April 2003

The Dock at Redondo Gets New Life After Earthquake

Highline Community College received supplemental funding in last years budget and made basic repairs to reopen the dock  This launched a new vision.  The facility and administration have been working closely to identify new sources of funding to build the new Marine Science and Technology Center (MaST), an educational and community project.   The MaST Center will be a waterfront laboratory facility unique in the lower Puget Sound.  It is anticipated that the lab will be operational by summer quarter 2003. The center is scheduled to open in 2004.  

As a year-round, multiuse facility, the MaST Center will serve such diverse interests as education, research, community outreach and environmental monitoring.  The college plans to offer education reform initiatives designed to boost science literacy though high-interest, hands-on, locally relevant science instruction for local college and public school students. 

Environmental monitoring and research will be done to address urban water quality issues and their impact on critical species, including Northwest salmon.  The focus will be on life-long learning for the community through environmental displays, workshops and seminars.  Community members visiting the MaST Center will find information on Redondo's water quality; public-access education areas with touch tanks, artifacts, and scientific and environmental data displays-all featuring local ecology and sea life; on-site display providing current atmospheric conditions including water temperature, wind, pressure and tides. 

In addition, the WorkSafe Institute of Washington will provide continuing education and training opportunities in environmental health and safety issues to help reduce the incidence of work-related illnesses and injuries in the state of Washington.  Environmental health and safety training will include oil spill response, industrial chemical spill response, DOT hazardous materials, accident prevention planning, and competitive environmental business practices. 

Highline has received a $50,000 grant from King County to increase awareness of the effect that water quality has on the water-dependent habitat of Redondo Beach.  The water-quality block grant will be used to carry out projects down at the dock, including the establishment of a marine habitat lab, monitoring the water quality and sharing the information with the community.  

Biology/oceanography instructor Sam Shabb recently visited with folks from the Seattle Aquarium, one of Highline’s partners in the renovation of the college’s dock.  After learning about Highline’s grant from King County, the Seattle Aquarium donated six aquariums and bases for use at the center -- two 300-gallon tanks and four 150-gallon tanks -- at an estimated value of $24,000 to $36,000. The Seattle Aquarium has offered support and expertise throughout this project, but thanks to the generous grant from King County, the organization was even more convinced to contribute to this worthwhile endeavor. 

Highline has also received notification of a $496,750 Congressional award to renovate the college's dock at Redondo Beach into the MaST Center.  

Highline's goal is to raise another $700,000 to complete the project.  

For more information contact Bob Maplestone. 

TIRED OF TRYING TO FIND PARKING??? 

Bus Passes Available....    

Now you can purchase Sound Transit bus passes at 50 percent of the normal cost thanks to a $15,000 grant from Commuter Challenge, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County.  

Passes are available now for the month of April in Highline’s Bookstore in Building 6 on the college’s main campus.  

 The grant also helps promote and expand Highline’s Transit Pass Subsidy project, which is part of the college’s Commuter Trip Reduction program.  

Students in the Community 

During the Winter 2003 quarter, a group of Highline Community College students from Barbara Clinton's Interpersonal and Group Communications Speech class mentored high school students in a General Science class at Highline High School in Burien.  Click here to find out more: 

.... Margaret Hunsperger is the recipient of the Outstanding Student Services Award for winter quarter.  

..... Sinh Bui and Xin Nguyen, two of HCC's custodians, have perfect attendance for 2002. Bui has worked here since 1998 and Nguyen has worked here since 2001.

.... Arun Jhaveri, Highline Community College Trustee and the first mayor of the city of Burien and an energy expert, is the ninth person nominated to the King County Commission on Governance.  The commission will look at the services the county provides, plus how the county pays for those services.  

.... In sixteenth-century France, the start of the new year was observed on April first. It was celebrated with parties and dancing into the late hours of the night. Then in 1562, Pope Gregory introduced a new calendar for the Christian world, and the new year fell on January first. There were some people, however, who hadn't heard or didn't believe the change in the date, so they continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April first. Others played tricks on them and called them "April fools." They sent them on a "fool's errand" or tried to make them believe that something false was true. In France today, April first is called "Poisson d'Avril." French children fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends' backs. When the "young fool" discovers this trick, the prankster yells "Poisson d’Avril!" (April Fish!)  Today Americans play small tricks on friends and strangers alike on the first of April. Whatever the trick, if the innocent victim falls for the joke the prankster yells, "April Fool! "