Annual golf tournament helps fund scholarships
The San Jacinto College Foundation raised more than $130,000 at its 24th annual golf tournament at Golf Club of Houston on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019.
A total of 29 teams took to the green after the shotgun start. The Merrill Private Wealth Management team took this year’s title as tournament winners, with the HTS, Inc. Consultants team winning second place, and the J. Harding & Co. team taking third place.
In addition to registration fees benefitting student scholarships, proceeds from the event’s silent auction, facilitated by Diamonds in the Rough Sports Memorabilia Charity Auctions, also helped fund scholarships, academic and technical programs, and student success initiatives.
The Foundation honored the Niday family as its 2019 Lifetime Legacy Award recipient. Joy Niday, local business owner and San Jacinto College Foundation board member, along with Patricia Niday, accepted the award at the tournament luncheon. The Niday family has endowed two scholarships in honor of their parents- the Joy Ruth Niday Scholarship for nursing students and the Capt. John B. “Jack” Niday Jr. Maritime Scholarship.
“When mother passed away in 2003, I gave thought to how I could honor her,” said Joy Niday. “I decided to set up a nursing scholarship in her name. My mom had the desire to become a nurse, but couldn’t afford to achieve it. Now, every time her scholarship helps a student fulfill their dream, I know we are helping someone else make that journey in her honor.”
Upon her father’s passing last year, she decided to endow a second scholarship in his honor. John B. “Jack” Niday began working at the Houston Ship Channel in 1949. He became a tugboat captain at the age of 19, entered the Houston Pilots Association in 1959 as their youngest deputy, and became a full pilot in 1960. “The Captain John B. ‘Jack’ Niday scholarship is dedicated to supporting maritime students at San Jacinto College, in honor of four generations of Niday men who have served on Houston’s Ship Channel,” Niday added.
To date, the Niday family has funded 48 student scholarships totaling nearly $25,000. For more information about the San Jacinto College Foundation, visit sanjac.edu/foundation.
New Generation Park Campus now hiring faculty
Come join the San Jacinto College team at our newest campus in northeast Houston’s booming Generation Park! Applications are now open through the end of January for a variety of faculty positions at the College’s fifth campus.
Set to open in fall 2020, San Jac’s Generation Park Campus will initially offer general studies courses for students intending to transfer to four-year universities.
To learn more and apply for open faculty positions, visit sanjac.edu.
San Jacinto College launches The EDGE Center at Houston Spaceport
The San Jacinto College EDGE Center offers aerospace training and a pathway to careers in the aerospace industry under instructors who are at the top of their fields.
“We are partnering with companies like Intuitive Machines to offer our students the very best, up-to-date knowledge about the aerospace industry,” said Janis Fowler, director of the College’s aerospace education and workforce department. “Students will have the opportunity to work on projects side-by-side with professionals who are working on NASA level projects including the lunar lander.”
The EDGE Center offers programs in composites manufacturing and repair technician, aerospace electrical assembly technician, aerospace structures technician, mechatronics and industrial automation technician students at the EDGE Center will join a massive workforce in the Houston area.
Steve Altemus, president of Intuitive Machines is looking forward to the possibility of making space available to the next generation.
“We’re creating training programs to develop the workforce we need right here in Houston,” Altemus said. “We want to make sure there is a workforce to choose from that is trained and skilled.”
The certificate-based programs are open to anyone who is interested, whether they are recent high school graduates or have spent decades in the workforce, said Fowler.
“In addition to the programs we offer, we also work heavily with school districts for outreach in STEM through our Pathway to the Stars afterschool program,” Fowler said. “We teach the children about circuitry and space and how things work.”
The EDGE Center is just in its beginning phases but big things will start happening as early as the spring of 2020.
To learn more about the EDGE Center, visit sanjac.edu/edge-center.
