'Noises Off'

“Noises Off,” described as “the funniest farce ever written,” closes the Central Lakes College summer theatre season July 6-10 and 13-17 in Chalberg Theatre on the Brainerd campus. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. “Noises Off” plays on the concept of a play-within-a-play, in this case a dreadful sex comedy titled “Nothing On.” The cast: Rebecca Souhrada, Brainerd, as Dotty Otley, the grande dame of the fictitious acting troupe performing “Nothing On.” Craig Hostetler, Brainerd, as Garry Lejeune, the tongue-tied leading man. Abbey Olmsted, Brainerd, as Belinda, the cast gossip and mother hen. Patrick Stenglein, Brainerd, as Frederick, an actor prone to panic attacks and nosebleeds. Marc Oliphant, Baxter, as Lloyd, the beleaguered director of the play. Emily Jensen Brainerd, as Brooke, a myopic act-by-the-numbers type. Katie Maine, Brainerd, as the harried company stage manager Poppy. Kenny Simon, Royalton, as Selsdon, the elder statesman of the troupe with an unquenchable thirst for booze. Dustin Beehler, Brainerd, as Tim, the company’s backstage technician and general gopher. Patrick Spradlin directs. Stephanie Johnson is the stage manager, assisted by Josh Mattson. Tickets: CLC Theatre Box Office at 218-855-8199, by email at www.clcmn.edu/theatre, or on the theatre’s new online ticketing site: http://www.clctickets.com/
Photo by Steve Kohls, Brainerd Dispatch

Young actors perform

Central Lakes College’s 40th summer theatre season continues July 1 and 2 when Adventure ’n Theatre presents “Rumpelstiltskin.” The play will be staged in Dryden Theatre on the Brainerd campus of CLC at 7:30 p.m. July 1 and 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. July 2 by actors in grades three through six. Dennis Lamberson is the writer/director. The production is the story of a troupe of traveling performers who arrive at the theatre to perform a production of “Rumpelstiltskin,” only to discover that the majority of the actors have taken a wrong turn and have not arrived at the theatre. To make matters worse the lost actors have all the props, costumes, and more importantly all their lunches. But the show must go on, so with the help from members of the audience the remaining actors present their production. This is an audience participation comedy for ages three and older. Members of the Adventure ’n Theatre acting company are Anthony Sloan, Andrew Smith, Madelynn Gibbons, Madeline Hinrich, Trysta Beck, Max Seymour, Megan Yeager, Austin Toal, Madison Yeager, Kristen Schreon and Mariah Hummer.

Golf event

Golfers are needed for the 12th annual Central Lakes College Heavy Equipment Golf Tournament July 20. Proceeds go directly to the CLC Heavy Equipment Training Program. The event is held at Oak Glen Country Club, Stillwater, and starts at 1 p.m. on July 20. Golf packages include range balls, field events, golf cart, 18 holes of golf, awards/prizes, a buffet dinner and program. Single golfer entry fee is $150. Foursome rate is $500. Any company wishing to buy a hole sponsorship may do so for $250. The Frattalone Companies sponsor this event each summer and have raised a significant amount of money for the Heavy Equipment program. Frank Frattalone (pictured) is a graduate of the program. If interested, contact Shelly Boss by July 9 at Frattalone Companies, Inc., ph. 651-484-0448 or email shellyb@frattalonecompanies.com

Big equipment show

The Staples-Motley Early Childhood Coalition's "Big Equipment Show" is scheduled from 4-7 p.m. June 24 in the Staples Elementary parking lot. All families are invited to attend. Vehicles will be on display from the Central Lakes College Heavy Equipment program, the Staples Fire Department, the Staples Police Department and Lakewood Health Systems. School Readiness classes are at the elementary school for children the year before they enter kindergarten. Children become familiar with the school environment and learn skills necessary for kindergarten. Due to state budget cuts, the School Readiness program is facing current and future budgetary shortfalls. The Staples-Motley Early Childhood Coalition is beginning the process to raise funds to help sustain this program long term. Freewill donations will be collected during the "Big Equipment Show" and donated to the School Readiness program. Hot dogs and root beer floats also may be purchased. The Staples-Motley Early Childhood Coalition is funded in part by a grant from the Initiative Foundation. For more information, contact Sara Dregney at (218) 894-1897.

Music Video Camp

As construction continued next door, Music Video Camp participants at the Staples campus of Central Lakes College created music videos June 14-18. Camp Director Leon Dahlvang has taught for 11 years in the Communication Art and Design program at CLC, where he once was a student. This fall he adds Videography Production to the resume' when that degree program begins in remodeled space that also links to the Photographic Imaging program. Construction is to be finished by Aug. 1, with facilities to include 20 wide-screen I-Mac computers, 10 digital video Hd cameras, two broadcast studio cameras, Ethernet connections for fast video download, and Final Cut Pro software. Shooting footage for their music video during Camp at Central Lakes College in Staples were Jesse White, Brainerd, and Elena Spradlin, McKenzie, Tenn.

