Each year GCC’s CEO Club (Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization) picks a local business to work with throughout the academic year, and this year One World Projects was chosen. This company is located right here in Batavia, NY at 56 Harvester Avenue in the renowned micro-incubator building.  

The mission of One World Projects is to create worldwide economic alternatives for artisans and their families, as well as expand the reaches of ethical and fair trade to include compassionate trade. This company strongly prioritizes the welfare of their artisans. Their focus is on partnership, commitment, helping where it is needed, and ‘paying their pay’.

Partnerships

The employees at One World like to consider all of their artisans to be partners, and they work with the artisans to provide educational and vocational training. The economic and social programs provided not only benefit the artisans but the entire community they live in.

Commitment

This group of community members is committed to their trading partners help establish and maintain a long-term relationship. They are also committed to addressing issues such as poverty, war, drug abuse, women’s and children’s rights, education, healthcare, environmental degradation, and promoting peace.

Helping Where It’s Needed

Each group that the One World Projects helps is unique. The trading partners individually create their organization to help the highly disadvantaged people in their communities. And sadly, many of the disadvantaged are abandoned and single women living in slums. However, through the One World Projects efforts and through fair trade, their partners are able to transform lives within their communities.

Paying Their Way

This company is not joking when they say that they prioritize their partners and try their best to give fair pay and practice fair trade. The company pays at least 50% of the cost of product orders in advance, interest-free. This provides essential finances artisans require in order to maintain production and enabling them to continue meeting their needs for the next order.

One World Projects is a great company that the CEO Club is thrilled to be collaborating with this year. Visit the One World website to see the variety of products offered by the partnering artisans!

As part of One World Projects outreach efforts, the company has participated in many GCC events including Homecoming and Ecofest. The company will be at GCC again this Thursday, November 9 in the Forum.

Did you know that October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month? Well, it is, and Genesee Community College has partnered with Delta College to offer a free webinar focused on the growing career opportunities in the cyber security industry. The webinar will be taking place on Thursday, October 12th from 1:00-2:00 p.m.

Fun fact: the rate of growth for jobs in information security analysis is projected at 18% through 2022, meaning it is much faster than the average for all other occupations.

During the webinar there will be three panelist discussing trends, opportunities and challenges those in cyber security careers face.  The panelists you can expect to hear from are:

–Joshua George, the instructor of Criminal Justice at Delta College, with over 12 years in federal law enforcement with focus in computer forensics and digital evidence.

–Mike Tarcan currently works as the information security manager at Ellucian. Tarcan focuses on security incident and threat management for a ‘global cloud company’.

–Kristopher Howery, an associate professor of Computer Science and Info Tech at Delta College. Howery is also the founder of the Cyber Defense Club that provides students with hands-on network defense experience. He also designed a multipurpose lab to teach security and network classes.

Even though cyber security isn’t necessarily my cup of tea, these sound like some great panelist that even I would like to hear from. All of the panelists will share how they started their journey in the field, as well as discuss what their security roles entail and answer any questions participants may have.

This event is open to both students and community members, and your attendance is welcomed and encouraged! The webinar will be broadcasted in room T102 in the Conable Technology Building on the GCC Batavia Campus. Anyone attending the event is encouraged to arrive 10-15 minutes early to ensure seating.

This is a great opportunity to learn more on how to keep yourself safe in the cyber world, and maybe even learn about your next career!

We hope to see you there!

Welcome back! Whether you’re a returning student or a freshman, I welcome you with open arms to an all new academic year as well as a fresh start.

I can imagine that for those of you who are freshman felt a bit overwhelmed on the first day. It can be a lot to have a new building to find your way around, new teachers, and a whole lot of new faces. But Monday is over my friends, and it’s time to throw away the fear and anxieties and enjoy your time here.

Don’t be fooled, I was a scared freshman just a year ago. If you know me personally you know I really like being in control, so it was difficult not knowing where I was going, who was teaching me, or even the people sitting next to me. I promise you, you get through it faster than you think. With something as consuming as college you’ll find yourself becoming very comfortable with the campus, your professors, and I’m sure you’ll make a lot of friends along the way!

If I could only pick two words to say to an incoming freshman it would be; ‘be fearless.’ That truly is the best way to get the most out of your college experience. I dove head first into college with excitement for something new. You’re paying so much to attend college so why not have a good time, gather all of the experiences you can, just enjoy your time in general; you won’t be this young forever.

Madison & I blogging away!

I participated in a few super fun things last year, and I recommend you do too! I sold ducks to promote the 9th Annual Ducky Derby. I played a part in the Fashion Show, and it was a blast! I joined the great team down at MarCom as a student blogger, work study is a great option to add dynamic to your resume and stay involved on campus and with faculty members.

Lastly, I participated in the Faces of GCC photo shoot, which is an opportunity to have a head shot taken by MarCom’s staff photographer and photo shop wizard, and it will be used in Genesee Community College advertisements. The best part is that the photo is personally edited to fit your future goals and/or hobbies, so it’s personal to you! Contact MarCom (marcom@genesee.edu) by email if you are interested!

Moral of the story: stay active on campus it’s a great way to meet people, and it can be so much fun!

Get to know your professors; they can give you advice that is so inspiring that  you have a glimpse of doubt if they saw it on Facebook. GCC’s professors are great mentors, they are here to motivate you and help you in any way possible. However you can’t expect them to reach out to you, that is your job now as an adult. I was lucky enough to take a class with Professor Dudkowski prior to him leaving GCC, and he was one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever had. He was inspiring beyond words, and he pushed his students to do their absolute best, and was always willing to give a learning opportunity to any student willing to put in the work.

As for surviving your classes, you can take a look at the Student Tips on GCC’s Pinterest which I also work on! I will be writing tons of articles on tips and tricks for doing well in school, so keep an eye out for those posts in the future. For now my biggest piece of advice is to stay motivated and remember your goals, and don’t let anything stand between you and your education.

I wish you the best of luck during the 2017-2018 academic year, I have confidence that you will put your best foot forward every day and do great things!

“I learned the value of hard work by working hard.”

-Margaret Mead

-Danielle Lauricella