Kirtland's Warbler Wildlife Festival
The Kirtland’s Warbler Festival is an annual celebration of nature. Serious birders from around the country know the festival offers the opportunity to see the endangered Kirtland’s warbler on its summer breeding grounds in Michigan. And nature enthusiasts come for the wide range of presentations and displays on outdoor topics. Children love to come to the festival because a full day of fun, including the chance to fish in the Kirtland pond, build and take home their own birdhouse, hunt for fossils and pet exotic animals such as zebras and kangaroos.
Kirtland cooperates with several government and non-profit organizations in the region to organize this fun and educational festival every year. All are located within the heart of the jack pines which the Kirtland's warbler calls home during the summer months. Northern Michigan is the only place where birders have a good chance to view the Kirtland’s warbler – the birds prefer relatively small jack pine to nest beneath and the males belt out a beautiful, easily recognized mating song. During the rest of the year, the birds are in the Bahamas where they are uncommonly difficult to locate.
Ogemaw County Fair
Ogemaw County sponsors one of the biggest and best county fairs in the region and Kirtland Community College is proud to take part in it. Annually, employees of KCC’s marketing and public relations department, as well as numerous volunteers from throughout the college, man a booth at the fair that is stocked full of Kirtland class schedules, view books and other giveaways.
In contrast to the largely forested acres that make up the bulk of the Kirtland district, Ogemaw County boasts many large farms and the Ogemaw County Fair reflects this agricultural heritage. The young people of the county are very active in FFA and 4-H and their projects play a huge part in the fair. For several years Kirtland has supported the efforts of these hard-working young people by buying animals such as pigs, rabbits and, this year, even some Cornish hens, during the 4-H small and large animal auctions.
If you’ve never been to the fair, it’s well worth the time and effort for a taste of the pioneering spirit that built our state and country.
KCC's NASCAR Connection
From the October 10, 2005 issue of Community College Week....
NASCAR has undergone a dramatic transformation in the past 20 years. The cars are sleeker, faster and more high-tech than ever before. But the nation’s image of the automotive technicians who keep those cars at peak performance hasn’t kept pace with the industry. Speedway Illustrated magazine joined forces with Kirtland Community College in Roscommon, Mich., this past summer to help change those perceptions. And the result was an experience that recent KCC graduate Aaron Gemmill will never forget.
Gemmill, who earned high honors in KCC’s automotive technology program, was the first student chosen to participate in the Automotive Students For Success program. The 27-year-old was invited by Speedway Illustrated to attend the Busch Series New England 200 and the Nextel Cup New England 300, held over a weekend at the New Hampshire International Speedway.
“I just keep wondering how I deserved all this,” said Gemmill. “To go where I got to go — it was totally different from watching the race from the stands.”
