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[Dick Dolinski] Hello and welcome to Dateline Delta, I'm Dick Dolinski, a member of the Delta College Foundation Board of Directors.

On today's show, we'll listen in on a panel discussion and learn how the area's premier fundraising event, A Chocolate Affair, helps make dreams come true.

We'll meet with two Delta faculty members to hear about the new observatory, and learn how a current Delta College student is finding his way the Delta Way.

To wrap up, today's program will preview and Ireland trip, hear a message from the president and listen to excerpts from a recent campus visitor.

As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, Delta College hosted a Latina leadership panel discussion.

The panel shared their experiences and leadership in local, state, and national contexts.

Let's listen in on a part of their discussion.

[Dr. Elsa Olvera] Happy Hispanic Heritage Month So with that, I want to start off with anyone about a little bit about your personal story and what motivated you to get started on your journey throughout your different experiences and throughout your career?

[Christiana Malacara] Where I guess I can pick up as, at a college.

I went to school for fine arts, and it quickly found out that, you need to advocate for yourself.

An artist is someone who is, most of the time, freelance.

So I developed, a self-taught education marketing.

And the route of marketing is, self avocation.

You know, you have to learn how to go up to bat for yourself before you can put anybody else behind you and have them bat for you.

So, that kind of steered my direction into journalism and news production.

And then since then, I've learned that there's an entire population of people who need someone upfront and to go up to bat for them.

[Dr. Elsa Olvera] So each of you talked about challenges, right?

Growing up and throughout your education or your your childhood, to be able to move forward.

In moving past some of those challenges and obstacles, how did you overcome that?

[MaryLee Huerta] I think some of the challenges, and you may have some experience, you may have never experienced the challenges that I came across, those people not believing that I could do it.

Like I said in my last statement, you know, those that said I didn't is why I did it.

Because I wanted to hold that chin up high and say I did.

I did do it.

And I think those are big challenges.

I didn't have the role models that you guys have today.

I didn't have someone to encourage me and say, you Latina can do it.

And I was telling Dr. Olvera here that, you know, when I moved to San Antonio at 26, I couldn't believe the lawyers, the doctors, the engineers, the businesses out there that were Lopez, Hernandez, Rodriguez, Ramirez.

I'm like, what?

We didn't have that in Saginaw, Michigan.

You know, it was seeing our names in the paper for a whole different reason.

So it encouraged me to say those were challenges, that someone thought I couldn't make it.

[Dr. Olvera] What advice would you offer to local community members, especially our youth, who want to create change but don't know how?

[Consuela Barber-Lopez] I was just saying, if not you, then who?

If not now, then when?

And all I can say is that you don't want to turn 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and what regrets are our promises that we broke to ourselves.

And during the pandemic, when I could not move and do anything, the worst enemy is yourself and your brain to tell you what you can't do, what you're not good enough, or you don't look like this and that.

And so whatever you feed the most is what's going to grow.

So the more positive affirmations put it on your mirror.

Whatever you have to do to remind yourself.

[Dick Dolinski] The Delta College Possible Dream program.

Provides cultural, educational, and college prep opportunities for area six through 12th grade students who may not view college as a possibility.

The program is dedicated to the idea that every student deserves a chance at success.

To learn more about this worthy endeavor, we spoke with Rachel Chaltraw, Possible Dream Coordinator.

[Rachel Chaltraw] The possible dream program is a program that is designed to reach students that are academically successful and maybe have other limitations, other reasons, mostly socioeconomic.

That might be a factor for why they're not looking at college as a possible dream, as a possible opportunity.

The program provides all sorts of different opportunities, activities, events for the students who attend.

Some of them are fun and focused on just having a good time.

For instance, Saginaw Spirit game or a loons game, being able to go on a field trip to Mackinac Island or to the Detroit Zoo.

Other events and activities are more focused on some of the academic areas that our students are interested in.

Some of the things that might lend themselves to a future college major or a future career path.

The reason we are able to offer all of these amazing opportunities for our students is because of the generosity of the fundraising that's done at a Chocolate Affair, which is the annual event by Delta College that is fully funding our program.

There are many reasons to love fall here at Delta College.

The return of students.

Gorgeous fall colors on campus.

And as Rachel just shared, a Chocolate Affair and all it makes possible for you right here in our region.

On Thursday, November 7th.

Several hundred of our neighbors will come together at a Horizons Conference Center to enjoy live music, great food and drinks, amazing desserts, and an unforgettable evening with friends and colleagues.

And it's what happens after the event.

That's really sweet.

All the activities you just heard about and full scholarship opportunities to attend Delta upon completion of the program.

More than 83% of Possible Dream students go on to attend college with half of those students choosing Delta.

Seeing how the effects linger long after the party's over, we hope you'll join us.

You can purchase your tickets online using the link on the screen, or by calling (989)686-9224.

