PVCC U?

By Brian McNeill
| 978-7266
At the spring semester’s final meeting of Piedmont Virginia Community College’s new Student Government Association, Jozen Phemister passed out a handful of accolades.
One student leader received the “certificate of responsibility.” Another the “certificate of fashion.” Yet another got the “certificate of smoothness.”
Phemister grinned and tossed the “certificate of overachievement” to graduating PVCC student Jacob Neal in “recognition of his involvement in every club on campus while maintaining a 4.0 GPA and winning all kinds of competitions and awards. That little %$#&!”
Although Neal is not actually involved in every student group at Piedmont, he is a member of the school’s engineering club, Ultimate Frisbee club, soccer club, the Phi Theta Kappa honor fraternity and was a co-founder of the student government.
“When I first got here, there weren’t all that many clubs and students weren’t really involved,” Neal said. “Now, people are definitely getting involved. We feel like PVCC is becoming more of a community.”
Neal’s “overachievement” is emblematic of an evolutionary shift at Piedmont. Fewer PVCC students see the Charlottesville region’s community college as a commuter school.
More and more, students view Piedmont as a traditional college campus, complete with sports teams, film screenings, rock concerts, academic clubs and visiting speakers — including a recent visit from a former editor of High Times Magazine who talked about marijuana legalization and the importance of a college education.
“I think the image of PVCC is changing,” said Mary Lee Walsh, Piedmont’s dean of student services. “It used to be that people would just come to school and leave. No longer. Even though our students are working two jobs or whatever in addition to classes, they’re still involved and engaged here.”

Student clubs double
Over the last five years, the number of student clubs at PVCC has more than doubled, to 27. The Forum, the college’s student newspaper launched three years ago, has doubled in size in recent months. More than 600 people attended the Spring Fling field day held on a recent Saturday afternoon. And the Student Government Association has emerged as a prominent voice of the student body, lobbying for a volleyball court and a horseshoe pit, as well as a limited ban on cigarette smoking and the preservation of Latin classes that may be on the chopping block.
“We want to give these kids the same opportunities and programs — social, educational, thought-provoking, silly — that they can find at Virginia Tech, JMU or anywhere else,” said Steve McNerney, PVCC’s director of student activities, physical education and intramurals.
The growing sense of community at PVCC is no accident. One of the five top priorities listed in the college’s long-term strategic plan is to “create a student-centered environment.”
The college’s population is growing younger, as more high school graduates are attending PVCC with the intention of transferring to a four-year university via guaranteed admission offers. Meanwhile, more high school students are attending PVCC under dual enrollment programs. As a result, more of Piedmont’s student body is expecting a traditional collegiate experience.
To appeal to its changing student demographics, PVCC’s strategic plan calls for expanded social and extracurricular activities.
The document also outlines plans for a new student center and activities building on PVCC’s campus between the Dickinson Building and a planned science building. The proposed building would include a full gym for volleyball, basketball and other intramural sports, a fitness room, a multipurpose room for wellness programs, as well as flexible office space for student organization meetings and events.
The strategic plan also mentions the creation by fall 2010 of a childcare facility at PVCC, at which students would leave their children during classes, for a nominal fee.
“It’s about building a sense of community,” Walsh said. “We want to create a collegiate community where people want to come, stay and succeed.”

Not just classrooms
By fostering a sense of greater affinity at PVCC, the college’s roughly 4,500 students will be more likely to succeed academically, Walsh said. Several studies, she said, have linked engagement inside and outside the classroom with college success.
At the same time, the growing sense of community could pay fundraising dividends in the coming years.
“If our students remember their time here fondly, it makes it easier for us to ask them to give to let future students have that same experience,” said Mary Jane King, the college’s director of institutional advancement and development.
PVCC is surpassing its fundraising goals. Last year, the college collected $60,000 in contributions, beating out its goal of $55,000. As PVCC grows, King said, it will continue to rely on its alumni base for donations.
“We’ve known for years that a lot of our alumni transfer to another school and their allegiance shifts with them,” King said. “That doesn’t seem to be the case as much anymore. As people feel more a part of the campus, it makes it easier for us to approach them after they’ve left.”

Homegrown activities
Many of the new student groups around PVCC’s campus are growing organically.
Benjamin Nissley, a nursing student at Piedmont who grew up in Charlottesville, decided with his buddies to start the Ultimate Frisbee club last fall.
“I’d played Ultimate for like six years, but when I got here there weren’t any opportunities to play,” he said. “At the end of the week, we just wanted to toss the Frisbee around. That’s how it started. Pretty soon we had enough people. Now we play every Friday afternoon on the softball fields.”
Not long ago, Sarah Murphy, president of the art club, decided to organize a film series at Piedmont. On recent Fridays, it has shown “Juno,” “No Country for Old Men” and other popular movies. The series has consistently drawn between 250 and 300 students each week.
“People at Piedmont are more interested in learning outside the classroom,” said Murphy, who is transferring to James Madison University in the fall. During her time at PVCC, she juggled classes, a job at the campus art gallery and a day job in the copy center at Staples.
A volunteer club, formed this year by sociology professor Kim Hoosier, is also drawing interest among students.
So far, the club has worked with Habitat for Humanity to build a house in Louisa County, sponsored a food drive for the Jefferson Area Food Bank, held a blood drive and collected 120 winter coats for needy families in Central Virginia.
Jackie Wright is a liberal arts student, president of PVCC’s theater club, the newly elected president of the Student Government Association and manager of the BP gas station on Monticello Road. Since she first arrived at Piedmont in the fall of 2005, she said, she has seen the college grow and evolve by a remarkable degree.
“This place has changed so much since I first started coming here,” she said. “And it’s changed for the better.”