Onondaga Community College's Women's and Men's Basketball teams are about to play for national championships!
The Women are in Rochester, Minnesota. The Lazers are seeded #3 and earned a first round bye in the tournament. Their first game will be Thursday at 9 p.m. eastern against Hostos Community College.
The Men are in Rockford, Illinois and are seeded #5. They will play their first game Wednesday at 3 p.m. eastern against 12th seeded Monroe College-Bronx.
Brian McDonald needed someone to point him in the right direction. That someone turned out to be Steve White, Director of Onondaga Community College's Office of Veterans and Military Services. McDonald was considering coming back to college last July when he walked into White's office. "He told me the strongest word in the English language is 'imagine' and he asked me what I saw myself doing in the future. My mom was a teacher and I always wanted to teach or coach, but it got so far away from me in life. After I spoke with Steve everything clicked. I imagined myself teaching or coaching.
Early next month Onondaga Community College Sound Recording Professor Shane Patterson will find out if he can say he worked on an album that won a Grammy Award. "It's a pleasant surprise to be part of this. It doesn't feel all that real. I won't be torn up if the project doesn't win but I'll be a little excited if it does. That would be pretty cool!"
The Lazers Women's and Men's Basketball teams will be playing for NJCAA Division 3 National Championships next week. Both Lazers teams regained their elite status after missing the entire 2020-2021 season due to Covid.
Alexander Wejko didn't mean to become a P-TECH student, but now he can't imagine being anything else. "To be honest, I didn't know what I was getting into. I saw 'college' and thought it would be a great opportunity. Now I want to go down this path."
P-TECH stands for Pathways in Technology Early College High School. It's a program that provides high school students the opportunity to work toward their high school diploma and associate degree simultaneously, and ultimately a pathway to an in-demand job.
