Local production scene on Delta College Public Media are made possible with support from viewers like you.

Thank you.

[Diane Middleton] Hello and welcome to Dateline Delta.

I'm Diane Middleton, a member of the Delta College Board of Trustees.

On today's show, we will learn how collaboration creates new opportunities for Delta journalism students and see how far the downtown Saginaw Center has come since opening in 2019.

We'll watch the next episode of perspectives with Dr. Gavin and hear how a student is finding their way.

The Delta Way.

To wrap up today's program, we will hear about the next President Speaker Series guest, the upcoming Ireland trip, and the latest shows at the planetarium.

The Delta College Journalism Program recently began collaborating with the Delta College Public Media's radio station.

This partnership offers students a chance to participate in a very valuable learning experience.

To tell us more about this joint venture, we talked to Joe Yezak, Public Media Program Manager.

[Joe Yezak] Five years ago, when we were remodeling the broadcasting area, the whole goal of it was to include the both the electronic media students and the journalism students to work more closely with the broadcasting department, so both radio and TV.

We were really excited about really connecting with the journalists students.

Because prior to the pandemic, we had an increase in students as internships.

They were out doing a lot of stories.

So we saw that the future was going to be extreme important.

That would be valuable for both the Collegiate, the journalism students, as well as public radio.

So that's one of the reasons why we were looking at doing that.

[Crystal McMorris] Journalisms core mission has not changed, which is to seek the truth and report it.

However, the way journalists do that today is very different than when I was in college.

Back then, it was all print.

Everything was focused on the print edition.

Now we still do a print edition here at Delta College, the Delta Collegiate.

But, student journalists today need to meet their readers where they are and where they are is on their phones.

That means that they need to learn to create video content, audio content, live streaming, social media content.

And this partnership with the radio station is just one more way that students can tell stories.

And so students, studying journalism at Delta College are able to build a portfolio of print, audio, video and social media content production, that really prepares them to join the workforce after graduating Delta or transfer on to university and continue their studies.

The reason for the needs is we need more reporters.

We need more journalists out there.

A lot of... there's been a decrease in the amount of journalism that is being taught, and so there's less and less journalists.

There's also what they're calling a news deserts.

So there's a lot of areas in this country where news is just not being covered, local news isn't being covered.

So Delta College, we are trying to get the journalists of the future, teaching.

It'd be great to keep them locally.

And actually, there are a lot of our students in the Collegiate are getting freelance work in order to, work at the, being freelancers for their local papers.

So we really do need more local journalists out there.

And this is a way to get the students the experience, not only on the written side, but also, on the radio as well.

The main benefits for, for the students is getting a variety of experience.

So they're learning how to not only be on the radio, theyre learning how to edit audio, which they don't typically do, in the journalists program.

It's mostly focused on writing, and it's also teaching them different ways of writing.

Because how you would write an article for a paper is completely different than what you would use for the radio, or even online and digital.

So I know the Collegiate is using a lot, is using Delta College Public Media to create more digital stories as well.

So they're gaining it by using our equipment and working with our professionals.

So they're gaining that aspects on the on the broadcasting side, we're gaining content, which is important.

We're we're getting stories that are important to the area out to our listeners on the radio side.

And we also tap into the digital content as well.

So it creates a larger net, for these stories to be seen and heard throughout our area.

Currently we've had students be successful.

We've had a few students who have gone through the program, been part of the Collegiate, worked either interned or worked at Delta College Public Radio, and have gotten either gone to various, TV and radio stations in this area or in the state, so we've seen that.

We currently have a student who, I will say, dabbled in working with us.

And now shes splitting her time between doing content for the Collegiate, doing content for Delta College Public Radio, and also working with some of the local papers as well.

So her resumé and she's only started probably six months ago.

Her resume is already growing with the experience.

And what she's looking at doing is helping other students get the same experience of kind of like leading the way and seeing how we can really interact.

[Mikaila Bluew] Yeah, there's a lot of crossover between journalism and broadcasting.

I think a lot of the same news stories that we are knid of writing about.

Listeners are interested in as well.

And there's definitely a different writing style.

So it's something you have to kind of get used to, swapping the tone of how you're talking to your audience.

