From HRD to All-USA
Academic FIRST TEAM
August 1974 might not
have seemed particularly
memorable to the staff at
Blue Ridge Tech's HRD
Program, but at that time,
a seventeen year old high
school dropout enrolled in
the sixth HRD class of
fered by the school.
Robbie Dalton (now
Kirtley) was not sure what
she wanted to do with her
life. Friends of hers who
had been in HRD suggested she take the class, so she de
cided to give it a try.
During that eight week program, Robbie finished her
GED and decided that she wanted to continue her educa
tion. However, her best laid plans did go awry. Instead of
school, she went to work, married, raised her two children
until the youngest was in kindergarten and then went to
work again. For over 12 years she was employed by the
local school system, first as a dishwasher, then teacher as
sistant and finally a cafeteria manager.
But she never gave up her dream of continuing her edu
cation. She enrolled in BRCC's College Transfer Program
and graduated with honors in May, 1993. In the fall of that
year, she enrolled in the college's Associate Degree Nurs
ing Program.
In April 1995, USA Today announced the twenty com
munity college and junior college students who had been
selected from over 900 nominations to comprise the ALL-
USA Academic First Team. Robbie Dalton Kirtley was
one of the twenty.
While she was in Minneapolis to accept this award, she
and three other two and four year college students were
selected to meet with President Bill Clinton for a one-on-
one talk about education. During his address later in the
day, President Clinton referred to "his fnend, Robbie Kirtley
from Flat Rock, NC" and talked about some of her con
cerns.
Robbie graduated from the nursing program in May.
While at BRCC, she received numerous awards and acco
lades. She is now pursuing her nursing career at a local
clinic where she meets people who are where she was twenty-
one years ago. She is telling them about HRD and other
programs at BRCC that might help them.
We have had many "winners" complete HRD during the
149 classes we have offered. But Robbie is very special.
Henry Hill, former Assistant Superintendent of Public
Schools summed it up beautifully. He said, "I can think of
no former student, based on where they began to where
they are, who is more deserving than Robbie Dalton Kirtley."
Submitted by Jane Dana
Fayetteville Technical Community
College’s Basic Skills Department
Selected to Offer the Immigration and
Naturalization Service Approved CASAS
Basic Skills Examination and Exam
Preparation Classes
Fayetteville Technical Community College is about to
launch two complementary educational offerings. Carrie
Hef&iey, Director of Basic Skills at FTCC, is excited about
the enhanced services which will now be available to our
diverse immigrant population.
The Basic Skills Department was recently selected to offer
the "CASAS Basic Citizenship Skills Examination" to eli
gible immigrants who would like to become American citi
zens. In 1992, the Comprehensive Adult Student Assess
ment System (CASAS), a not-for-profit organization, re
ceived approval from the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) to administer the exam. Fayetteville Techni
cal Community College is the only agency in North Caro
lina, besides the INS office, which will offer a citizenship
examination.
Eligible immigrants who apply for, take and pass this
exam later meet with an INS officer who will review the
applicants's ability to speak and understand English.
"Citizenship is an important goal for immigrants," said
Patricia Richards, Executive Director of CASAS. "TLe ap
proval of this citizenship test will provide an additional
avenue for all immigrants to meet their citizenship goals."
FTCC also requested and was awarded a $28,000.00
grant by the North Carolina Community College System.
This grant will allow the college to develop and offer spe
cial classes to help eligible immigrants prepare for the afore
mentioned CASAS Basic Citizenship Skills Examination.
Carrie Heffiiey, with her staff, has identified the person
nel and resources needed to register these special classes
for the Fall Quarter. Thus far, response to our marketing
team's efforts have been excellent, with citizenship exam
offered on campus on September 23. A "full house" is ex
pected!
Submitted by Hubert Bullard
Central Piedmont Community
College New^s
Central Piedmont Community College is very proud to
aimounce that Nancy Marlowe Clifford has had her book
THE SELF-DIRECTED JOB SEARCH published by Simon
and Schuster Custom Publishing. This book is very well
written, concise and best of all, it's affordable for those that
are in to job search.
Nancy is the Program Facilitator for the Human Resources
Development Program at CPCC and this is the first of her
works to be published.
For anyone interested in getting a copy of this text for
review, it can be purchased from: Simon and Schuster Cus
tom Publishing, 160 Gould Street Needham Heights, MA
02194, Simon and Schuster Education Group. The toll free
phone number is 1-800-223-2348.
Submitted by JefifSechrist