We're looking forward to seeing you there.

We are so thankful for the support that we have from the Delta College Foundation, from the sponsors, from the benefactors, from the donors, from the people that volunteer their time and energy, from our community partners that help us to organize and support these different events, offer some of these opportunities for our students.

Without that investment in our kids, we would not be able to have this program.

[Dick Dolinski] This fall, Delta College Observatory was finalized, providing students with stellar views of the night sky right here on Delta's main campus.

To hear more details about this astronomical installation, we spoke to Delta College instructors Kevin Dehne, and Aurelian Balan.

[Leanne Govitz] Kevin, Aurelian thank you for joining us today.

Pleasure to be here.

Kevin, can you tell us when the idea for the Delta Observatory arose and why?

Kevin Dehne] Sure, I started working here full time in 2000.

I'm also teaching astronomy, and for me, astronomy is best done at night.

Looking at the stars.

Half of our life is the nighttime sky.

And it's a great thing to observe.

And so when I came to Delta, it was important for me to have observing the sky as part of my astronomy classes.

So we worked it into the objectives as so.

And we started out with small portable telescopes.

And then this was roughly 20 years ago.

I had the idea.

It would be great to have a permanent building, a permanent telescope, where our students and community people could come and really enjoy the sky, through a good quality telescope.

And and that's really when it started.

Shortly after I got here, wanting that desire to, have students in the community have that experience that we don't have in this area.

[Leanne Govitz] Aurelian, I know the scope of the project has changed over the years, that if after it first sort of came into being.

Can you tell us about the final facility and the telescope?

[Aurelian Balan] Absolutely, so the final facility is out on the west side of campus, kind of between the baseball field and the softball field out there.

And, behind the concession stand.

What's nice about that is it's a dark area.

So it's away from the parking lot lights.

It's got access to some bathrooms.

So we were able to be kind of economical with the way we built the building, and we didn't have to double up on certain utilities, and it's just dark skies.

A way from a lot of the rest of the traffic, which gives us the best view of the stars.

And the facility is modest, but exactly what we need.

[Leanne Govitz] And the telescope.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

[Aurelian Balan] Oh, the telescope is.

It's not that modest.

It's a very nice, but it's a it's the telescope is a PlaneWave CDK 700 CDK standing for a Corrected Dall Kirkham.

It's that telescope design type.

And 700 is 700mm or 0.7m telescope, which is a 28 inch mirror.

So that's a one of the biggest observatories in the state of Michigan, and one of only two that I know of that are publicly accessible and, accessible for somebody to just kind of roll up on a wheelchair and observe.

It's because of the nature of the eyepiece.

So it's a beautiful reflecting telescope, very large pulls in deep space objects nicely.

[Leanne Govitz] Can you tell us how many students are in astronomy and how students and the community members could benefit from the telescope and facility?

Absolutely.

[Kevin Dehne] We have during a regular fall semester, let's say, about 100 plus students, 120 students.

And that's the same for the winter semester.

And in the spring, we have, because it's a shorter semester, we have about 40 students.

So and part of the course objectives is for these students to observe the sky.

So during each semester we have observing nights where the students come and look through the telescope and not just the telescope in the observatory, but we also have portable telescopes.

We pull out to the observing deck.

There's a concrete pad that they can use as well.

And our mission is to show them the night sky as best we can.

Galaxies, star clusters, nebulas, planets, and give them an experience that they wouldn't normally get.

And now that we have this observatory, we want to involve the public more.

We want to have open public observing nights that anybody can come and join in.

And we've had general public in the past, when students bring family and friends, we've had special events like if there's an eclipse going on, we've had events where we've had over 100 people in one of our courtyards with telescopes.

So that's that's really our plan with this new observatory is to open up more for the public and just have a great experience for our students.

[Leanne Govtz] So the, Delta College already has the planetarium.

Can you tell us why?

Perhaps the observatory isn't located there.

[Aurelian Balan] Absolutely.

Yeah.

So planetarium, right, is a, facility for simulating the sky.

That's right.

It's not the the the actual sky.

And so the Bay City Planetarium is located in downtown Bay City.

And so there's lots of light pollution there, right?

So we definitely don't want to put it in city centers.

We want to put it kind of off to the side and cornfields where it is.

And it's nice that it's on main campus.

So it's a completely different facility from what we have already.

So the planetarium is just a totally different monster.

[Leanne Govitz] Can you tell us about your first site within the telescope and what that was like?

[Kevin Dehne] Oh, sure.

Whatever.

There's a brand new telescope we astronomers refer to first light as the first thing we see.

And the first thing we saw was a collaborative cluster called M13, which is the great clapper cluster in Hercules.

And it's this big spherical ball of stars.

There's about 300,000 stars, and it's 25,000 light years away.

And that was a first glimmer of light.