But I think, you know, not everybody is going to want to read the paper the same way that not everybody listens to the radio.

And if you're kind of willing to come at it from both sides, you're able to catch a wider audience and get those important stories out.

This is important to learn because now especially I think in the field of journalism, you kind of have to be the one man show, right?

You have to be able to do your own camera work, so your photography.

You have to be able to write your own stories.

And having an audio background is always helpful because a lot of, a lot of news outlets now are doing documentaries.

They're doing radio pieces.

But I think a lot of it comes back to video format as well.

Where it it kind of helps to be able to say, no, I can do this all, and I'm willing to learn to do it all, even if I don't know what I'm doing right away.

But also these resources are here at Delta.

And I, I think the career field now is looking for experience, so why not experience it firsthand?

[Joe Yezak] We're really excited about this partnership that we have with the Delta College Journalism Program.

We're hoping to have more students work each and every semester.

So if you're interested in finding out more about this program, please contact Crystal McMorris, and her information is on the screen.

[Diane middleton] Delta College provides convenient access to education through its downtown centers.

Strategically located in the heart of three counties.

To tell us more about what vital resources the Saginaw Center has to offer, We spoke with Monica Hernandez-Alaniz, the Assistant Director of the downtown Saginaw Center.

[Monica Hernandez-Alaniz] Welcome to the Delta College downtown Saginaw Center.

We've been in existence since 2019, and servicing our students on their educational journey.

I'm excited to share a lot of resources that we offer our students.

Let me take a moment to share that with you.

Some of the academic courses that we provide here at the downtown Saginaw Center consist of programs such as Fire Science Academy, validation courses for many different health professions including nursing.

We also offer skilled trades courses.

In addition, we offer resources for our students to aid them in their educational journey.

Some examples would be Teaching Learning Center, which provides free tutoring.

Our writing center.

We also offer a food pantry and we assist students with their student ID.

Financial Aid Advisor is here once a month at the downtown Saginaw Center.

We also have a hoteling space for offices such as our disability office, our veterans services office, and our special population engagement student success coordinator.

In addition, the admissions office provides services here at the downtown Saginaw Center as well.

And we also have the education and training connections, ETC that provide GED courses here at the downtown Saginaw Center.

We do have a one stop area student self service, and this provides support for our students that need assistance with registration and financial aid services, navigating MyDelta, submitting appeals, dropping/adding courses and looking up their academic advisor.

We also provide the library here once a week for assistance.

We also provide students with study areas.

We have a computer lab, and we also have study rooms that they can check out our AP modules for those biology courses that they're taking.

We provide FAFSA workshops, which is a free application for federal student aid.

Parents and students are welcome to attend those.

And we provide events and such as welcome back week and relax for final week for students and many different student engagement activities throughout the year.

We have collaborations with the Saginaw Public Schools, with the Saginaw Academy of Excellence program, which is a dual enrollment program, as well as the Dow Treasure Academy, which is a program for students pursuing STEM fields.

They gain valuable skills such as communication skills, networking, team building, and they are provided a mentor in this program.

All of the events that I mentioned can be found on our Facebook account.

If you follow us at the Downtown Saginaw Center.

So one of our students favorites here at the downtown Saginaw Center is our EOC office, which stands for Educational Opportunity Center.

And this office, they provide additional support from our student one stop student self-service area.

They provide services and resources in the community.

They also assist with individualized, assistance with financial aid and FAFSA.

They help students with navigating college, career services as well as academic advising.

They're a crucial part of the downtown Saginaw Center.

And we are very thankful that we have them as part of our team here.

In addition, we do offer some other programs.

The Clinical Medical Assistant program here as well as Michigan Transfer Agreement courses and our youth services.

So the downtown Saginaw Center is a great place to learn, and we welcome our students and help them feel belong here by providing so many resources here.

If you need any additional information, please contact SaginawCenter@delta.edu.

[Diane Middleton] Now it's time for the next installment of of Perspectives, where Delta's president, Dr. Michael Gavin, shares a community college perspective on national topics in higher education.

[Dr. Michale Gavin] One of the best predictors of student success in higher education is that they succeed in the first six weeks of their education.

