“I am living proof that your past does not determine your path in life,” SCC business student and 2011-12 DECA president, Amber Bonifas says, referring to being raised in a troubled home. 

The 21 year-old was recently awarded the Transforming Lives Award from the Trustees Association of Community and Technical Colleges, an award that recognizes students who have overcome challenging barriers to go to school and transform their lives.

Her life has been complicated. As a child, she could not rely on her parents as they and other family members struggled with substance abuse; the result was a lonely and turbulent childhood. The community in which they lived made it very difficult for her to make friends as other parents told their children not to play with her because of the family reputation.  To make matters worse, she suffered health problems and learning disorders. She says she doesn’t know where she would be today if it weren’t for the love and support of her grandparents. 

At 18, Bonifas resolved to take a different route than her family and enrolled at Shoreline Community College's Learning Center North (LCN) in the spring of 2008.  Six months later she had completed all GED requirements. 

“Amber is a real go-getter,” Bernadette Pila says.  Pila, who teaches at LCN, was impressed with Bonifas from the time they met.  “She came with so much desire to succeed... all we needed to do was help her recognize that she had the ability.” 

Pila says that Bonifas is “horribly bright,” but didn’t recognize it about herself because no-one had ever told her or encouraged her to go to school. She also was impressed with the fact that Bonifas had held a job for years as a front end manager at a large store on the east side.  “It is uncommon for our students to hold a job for a long time.”

After experiencing success with her studies and being encouraged by LCN instructors and staff, Bonifas decided to further her studies and enrolled in college courses at Shoreline through the Career Education Options program.

"Her tenacity through the years has been inspiring," says CEO's Mariko Kakiuchi.  Bonifas' experience and growth at Shoreline Community College prompted her to testify before the state legislature in support of dropout re-engagement funding for future students like herself who weren't able to graduate from high school.

“Shoreline Community College changed my life,” Bonifas says.  “If I hadn’t come here, I don’t know if I would have continued with school past getting my GED.”  Bonifas refers to the generosity of time and the commitment to her success that the LCN group provided, saying they not only helped her whenever she needed help understanding her school work, but they never gave up convincing her to believe in herself.

“That was a turning point for me.  I realized that I could do it,” she says.

Pila and fellow instructor Guru Dorje were instrumental in making sure she understood and acknowledged her academic abilities. Bonifas says they spent countless hours helping her with her studies and never let her give up when she began to lose faith. They also often encouraged her to consider going on to earn more advanced degrees.  

She is President of the Shoreline Community College chapter of DECA and will soon be submitting her candidacy for a national officer position with the international organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.  

"It has been an honor to work with Amber these past couple of years.  Amber has developed personally and professionally throughout her SCC academic experience.  She has achieved semi-finalist honors twice in international Collegiate DECA competition.  The business faculty firmly believe Amber will have a rewarding career in her future,” DECA advisor David Starr says.

Bonifas and DECA members held a food and supply drive for NOAH (Northwest Organization for Animal Help), a no-kill animal shelter located in Stanwood, Washington.  She says that the organization is operated through donations and that this is the second year that Shoreline’s DECA members selected NOAH for their community service project. The NOAH fundraisers were held at multiple locations in addition to the PUB including local Petco stores and Lynnwood Wal-Mart. 

“We made $700 in cash donations and three truckloads of food, toys and office supplies,” Bonifas says.

The DECA students also volunteered at a soup kitchen at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Seattle at which over 200 people were served.

Bonifas is on course to graduate this spring with four AAAS degrees – Business Administration, Retail Management, Entrepreneurship and Marketing.  She plans to apply to Central Washington University’s College of Business to earn her bachelor’s degree in Business Studies. 

“I love it when people call me an overachiever because growing up that was never a word associated with my family,” Bonifas says with newfound confidence and pride.  “My hope is that one day someone will look back and say that I motivated them and made a difference in their lives.”

The Trustees Association of Community and Technical Colleges (TACTC) is comprised of all the trustees of the 30 two-year college districts in Washington and is the "trade association" for trustees.

The vision of TACTC is to insure quality, affordable, and lifelong educational opportunities for all the people of Washington State.

The hard work and dedication of Shoreline Community College Dental Hygiene Instructor and Interim Director Rosie Bellert, RDH, BS, has earned her national recognition.  Bellert is one of eight dental hygienists from across the country and Canada to receive a 2011 Sunstar/RDH Award of Distinction which recognizes dental hygienists who make a positive difference in the lives of their patients and students.

Bellert and the seven other recipients who hail from New Jersey, Connecticut, Nebraska, Illinois, Michigan and Louisiana were selected for their commitment to education, clinical practice and community service. Bellert’s journey is a testament to her commitment to oral hygiene and the education of hygienists. 

