- INSIDE MY BAGJIM SCHIFFER
INSIDE MY BAG
Jim Schiffer / 59
Surveying Technology
Traverse City
JIM SCHIFFER didn’t hesitate to go back to school at NMC, even though decades have passed since he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Michigan. Now a professional engineer with the Grand Traverse County Road Commission, he only needed to attend for about two semesters to be eligible to take the surveyor’s licensing exam. That put him so close to an associate degree that he decided to go for that, too. He’ll complete his coursework this summer.
The license will also complement Schiffer’s consulting business in general civil and structural engineering.
Why surveying? “If you love anything technical, and you love solving problems, and you love being outside,” he says, “ it’s all there.” NClockwise from top left, Schiffer's backpack contains:- Folders: Yellow contains materials for thesurveying licensing exam. Blue contains text materials.
- Thermos filled with black coffee.
- Tan folders: Class handouts and assignments; pens and highlighter. Yellow ruler is architect’s scale, blue is engineer’s scale.
- Textbooks for surveying and UAS classes.
- Field book: Legal records of his notes on projects. Water-resistant, pocket-sized. Scientific calculator to use on exam. The Swingline stapler dates back to Schiffer’s undergraduate days at U of M, in the 1980s.
- Green drawing templates kept inside the field book; flash drive.
- Tablet and stylus. Stickers are associated with dirt biking, one of Schiffer’s favorite hobbies.
NMC offers an associate degree and professional development in Surveying Technology.▶Visitnmc.edu/surveying - FROM OUR KITCHENS
FARM TO TABLE, DELIVERED
With a chef's passion and a gardener's discipline, a GLCI grad launches Fresh Life Meal Prep from her Kingsley farm.
NEVADA YETTERWHEN NEVADA YETTER enrolled in NMC’s Great Lakes Culinary Institute as a step toward her goal of opening a restaurant in her native Traverse City, her future business prospects seemed rosy.
Then came COVID-19.
Indoor dining rooms closed. Restaurants pivoted to curbside pickup and delivery. Menus turned into QR codes. “I knew I had to change my business plan,” says Yetter, 34. But she already knew how to pivot—in 2016, she had bought a farm
and since adopted a health-conscious, sustainable lifestyle, prioritizing her own diet and fitness.MOROCCAN CHICKEN LUNCH
Makes 2 servings
MACROS: 25.3 g carbs, 9 g fats, 58.2 g proteinServe chicken over orzo, accompanied by cucumber salad.CHICKEN
2 6 oz chicken breasts1/8 tsp garlic powder1/8 tsp cumin1/8 tsp chili powder1/8 tsp sea saltPreheat oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle seasonings over chicken and rub. Place chicken on oiled sheet pan and bake until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.ORZO PASTA
1 cup cooked and chilled orzo1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil1 tsp lemon juice1 tsp chopped fresh parsley1 tbsp crumbled fetaPinch sea saltAny vegetables desiredPut all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Chill for 30 minutes.CUCUMBER SALAD
1/2 cup cucumber, washed and quartered, sliced thin4 cherry tomatoes, quartered long ways1/2 tsp white vinegarPinch sea saltPinch cracked black pepperPut all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Chill for 30 minutes.Her ethos and education, not to mention a Business Development Certificate (also from NMC), led her to create Fresh Life Meal Prep, a meal kit subscription service. Fresh Life’s calling card is locally grown ingredients—Yetter’s aiming for 60 percent from her own half-acre garden—and macro-based menus, where customers choose their meals based on protein, carbs and fats per serving.
“They’re really conjoined, the farm and the meal-prep business,” Yetter says. “The whole point is fresh sustainable food, not bigbox. That’s what we’re trying to showcase.”Yetter is as much an entrepreneur as she is a chef. Last year, Fresh Life won a pitch night at TC New Tech. (She bought a new fridge with the prize money.) She brims with ideas, including plans for a podcast, pop-up dinners on the farm, a petting zoo, on-farm classes such as foraging and canning, and even franchising the Fresh Life concept, which NMC is also advising.
“I feel like I’m ready for more,” she says. N▶ Find out more or order online: freshlifemealprep.com - ART CULTURE
SOUND WALL 2.0
Interactive Dennos favorite restored for new generation
EASTERN ELEMENTARY KINDERGARTEN TEACHER KATHLEEN FERGUSON COMPOSES MUSIC ON THE RESTORED SOUND WALL WITH HER STUDENTS DURING A FIELD TRIP TO THE DENNOS MUSEUM CENTER.“Please touch” has always been the rule in The Dennos Museum Center’s Discovery Gallery. Thanks to the donorfunded restoration of a signature piece, the sound wall, decades of future visitors will get to observe that rule.
In March, 75 Eastern Elementary kindergarten students were among the first large groups to compose their own music on the wall when they visited on a field trip. The theme for their trip was art and how it affects emotions. With the sound wall, one emotion was abundantly clear, said teacher Kathleen Ferguson, right.
“You could see the joy in their faces when they were exploring and discovering the
different sounds,” she said. “The children were drawn to it.”
Ferguson was, too.
“I highly recommend it for any age. I found myself mesmerized by it,” she said.
That’s by design. The Dennos wants to be known as a family-friendly, intergenerational destination, and the sound wall is a great example, director Craig Hadley said.
A fundraising campaign last year raised more than $30,000 to restore the wall, installed in the early 1990s. Over the winter, museum staff disassembled, sanded and painted each piece, testing it with every new coat of paint to make sure all the components worked. NMC IT staff replaced the computer, and Milliken Audio Technician Maria Ulrich wired new speakers and repaired the sound board.
Even better, Ferguson received a scholarship for the trip, so admission for all 75 students was completely covered.
“We were able to experience the whole museum,” she said. “It was beautiful. The children, at such a young age, were so engaged.” NLANDSCAPES, LUSTER AND JERRY’S MAP
See three new summer exhibitionsTHROUGH SEPT. 3A New Perspective: Landscapes from the Dennos Museum Center.
Explore this collection and see if they evoke memory, transport you through time, or reveal new outlooks and possibilities.Marc G. Jones, Austin Healy. 2017, Acrylic on canvas. Detail. ©Luster: Realism And Hyperrealism In Contemporary Automobile And Motorcycle PaintingThis traveling exhibition showcases artists who specialize in the vehicles.Jerry Gretzinger, AAIII. n.d. Mixed media. Image courtesy of the artist.Jerry’s MapComposed of over 4,000 individual eight-by-ten inch panels, its installation, unique to every venue, is dictated by the interplay between an elaborate set of rules and randomly generated instructions.