College

Gary Moskowitz NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- The Verdugo Hills Hospital Foundation will host a special seminar for high school students who plan to attend college and their parents next week. The program will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the fourth floor council rooms at Verdugo Hills Hospital, 1812 Verdugo Blvd. The seminar is free and open to the public. David Levy, director of financial aid at Caltech, will lead the program. Levy will present simple and effective ways to manage money and stay within a balanced budget while attending college.

Alecia Foster NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Two college representatives will discuss what parents need to know about planning their child's college education. David Levy, assistant dean and director of financial aid at CalTech, and Catherine Thomas, associate dean of admissions and financial aid at University of Southern California will present "Planning for Your Child's Educational Future" at Verdugo Hills Hospital. The two will address simple and effective ways to develop a financial plan for college.

Gohar Khechumyan’s father is supportive of her education and wants her to go to college. But because of his limited English and the differences in the college application process in the U.S. versus Armenia, navigating the process is foreign and bewildering to him, she said. Gohar and her father, Vigen Khechumyan, attended the Path to College community forum organized by the Glendale chapter of the Armenian National Committee on Wednesday night to learn about the details of finishing high school and heading to college in the U.S. “I’m trying to get every little bit of information about college,” Gohar said.

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — A proposal to expand Glendale Community College's Garfield Campus would turn a block of Garfield Avenue into a grassy area and 24 parking spaces. The proposed $20-million expansion of the campus — which college officials laid out at a public meeting at Chevy Chase Baptist Church on Tuesday — calls for a new classroom building and 136 new parking spaces. To accommodate the expansion, the college would have to purchase three residential properties — which are three separate apartment buildings — and take over one block of Garfield Avenue, between Chevy Chase Drive and Adams Street.

Marshall Allen GLENDALE -- Greg Mehdi, 17, is an advocate of college, so he started a Web site to helps high school students through the college application process. "I think that college is for everyone and there are a lot of people who don't think college is for them," Mehdi said. "I want to spread the word that it's possible to go to college." Mehdi is a Glendale resident and junior at Flintridge Preparatory Academy in La Canada Flintridge.

Joyce Rudolph NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Glendale Community College Theater Arts Professor Ken Gray is preparing his students for a theater festival at Cal State Hayward. But Gray is in charge of more than his students. He is the chairman of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region VIII. For six days beginning Feb. 11, about 1,000 theater students will arrive in Hayward from nearly 175 colleges and universities in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah.

Glendale Community College's Community Services Education Department will offer a seminar Saturday called "How to Become a Mystery Shopper." The seminar will be from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday in Room 120 at the college's Adult Training Center, 1122 E. Garfield Ave. The seminar is open to the public. Business evaluation companies hire mystery shoppers to visit restaurants, retail stores, theaters and other locations and report on their visit. The seminar will teach participants how mystery shopping works, how to get into the shoppers' network and how companies compensate shoppers for their efforts.

Crescenta Valley High School will be hosting an informational meeting for parents and students on scholarships and financial aid on Wednesday evening, Feb. 7. The meeting will be held in the school's cafeteria at 7 p.m. Entitled "Completing the Financial Aid Application," the meeting builds on a November presentation that gave an overview of what financial aid options are available. Dr. David Levy of the California Institute of Technology will review, line by line, the process of completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

Alecia Foster NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Brandon Pancost describes his first few weeks as a Cal State L.A. student as "weird." "Everyone wanted to know my student ID number, which I didn't know," he said with a grin. Others asked him if he was as young as he looked. The answer was 'Yes.' Brandon started college at 14. The Glendale resident, who recently made Cal State's dean's list, is one of about 100 students between 10 and 16 years old attending the college through the Early Entrance Program.

ON THE AGENDA The following items will be considered at Monday?s Glendale Community College Board of Trustees meeting: ? Bill Taylor, director of business services for the college, will discuss the school?s Measure G capital improvement projects, updating the board on changes. WHAT TO EXPECT Taylor will explain that additional funds have been allocated for the implementation of PeopleSoft management software. ? The board will consider a resolution to amend the college?