We got to the to the eyepiece of the telescope, and that was our first picture we took to the telescope as well.

[Leanne Govitz] And what was that like?

[Aurelian Balan] It was, it was beautiful.

It was stunning to see.

My students describe it as like a spider web of activity.

It's just like a chandelier in the galaxy.

That's kind of the way I've heard my colleague describe it.

And my students describe it.

And it was beautiful to see the picture because it was a lot of things coming together that we didn't expect to work like we didn't.

We've never built observatories before.

We've worked at observatories, but there's a lot to consider.

There's like ventilation and vibration and location and angles and there's just light.

There's so many things that could have gone wrong.

And it seems like when you saw that picture, you're like, oh, we didn't mess this up.

So good thing we didn't, you know, waste this money.

So now all these people are going to benefit from that.

[Leanne Govitz] So speaking of that, can you tell us how the public might be able to access the observatory or Delta Dome, as you call it?

[Aurelian Balan] The day of sometime, what are we saying?

around noon?

Yeah, right around noon to call (989)686-9232.

Just a delta number.

And it'll kind of give a weather update.

looking clear in the evening, chances are we're going to observe and then.

[Kevin Dehne] But to be safe, call the number and the message will tell you where to go.

Clear skies.

Or we'll say cloudy, stay home, that kind of thing.

[Leanne Govitz] Well, thank you both for joining us today.

And we're really excited to visit the Delta Dome.

I hope so, it's our pleasure.

Excited, yeah [Dick Dolinski] This season, Delta is highlighting unique student journeys.

First up is Corey Malone, a student in Delta's PTA program.

He came to Delta at the age of 38 and is a father of two.

He has been excelling in and out of the classroom, making the president's list in his first semester and joining Delta's golf team as a student athlete.

Let's hear more from Corey.

A specific moment that kind of made me realize I was on the right path was my completion of my first semester.

It made me feel like I did belong here.

This was something that I can do even with my time away.

That, you know, with a little bit of help from the resources here, this isn't impossible for me.

This is an extremely doable, attainable goal that anyone can accomplish if they put the time and effort into doing it.

[Dick Dolinski] Delta College Public Media and Collette Travelare offering a ten day excursion to the Emerald Isle.

Soak in the world famous beauty of the Ring of Kerry, stand in awe at the stunning Cliffs of Moher and live like royalty with a stay on castle grounds.

Hi, I'm Mike Redford joined me as we travel with Collette on a ten day tour of Ireland in September 2025.

From history filled Dublin to the rolling green hills and dramatic coast.

Experience Ireland's charms and a journey through the Emerald Isle, Collette has been making guided travel easy and fulfilling for more than 100 years.

All the details are taken care of flights, incredible culinary delights, hotel, sightseeing and immersive local experiences.

Your only job is to have the time of your life.

Join us on October 30th at 6 p.m. for a zoom presentation about this exciting trip.

To register, go to Delta Public media.org, and for more information, call Colette at one 1-800-581-8942 and refer to booking number 1280701.

[Dick Dolinski] Now it's time for a new segment where Delta's president, Dr. Michael Gavin, shares a community college perspective on national topics in higher education.

[Dr. Michael Gavin] Well, there are a lot of people who are questioning the value of higher education nowadays.

Asking whether it's even worth it to go to college.

And I think from a national perspective, that question is laden with meaning.

What do we mean by worth it?

Is one question somebody should ask.

There's obviously the economic value that people have in terms of degree attainment.

We know even though that many people don't think that there is the same value in a college degree as there used to be, that that's not true.

We know that, in the technology and the kind of jobs that are out there that require technology.

Basically mean that somebody needs to have some sort of college credential in order to have a well-paying job over a lifetime.

We know that to be the case.

But at the national level as well, what gets lost in a lot of the discourse is that higher education, is very much intertwined with the notion of democracy.

And what it means to be a good citizen.

Rather than just focusing on the economic, I think one of the things that we need to remember and assert is that since the inception of higher education, higher education and degree attainment was very much tied to being a good citizen.

And even the trajectory of the country has always been that which where more people getting educated meant a better country.

We're seeing that being challenged right now.

And so I would challenge the notion of the question to just make sure that we're thinking about including everybody in that conversation and also the the trajectory of the promises of the American ideals in them.

From a localized perspective, we know also in this area that some of the major industries require at least college credential.

Whether you're talking about semiconductor, health or other fields.

Those, jobs which can give you a middle class living, do require some level of higher education.

And on top of it, if you want to transfer, if you want a bachelor's degree, that's also part of the workforce.

So all of that being said, we know that, getting a college degree and coming to Delta obviously first saves you in terms of the number of dollars that you're spending on your college education.

At the same time, we know that, or we're benefiting from, I should say, a number of different kinds of ways to save on your college education.

But some some of those are including, what's called Michigan Reconnect, where if you're 21 or over, you can come to higher higher education.

