The Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota (BCBSND) Caring Foundation has awarded twenty-six $2,500 scholarships to health profession students attending North Dakota colleges, universities or technical colleges. The health profession scholarship program helps fulfill the Caring Foundation’s goal of improving the health and well-being of North Dakotans by investing in the education of tomorrow’s health care professionals. The foundation is helping address the critical health profession shortage by providing financial assistance to aspiring students across the state.

This past Friday a group of Dakota College staff assembled 172 Jack Care Packs. These packs were a result of funding donated from Thrivent Financial and matched with donations from faculty and staff at Dakota College.

Dakota College staff went into the fall term knowing they needed to be adaptable and flexible in order to progress through the academic year. In a recent communication to college staff, Dr. Jerry Migler, Campus Dean stated, “We are again at a point where we need to apply these two skills to address changing conditions related to the COVID pandemic”. More specifically, the question Dakota College addressed is whether or not to adjust the academic plan for the remaining weeks of instruction after Thanksgiving break.

LeaderJacks is a student leadership organization at Dakota College at Bottineau. This fall, three Team Leaders are coordinating a community food drive for the organization to support the Bottineau Food Pantry. Alexis Gullett (Bottineau), Masaya Archbold (Fort Leavenworth, Kansas) and Kirra Montrose (Nanaimo, BC) invite the campus and Bottineau to “Give what they Can” from November 3 – November 17, 2020. The items may be dropped off at the DCB Library located in Thatcher Hall.

The Dakota College at Bottineau Leaderjacks promotes leadership through community service. The Leaderjacks assisted the Minot Rotary Club in a fund raiser, by assembling 230 rose bouquets on Wednesday, October 28th in Minot.

Learn.org has recognized the Online Education Paraprofessional Certification Program at Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) eighth nationally. The best schools for online education paraprofessional programs were ranked on admission requirements, program flexibility, cost and program length.

Yesterday the Governor’s Office announced that the Covid-19 risk level for Bottineau County is changing from the moderate risk category to the high-risk category, effective Friday, October 16. Considering this change in the county’s status, the Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) Re-start Team met to discuss appropriate actions to be taken on campus to address this heightened concern. The team determined that the change in Bottineau County’s risk level warranted an increase DCB’s risk level from low to moderate. It is important to note that the Covid-19 contact tracing status at DCB has not changed appreciably from past weeks. The change in DCB’s risk level essentially reflects a heightened concern in the surrounding community.

The ND Career Builders program received a $25,000 grant from Microsoft to promote enrollment in computer and information sciences and support services programs of study. Based on the current high-need and emerging occupations, Dakota College at Bottineau (Dakota College) has degrees or certificates that qualify a student.

It has been a bountiful harvest for the Entrepreneurial Center for Horticultural (ECH) at Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB). Optimistic planning started spring 2020 to plant pumpkins in the campus gardens with hopes of Bottineau Public School students getting to pick a pumpkin after coming on a field trips to learn about food production. Unfortunately, field trips were yet another thing that had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. BUT not all the fun has been cancelled!