealee Lee | Dakota County Technical College faculty member | Rosemount, Minn.
• Debbie McConnell | Medi-Car Auto Repair owner | Rosemount, Minn.
• Patti McDonald | McDonald Eye Care Associates business administrator | Lakeville, Minn.
• Susan McGaughey | Valley Natural Foods general manager | Burnsville, Minn.
• Kristina Murto | Ensemble Creative & Marketing owner | Lakeville, Minn.
• Linda Peterson | Beau Monde Salon owner | Burnsville, Minn.
• Stacey Stratton | True Talent Group president | Apple Valley, Minn.

Single tickets are $30 to attend the recognition ceremony or get a table of eight for $175. To purchase tickets, visit 2013 Exceptional Businesswomen Recognition Banquet and Breakfast.

To learn more about Meeting and Event Management, Spa and Resort Management or Hospitality Lodging Management at DCTC, contact:

• Rosealee Lee
  Meeting & Event Management Instructor
  651-423-8614

(left to right) Paul Moe, MJSP Director | Ron Thomas, DCTC President | Elizabeth Kautz, Mayor of the City of Burnsville | Isabelle Day, QIC President & CEO | David Kutoff, QIC President

College receives $115,332 MJSP grant and partners with QIC

Quality Ingredients Corporation, a national food manufacturer based in Burnsville, Minn., partnered with Dakota County Technical College to provide technical skills training after a recent expansion. Twenty new and 55 existing employee-owners in Minnesota will receive the training over a two-year period, thanks to a $115,332 Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant. The official grant signing took place at the QIC headquarters at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21.

“We are pleased to provide this critical training for Quality Ingredients as they expand operations,” said Patrick McQuillan, DCTC’s dean of continuing education and customized training. “We have extensive experience working with food manufacturers, which is valuable as we customize training to match QIC’s processes.”

Quality Ingredients Corporation is a leader in the spray drying industry and one of the largest 100 percent employee stock ownership plan companies in Minnesota. They place a priority on employee-owner development and continuous improvement. With their expertise in spray dry technology, the company transforms liquids into stable powders for the food and nutrition industries.

(center) Ron Thomas, DCTC President

“This grant is a wonderful validation of our efforts to make development opportunities available to every employee-owner and it is our intent to make our operation better and better every day,” said Isabelle Day, President & CEO of Quality Ingredients Corporation. “Our partnership with DCTC brings us the customized training support we need for our rapidly growing team.”

Planning for this training is currently underway and will begin in March. “Maintenance staffing tends to run very lean for manufacturers, which doesn’t leave a lot of time to schedule everyone for face-to-face training,” said McQuillan. “This grant will allow us to develop a Systems Troubleshooting course in hybrid format. We are working toward this goal for all of our mechatronics training offerings.”

DCTC will conduct training in the following areas:

• Operator Automation
• Systems Troubleshooting (Hybrid delivery)
• Boiler’s License Requirements
• Welding for Sanitary Processes
• Computers & Math for Technicians
• Continuous Skills Coaching
• Process and Standard Operating Procedures Development
• Lean Manufacturing
• Six Sigma
• Business Communications
• Lean Office

About Quality Ingredients Corporations

Celebrating more than 25 years of service to the food industry, Burnsville, Minnesota-based Quality Ingredients is a 100 percent employee stock ownership company leveraging expertise in drying technology to create proprietary and custom powdered ingredient systems, as well as, provide toll drying and blending services for food processing companies across North American and beyond. Please visit www.qic.us for more information.

About DCTC 

DCTC’s Customized Training staff members are experienced in grant administration. Over the past 20 years, DCTC has received and executed tens of millions of dollars in local, state and federal grants to support workforce development in Minnesota. Since 2000, Dakota County Technical College has partnered with over 60 Minnesota businesses administering more than $12 million in MJSP training grants.

Dakota County Technical College’s Customized Training division specializes in offering training and consulting services in the following areas: Business & Management, Computers & Technology, Health Care, Manufacturing & Trades, Transportation & Safety. DCTC guides companies through comprehensive training and development programs that bridge all work types and positions – enabling employers to provide a cross-company/cross-department focus and message, with the flexibility of using multiple formats.

QIC Grant Signing Gallery

For more information about Continuing Education & Customized Training at DCTC, contact:

• Patrick McQuillan
  Dean of CT and Continuing Education
  651-423-8318

DCTC’s Nanoscience Technology program featured on KARE 11

Atoms and molecules are all around us. They make up the chair you sit in, the food you eat and the air you breathe. In fact, a 150-pound human being will have approximately seven thousand quadrillion atoms in his or her body. That’s 7 to 27th power, or a seven followed by 27 zeros, or 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000! There are more atoms in your body than there are stars in the sky.

Nanotechnology is the study of these tiny objects on the nanometer scale (nano refers to one billionth). Nanotechnology as serious science emerged in the early 1980s and has since caught on in multiple business and industrial environments.

KARE 11 interviewed Deb Newberry, the director of both Dakota County Technical College’s Nanoscience Technology program and the Midwest Regional Center for Nanotechnology Education, better known as Nano-Link, for the station’s Cool in School segment on Feb. 15, 2013.  Watch the video and read the full article:

Nanoscience program brings big opportunities to students at DCTC
Students get leg up on cutting edge technology

Article by: Kim Insley, KARE 11 News

“Where is it?” said Deb Newberry, who was trying to focus a dip pen lithography machine on a silicon chip.

The machine is a piece of sophisticated technology used in Newberry’s nano science technologist program at Dakota County Technology College in Rosemount.

Newberry is looking for something she created on the chip using dip pen lithography. Something so small, the human eye could never find it, nor could most microscopes.

It’s measured in nanometers, “A very, very small level,” explained Newberry. “Atoms and molecules is what we deal with.”

Newberry not only directs the program, she built it with the idea of giving students a two year option to pursue a career with a brights future in Minnesota.

“We’re very blessed in this region to have companies that are very strong in electronics,” said Newberry. “Companies that are very strong in biotechnology, companies that are very strong in materials science.”

“This is the most advanced science I’ve ever seen,” said Jon Duff, a recent Rosemount High School graduate. He’s intent on finding a job when he completes the program.

So is Ryan Coleman, who found his career in construction foundering in the recession.

“Primarily I was looking for something that I knew would be marketable,” said Coleman. He travels 57 miles from his home to attend this program, which is unique in its breadth.

“There’s no other program in the U.S. that has the multi-displinary aspect that we do,” said Newberry.

That’s the appeal of nanotechnology. “Everything in this world, the properties of it, whether it’s your hair or the chair I’m sitting on, the properties are dependent on how those atoms and molecules are arranged,” said Newberry.

Understanding those properties leads to new discoveries about how things work, which can lead to breakthroughs in manufacturing, medicine and technology.

Newberry says nearly one hundred percent of her students who choose to work after they complete the two year program find jobs right away. About forty percent of her students continue on for a four year degree, which is why Dakota County Technology College has a partnership in this program with the University of Minnesota.

Newberry is looking to extend the reach of nanoscience to high schools. She’s been working with a company called Nanolink to develop a program and tools that can be used at community colleges or high schools called NanoProfessor.

Her aim is to hook students who many not have considered a career in science and technology. “Once that enthusiasm starts bubbling up in them they go, ‘shoot, if I can do this, I’m going to go to the U of M and do chemical engineering.”

For more information about Nanoscience Technology at DCTC, please contact:

• Deb Newberry
  Nanoscience Technology Program Director and Instructor
  Nano-Link Director
  651-423-8328