January 2003

Highline Community College Receives WorkFirst Block Grant

Highline was awarded $110,073 to fund a 2002-2003 WorkFirst Set-Aside project having the primary focus of training TANF and low-income individuals for entry-level jobs in health-related occupations.  The project will specifically target a Spanish-speaking, limited English proficient population.  In partnership with Sea Mar Community Health Centers, Highline will design a curriculum and provide instruction that will serve skills training needs, career placement, wage progression and career laddering opportunities for bilingual health care workers.    

Career & Employment Services Receives Grant

Career & Employment Services was recently awarded a small-grant in the amount of $4,990 by the Higher Education Coordinating Board.  The funding has been designated for the purchase of resource materials such as prepared videos and books that address career development topics and job search information.  Resources in the Career Center Library are available to faculty for check-out and use in the classroom. For more information, contact Erik Tingelstad at extension 3599.  

For more information on the Governor's budget, visit this web site $  Information on the impact of the budget for HCC is coming soon. 

The Faces of Highline

The college’s new advertising campaign, “The Faces of Highline,” has launched and can now be seen on the sides of Metro buses all over South King County. You can also see a sample of the poster in the Student Center (Building 8). The transit ad features 11 of the 24 Highline students, staff, and faculty that were photographed for the campaign. Other of these Highline faces will be featured on posters that will go up on campus in March 2003.

This advertising campaign is part of the college’s brand marketing efforts, which will help us position Highline in the community and communicate effectively. Brand marketing will create awareness of Highline in the minds of students, donors, and other stakeholders. If we have no awareness, then all other communication strategies will have to work much harder, and we will spend more time and money because our materials and messages will fall on deaf ears.

This campaign is also part of our efforts to fulfill Initiative #3 of our Strategic Plan -- strengthening and expanding the presence and role of the college within the communities it serves.

We are interested in what people think, so please forward any feedback (good and bad) about this campaign to Lisa Skari at lskari@highline.edu. 

Believe in Magic

The date has been set for the 2003 Spring Gala - April 12, 6:00 p.m. at Emerald Downs. 

You will not want to miss this gala; it will be like none other - magicians, musicians, and fortunetellers; a live auction along with a "fund-a-cause" to raise money for student scholarships and emergency assistance fund. The Gala is a fun event, but also an important one.  It raises money,  it's a "friendraiser" to cultivate potential donors to the foundation, and a "tool" to raise the awareness of Highline Community College and the needs of its students.  

We hope you can all attend this magical evening.  For more information, contact the Foundation office. 
Believe in Magic

The campaign is continuing and staff and faculty can donate at any time. To date, campus employee donations have increased by 23% over last year. As of today, the Foundation has received a total of $179,113 in contributions from all segments of our constituency. The campaign continues until June 30, 2003 and we recently completed a mailing to 2870 alumni, and have been receiving a positive response. 

.....the day celebrated as New Year's Day in modern America was not always January 1?

ANCIENT NEW YEARS
The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring).

The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year. After all, it is the season of rebirth, of planting new crops, and of blossoming. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical nor agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.

The Babylonian new year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that modern New Year's Eve festivities pale in comparison.

The Romans continued to observe the new year in late March, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.

In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1 as the new year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days.

January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.

NEW YEAR TRADITIONS
Traditions of the season include the making of New Year's resolutions. That tradition dates back to the early Babylonians. Popular modern resolutions might include the promise to lose weight or quit smoking. The early Babylonian's most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.

The Tournament of Roses Parade dates back to 1886. In that year, members of the Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages with flowers. It celebrated the ripening of the orange crop in California.

Although the Rose Bowl football game was first played as a part of the Tournament of Roses in 1902, it was replaced by Roman chariot races the following year. In 1916, the football game returned as the sports centerpiece of the festival.

The tradition of using a baby to signify the new year was begun in Greece around 600 BC. It was their tradition at that time to celebrate their god of wine, Dionysus, by parading a baby in a basket, representing the annual rebirth of that god as the spirit of fertility. Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth.  The use of an image of a baby with a New Years banner as a symbolic representation of the new year was brought to early America by the Germans. They had used the effigy since the fourteenth century.

FOR LUCK IN THE NEW YEAR
Traditionally, it was thought that one could affect the luck they would have throughout the coming year by what they did or ate on the first day of the year. For that reason, it has become common for folks to celebrate the first few minutes of a brand new year in the company of family and friends. Parties often last into the middle of the night after the ringing in of a new year. It was once believed that the first visitor on New Year's Day would bring either good luck or bad luck the rest of the year. It was particularly lucky if that visitor happened to be a tall dark-haired man.

Traditional New Year foods are also thought to bring luck. Many cultures believe that anything in the shape of a ring is good luck, because it symbolizes "coming full circle," completing a year's cycle. For that reason, the Dutch believe that eating donuts on New Year's Day will bring good fortune.  Black-eyed peas and other legumes have been considered good luck in many cultures. The hog, and thus its meat, is considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity. Cabbage is another "good luck" vegetable that is consumed on New Year's Day by many. Cabbage leaves are also considered a sign of prosperity, being representative of paper currency. In some regions, rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year's Day.

AULD LANG SYNE
The song, "Auld Lang Syne" is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700's, it was first published in 1796 after Burns' death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An old Scotch tune, "Auld Lang Syne" literally means "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days."