Amie Croteau was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was living there with her husband, her mother-in-law and two children, when her husband was offered a dream job opportunity in software development at a company in Boyertown PA. So they sold their home and relocated to Sinking Spring in the summer of 2015. 

An entrepreneur at heart, Amie planned to continue developing her multi-level marketing business in Pennsylvania. But after settling into her new home, she soon realized there were greater opportunities available to foster her appetite for success. But in order to capitalize on these opportunities she needed to further her college education. After hearing about the excellent academic programs and student success stories emerging from Reading Area Community College, she decided to enroll.

With the encouragement and guidance from key members of the RACC faculty, particularly Brian Savage, Dr. Danelle Bower, Dr. Donna Singleton and Dr. Christopher Costello, Amie immersed herself, and soon thrived in the RACC culture. 

She quickly became an inspiration to all of those around her by challenging them to raise the expectations of themselves in both academic success and personal growth. These leadership traits carry the trademark of a student who cares about her future and the future of everyone around her.

In addition to her coursework in attaining her AA in Business Administration and AAS in Web Development, Amie became a fixture in RACC student organizations and programs. She has:

• Completed an internship position with the Big Brother/Big Sisters of Berks County
• Became a Student-Certified Leader
• Served as the PTK Public Relations Officer
• Served as a class mentor for the Web App Development program students
• Served as Web Master for RACCs’s nationally-acclaimed publication The Front Street Journal
• Served as a developer for the RACC Real Life website

When Amie is not on or around the RACC campus, she finds time to give back to her new community. She became a Juliette Girl Scout Leader, assists in the local Boy Scout troop, and is the videographer for the Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church.

Most recently, Amie earned the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Transfer Scholarship and Named 2018 Phi Theta Kappa New Century Scholar. 

She will use her scholarship to attend Penn State University to acquire a Bachelor of Science in Information Science and Technology degree this fall.

Kristy Whitekettle, a RACC psychology major and president of the Alpha Sigma Rho Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa has been selected as an inaugural 2018 New Century Workforce Pathway Scholar, and will win a $1,250 scholarship. 

“We congratulate Ms. Whitekettle for receiving this prestigious scholarship, and are honored to partner with The Coca-Cola Foundation to recognize her outstanding achievements,” said Phi Theta Kappa’s President and CEO Dr. Lynn Tincher-Ladner. “Scholarship programs like this are integral for creating opportunities for students to succeed as they prepare to enter the workforce and for putting college completion within reach.”

This new scholarship is the first of its kind to support students at associate degree-granting institutions who plan to enter the workforce upon the completion of a degree or certificate on a national scale. The program is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Foundation and Phi Theta Kappa.

New Century Workforce Pathway Scholars are selected based on their academic accomplishments, leadership, activities, and how they extend their intellectual talents beyond the classroom. “More than 2,000 students were nominated from more than 1,600 college campuses across the country. It is an honor for us to have a student like Kristy selected from the state of Pennsylvania, and from Reading Area Community College,” says RACC President Dr. Anna Weitz.

The New Century Workforce Pathway Scholars will be recognized during the Association of Community College Trustees’ (ACCT) Congress in New York City in October 2018.

To learn more about developing leadership potential through participation in Phi Theta Kappa programs at RACC, contact Danelle Bower at 610.372.4721.

Reading Area Community College (RACC) and the Schmidt Training and Technology Center (STTC) have been awarded a grant totaling $143,000 from the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) under the Pennsylvania Manufacturing Training-to-Career Grant Program. With this grant, RACC and its participating industry partners will develop a ‘Training-to-Career’ program focusing on young people (ages 17-24) to provide access to knowledge and skills relevant to local manufactures. The program will teach basic level production skills, along with workplace behaviors, resume writing and interviewing skills.  

This is an intense program during which participants are expected to attend full-time classes, five days a week for six weeks. Upon successful completion, all participants are guaranteed an interview with the core partners and/or companies affiliated with the Workforce Development Board. With successful funding, the first cohort is scheduled to enroll in fall 2018. In the inaugural year, all tuition charges for participants will be waived. Applications will be accepted beginning summer 2018.

Current participating industry partners include Berks Workforce Development Board, Brentwood Industries, Carpenter Technology, Cambridge-Lee Industries, Custom Processing Services, Rm Palmer, R-V Industries and Sweet Street Desserts. Additional local manufactures are encouraged to participate in this effort. Please contact Mike Salute at msalute@racc.edu for more information.

RACC and the STTC have also received a $7,500 grant from American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers (NCATC) and the Arconic Foundation for their Creating Connections for Manufacturing Communities with Community Colleges initiative. RACC and the STTC have been selected as one of nine Community Colleges in the Nation recognized as leaders in advanced manufacturing training and education. The nine Community College cohort will develop a “tool kit” of best practices needed for manufacturers to transition their businesses into the 4th Industrial Revolution; Industry 4.0 Smart Factory. The grant will give RACC and the STTC the opportunity to become a leader in offering cutting edge Cyber Physical training and education programs and credentials.

For more information about RACC and the programs offered at the Schmidt Training and Technology Center, call 610.372.4721, or email jvecchio@racc.edu.

RACC has introduced the first of its kind course in Berks County. The Cyber Defense Certificate Program will prepare graduates for a successful future by earning a certificate in cybersecurity. In fifteen months, you will learn how to protect valuable data assets and develop next-generation cyber skills to anticipate and avoid cyber threats.
 
Whether you are already an industry professional looking to upgrade your skills or change careers, or you are a student looking to specialize in the field of cyber security; this program will help you gain cutting-edge knowledge and skills through coursework designed by industry experts.
 
The Cyber Defense Certificate combines both networking and systems administration fundamentals, with a focus on defensive strategies to securing systems. This accelerated program can be completed in 15 months, and all courses may be taken online.

Learn more.

It’s been an amazing April 2018 for Reading Area Community College student Amie Croteau. On Tuesday, April 10th, Amie received word that she was selected as the only Pennsylvania student to win the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Just the night before, Amie delivered an acceptance speech at the PA Commission for Community Colleges ceremony in Harrisburg after receiving the Phi Theta Kappa New Century Pathway Scholarship award. 

As if this wasn’t enough, earlier this year Amie was also awarded the All-PA PASSHE Award; which is a two-year tuition credit applied toward an in-state tuition charge.

Croteau, of Sinking Spring, will complete her AA in Business Administration and AAS in Web Application Development at RACC this semester. She will then continue her education at Bloomsburg University, where she will pursue her Bachelor of Applied Science in Technical Leadership degree. All of her Bloomsburg course work will be covered financially using the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholarship.

“I am speechless. I moved to Berks from Las Vegas a few years ago, not even planning on returning to school. Now I’m a New Century Scholar continuing the great education I received at RACC with a scholarship to a four-year college,” says Croteau.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship honors excellence by supporting outstanding community college students to transfer to and complete their bachelor’s degrees at the nation’s top four-year colleges and universities. The selection process for these awards is rigorous and highly competitive with approximately forty-five scholarships awarded each year out of thousands of applicants. A review panel of distinguished university admissions professionals and faculty judge the applicants.

The New Century Transfer Pathway Scholar award is given to the student receiving the highest All-USA Academic Team application score in each state; and is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Foundation, The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, the American Association of Community Colleges and Phi Theta Kappa. To learn more about developing leadership potential through participation in Phi Theta Kappa programs at RACC, contact Danelle Bower at 610.372.4721.