Delta specifically or community college is specifically tuition free.

And if you're 18 or over at least for the next two years, you also could use the Michigan Achievement Scholarship for the same reason.

Removing the barrier of tuition does also add to the question of the value of higher education and whether it's worth it.

Obviously, spending $0 on tuition makes it an easier question to answer that.

Yes, obviously it is a good thing to go to college.

[Dick Dolinski] Delta College's President Speaker Series has hosted many noted and influential speakers over the years, and their most recent speaker, Lawrence Lessig was no exception.

Mr. Lessig addressed some threats we may face in the 2024 election and discuss the nature of the challenges created by our unique electoral college system.

Let's listen.

So when we asked the question on this election, what should we be fearing?

The book that I wrote with Matt Seligman described nine scenarios, conceivably for flipping the results of an election.

We said six of them were serious risks.

Right now, four of them are still alive, and two of them keep me up at night.

And I want to focus on one, maybe one and a half.

Now you're going to see this as two.

But the point is, these problems that I'm going to describe here are both grounded on the same flaw.

And the flaw was introduced in 2022, when congress surprised the world by passing a major reform of the electoral count Act, called the Electoral Count Reform Act.

Now, that law now requires governors to certify who won their election six days before the electors are to vote.

But it doesn't include a procedure for recertify who the electors voted for, or whose electoral votes should count.

If that changes.

So the point is to see that if we imagine Hawaii 2.0 imagine the same facts as Hawaii in 1960 applied to the current law, the Electoral Count Reform Act would say the government governor must certify six days before the electoral electors vote, which of course, in 1960 the governor did.

But there was no provision to change who the governor certified, meaning that Kennedy's votes would have been lost in that scenario on January 6th, that would have been Nixon's votes.

The only votes that were certified by the governor of Hawaii.

So take that and think about two hypotheticals in 2024.

Imagine in the state of Georgia, Harris has a slight lead, but then some lower court throws out some category of ballots, as if these absentee ballots are illegal or whatever.

So then the Electoral Count Reform Act says the governor must certify a winner six days before the electoral.

If the electors are to cast their ballots.

And given that absentee ballots thrown out, Trump is now ahead.

So the governor certifies Trump.

And the first question we have to ask is, will the Harris electors, the so-called fake electors, the electors who have not yet been certified meet and vote on electors day because if they don't meet and vote on electors day, the litigation about these absentee ballots that have been thrown out has to stop, because there is no reason to proceed, because there are no votes from Harris to count on January 6th.

But if they do meet and vote, risking being prosecuted as fake electors, then still there's the question whether if their absentee votes are counted and if Harris is ultimately declared the winner, or whether the governor can recertify Harris as the winner, or whether we have to count on congress doing the right thing in the face of the wrong person being certified on January 6th.

And it could go the other way around.

Imagine Wisconsin, Trump has a small lead.

The court throws out a bunch of absentee ballots.

The governor, a Democratic governor, has to certify six days before he certifies for Harris, did the Trump electors meet and vote for so-called fake electors?

And if they do meet and vote, what's the mechanism to force the governor to recertify?

And will Congress even recognize the recertification?

[Dick Dolinski] As a reminder, the 2024 elections are on Tuesday, November 5th.

If you haven't already, return your absentee ballot or have a plan in place to vote in person at your designated polling location.

Now let's see what's on the Dateline Delta calendar of events The Delta College Planetarium will be hosting a series of shows during the month of November.

For more information about these shows and events happening at the planetarium, visit their website at Delta.edu/Planetarium.

Delta College has partnered with Great Lakes Bay Health Centers to bring convenient health care services to our students.

Most insurances are accepted for services.

A sliding scale is available if you are uninsured.

The Mobile Medical Unit will be in the F wing parking lot on Monday, November 4th from 9 a.m. till noon.

The Delta College Foundation will host the annual Possible Dream fundraiser A Chocolate Affair, on Thursday, November 7th, starting at 6 p.m. at Horizon's Conference Center in Saginaw.

For live music, great food and drinks, amazing chocolate desserts and an unforgettable evening with friends and colleagues.

Delta College Drama is pleased to announce the production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

The performance will be on November 13th through the 15th, starting at 7 p.m. and November 16th and 17th starting at 3 p.m..

The production will be in the lecture theater on Delta's campus.

For further information on these events or other campus activities, contact the Office of Marketing and Public Information at 989-686-9490, or visit our website at www.delta.edu [Dick Dolinski] Well, that wraps up our show.

Please join us again on November 17th when we highlight what's happening here at Delta College, one of America's leading community colleges.

Now, I leave you with the sights and sounds of Delta College for Dateline Delta.

I'm Dick Dolinsky, and thanks for watching.

Local production scene on Delta College Public Media are made possible with support from viewers like you.

Thank you.