The link starts at Central Park, runs behind the school and terminates at 10th Avenue Northeast. The link — completed by developers — is meant to offer additional access to the school, residences and a planned Bellevue College campus. (Hence the name Northeast College Drive.)

What many students realize is that, at a fraction of the price, they can get a university education after spending a couple of years at a community college.

One of those is Sadia Anees, 19, an honors business student at Bellevue College, who is wrapping up her second and last year in Bellevue before transferring to a university.

She is the creator of TEENWrite, a live action role-playing and writing community where participants come as their characters, and of the Teenage Novelist program at Bellevue College.

Before setting foot in a law classroom, though, Cairns did some career introspection in a popular “Career Transitions” class offered by Bellevue College. The noncredit class, offered twice per year, is designed for people re-entering the workforce and helps define aptitudes and career goals. Cairns now recommends the class to other women looking to make a change.

“It’s a huge honor,” saidEileen Cho, president of the chapter and a student at Bellevue College. “This award really capped a hugely successful year, where we helped a lot of people.”

Rotaract, part of Rotary International, is a leadership and community service organization for students and young professionals.

For $10, players ages 13 and older can enter “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” on the Nintendo Wii, with prizes for the top competitors. The champion will receive a signed collector’s edition of the video game “Guild Wars Nightfall;” a “Portal 2” gift box will go to the runner-up.

The tournament will take place May 18 from 3 to 8 p.m. in the cafeteria on the college’s main campus. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page about the program, which helps autistic students achieve success.

Gita Bangera, the lead investigator for COMGEN and chair of the life sciences department at Bellevue College, wrote a grant application to the National Science Foundation six years ago. In the fall of 2007, students at Bellevue began the sequencing work.

It is very unusual for undergraduate students, let alone community college students, to get involved in real-life research. But letting them be involved can raise a new generation of scientists, Bangera said.

“We wanted to do something that a lot of people will notice, because there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done to improve accessibility for people who need it. This type of awareness can lead to solutions being found that will make technology more accessible for all people,” said Russell Beard, Vice President for Information Resources at the college. On a given day, close to 25,000 people access the site.

The college has made digital accessibility for all students a priority, regardless of their impairment. “We feel that those who have a disability should have the same expectation of being able to use the software as someone who doesn’t. To us, it’s no different from making a building accessible by adding a wheelchair ramp,” Beard said.

BC's website will be stripped down to a simple form

To that end, the college is instituting policies that require any technology purchasing decisions to take accessibility into account. Vendors must provide detailed information about how persons with various levels of impairment can use their products. “We’ve made it very clear that we don’t intend to authorize anything that’s not accessible. While there is no product that is perfectly accessible, there are products that are not usable at all by the disabled, and we will not buy them,” Beard continued.

More information about Global Accessibility Awareness Day can be found by visiting http://www.mysqltalk.com/gaad.html.

Important dates to remember

• June 15 – First day available to pay fall quarter tuition and fees
• August 15 – Deadline to pay fall quarter tuition and fees

Refer to the enrollment calendar for all other important dates.