Around the College

HACC’s fall 2023 Commencement ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. on Dec. 14 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. Please continue to check our Commencement ceremony webpage for updated information.

To celebrate our graduating students, you can:

1. Watch the livestream of HACC’s Commencement ceremony on YouTube (More information will be added to our website closer to the event.) 

2. Share YOUR excitement on social media and tag HACC in your posts

The journey to the College’s Commencement ceremony has been a long road for many graduating students. Thank you for being there to cheer them on as they reach this celebratory milestone.

HACC Foundation donors provided funding that was used to develop and add low-cost or free textbook options for HACC students. Instead of selecting traditionally published texts, HACC faculty created, adapted or adopted textbooks to better fit the needs of HACC’s students. In addition to including cheaper or free textbooks, this initiative also includes those that are more accessible, current, relevant and diverse than traditional textbooks. This is the Open Educational Resources (OER) project.

In a 2019 survey, students indicated that the cost of textbooks had negatively impacted their education, including preventing them from taking courses and purchasing the required text for courses. Two years later, these percentages decreased in every category, including the percentage of students paying $200 or more for their textbooks. This percentage decreased from 65% to 47%. Additionally, when students in classes with OER were surveyed in spring 2023, 93% of students appreciated the OER project’s impact on their textbook costs, and 92% indicated that OERs were important to their success in the course. This is a positive impact!

Through this initiative, the HACC Foundation has funded five science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics (STEAM) OER projects: one in English, two in math, one in science and one in web development. HACC continues to develop and select resources that provide the opportunity for unlimited student savings. As the OER program grows, HACC’s students will continue to have access to zero or minimized textbook costs and the College will continue to remove one more financial barrier students face while pursuing their education.

The Office of College Advancement (OCA) wants to help you shout to the world all of the great things (called “points of pride”) your program, group, resource or initiative has to offer! 

What are points of pride?

Points of pride demonstrate our excellence and reinforce why people should attend HACC, participate in an initiative or support the College. By sharing this information, OCA can communicate the information to many stakeholders, such as alumni, board members, continuing students, donors, future employees and future students.

What are points of pride used for?

HACC uses points of pride in many ways, including but not limited to, employee recruitment, fundraising, marketing, student recruitment and student retention. You may see this information in many different places, including on a billboard, brochure, postcard, social media post and/or TV ad.

How do I share my point of pride?

These guidelines for providing points of pride will help you determine if your information is a point of pride. If it is, please complete our online form, which is available under the “Online Forms” section of the OCA channel on myHACC.

The Office of College Advancement (OCA) recently created guidelines to empower employees to use QR (quick response) codes on internal materials like brochures, flyers and posters.

Please review and follow the new guidelines, which can be found in the OCA channel of myHACC, under “HACC Style and Design Guides.”

Recently, HACC and Penn State Health announced a partnership to offer fully funded educational opportunities for aspiring and current healthcare professionals. To read more, please visit http://newsroom.hacc.edu.

Have you ever thought about donating to the HACC Foundation? HACC yeah! Did you know you can use your individual retirement account (IRA) to do so?

Thomas M. Shorb, Esq., a member of the HACC Foundation Planned Giving Committee, shares the advantages of making charitable gifts using your IRA. 

To learn more about the advantages of using your IRA funds, please visit https://bit.ly/3s9DCvf.

In fall 2021, the PNC Foundation awarded a $112,500 grant to the HACC Foundation that provided full-ride scholarships for Black students enrolled in HACC’s Police Academy or Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Program. In spring 2023, the grant was expanded to provide full-ride scholarships for Black students enrolled in HACC’s Advanced EMT, Criminal Justice, Paralegal Studies Certificate and Paramedic programs.

Through these scholarships, the HACC Foundation covers all tuition and educational costs associated with these programs. That’s right - eligible Black students will go to HACC for free.  

Please help us spread the word about this initiative so these scholarships can be awarded! Please visit hacc.edu/BeTheChange to learn more and share these materials with interested individuals.

Emily started her education at a private college, but said the school “did not care if I got good or bad grades, as long as they got their tuition.” She is studying healthcare management at HACC and says, “HACC helps you no matter how you learn or your educational level. They also do a lot of community work to benefit their students.” 

Read more about Emily on our website.

In 2022, the HACC Foundation awarded HACC’s Film and Theatre program with $27,980.25. The funds allowed the program to purchase two classroom cameras, six lighting and sound kits, additional classroom lighting and a total room renovation. HACC students who take film production classes will benefit from these updates. 

This project has transformed HACC - not only by allowing the College to offer an expanded major (formerly Theatre and now Film and Theatre), but we have seen an increase in program enrollment as a result of expanding the major. We are now able to offer a lot more content, not only in classes, but also in program productions. These enhancements will allow students to get hands-on experience with high-quality equipment including cameras, lighting and audio gear.  This funding will provide students with the invaluable opportunity to use gear, found in film and television studios, before entering the career field.

This investment in this academic program is the result of the generosity of HACC Foundation donors. We are grateful!

The College has a variety of social media pages, and we would love for you to engage with us on those platforms.

Please:

1)     Visit hacc.edu/SocialMedia

2)     Select your platform of choice

3)     Follow us

4)     Comment, like and share posts from the College

5)     Tag us in YOUR HACC-related posts/tweets

We will see you online!

Socially YOURS.