Alexandria name change

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees has approved expanding the mission of Alexandria Technical College to a comprehensive technical and community college and changing the college’s name. The new name, which is Alexandria Technical and Community College, and new mission take effect immediately. The new mission will allow the college to offer the first two years of a liberal arts degree so students can transfer to a four-year institution. The college will continue to offer technical and career programs that lead directly to jobs. “Expanding the college’s mission fits well with the board’s strategic goal of providing more opportunities for Minnesotans to enter and complete post-secondary programs,” said David Olson, the board chair. The college is part of the MnSCU system that includes Central Lakes College, a community and technical college with campsues in Brainerd and Staples.

Mexican trip

A Central Lakes College delegation has delivered a package of donations to Mexico for Friends of the Orphans. Spanish instructor Jan Kurtz, students Abra Fisk of Fort Ripley and Heidi Purdy of Brainerd, and staffers Tyra Osvold of the Veterans Resource Center and Susan Bowman from Technology Support accompanied items that had been collected from students and churches in the final days of the spring semester. The five women took a large suitcase of children’s clothing, including 250 pair of underwear, as well as children’s books for Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (Our Little Brothers and Sisters), a network of orphanages in Latin America and the Caribbean. Immersed in the language for six hours of conversational learning each day, they added to the experience by staying with Mexican host families.“We went on an excursion that included the Basilica of Guadalupe and Teotihuacan, the city of gods and pyramid of the sun and moon,” said Kurtz.

Moose conference

Dr. William Faber, a natural resources instructor at Central Lakes College, Brainerd, is on the organizing committee of the 45th North American Moose Conference June 23-26 in International Falls, Minn., and Central Lakes College is one of 14 co-sponsors of the event. Faber is the chairman of a two-hour conference session June 24 entitled “Thermal Management and Moose Ecology.” Presenters will discuss research about moose in southern New England coping with high temperatures, as well as a climate and range study of female moose in southern Norway, heat stress in northern Scandinavia, and a high-density moose population in Alaska. The conference also will address climate change and forests in Minnesota, moose populations in Ontario, Wyoming, and Minnesota, moose parasites and research in Voyageurs and Isle Royale national parks. Over 100 participants from across the globe are expected to attend, Faber said. Several will come from Scandinavian nations. Faber spent 13 years in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe researching moose while earning his doctorate before joining the faculty at CLC. Information is available at www.nrri.umn.edu/moose2010

Indian education event

The Central Lakes College Veterans’ Resource Center in Brainerd on Tuesday, July 27, will host an afternoon for American Indian military veterans, spouses and their dependents. The event is for anyone interested in exploring higher education and educational benefits that are available through military education programs. Veterans and their families will meet in C226, which is the Veterans’ Resource Center at Central Lakes College, from noon to 4 p.m. A traditional blessing will open the event, followed by a feast, a tour of the campus, and a presentation about the programs and services available to veterans, spouses and dependents. Staff from the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Higher Education Program and Veterans Upward Bound will be available to provide one-to-one guidance to explore education benefits. Staff from Central Lakes College will be available to provide additional assistance. For information, contact Deb Dewey, Veterans’ Resource Center civic engagement coordinator, at 218-855-8279 or email at ddewey@clcmn.edu

Dufner in national golf

Sophomore Drew Dufner of Princeton, a Central Lakes College men's golf team member in 2008 and 2009, finished in 29th place in the Division III National Junior College Athletic Association championship at the Chautauqua Golf Club, Chautauqua, N. Y. Halfway through the 72-hole event, his 36-hole score of 153 put him in a 13th-place tie in the individual medalist competition. Drew opened with a 76 and followed with a 77. But he slipped after that, shooting 84 and 80 for a 317 total (29 over par). Drew had qualifed for the national meet after claiming medalist honors in the rain-shortened regional tournament last fall, where he carded a single-round score of 71. CLC freshman Michael Eck of Pequot Lakes had also qualified for the nationals by shooting a 77 in the regional, but he did not go to New York. The top 18 national finishers received medals as All-Americans.

Hispanic services

Central Lakes College staff, faculty, and administrators met with Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School District staff and administrators June 8 in Long Prairie to collaborate and plan to increase the effectiveness of services provided to LP-GE middle and high school students. The focus of the meeting was to discuss and improve support services offered to Hispanic students and families in the Long Prairie area. “CLC has been meeting with officials from the LP-GE School District consistently on this issue for the past year,” said Nick Heisserer, assistant director of the college’s Upward Bound program. In attendance along with Heisserer from CLC were Mary Sam, director of diversity; Charlotte Daniels, director of admissions; John Richardson, admissions representative; Lori-Beth Larsen, ESL instructor; Paula Huss, disabilities coordinator; and Barb Cline, customized training representative.

Upward Bound service

Upward Bound students from several are ahigh schools have been particiapting in community service activities as part of their summer experience at Central Lakes College. Recently the group worked in teams at several sites around Brainerd, helping with various tasks. They cleaned windows on the CLC campus during one afternoon. Other places where they volunteered their services: Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Senior Center, Northland Arboretum, and Common Goods charity thrift store. High school students from several area communities learn about ways they can improve not only their own lives but those of others as part of the maturing process that may include college. The mission of the CLC Upward Bound program is to encourage high school graduation with a goal of college enrollment.

