All Entries Tagged With: "St. Louis Community College"
Community Chess Festival features #1 US player
Hikaru Nakamura, a Grand Master chess player ranked #1 in the US, will headline the Community Chess Festival at Flo Valley on April 2. Photo by Fred Lucas.
Thanks to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, a local nonprofit founded by philanthropist Rex Sinquefield, the Gateway City is becoming quite a hotbed for “the king’s game.” In fact, the St. Louis chess scene has gained so much momentum that Hikaru Nakamura, the #1 American player and #8 in the world, recently moved here. Last year, St. Louis also became the only city in the nation to have a full-time Grand Master (the highest title in chess), when top-ranked Ben Finegold was lured from Detroit to work for the Chess Club.
Nakamura and Finegold are both very big names in the world of chess. And on April 2, when the Community Chess Festival comes to the Flo Valley campus, both of them will bring their considerable skills to North County.
Chess players of all ages and skill levels are welcome at this event, where participants can enjoy a life-sized chess board, free chess lessons and snacks for purchase. If you’re brave, you can also pay $20 to be one of 20 players competing in a simultaneous game with Nakamura, or you can opt to play in the US Chess Federation tournament, which has both rated and unrated sections. The cost is $20 and $5 respectively.
Admission is free to those who are not participating. However, this event is a fundraiser benefiting the Florissant Valley Student Government Association and other campus clubs, so donations will be gladly accepted. Participants are encouraged to pre-register at the Chess Club website or by calling (314) 361-2437. Registration on the day of the event will be 10-10:45 a.m. in the campus bookstore, located in the Student Center.
For a full schedule of the day’s activities, grab this PDF: http://users.stlcc.edu/departments/fv/Chess-Tournament-Schedule-of-Events.pdf
The Community Chess Festival is scheduled for Saturday, April 2, from 11am to 4:30pm at St. Louis Community College @ Florissant Valley, Student Center, 3400 Pershall Road, 63135.
Call for Artists: women & photography exhibit
"visions of sugar plums danced in her head" by Janice Nesser-Chu
Anybody who says there’s nothing hip and creative in North County has obviously never been to the Fine Arts building at Flo Valley. Inside this small but well-equipped space on the community college campus, you’ll find student and faculty artwork that will absolutely knock your socks off. Painting, drawing, pottery, photography – seriously, there’s some amazing stuff here.
In fact, Flo Valley’s art program is so good that it was the first community college program in the entire country to be accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. And when the big art schools make their rounds looking for promising young artists, Flo Valley is one of the few community colleges on their list. Many students here have been awarded sizable scholarships.
Of course, much of this is due to the talent of the faculty, and one professor who has made a huge impact is my friend (and fellow NoCo resident) Janice Nesser-Chu. A prolific mixed media artist and the president of the national Women’s Caucus for Art, Janice heads up the art gallery and photography program at Flo Valley. And wouldn’t you know, she’s getting ready to stage yet another intriguing exhibit…
Mirror Image: Women and Photography, which runs from February 28 to March 31, will examine “the concept of the photograph being a mirror of its creator, reflecting back their experiences, ideals and beliefs and invoking discourse.” Open only to women artists, the show will be held at Flo Valley’s Contemporary Art Gallery, and if you’re interested, there’s still a little bit of time to submit your work.
The call for art runs through Friday, February 4. You can read all the details and get an entry form here. And no, you don’t have to live in North County or attend Flo Valley to be eligible.
STLCC@Flo Valley hosts Open House on April 10
Discover all that Flo Valley has to offer at Saturday's Open House.
When I was growing up, St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley was jokingly called “Harvard on the Highway,” and it wasn’t a compliment. The implication, of course, was that smart kids went to “real” schools, not the junior college. But now I know better: all that was bunk.
I’ve taken a number of classes at Flo over the years and the quality of the teachers has generally been outstanding. I’ve also met countless talented, successful people who’ve attended the college, and I’d say they’re pretty smart… They got a great education without racking up thousands of dollars in student loans.
Whether you’re looking to get your associates degree, move onto a four-year university, or simply enrich your skills with a class or two, Flo Valley has a lot to offer. Probably more than you think. That’s why I encourage everyone to swing by the campus this Saturday, when the college pulls out all stops to showcase the diverse array of programs and amenities it has available.
Guests at the free Open House are welcome to drop in on dozens of tours, demonstrations and classes, some of which even I was surprised by. Deaf Communications, DNA Fingerprinting, 3D Modeling – those are just three of the highlight events. You can also tour the school’s TV station and observatory, sit in on an upholstery or water exercise class, try your hand at pottery and social networking, and treat the kids to a scavenger hunt and petting zoo.
The full list of activities is available here (in PDF). And if you arrive early to the Open House, you might even snag a goody bag and free lunch! The event takes place this Saturday, April 10, from 11am to 2pm, at 3400 Pershall Road, 63135.
UMSL & Flo Valley hosting MLK celebrations
In honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday this coming Monday, UMSL and St. Louis Community College will each host MLK celebrations featuring noted guest speakers. Both events are free and open to the public.
Gilberto Pinela
On Sunday, January 17, the Flo Valley campus will welcome Hispanic entrepreneur and local civic leader Gilberto Pinela, whose television show “Ahora San Luis” has been airing in St. Louis since 2001. Pinela, who serves on the board of several area institutions, including United Way and the Missouri Historical Society, will speak on the theme “Realizing the Dream through Civic and Community Engagement.”
The event will also feature performances by the Olivette Missionary Baptist Church choir, Florissant Valley’s gospel choir, and dancer Aaron “A-One” Reed, as well as an art exhibit by Flo Valley students and an oratorical contest sponsored by North County Churches United for Racial Harmony & Justice. 3pm at the Fischer Theatre, 3400 Pershall Road, 63135.
Jabari Asim
Over at UMSL, on Monday, January 18, acclaimed author and journalist Jabari Asim will be the keynote speaker, headlining a morning of performing arts at the Touhill. Asim, who gained national attention for his 2007 book, The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t and Why, is currently scholar-in-residence at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and editor of the NAACP’s magazine, The Crisis.
In addition to Asim, UMSL’s MLK celebration will also feature a dramatic performance depicting a community’s response to violence, directed by Adeniyi Coker, along with music by the Dickson Quartet, four talented sibling musicians from Oregon. 10am at the Touhill’s Anheuser-Busch Hall, 1 University Blvd, 63121.
Are you getting ready for the big day? NOCO is a proud sponsor of the 3rd annual Live Well Ferguson 5K