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M&T Bank will support Onondaga Community College's Career Services Applied Learning Program with a gift to the OCC Foundation totaling $100,000 over five years. The charitable contribution will allow OCC's Career Services Office to continue providing students with opportunities to connect their education to experiences related to their career goals through internships, job shadows, and informational interviews. The support will assist in funding the position of Applied Learning Program Coordinator.

• Major: Liberal Arts & Sciences - Humanities & Social Sciences, minor in World Languages and Cultures
• High School: Jamesville-DeWitt, class of 2017

Cindy Henchen is putting the "full" in full time student. She is simultaneously working on three degrees at both Onondaga Community College and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF). During the fall semester she took an astounding 33 credits; 17 at OCC and 16 at ESF. She earned a 3.7 grade point average at OCC, and a 3.3 at ESF. "I don't sleep that much.

On this month's edition of our podcast, "Higher Ed News You Can Use from Onondaga Community College," we meet students Isaac Mbambo and Alexis Riccardo. Earlier this month they led a team of OCC and Barnes & Noble representatives to San Antonio as part of the national competition for a prestigious Bellwether Award. The students participated in showcase and presentation events which explained how Box of Books works.

OCC students Maddie Bohrer and Nidaa Aljabarrin are part of a very exclusive club. Both are semifinalists for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation's Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Students who are selected will receive up to $40,000 per year to attend a four-year accredited undergraduate school. Nearly 1,500 students from 45 states and the District of Columbia applied. Bohrer and Aljabarrin are among just 456 semifinalists. "It's an incredible opportunity," said Bohrer. "Just being selected to get this far is really exciting.

• Major: Criminal Justice
• High School: Central Square, Class of 2018

Kelsey Johnson loves being a leader whether she's tutoring fellow students in Statistics at the Learning Center, or instructing students who are part of the Central Square school district's color guard and winter guard programs. "I feel I'm good at teaching things. It's very fulfilling, especially with the younger girls when they find something they like and I've helped them find it."

OCC's Box of Books program received national recognition when it was named one of ten finalists for a Bellwether Award in the category of Instructional Programs and Services. Students Isaac Mbambo and Alexis Riccardo led a team of College representatives through showcase and presentation events at the Bellwether Assembly in San Antonio, Texas.

Two years ago Katelyn Karleski had a difficult decision to make. She was a senior at Westhill High School where she was an outstanding student and a three-sport athlete (soccer, basketball, lacrosse). She had been accepted academically at both Le Moyne College and SUNY Cortland but neither school would guarantee her a spot on an athletic team. That's when she started seriously considering Onondaga Community College. "The coaches here were willing to work with me so I could continue playing basketball and lacrosse even though they overlap.

Onondaga Community College has been named a Military Friendly School by G.I. Jobs Magazine. More than 1,000 schools were considered nationwide. OCC was one of just 625 which earned the designation. The final ratings were based on institutional survey scores coupled with the ability to meet thresholds for student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment, persistence (degree advancement or transfer), and loan default rate for all students and, specifically, for student veterans.