We also know that when students have some college credit prior to graduating high school, that they're much more likely to graduate with either an associate's degree or a bachelor's degree.

As a result, Delta College has been intentionally expanding what's called their dual enrollment, our dual enrollment initiatives.

We have both dual enrollment and early middle college.

And I would not encourage you not to be confused by the nomenclature.

Both mean that you get some college credit prior to graduating high school.

Early middle college allows a pathway for one to get an associates degree very quickly after graduating high school.

Whereas dual credit can be anything from one course to 60 credits before one graduates high school.

The way that some of the benefits of that are not only that you're set up for success because you've earned some credit.

And so, you know, you can do college before you graduate high school, but also it's almost always free.

So the benefits are many to the way in which to become engaged in dual enrollment or early middle college is to talk to both a high school counselor and our admissions office at Delta College.

Currently, we have about 15% of our student body is dually enrolled.

And for those who are thinking in high school that they're not college material, I want to emphasize that we accept the top 100% of our students.

Meaning you belong at Delta College, and we want you to come here and see that you can do it.

[Diane Middleton] The next student feature is on Sidney Lambert, 2024 NJCAA Division III National Champion, and future captain of Delta's women's soccer team.

Let's hear how Sidney balances being a collegiate athlete, a leader in the honors program and a full time class schedule.

So this year we won the national championship for soccer and it was amazing.

It was surreal getting to hear all of our names announced as national champions.

I got nominated and I got the, an award for being, all team national tournament, which was amazing.

And I recently got awarded captain for next year.

And it's something that makes me proud to say that I'm a part of.

Coming into college A lot of people get overwhelmed with classes and things like that.

And on top of that, being an athlete, it can add up a lot.

Like when we get used to this go go go, and eventually it gets overwhelming.

There were points in the season where I would just almost break down.

I'm like, this is this is so much like I was, severely overwhelmed.

But we had counseling sessions every Friday, or at least they tried to, where all the student athletes would come together either on zoom or in the lecture hall, and they'd go through different ways to manage your time to do self-care.

And they wanted to make sure we would prioritize doing those things because, we're not just athletes, we're student athletes.

But beyond that were people.

So I'd say the Delta Way is connections community, making sure that you are involved and making sure that you feel like you're supposed to be here.

I can't say there has been an instance here where I have felt out of place, where I have felt, like I was not where I was supposed to be.

Every, organization that I've been a part of here has represented that to me and has embodied it.

[Diane Middleton] For more than 25 years, Delta College has brought unique and inspiring individuals to campus as part of the President's Speaker Series.

Delta will welcome Dr. Rebekah Taussig, to campus, Wednesday, March 19th To learn more about this self-proclaimed scrappy misfit, we spoke with David Baskind, Professor of Psychology.

[David Baskind] The President Speaker Series began at Delta around the year 2000.

And over the past 25 years, we have had dozens of amazing speakers come to the college.

We've had politicians, authors.

We've had people who have been involved in the world of sports.

We've had television personalities, radio journalists, and we even had John Quinonez, the host of TV's What Would You Do come to campus in the past couple of years.

And this year we are looking forward to welcoming Dr. Rebekah Taussig to Delta College She's the author of the book Sitting Pretty, and she is a disabilities advocate and author.

Her talk is going to be Wednesday, March the 19th at 10 a.m. and Delta's lecture theater.

And as always, our event is free and open to the public, and we want to encourage everyone to come.

It should be a great event.

I had the opportunity to read her most recent book, over the past couple of months, and her story is really eye opening and inspiring, and I think anyone who has an eye towards understanding differences between people and how we can help people from all walks of life, I think they really ought to attend.

But we're expecting a really big crowd here.

So please come to Delta on March the 19th, and we look forward to welcoming all of you to future events as well.

Dr. Taussig, is going to be addressing issues of accessibility and disabilities, and ways that we can ensure that everyone has an opportunity to be successful and to access different environments.

We hope that this is a topic that's important to all of us.

Because when we have a world in which we can all, access different events and allow ourselves to participate in in different events that matter to us.

I think we can all grow and benefit from that.

So again, we want to encourage everyone to please join us on Wednesday, March the 19th at 10 a.m. in Delta's Lecture Theater on our main campus to hear Dr. Rebekah Taussig addressing issues of disability and access for all.

