Reading Area Community College has received a state grant of more than $750,000 aimed at supporting adult education.

The school was awarded an Adult Basic Education Direct Service grant through the state Department of Education in the amount of $751,695. The college has been an annual recipient of the grant.

According to Rhonda Hudak, director of grant development and management at RACC, the money is used for a number of programs including adult literacy and GED preparation programs, training for tutors and supporting the partnership between RACC and the Berks County Workforce Development Board and CareerLink to address the core education needs of the non-English-speaking workforce by providing access to English as a second language classes.

State Rep. Thomas R. Caltagirone, who announced RACC's receipt of the grant Wednesday, lauded the impact the grant has on the community.

"These are the kinds of public-private partnerships that net results in our community," he said. "Literacy and continuing education classes are good for families looking to succeed and contribute to the economy. Reading Area Community College is an outstanding resource and ally for those goals, and I'm pleased that the state saw fit to invest in their mission.

"I look forward to providing more opportunities for funding in our community."

Adult Basic Education Direct Service grants are available to school districts, libraries, volunteer literacy organizations, public housing authorities, community colleges and public and private nonprofit organizations.

Kaiya Kizuka, a Reading Area Community College student enrolled in the RACC/Bucknell engineering program has been named to the United States Junior World Championship Snowboard Team. Kaiya will be representing the United States in both the parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom events. This team will be led by Olympian Justin Reiter and Lynn Ott, a World Cup athlete and one of the founders of the United States Snowboard Race Team. The Junior World Snowboard Championships is a competition that will bring athletes from around the world to compete in racing and freestyle events. This year’s competition will be held at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand from August 24th through September 8th.

During the 2017/2018 snowboard season Kaiya competed nationally in the NorAm “Race to the Cup” snowboard series. At the end of the season she had earned enough FIS points to be ranked among the top junior women open class athletes in the United States. Kaiya is one of three women representing the United States in New Zealand for the parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom events. Kaiya also competed in the Junior World Snowboard Championships last year in the Czech Republic and was the top American finisher in both events.

Justin Reiter states, “I’m really happy to ride with our country’s top riders and to support their goals and efforts on the world stage”.

Ski Roundtop Race Club coach and sponsor Jeff Carr states, “Her hard work and dedication to alpine snowboarding got her where she is today. Kaiya’s success in this sport has only just begun.”

Ski Roundtop Race Club coach Neil Sunday states, “As Kaiya prepares for her second Junior World Championships, I feel confident that she can compete on the international level with success. Her dedication and persistence had made her into one of the top snowboarders representing the United States. A lot of European snowboard federations use the Junior World Championship event as a future planning map of an athlete’s potential, a good result in New Zealand for Kaiya would give her the confidence necessary to continue as a top ranked snowboard contender.”

Kaiya has been snowboarding since the age of 5. Her first race experience was through the NASTAR race program. After a year of racing on those courses which were set for ski racing, she was ready to move to the next level. She then moved on to the USASA Mid-Atlantic Snowboard Series. At the age of 15 she began competing in the open class level at national and international FIS events. At these FIS races she competes against professional and Olympic snowboarders from around the world.

Kaiya graduated Magna Cum Laude from the STEM and Performing Arts Academies at Wilson High School. She received the Presidential Scholarship and is attending Reading Area Community College where she is enrolled in the RACC/Bucknell engineering program.

Kaiya is looking to do well at this year’s Junior World Snowboard Championships. Her future goals include making the JWC team in 2019 and competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.

Her progress and updates can be followed at @snowsurfgirls on Instagram and Facebook.

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.