Franken visits

Franni Franken, wife of U.S. Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, stopped by the Brainerd campus of Central Lakes College on Friday, June 4. President Larry Lundblad welcomed Mrs. Franken and her aide, Debra Wallace, for a brief tour of facilities that included nursing labs, the community dental clinic, and the Veterans Resource Center. Others involved in the visit were Vice President Suresh Tiwari, Director of Diversity Mary Sam, and Brainerd Schools Superintendent Steve Razidlo. “Al is obviously a non-traditional politician, but his entire career arch has been devoted to policy,” Franken said of her senator husband. “Al’s life has been immersed in being part of the public policy debate and that’s gone on for more than 25 years.” Sen. Franken has said that the three things that lead to economic prosperity have always been infrastructure, education, and research and development, and those are "three things that we have been disinvesting in. We have to make sure we’re using our money properly and using our resources properly.”

Internships

Four international students who have attended Central Lakes College in a one-year, professional development program have completed internships matching their career goals. Brazilians Stefanno Lira, Andrea Schlittler, and Raoni Marinho and the South African Nondumiso Ndumo (pictured)are the first foreign students selected by Community Colleges for International Development, Inc., to attend CLC. They finished their year with unpaid internships and job shadowing provided by Crow Wing County, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Winkelman’s Environmentally Responsible Construction. On-the-job experience from the supervised, 60-hour internships is one of many requirements for participating in their expense-paid educational experience. Only underserved, non-elite young adults are eligible. They were fulltime CLC students who also completed leadership, volunteerism, and American democracy components to satisfy requirements.

Tribal college celebration

Central Lakes College and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Anishinaabe recently commemorated the first academic year as partners in higher education at the Mille Lacs Band Tribal College. About 20 Band members were students during the fall and spring semesters through courses taught at the tribal college by CLC instructors. More classes will be taught there next year as new higher education options continue to be developed. CLC has offered classes in mathematics, college readiness, reading, composition, career planning, interpersonal communication, Ojibwe language, and federal Indian policy. The celebration ceremony included a presentation of gifts by Band elders Dorothy Sam and Joe Nayquonabe, assisted by Josh Maudrie, the Band’s director of higher education, and CLC representatives Jeff Wig, Charles Black Lance, Suzanne Karsnia, Kathryn Black Lance, Kathryn Klopfleisch, and Kathryn Schulte.

MOU

Starting with the 2010-11 school year Central Lakes College nursing students will assist Brainerd School District nurses with student health screenings and other efforts promoting quality of life as part of a Memorandum of Understanding. The MOU, signed June 2 by CLC President Larry Lundblad and ISD 181 Superintendent Steve Razidlo, authorizes both practical and registered nursing students at CLC to assist with screenings administered for hundreds of youngsters by two public health nurses serving the district. The agreement also provides mutually beneficial opportunities for service learning that has become a cornerstone of the educational mission at CLC. “It is now a requirement for all Central Lakes College nursing students,” said Connie Frisch, CLC director of nursing. Officials anticipate many doors to be opened by this MOU. Look for similar engagement among students in other programs at the college. The MOU drives a rewarding initiative that doesn’t cost money and contributes to community betterment. “Now we have integrated planning through administration and faculty to make a huge difference in these challenging times," said Rebecca Best, a dean in charge of service learning at CLC.

Shoreline restoration

Horticulture Students in the Environmental Landscaping class at Central Lakes College recently installed a shoreline restoration project on Rice Lake in Brainerd. Luana and Jim Koski applied for and received LCCMR Lakescaping funds from the Minnesota DNR to complete their shoreline restoration project. The students worked on the project in their semester-long class from design to installation. The Koskis needed to slow down both erosion and nutrient loading from their property into the lake. Next year’s Horticulture class at CLC will follow up on the project and check on the progress of the Koskis’ new lakescape. Heather Baird, state DNR shoreline habitat specialist, and Darren Mayers, a summer intern and a CLC graduate, were integral in helping to coordinate the project.

Summer theatre

Central Lakes College’s Summer Theatre will celebrate its 40th year with a salute to show biz in shows to be staged on the Brainerd campus. The 2010 season includes Mel Brooks’ zany musical "The Producers," Michael Frayn’s madcap farce "Noises Off," and "The Adventures 'n Theatre’s Magic Theatre Trunk." All three shows deal with the backstage antics of show business and will be produced by a company of 54 actors and technicians. The season runs June 15 through July 17. "The Producers" (Dryden Theatre) and "Noises Off" (Chalberg Theatre) tickets are $10 for general admissions and $8 for students. There are discounts for groups of 10 or more patrons. There is no admission charge for CLC students. Tickets are $5 for Adventures 'n Theatre performances. The box office: (218)855-8199. Tickets can now be purchased on line at www.clctickets.com

June 15 there will be an opening reception to celebrate 40 years of Summer Theatre at the college.