A proud member of the fifth graduating SCC Dental Hygiene class, Bellert’s commitment to oral healthcare education began shortly after she graduated from Shoreline’s program in 1974.  Although her passion lies with anything and everything about dental hygiene, she feels most passionate about the opportunity for hygienists to perform restorative dentistry, the practice of preparing the mouth for drilling and filling the tooth after drilling by the dentist.  Prior to 1971 only dentists could perform the restorative work but a state law passed that year gave hygienists the green light to do it yet few dentists allowed their hygienists to do the work. 

“I have always believed allowing dental hygienists to perform restorative work would make the dental team more efficient in the treatment of patients,” Bellert said, “and I really wanted to do what I could to support moving toward that practice.”

Working with Dr. Gerald Murdock, former instructor in the SCC Dental Hygiene program; Marcia Cotlove, another SCC graduate and another dental assistant via a University of Washington Kellogg grant and an HEW grant, Bellert traveled throughout the state training hygienists and dental assistants the ins-and-outs of restorative practices. 

Shortly afterward, Bellert began her 16 year career working in private practice where she was able to continue her work in restorative dentistry.  Her experience in both traditional dental hygiene and restorative practices prepared her well for her teaching role at Shoreline which began one day a week in 1975.  Bellert then moved to part-time and then to full-time in 1999.

Bellert says she is proud of the college’s program, which includes restorative training.

“Our students are really good at this,” Bellert said, mentioning that the dentists who work on campus in the restorative clinic often say how talented our students are. Students and Bellert hear from patients all the time at how painless the injections that students give are.

Bellert was also acknowledged by Sunstar/RDH for her work with Smiles Forever, a Seattle-based non-profit organization that started the first dental hygiene school in Bolivia, South America.  Students enrolled in the study abroad program, "Oral Health Training in Bolivia: Increasing the Opportunity for Young Women Living in Poverty," train young indigenous women in Cochabamba, Bolivia to become dental hygienists.  The Smiles Forever Dental Hygiene School is the first and only dental hygiene training facility and clinic in Bolivia.

“Working with Smiles Forever has opened up a new horizon for me and provided a venue for me to teach what I know to a population where the need is great,” Bellert said, going on to say that it is unique in that it gives homeless young women a chance to build a career.  

Bellert will leave for Bolivia on August 20, taking eight students, three from Shoreline, two from Yakima, one from Pierce, one from Columbia Basin community colleges. A public health practicing hygienist is also a part of the group.  The students will volunteer at the clinic, local shelters and rural villages in addition to training students at the school.

The group will take dental equipment for the Bolivian school donated by the Hartzell Company, Sunstar Gum, Colgate, Proctor and Gamble, 3M Company, the Institute for Oral Health, Young Dental, North Bay BioScience, Patterson Dental, Dentsply International and Ultradent.  Individuals also donated $1,270 for the cause. 

“The Hartzell Company donated cassettes with instruments so that 10 Bolivian students can have their very own set of tools,” she said, “It was an incredibly generous donation. It is going to be really wonderful to see their faces when we give them to the students.”  

Rick Kaminski made a name for himself at Shoreline Community College long before gaining notoriety as the Seattle Mariners Peanut Man.  At Shoreline, he was on the student government ballot several times before earning enough student votes to be named a student legislator and eventually, president of the student body. 

Kaminski studied at Shoreline from 1972-1975, taking mostly evening courses so he could work during the day. Although he graduated in 1973, he returned the summer of 1974 and completed another 12 classes. 

SCC retiree and former student, Mark Durfee remembers Kaminski well, saying he was a very likeable guy.

“Over the top friendly, always upbeat and outgoing,” Durfee said, recalling also how opinionated and passionate he was about just about anything. According to Durfee, Kaminski cared a great deal about

A man of action, Kaminski ran for Student Body Legislator in 1972.

In an edition of The Ebbtide, he provided a self-drawn, silly image of himself with the caption, “Crasy Rick.”  While other candidates provided a more conventional side, their platforms were weak compared to Kaminski’s, who said he would strive for better communication between students, their government and their school and cultivate student interest in college issues. Although he didn’t earn enough votes that year, he landed the position the following year.

Durfee said it was his passion to help others that motivated Kaminski to then run for student body president. 

“Several of us encouraged him to run,” Durfee said. Kaminski was a little leery at first because most the students who voted in student government elections were day students and didn’t know him.  Durfee encouraged him to talk to everybody in his night classes and ask them to vote for him. Kaminski did and ran a solid campaign. 

He nearly scolded students in an Ebbtide article.

“You may hear complaints or complain yourself about such things as cafeteria food quality and prices, bookstore prices, parking lot priorities and the price of stickers.  If you aren’t interested enough in your own total experience here to get involved yourself, then at least see that your problems are answered by someone who is interested enough to do something about them!” Kaminski reminded students that he had more experience in student government than any other candidate and that he would fight for fairer treatment of student priorities. Once again, he didn’t score but he was determined to make sure that the voice of students was heard by administration, winning the presidency the second time around in May of 1974.

