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GRAND RAPIDS — Juan Olivarez comes to the office of president at Aquinas College knowing that there are looming challenges.

• Some are demographic. The millennials, born between 1982 and 2001, account for 75 million of the U.S. population and created a bubble of students entering higher education. As the children of boomers started graduating high school, the rolls at colleges and universities around the nation swelled. To wit: Aquinas College has boasted record levels of enrollment in recent years. After the boom, Olivarez and college administrators are working to avoid an eventual bust as the numbers of students entering college drop off.
• Others are financial. The college’s endowment sits at $30 million, having grown 50 percent under past president Edward Balog’s five-year tenure.
• Others still are more existential. The college has to figure out what exactly it means to be a private, Catholic college, as well as how it can honor its 125-year history without becoming staid and yet still foster innovation.

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WEST MICHIGAN — Michigan employers now have an online tool to help them attract their “dream team” of college interns who may one day become future employees.

InternInMichigan.com, which is free to users, recently went live statewide around the first of November. In its first three weeks, 165 employers posted 500 paid internship opportunities, and 1,800 college students or recent graduates were already registered and using the site.

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GRAND RAPIDS — Living the American dream is becoming harder for Michiganians without a college degree as the state’s manufacturing-based economy evolves into a knowledge-based economy. But Grand Rapids Community College is pursuing a new strategy to help more students be successful in college and, in the end, be better equipped to achieve that traditional cultural goal.

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Although slow, the economy nationally and locally is beginning to show signs of growth in employment. This growth is in job opportunities that require some level of post-secondary education.

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BATTLE CREEK — At age 19, David Gonzalez has already launched two successful businesses, one because he’s a fast talker and the other for people who can’t talk.

The native of Coldwater started David Joseph Auctions, which conducts benefit auctions for charitable groups when he was a high school junior. A year later, he started Pocket Picture Books to help people with disabilities communicate.

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Miller College has experienced tremendous growth the past two years. Student enrollment has increased 28 percent because of the quality of the accredited educational programs.

Yet executives in the region have indicated a need for college graduates who have outstanding interpersonal, presentation and writing skills.

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You don’t have to go to an employer to find a job. Sometimes, you can bring the employer to you.

Michigan Works!, the workforce development program with its Kalamazoo-St. Joseph program based just south of downtown Kalamazoo, isn’t just for people looking for a paycheck. It offers services for those with management and other high-end skills too.

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WEST MICHIGAN — Generosity helps, but budget cuts are making the job of educating Michigan’s future workforce more difficult for K-12 districts around the state.

As two communities celebrate philanthropic donations that will help prepare students for later success, the gifts come against the backdrop of continued cuts to education in the state.

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GRAND RAPIDS — Michigan State University’s partnership with Hope Network Rehabilitation Services for medical student rotations promises to be a win for both organizations.

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GRAND RAPIDS — Often people in poverty who most need to find employment can have some major roadblocks in their way, but one local program has garnered national attention as a potential way forward.