Glendale Community College track and field Coach Eddie Lopez is basically conceding any thought of a team title when the Vaqueros women take to the Cerritos College track for the 2012 California Community College Track and Field Championships. "Laney [College] is going to win it, but as the other teams cancel each other out, we're going to be right there for second or third with Cerritos and Antelope Valley," Lopez said. "Every point counts. We start with the 10K, get some places there.

COSTA MESA - Moments before taking the mound, David Lira thought about what needed to be accomplished. The Glendale Community College baseball pitcher understood that he would be thrust into a pair of high-pressure situations - keeping his team alive in its quest for the program's first state championship while also having to shut down one of the most potent lineups in Southern California. Consistently mixing up his pitches, Lira scattered four hits over seven innings to propel fifth-seeded Glendale college to a 9-2 win against fourth-seeded Mount San Antonio College on Saturday afternoon in an elimination game of the California Community College Athletic Assn.

Richie Maloof and Mathias Dahl proved throughout the season that they were among the best golfers in the Western State Conference. The freshman duo on the Glendale Community College men's team also displayed the same competitive success while matching up against the elite players from around Southern California. Maloof and Dahl will next look to establish themselves among the best in the state when they participate in the California Community College Athletic Assn. Men's Golf Championship, which will take place at 7 a.m. Monday at Santa Maria Country Club.

An appearance in the California Community College Athletic Assn. State Tournament was a goal leading up to the season for Sevana Zargarian and Samantha Sismundo. The Glendale Community College top women's doubles team got through each obstacle in the Western State Conference and Southern California Regionals to reach the state tournament for the first time. Unfortunately for the duo, their run fell short, as Zargarian and Sismundo suffered a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) loss to Fresno City College's Kate Abston and Regina Leyba on Friday afternoon in a round-of-16 match at Balboa Tennis Club in San Diego.

An upright piano, installed near the administration building at Glendale Community College last month as part of a three-week performing arts project, is slated to become a permanent fixture on campus. The piano was one of 30 placed at public sites around Los Angeles County by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra to celebrate 15 years under the leadership of music director and pianist Jeffrey Kahane. “One of the best parts of having the piano outside on campus is to see students with no other access to musical instruments just playing with it and having fun,” said Peter Green, chairman of the visual and performing arts division at Glendale Community College.

An upright piano installed near the administration building at Glendale Community College last month as part of a three-week performing arts project is slated to become a permanent fixture on campus. The piano was one of 30 placed at public sites around Los Angeles County by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra to celebrate 15 years under the leadership of music director and pianist Jeffrey Kahane. “One of the best parts of having the piano outside on campus is to see students with no other access to musical instruments just playing with it and having fun,” said Peter Green, chairman of the visual and performing arts division at Glendale Community College.

COSTA MESA - A lack of clutch hitting was nothing the Glendale Community College baseball team couldn't overcome a week ago in its postseason-opening series. It was a feat the Vaqueros couldn't replicate Friday in a 7-2 loss to Mt. San Antonio College after they batted one for 13 with runners in scoring position in the opening game of the California Community College Athletic Assn's Super Regional tournament at Orange Coast College. Glendale Coach Chris Cicuto credited the offensive struggles to Mounties (31-8)

Glendale Community College trustees plan to name an interim president by June 29, according to a timeline approved this week. At a special board meeting Wednesday, trustees approved a formal job announcement for the position while also laying out how the search will unfold. The application window opened Friday and will close June 1, with interviews scheduled for June 21 through 29. A job offer is scheduled to be made by June 29, although the formal start date will depend on the individual's availability.

Glendale Community College Trustee Ann Ransford has been elected to a state board that sets policy, directs research and drives legislation related to California's 112 community colleges. Ransford will be sworn in as a member of the California Community College Trustees board of directors at a meeting in Sacramento in June. “I am looking forward to serving in this position, especially in this defining moment and interesting time for community colleges,” Ransford said in an email this week.

Currently enjoying a run to the Southern California Super Regionals, the Glendale Community College softball team earned its postseason berth with an outstanding campaign in the Western State Conference. The Vaqueros (27-13) locked up their first playoff appearance since 2002 by going 12-6 in the conference's Blue Division to finish second behind College of the Canyons. As a result, the team garnered a considerable share of conference accolades, as voted on by the conference's coaches, led by a trio of first-team selections for pitcher Brandy Morin, first baseman Kitty Nguyen and outfielder Nancy Pinedo.