Classes & Clubs

Allied Health

Angel Tree

SWFC faculty, staff, and clubs helped students in need during the holidays.

The Angel Tree, established by the Allied Health Club, was designed to help students who were unable to buy Christmas presents for their children. Students with children two months to ten years of age hung an angel on the tree, and an SWFC staff or faculty member took the tag and purchased the child pajamas and a story book based on the child’s interest.

There were about 120 angels, and they came off the tree faster than Allied Health club advisor, Denise Mathey, could put them on. Students, faculty, staff, and entire clubs took angels and purchased gifts.

Those packages that were not picked up were donated to the Abuse, Counseling, and Treatment Shelter for the children staying there.

Criminal Justice

Blood Splatter

Criminal Justice students got hands-on experience during a blood splatter demonstration at Southwest Florida College.

Denise Womer, Program Manager of Criminal Justice at SWFC, came up with the idea for the blood demonstration. A cage was constructed and artificial blood heads were used to give a life-like representation of blood splatter when struck by different objects.

Three students were selected to put on protective clothing and hit the blood head, which dispersed blood onto the white fabric walls and ceilings of the cage. Instructor Dr. Gabi Subuch, from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, took her class into the cage afterward and showed them the interpretation of the splatters.

“The demo illustrated the importance of blood evidence at crime scenes; in particular splatters can be interpreted to show where the victim and perpetrator were located at the time of the assault. Or even how many people were close in the vicinity, and if anything was moved after the assault to cover up the crime,” Womer explained.

Digital Design

Portfolio

This year the students of the Digital Portfolio class had a crash course in job interviewing when they presented their portfolios to eleven area employers.

Chip McElroy, Program Manager of Graphic Design, and instructor Aaron Belchamber, developed the idea to have students participate in one-on-one mock interviews with local industry leaders.

Students, armed with only their laptops and resumes, participated in intense four-minute interviews. In a setting similar to speed dating, each student would move on to the next employer at the end of four minutes.

Employer participants included Brian Thompson and Brendan Stanley from Alliance Digital Solutions, Daniel Herrera, producer/director of Larazza Films, Scot Jacobs, president of Allstar Marketing, 2-Way Radio Express owner Jodi Hopper, and Katie Romano and Shell Redfern from Get Groovy.

Education

Montessori School

The Education Club got into the holiday spirit early this year when they hosted a week-long bake-sale to raise money for community outreach and for the children of the Montessori school in Ft. Myers.

Out of the $800.00 raised, almost half was set aside to lend support to the Hands and Hearts Montessori Preschool in Fort Myers, Fla. The school provides care for poor working families, most of whom are living 150% below the poverty line. All of the 40 children in the program are on the waiting list at Childcare of Southwest Florida.

SWFC Education Club members Tammy Englund and Claudette Talbert, education instructors Manny Maestre and Phyllis Daugherty, along with Laura Allard and Debbie Lauer of the SWFC Business Club, presented the materials to the children of the school.

D.C. Conference

The SWFC Education Club went to Washington D.C. for the National Association for the Education of Young Children conference.

The group of nine, including education instructor Manny Maestre, attended the four day conference where they had a chance to attend over 400 education seminars and explore the exhibit hall where vendors set up booths to allow visitors to test products.

“The seminars introduced different approaches used throughout the U.S. in teaching early childhood,” Maestre said.

With over 30,000 people in attendance, the students were able to interact with teachers and future educators from around the country. “I will use the information from the conference and the city itself to promote a sense of family in my own classroom one day,” said education club member Tammy Englund.

Interior Design

Historic Design

Students in the Period Project class at the Institute of Interior Design at SWFC learned about restoring and designing an interior to a specific time period, by touring homes in the Dean Park Historic District of Fort Myers.

Students were divided into groups, and as a team, were required to write a research paper about the time, lifestyle, architecture, finishes, and fabrics of the time period related to their assigned Dean Park home. Each group was required to do some detective work so that they would be able to create a floor plan for their homes, since many of the properties had additions added on later.

The floor plans and interior designs were on display at the Downtown Fort Myers 20th Anniversary on the National Register of Historical Places celebration on January 16. These students will also have the privilege of presenting the projects at the National Trust for Historic Preservation annual convention in April.

Southwest Florida College is an accredited private institution of higher learning centrally located in Fort Myers, Tampa, Port Charlotte, and includes the Institute of Interior Design located within the Miromar Design Center in Estero. The College has been providing post secondary education to Floridians since 1974 and offers programs in Allied Health, Business, Design, Education, Information Technology and Legal Studies. Its mission is to provide educational opportunities for individuals to acquire knowledge and skills that will help prepare them for rewarding careers in fields with high growth potential. For more information, call toll free 888-279-2342 or visit http://www.swfc.edu/.

Compass Reader Winter 2010