NPC Friends and Family receives new scholarship opportunities

Wilson also stated that Friends and Family is working to streamline the application process for scholarships. “So that students only have to submit one application and upload their essay and all their attending documents in order to be considered for all the scholarships that they meet the criteria for.”

Wilson wanted to remind students that scholarships at NPC are awarded the semester prior to their use. “Our scholarships for the Spring 2023 semester will open on Oct. 1, and we’ll accept applications through Nov. 17. And we’re also trying to let students know that the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) priority deadline is always Oct. 1 for the following year,” explained Wilson, “That doesn’t mean that you can’t complete the FAFSA after that date. But it means that maybe you’re not going to have your money when you start the semester.”

The annual Pedal the Petrified will commence Oct. 1. The event is in need of volunteers as well as for the pre-ride check-in event the day before from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Painted Desert Campus in Holbrook.

According to Wilson, “The nice thing about this is it’s an opportunity to meet and thank the riders. I really like volunteers to not just hand out a packet, but really let them know how much we appreciate them being there.” For more information, contact Wilson at betsy.wilson@npc.edu.

Wilson also reported that their disc golf event was an overall success. “We had a disc golf tournament at the very end of June that turned out to have a really good outcome,” stated Wilson.

The event had approximately 80 people register and raised over $2,700 for the Friends and Family’s US military veterans’ scholarship.

President Dr. Chato Hazelbaker provided a report on the upcoming school year and the areas that the President’s Cabinet wants to focus on to grow enrollment at the college. “So for three weeks, our numbers have been better for fall 2022, than they were for fall 2021,” stated Hazelbaker, adding that although that is positive it can change any day. “I’m cautiously sharing that because every single day we’ve got to work. Every single day we’ve got to show up and make sure that students are staying in class and getting registered.”

Hazelbaker explained that advisors are calling every student who dropped out and seeing what can be done to get them reregistered.

“The other positive effort we had is This Class is On Us proposal.” The proposal involved faculty and staff members giving out a voucher for a three-credit class to someone. Although the proposal was a success, some vouchers were not used. Due to the lack of use, the NPC’s Business Office was able to give those vouchers to students struggling to pay for classes and to help keep them enrolled.

As for more long-term initiatives, Hazelbaker stated that the college is going to implement phase one of a student affair restructuring.

“The first thing is we’ll be hiring a Director of Enrollment Management.” The position will be permanent and supervise the registrar’s office.

The second part of this initial phase is identifying the campus lead advisor. “From our current pool of advisors, a lead advisor will make sure that they’re getting trained, that they’re cross training with other departments like financial aid or front office.”

The third aspect is making the Strategic Enrollment Management Committee a permanent part of the college. The committee will include the director of student services, the director of financial aid, the lead campus advisor and the director of communications.

Hazelbaker also stated that he has started talking about rebuilding the facility in Kayenta. “The Kayenta facility was probably not built to the standards we tend to think of as one of our centers and locations,” he said, “It is actually probably impeding our enrollment right now.”

Director of Facilities and Vehicles David Huish provided a construction report, which included completion of the Snowflake campus building which sustained damages due to a flooding issue. Huish also stated that the Winslow Head Start building passed all structural inspections and more work is continuing to be done. Power will not be installed due to supply chain issues until September. “We’re still on schedule to have children in the building in January in the spring semester.”

At the end of the board meeting, Huish took the College Board and other attending members on a tour of the Skills Center Building in Show Low.

In other business, the board:

* Approved awarding the contract in the amount of $87,500 to Gallagher Benefit Services for a Compensation Structure and Analysis $50,000 will be paid for by the Human Resources budget and the additional cost will be taken from contingency.

* Approved a contract in the amount of $111,000 to EDGE Construction for the remodel of the Winslow Learning Center. The project is included in the Fiscal Year ‘23 capital budget.

* Approved a contract in the amount of $59,385 to Financial Aid Solutions, LLC to hire two temporary financial aid workers, one six-month position at the cost of $38,520 and one three-month position at the cost of $20,865.

* Received a report on the financial position of the college from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.

* Received an Institutional Effectiveness quarterly report.

* Heard a presentation overviewing the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) by Director Rich Chanick

* Approved the 2022-24 TALON to consortium intergovernmental agreements between Navajo County Community College District and Blue Ridge Unified School District (USD), Holbrook USD, Hopi Jr/Sr High School, Red Mesa USD, Sanders USD, Show Low USD and Winslow USD.

* Approved the 2022-24 dual enrollment intergovernmental agreement between Navajo County Community College District and Blue Ridge USD, Holbrook USD, Hopi Jr/Sr High School, Show Low USD and Winslow USD.

* Approved the intergovernmental agreement second amendment between Navajo County Community College District and Apache County.