When I was about to turn 30 — and shortly after watching “The Holiday” starring Kate Winslet — I made a bold decision. I would travel to London for vacation. Alone. Just me, giving myself the gift of adventure while I thought about what I really wanted in life. And I would save money by traveling right after the winter holidays — on New Year’s Eve. I thought flying overnight on NYE would be exciting and romantic: I envisioned a dramatic midnight countdown … a hearty cheer from the passengers … and maybe a champagne toast as we landed in the new year. Alas, that dream was quashed. No countdown, cheers or bubbly. The pilot only wished us a happy new year right before we deplaned. That was one of the last times I expected someone else to make my fantasies come true. On this solo trip to London, I learned how to create my own quests. First, I read a couple of guidebooks in the weeks leading up to my trip. This instantly made my vacation more meaningful: I knew some history, but only in book form. I was ready to bring that history to life.I made a *short*… Continue Reading Planning your time is boring. Create quest maps instead!Read More
Curious about Virginia Western’s Title III grant? Our grant narrative might have been 55 pages long, but we were able to boil main points down to one page. You can download the summary as a PDF and print, or find the overview below (updated as of March 2021): Get REAL One Sheet SummaryDownload Get REAL (Refocus Education on Adult Learners), 2020 to 2025 What: A 5-year, $1.8-million grant from the U.S. Department of Education Title III Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP). VWCC President Dr. Robert H. Sandel calls it the “holy grail” of community college grants. Purpose: To better serve and model stronger pathways to employment for the region’s adult learners (age 20 and older) – the new majority in higher education – especially adults from low-income backgrounds and students of color. VWCC data (2018-19): Average age: 25 / 54% adult learners / 82% of all students attend part-time Project director: Dr. Milan Hayward, Vice President of the School of Corporate and Career Training National education reform organizations Achieving the Dream (ATD) and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) will provide data coaching, professional development, and expertise in the adult-learner space. Personnel to be hired (updated March 2021): Activity… Continue Reading Summary: Get REAL (Refocus Education on Adult Learners)Read More
I only remember two things from my first day of college: What I was wearing, and meeting Sophia. And I only recall my outfit — a risky combo of black skirt with tan tights — because Sophia joked about it months later. Our “integrative studies” program at George Mason University was a pretty radical cohort model: All of us — maybe 200? — entered GMU as the first graduating class of New Century College. During our freshman year, all 200 of us gathered for the big welcome speeches and other significant lectures. But most of our time was spent in groups of 50, 25, or 5 for intense mini-mesters. We were assigned to these small learning communities within the gigantic commuter college, which is probably why I never imagined transferring. Interdisciplinary group work and experiential learning were at the heart of NCC, which is now known as the School of Integrative Studies. Sophia was in my first group of five during the fall semester, and we quickly bonded over prom disaster stories and the realization that we both wore black-choker necklaces for our senior photos. We just … clicked. She was a first-gen college student from a first-gen Greek family who… Continue Reading Are we a relationship-rich college?Read More
About Shelley
Shelley Lyons is glad to be back on campus as she is a Virginia Western alum, and has served as the Administrative Officer for Grants Administration at Virginia Western since early 2022. Prior to VWCC, her career focus was within the Human Services and Arts fields. She wrote her first grant in 1996 on a whim and has continued to plan and learn since that time. She most enjoys seeing a well-planned project come to fruition, where funder, project manager and beneficiaries can all feel success and see impact.
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