Elgin Community College College briefs
Elgin Community College College Bowl: Steve Krull of Elgin, captain of Elgin Community College's College Bowl team, placed first in Illinois for individual point scoring at the competition's state championship April 25 in Palos Hills.
ECC's five-member team finished second.
College Bowl is an academic trivia bee consisting of various subjects in college-level courses. Teams of four players compete in a timed tournament to answer questions individually and as a team.
ECC's team advanced to the state tournament after a first-place win in the Illinois Community College Student Activities Association Regional College Bowl tournament. The team has reached the state tournament five times, most recently in 2007.
Team members include Krull, Tristan Angulo of Carpentersville, Courtney Hamill of Streamwood, Arezou Kashani of Algonquin and Charles Gorman of St. Charles. The team's coach is Katie Storey, ECC's coordinator of student volunteer and community outreach programs, and a former ECC College Bowl state qualifying team member.
The state College Bowl tournament is co-sponsored by the Illinois Community College Trustees Association and the Illinois Community College Student Activities Association. For information, call Storey at (847) 214-7659.
ECC HVAC: Four students in Elgin Community College's heating, ventilation and air conditioning program placed in the Illinois SkillsUSA Championships held April 17-19 in Springfield. Two will move on to national competition in June.
Taking first place in the sheet metal competition was Matthew Abangan of St. Charles. Taking second and third, respectively, were Thomas Mauro of Algonquin and Demetrio Diaz of Elgin.
In the HVAC competition, Diaz took first place and Matthew Gebben of Algonquin took second. Abangan's and Diaz's first place wins will advance them to the national SkillsUSA competition on June 22-28 in Kansas City, Mo.
This is the first year ECC has participated in the state competition. Also, it is unusual for a skills team to take first place during the first year of competition, according to Andy Erbach, associate professor of HVAC at ECC.
The participating students spent seven weeks training with five ECC faculty coaches, Erbach and HVAC instructors Bob Meusling, Mike O'Connor, Steve Wood and George Rosa, to prepare for the competition.
Two of the competitors, Mauro and Gebben, began at ECC through the college's Tech Prep program, where students can earn college credit and attend college courses while attending high school. Diaz, one of the winners, will complete his first level certification at ECC this semester.
"I am extremely proud of our students and the entire part-time faculty here at ECC," Erbach said. "Thanks to their dedication and commitment to excellence, our HVAC students are gaining the skills and experience necessary to excel in the heating and air conditioning industry."
SkillsUSA is a national organization serving teachers and high school and college students who are preparing for careers in technical, skilled and service occupations, including health occupations. The organization provides quality education experiences for students in leadership, teamwork, citizenship and character development, and also builds and reinforces self-confidence, work attitudes and communications skills.
More than 285,000 students and instructors join SkillsUSA annually and the organization has served more than 9.3 million members.
Phi Theta Kappa: Elgin Community College's Rho Kappa Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society received five awards during the society's 90th International Convention April 5 in Philadelphia. Nearly 500 chapters competed for awards.
The chapter won the Leadership and Service Hallmark awards; the Distinguished Chapter Award, which is given to the top 25 chapters annually; and was named a top 100 chapter.
Also, Courtney Hamill, an ECC student from Streamwood, won the Distinguished Chapter President Award.
Phi Theta Kappa is the largest honor society in American higher education with more than 2 million members and 1,250 chapters worldwide. It dates to 1910.
Annually, approximately 100,000 two-year college students are inducted into Phi Theta Kappa. To be eligible for membership a student must complete a minimum of 12 hours of associate degree course work and earn a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Students must maintain a high academic standing throughout their enrollment in the two-year college, generally a 3.0 GPA.