Not afraid to speak the truth, Kaminski won the election after pointing out the ineffectiveness of the current president and vice president, saying they had won only by popularity votes.  In an article published in the April 25, 1974 edition of The Ebbtide he pointed out their failure to accomplish anything of significance.  Kaminski said that although more than 800 students had signed a petition for student activity money to support the building of a day care center and tennis courts on campus that neither had happened nor was there any communication as to why. “This is not representation!  That is not communication!,” he said before telling students that as a legislator he had made it his “chief concern” to invest student money to be used to benefit students.  Kaminski was smart.  He did his research and told students what he found. 

“Student government can be effective, but not when it stands still, refuses to communicate, and won’t answer to the needs of the people it is here to serve.”

Kaminski held high expectations for not only himself as president, but for his Executive Board.  Although they were paid only fall, winter and spring quarters, he asked that they meet in the summer to prepare objectives for Fall Quarter.  He also took the State Board to task refusing to comply with a directive to provide personal information about students as they had a right for privacy. He led Student Government in voting for a Resolution to prevent the college from sending the information. 

After his year as president of the student body, Kaminski left the college, eventually going on to work at the King Dome where he gained local fame as the Mariner’s Peanut Man.  Durfee, who had a part-time position for many years at the dome, had many more opportunities to interact with Kaminski. 

“He was more fun that the events,” Durfee said, referring not only to the peanut throwing antics but the energy that Kaminski drew around him.  One of his favorite memories was the night that the two of them were asked to lead a Sonics audience in singing the National Anthem.  “It was so embarrassing…neither of us could sing!”

Durfee said that the Mariner’s Scott, the Beerman was also a Shoreline student.  “He and Rick were friends.” 

Kaminski died of a brain aneurysm at the age of 67 on July 27, 2011 as reported in the Seattle PI.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going…that’s the case with Shoreline Community College Criminal Justice student, Nancy Bidondo, who was recently rewarded for her hard work and perseverance with a WAVE Award from the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board.  

Bidondo is one of only 128 students in the state to earn the award which recognizes outstanding career and technical education students at community and technical colleges and high schools.  On her way to completing her transfer degree in Criminal Justice, her plans include a bachelor’s degree in sociology or the like.

The 41 year-old honors student is serious about her education and what she will do with it.  The victim of domestic violence in an earlier marriage, Bidondo is committed to helping others who live in those conditions.  The strength of her character is evident when she talks about making something good out of the years of abuse she suffered. 

“If I can turn evil into something good to help somebody else…,” she says with conviction, referring to her long-term goal of working with juveniles or victims of domestic abuse or both.  She believes that her education along with her experiences will provide the tools to educate victims on how to help themselves and to advocate for legislation that provides support to victims of domestic violence and for effective rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.

Criminal Justice instructor Linda Forst nominated Bidondo.  “She really deserves this recognition.  Nancy is very devoted to learning and growing as a person,” she wrote in the nomination form, emphasizing that Bidondo’s work was always exemplary and “would serve as a model for other students to emulate.”  Bidondo earned a 4.0 in every class she took from Forst.  “I wish I had more students like her.  She puts her all into everything.”

Bidondo equally appreciates Forst and other instructors at Shoreline.

"The instructors are so willing to take extra time in helping. They challenge students by setting a high standard which I appreciate. It allows the student to be stretched and obtain a valuable education," Bidondo said.

Bidondo’s short term plans include volunteering for the Diversion Partnership for Youth Justice program through King County.  The educational program, designed for first or second time offenders who commit minor offenses provides troubled youth with a diversion from a formal court proceeding and may include restitution such as community service, a monetary fine, counseling, or informational or educational classes.  

Her volunteer work does not stop there.  At Shoreline, she takes notes in her Spanish and math classes which she provides for physically challenged students enrolled in the Community Integration Program and participated in a MLK Day Food Drive last year.  In 2007, Bidondo and her husband took their children to San Luis, Mexico on a mission with their church.  She taught crafts classes at a vacation Bible school while her husband and children helped with the construction of a bathroom at the school.  Formerly a hairdresser, Bidondo also provided free haircuts to women, men and children, some of whom were homeless.  Her commitment to helping others continues at home where she cares for a friend’s two year-old child so the mother can take evening classes – in criminal justice. 

2011 WAVE SCHOLARS ANNOUNCED
The Workforce Board has announced this year's Washington Award for Vocational Excellence (WAVE) scholars. While the WAVE program did not receive funding for scholarships this year, the current operating budget directs the program to recognize scholars for their achievements. The WAVE program is suspended for 2012 and 2013