SCENE Spring 2018 | Page 5

ACCOLADES Gold Award for RCC on Military Friendly Schools Ranking COLLEGE RECOGNIZED FOR ITS VETERANS’ PROGRAMS R ockland Community College continues to be a Military Friendly School after again receiving the designation from publisher Victory Media. In addition, for 2018 RCC captured a Gold Award from the organization for the College’s programs for veterans returning to school. The Gold Award recognizes that RCC’s programs scored within 20 percent of the Top 10 colleges within its category. Victory Media reviews public data along with responses to its annual survey to rank each college on eight metrics. This is the first time RCC has achieved a Gold Award in the rankings. “We are delighted to be recognized as it validates our hard work on behalf of our veterans and their family members,” said Jonathan Barnwell, RCC Coordinator of Veterans Affairs. Each year, the list of Military Friendly schools is provided to service members and their families, helping them select the best college, university, or trade school to receive the education and training needed to pursue a civilian career. For the first time, RCC receives Gold Award recognition from publisher Victory Media. There are more than 120 student veterans attending the College this semester, and RCC veterans’ programs include a dedicated lounge, several designated scholarships and a unique “Combat to Career” program for career counseling. Last year, RCC hosted its first- ever obstacle course fun run to raise money for its veterans’ programs. The second edition of the “Run the Rock” event is scheduled to take place on campus on April 22. To learn more about what services RCC offers to veterans, visit www.sunyrockland.edu/go/ veterans. Team RCC took home the gold trophy at a charity dodgeball tournament among Rockland County non-profit organizations in December. With reinforcements from the College’s baseball team, RCC went undefeated in the tournament, defeating Dominican College in the finals. A true underdog story! RCC debate team members captured a lot of hardware in their first two tournaments of the year. The varsity team of Seth Spiegel (third from left) and Rachel Schild (fourth from left) took first place in both events, with Spiegel also winning best speaker in the first tournament. Nitsav Ben-Dan (second from right), a new debater, earned the best speaker trophy in the second event. Led by Professor Andrew Jacobs (center), the RCC team has a history of success against teams from four-year colleges. SCENE | 5