If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me at any time.

[Diane Middleton] Delta College Public Media and Collette Travel are offering a ten day excursion to the Emerald Isle.

Soak in the world famous beauty of the Ring of Kerry.

Stand in awe at the stunning Cliffs of Moher and live like royalty with a stay on castle grounds.

Hi, I'm Mike Redford join me as we travel with Collette on a ten day tour of Ireland in September 2025.

From history filled Dublin to the rolling green hills and dramatic coast.

Experience Ireland's charms and a journey through the Emerald Isle, Collette has been making guided travel easy and fulfilling for more than 100 years.

All the details are taken care of flights, incredible culinary delights, hotel, sightseeing and immersive local experiences.

Your only job is to have the time of your life.

To register, go to DeltaPublicMedia.org, and for more information, call Colette at 1-800-581-8942 and refer to booking number 1280701.

[Diane Middleton] The Delta College Planetarium a fixture in downtown Bay City, has shown visitors unique programs about the universe for over 25 years.

In January, their latest program, Spark, the Universe in Us, debut to tell us more about this award winning feature.

We spoke with Mike Murray, Astronomer and Planetarium Manager.

[Mike Murray] The Delta College Planetarium has been a fixture here in downtown Bay City for over 25 years.

We've featured dozens and dozens of new programs, and 2025 is no exception.

Our first feature show of the year is called Spark, The Universe in Us.

It's a very unique approach to the idea of where did all of the material and the planets and life come from.

And it's the origins of all of those chemical elements and how it all came together to create the earth and all the life upon it.

Let's take a look at some of the clips and highlights from the show.

[Program Narrator] Everything you see is made of tiny particles called atoms.

Some have existed since the beginning of the universe, but most formed more recently inside distant dying stars.

Stars may die in these spectacular events, but they also spark life.

The atoms inside each of us originated across unimaginable distances in space and time to create us here, now.

We are the universe, seeing itself.

Spark, Spark, The Universe in Us.

[Michael Murray] One of the greatest discoveries about the cosmos is that the elements that make up all of us and the planet were forged in the cores of dying stars.

Were essentially all star stuff.

From the oxygen we breathe to the calcium in our bones to the iron in our blood.

It was all forged in ancient stars.

So these were some incredible visualizations and some of the best that have ever come out of the California Academy of Sciences.

It makes for a very unique and updated modern show where you feel like you're moving three dimensionally through the cosmos.

Spark, The Universe in Us will be running every Saturday at 3:30 through April.

And it's open for all ages, all audiences.

And you can get your tickets either online at delta.edu/planetarium.

Or you can get them right here at the planetarium itself.

One of the great new features of the planetarium are all the great new upgrades that have taken place, all these new technological tools that allow for a much more realistic feeling experience.

For more information, you can go to our website at Delta.edu/planetarium.

[Diane Middleton] Thank you Mike and the planetarium staff for the educational and entertaining programs you bring to the community.

Now let's see what's on the Dateline Delta, Calendar of Events.

[Narrator] The Delta College Planetarium will be hosting a series of shows during the month of March.

For more information about these shows and events happening at the planetarium, visit their website at delta.edu/planetarium.

Delta College will be hosting Girls Day Out and event focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM.

Activities feature hands on experiences introducing young women to careers that are traditionally male dominated fields.

The event will be held on Friday March 14th from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dr. Rebekah Taussig, will challenge everything you think you know about disability as she invites us into her experience of living in a body that looks and moves differently than most.

Her presentation is part of the President Speaker Series and will occur on Wednesday, March 19th from 10 a.m. until noon.

The event will take place in the Lecture Theater.

For further information on these events or other campus activities, contact the Office of Marketing and Public Information at (989)686-9490 or visit our website at www.delta.edu.

[Diane Middleton] Well, that wraps up our show.

Please join us again on March 30th when we highlight what's happening here at Delta College, one of America's leading community colleges.

Now, I leave you with the sights and sounds of Delta College.

For Dateline Delta, I'm Diane Middleton, thanks for watching.

Local production scene on Delta College Public Media are made possible with support from viewers like you.

Thank you.