Points of Pride
GIS Students and Staff at MBCC have had the opportunity to pursue relevant, real-world experiences:
Student Achievements |
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›› Click here to download one of the powerpoint presentations from the conference. |
In addition, several first year students also made the honor roll with a 3.5 or better GPA. Our goal is to have ALL GIS students on the honor roll by the end of the semester. This means they must strive for excellence not only in their GIS classes, but in their classes at their home schools as well. |
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Three MBCC GIS students survived a competetive interview process and were awarded prestigious positions workign for the Department of Public Works (Water Department) for the City of Dearborn. Students worked both on the computer in the office and "in the field" collecting GPS information about water utilities int the city. Their accomplishments were chronicled in the industry newsletter ArcNews. Due to the hard work and effort of these interns, similar opportunities will be available to students for years to come. |
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Five exceptional students put their learning into practice in this developmental pilot project. Using data generously donated by City of Dearborn GIS Supervisor, Sue Katsiyiannis, the students developed the Fire Responder's On-Site Tactical Intelligence Engine (FROSTIE). This innovative application of GIS gives fire fighters access to aerial imagery, utility data and even building plans, all on a laptop which can be taken to the site of the fire! The students presented there proposal to a selected audience including representatives of the City of Dearborn, Dearborn Public Schools, a utilities consulting firm, Eastern Michigan University and several teachers from surrounding districts. ›› Click here for the Press Release |
In 2006, the Wayne County Regional Education Services Administration (RESA) invited students from eleven different CTE programs in the state to come talk about what they were doing in their classes. Moe was selected to represent the I.T. and GIS programs at the MBCC and presented a brief powerpoint showing how he used city-supplied data to analyze real-estate values in the city.
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Instructor Achievements |
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The GIS program at MBCC has a new sister program at the Penta Career Center in Toledo Ohio. Along with Instructor Dan Wyandt, the programs at both buildings will be featured at the 2008 Al Ohio Career, Technical & Adult Eduation Conference in Columbus Ohio. Thanks to our Curriculum Patner Brian Haskell of HiTech Industries for helping to make this happen! ››More Information Coming Soon |
Based on his "Top 20" Status after the 2007 conference, Mr. Bayerl was invited back for an encore performance in 2008. His presentation "Keeping it Real: Conencting Curriculum to the Community" was attended by a full house, and received lots of positive feedback. Inspired in part by his presentation, , 5 more school districts in South East Michigan have decided to adopt GIS curricula in their school. |
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GIS Instructor John Bayerl presented on Connecting GIS curriculum to Science Curriculum at the 2007 National Science Teacher's Association Detroit Regional Converence in October. His session was well attended and received very possitively by a mixed audience of science educators and school administrators.
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As part of the 2007 Celebration of Excellence, hosted by the Wayne County Regional Educational Services Agency (RESA), Mr. John Bayerl was named a finalist in the Outstanding High School Teacher of the Year Category. The award recognized him for his outstanding dedication to his students and his achievments as a teacher at the Michael Berry Career Center. |
GIS Instructor John Bayerl has applied to present at this conference in July of 2007. His topic will be on creating connections to the real world using GIS. In concert with the conferences theme of "today's education for tomorrow's career", he will spotlight some to fthe real world experiences his GIS students have had as part of the GIS curriculum at the MBCC. This large, prestigious conference draws attendees from Ohio and many of the bordering states. It provides an opportunity to showcase the cutting-edge efforts beign made in Michigan to truly provide our students with the specialized skills and knowledge they will need for 21st century jobs. ››More Information Coming Soon |
GIS Instructor John Bayerl was recently named secondary teacher fo the year for the Dearborn Public Schools. His name was forwarded to the Wayne County Regional Edcuational Services Agency (RESA) as a Teacher of the Year nominee in conjunction with their Celebration of Educational Excellence. ›› More info coming soon. |
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GIS Instructor John Bayerl was selected to present the MBCC GIS program at the Governor's Conference on Career and Technical Education. His presentation highlighted the cutting edge computer mapping, satellite technology and remote sensing skills studetns learn in the course. In addition, he spoke about the certification studetns earn, and the potential for real-world experiences student may be exposed to. Click below to view his PowerPoint presentation from the conference. |
American Institute of Architechture Neighborhoods by Design Conference 
Three students from the MBCC GIS program had the opportunity to attend the AIA "Neighborhoods by Design" presentation at Lawrence Technological University. Students were able to view a variety of presentations produced by working architechs and civil engineers in cooperation with LTU and U of D Mercy Students. These presentations focused on small case studies of existing neighborhoods, and were assembled around a theme like transportation, green space and recreation. Students were exposed to cutting-edge modeling tools like Google SketchUp which can be used with GIS technology to model the neighborhoods of the future. The image below shows a proposal for the corner of Greenfield and Warren Ave in Dearborn. 
For Cardmaking #4 (First card marking of spring semester), 100% of the second-year GIS students earned an overall grade point average (G.P.A.) or 3.5 or higher. Mr. Bayerl is pleased that the high standards he demands of students in the program are paying off outside the classroom. Way to go guys! 
Photocopy, toner and paper costs represent a huge part of the operating budget of a modern school. In fact, the Dearborn Public Schools spends millionso of dollars on these items every year. In order to more efficiently use these scarce resources, GIS Instructor John Bayerl challenged himself to minimize his use of photocopies for the school year. Providing students with .pdf versions of his book they could email to themselves, converting all handouts and assignment to Microsoft Word documents, and providing students with network file storage all allowed Mr. Bayerl's students to receive, complete and turn in assignments 100% electronically this year. Because of this, Mr. Bayerl used NO photocopies for his classes this year, saving the district hundreds of dollars. Additionally, his students learned to use cutting edge technology solutions to communicate and transfer data--a skill that will be invaluable as they move into 21st century jobs. If you would like to try this in your own classroom, feel free to contact Mr. Bayerl via email and he'll show you how to begin! 
Sponsored by the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce, the Alberta Muirhead Teacher Award recognizes teachers who have made a significatnt impact on the lives of their students. Nominations come from prior and past students only, not from other staff or community members. 
The City of Dearborn GIS Summer Internship Program is the topic of an article in the Winter 2007 edition of ArcNews , a trade publication of ESRI--the industry leader in GIS software and applications. Written by GIS instructor John Bayerl, the article focuses on the unique partnership between the City of Dearborn and the Dearborn Public Schools which allows students the opportunity to practice their cuttin-edge I.T. skills in their own community. ArcNews is distributed to hundreds of thousands of GIS users accross the globe. Feedback from readers has been universally positive.