Albion woman wins GCC enrollment contest
Sandra Baxter returned to college after Worthington Cylinders left Medina
Provided Photo – Sandra Baxter (third from left) is pictured with Enrollment Management committee members, from left, Cherie Chatt, Dr. Virginia Taylor, and Judie Littlejohn.
BATAVIA – In an effort to encourage students to enroll for Spring 2015 semester, Genesee Community College offered those who registered by Dec. 12 a chance to win an iPad mini.
Sandra Baxter of Albion needed no incentive. She had registered back in October, the first chance she could. In a case of “the early bird gets the worm,” Sandra won the drawing. She came to the Batavia campus on Thursday to collect her prize.
“I felt like Santa Claus calling her,” said Dr. Virginia Taylor, vice president for Student and Enrollment Services. Sandra was surprised to have won. “I couldn’t believe it. I usually don’t win things.”
She’s thrilled to try the mini, as are her children. She is the mother of 7 and 11 year olds and stepmother to one, age 21, who graduated from GCC last spring.
That’s the same semester Sandra returned to college at age 40. When her job in distribution at Worthington Cylinders (BernzOmatic) was relocated to Wisconsin, she decided it was time.
“I said that’s my sign that I need to go back to school full time and start a new career.”
She is studying to be a medical administrative assistant and hopes to graduate in 2016. Sandra has taken classes at the Batavia campus and online.
“I figured it would be hard,” she acknowledged since she hadn’t taken a class since her first foray into college after high school. “But I haven’t had any real trouble. I really like it. Everybody’s been great. Even the other students have been really helpful with the technology.”
She was most nervous about taking the online class, but managed with minimal trouble.
“It’s a lot of asking questions, but I’m getting the hang of it,” she said.
Sandra was chosen from 14,857 class registrations submitted between the time enrollment opened in October and Dec. 12, 2014. Assistant Dean for Records and Advisement Terry Reding put all the names in a database randomly and assigned them a number. He then asked members of the Enrollment Management committee to select a digit from a specified range, which, when compiled into one number produced the winner – 3,843.
“Our contest may be over, but there are still opportunities to register for spring classes,” said Dr. Taylor. “Many fill quickly, that’s why we encourage students to enroll early. But there are some classes available. We encourage people to check out all the opportunities. A new year is a great time to make a fresh start!”
