Mosaic Community Gardens Are THRIVING!‏

POTTSTOWN, PA – This Saturday (August 22), Mosaic will roll out its produce stand…offering up some of the season’s best vegetables!  Tomatoes, potatoes, squash, pepper (sweet and hot), eggplant and sweet potatoes will be offered from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.  We will have other surprise offerings for sale on the stand that afternoon.  Please plan to pay us a visit before running your errands or buying from a big chain superstore!

That said, we need donations from gardeners…if you have more produce than you can pick (or eat) please let us know.  We will gladly accept your donations to sell on our produce cart this Saturday!  We will be at the gardens throughout Friday afternoon harvesting for weekend sales.  Please email me if you would like to donate vegetables (grown at your home or the community gardens) to a worthy cause!

In partnership with National Penn Bank and Genesis Housing, Mosaic is set to host another Movie Night at the Chestnut Street Park! KOOKOO the Cartoon Magician will begin the event with a magic show at 7:30 PM that day!  We have a great night planned and EVERYONE is invited!

Mosaic’s Summer Enrichment Program ended with a bang!

80 students ranging from 5-17 years old attended camp and learned more about gardening, nutrition, arts/culture, music and physical activity as each relates to different regions of the world.  In each weekly program, we chose age-appropriate instruction in African-American, Latin, Native American and Caribbean cultures.  The children retained more information from week to week using this well-rounded approach to learning.  They formed “families” and made delicious meals together, played musical instruments some had never seen or played before, harvested items from the gardens that related to the week’s teaching and made instruments specific to each culture using recycled materials.

The summer program ended with an appreciation ice cream social at the high school to celebrate their volunteer efforts at each of the gardens and the local park, and a field trip to the Althouse Arboretum for the younger students was provided…the campers went on an hour-long trail walk/scavenger hunt while learning the reason why arboretums exist.  Some of the students said that having an arboretum in our own back yards is super-cool!

It was a great summer, thanks to all those who volunteered during the program!  A special thanks to our partners and supporters, ArtFusion, Olivet’s Boys and Girls Club, STRIVE Initiative, the Pottstown Athletic Club, Genesis Housing and Penn National Bank!

Mosaic is looking to celebrate the fall season by hosting a fall cleanup potluck social at the gardens!  We will be looking for families to come out, clean up and prepare our gardens for the winter season.  Create your best potluck recipe for this special event! “Bee” on the look-out for more information in an upcoming email…coming in September!

MCCC, Whitpain Township To Screen ‘Jurassic World’ At Drive-In‏

Blue Bell, Pa.—Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) and Whitpain Township’s Department of Parks and Recreation will present “Jurassic World” as a drive-in movie on Saturday, Sept. 12.

The film will begin at dusk in the Morris Road parking lot at MCCC’s Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. Admission is $10 per car for the general public and is $5 with a valid MCCC student/faculty/staff ID. Concessions will be available for purchase.

The fourth installment in the Jurassic series, “Jurassic World” is set 22 years after the events of “Jurassic Park” on the same fictional island of Isla Nublar, where a fully-functioning dinosaur theme park has operated for 10 years. The park plunges into chaos when a genetically modified dinosaur breaks loose and runs rampant across the island.

The film is directed by Colin Trevorrow and stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, B.D. Wong and Irrfan Khan. “Jurassic World” is rated PG-13 and runs two hours, four minutes.

For more information, visit http://www.whitpainrec.com.

Pa. Labor & Industry Secretary Visits Montgomery County Community College, Learns About Job Opportunities Created Through Education

PHOTO: Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry Secretary Kathy Manderino (center) is pictured with Montgomery County Community College Biotechnology students (left) during her visit to the institution’s Central Campus in Blue Bell on Aug. 17. Also pictured from MCCC are Assistant Professor of Biotechnology Dr. Margaret Bryans and Interim President Dr. James Linksz, along with Dr. Karin Abarca Heidemann (far right), director of research and development at Rockland Immunochemical, Inc., which is one of the College’s industry partners.

Blue Bell/Lansdale, Pa.— Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry Secretary Kathy Manderino met with students and faculty at Montgomery County Community College’s (MCCC) Central Campus in Blue Bell and Culinary Arts Institute (CAI) in Lansdale on Aug. 17 as part of Governor Tom Wolf’s “Jobs That Pay” tour.

At the Central Campus, Secretary Manderino toured MCCC’s Biotechnology, Dental Hygiene and Nursing laboratories to learn about how the state’s investment in those programs and students benefits workforce and economic development in the Commonwealth. At the CAI, she met with students and faculty chefs before engaging in a round table discussion with MCCC leaders.

“The associate’s degree is a valuable credential for community college graduates in Pennsylvania. In fact, most of our students in career-track programs like Dental Hygiene, Biotechnology and Culinary Arts have jobs lined up before they graduate,” explained Dr. James Linksz, interim president, MCCC. “Our graduates also provide much-needed human resources to the region. According to a recent graduate survey, 68 percent of alumni are employed in Montgomery County and 97 percent are employed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

During her visit to MCCC, Secretary Manderino had the opportunity to talk with some of the college’s industry partners who benefit from student interns and graduates. For example, while touring the Biotechnology lab, she met Dr. Karin Abarca Heidemann, director of research and development from Rockland Immunochemical, Inc. in Limerick, Pa., which employs three recent MCCC graduates and offers internship opportunities to current students.

She also met Dr. Mark Schafer, president and COO of PhotoSonix Medical, Inc., a start-up company that rents a workstation in MCCC’s Biotech lab and provides the program’s students with valuable internship experience.

“Biopharmaceuticals is the fastest growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry, and there is a growing need for trained technicians to manufacture these drugs, especially as generic versions start to be produced,” explained Dr. Margaret Bryans, assistant professor of Biotechnology at MCCC. “In addition to the four major pharmaceutical companies in Southeastern Pennsylvania, there are more than 100 small biotechnology companies in the Greater Philadelphia Region, offering exceptional career opportunities to our graduates.”

MCCC offers a two-year Associate in Applied Science degree in Biotechnology, as well as a 16-credit Certificate of Completion, designed to provide hands-on, industry-relevant training to students who already hold associate’s or bachelor’s degrees and who wish to retrain for careers in the biotech field.

Before arriving at MCCC for the day, Secretary Manderino and her team toured VideoRay, a Pottstown-based manufacturer of underwater remotely operated vehicles, which is another of the College’s key industry partners.