Marketing awards

The Higher Education Marketing Report has awarded Central Lakes College four advertising awards in its 27th annual competition. Central Lakes College's Marketing and Public Relations office earned two bronze and two merit awards. Bronzes were won for the Ripple Effect newsletter and the academic catalog. Merits were received for single magazine advertisement and direct mail with the "Dive In" campaign. The Educational Advertising Awards is the largest educational advertising awards competition in the country. This year, over 2,900 entries were received from more than one-thousand colleges, universities and secondary schools from all fifty states and several foreign countries. Most of the entries were from universities and four-year colleges.

Welding award

Tyler Gangl of Pierz, a welding student at Central Lakes College recently received $100 from the American Welding Society. He won the Gas Metal Arc category at Behind the Mask, a competition held at Anoka Technical College, sponsored by AWS. Gangl, 19, is one of 14 CLC welding students among the more than 100 students and professionals who competed in Gas Metal Arc and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding processes. Instructors and professionals competed in Shielded Metal Arc welding and Oxy Acetylene Cutting processes. With the use of welding equipment provided by Anoka Technical College, contestants were provided a blueprint, materials, and filler material to complete the given weld.  Each was given 25 minutes to interpret the blueprint, welding symbols, tolerances, and measure, assemble, tack, and weld the components to specifications. An AWS-certified weld inspector judged the results using criteria based on industry standard.

Expo held at Staples

The second annual Ag and Energy Expo was held Friday, Feb. 24 at the Staples campus of Central Lakes College. After greetings from Mike Palmer, vice president of the co-sponsoring Mid-Central Federal Saving Bank, and Bob Rick, farm business management instructor at CLC, featured presenter Mike Reese presented “Producing Nitrogen Fertilizer from Wind.” Reese, director of Renewable Energy at the University of Minnesota-Morris, discussed a $3.75 million carbon-free system built at Morris that uses wind power from a towering turbine to produce anhydrous ammonia, a common nitrogen-based fertilizer. “It’s a perfect supply-and-demand match, as the region has no shortage of wind and U.S. farmers use millions of tons of fertilizer,” said Reese.

Daffodil Days

Central Lakes College Business Management students are assisting the American Cancer Society with its 2012 edition of  Daffodil Days. As the first flower of spring, the daffodil represents hope and renewal for a rapid cure. Instructor Pat Swarthout said that last year CLC students raised $1,798, including sales of $768 to CLC employees and students and $1,030 in sales by a class of Professional Sales students to businesses. Pat can provide you with a price list for this year's campaign.  Orders can be made by responding through him or the students. Checks are payable to the American Cancer Society. Deliveries will be made Monday or Tuesday, March 5 or March 6.  Professional Sales students will also be selling products Monday, March 5, to Wed., March 7, by the Brainerd campus cafeteria.

NR club honored

The Natural Resources Club at Central Lakes College, Brainerd, has been named Volunteer of the Year at Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. The award was presented at a recent annual meeting of the Friends of Crane Meadows, a dinner event held at the Little Falls VFW. The CLC student club each year provides volunteers at two major events held at the Crane Meadows/Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge Complex. They are the backyard Bird Habitat Day in December and the Habitat Day in March, which will next be held March 10. This is the 12^th year for the day dedicated to ducks and bluebirds. The college club raises funds to contribute $250 to materials used at each event and is thus among the co-sponsors. NR instructor Dr. Bill Faber (shown right) serves on the board of the Friends of Crane Meadows NWR. He and colleague Gary Carson accepted the award for the club from Anne Sittauer and Paul Soler (shown left) of Crane Meadows.

Salli honored

Donna Salli, Central Lakes College English instructor-playwright, was honored by the Great Plains Theatre Conference, Omaha, which selected her work, “The Rock Farm,” for a staged “PlayLab” reading at the 2012 conference May 26-June 2. Donna's script was one of 30 chosen from over 640 submitted scripts and one of two selected from Minnesota. She will experience a week of workshops, networking with theater professionals from all over, and the reading with a panel critique. “The Rock Farm,” a play about heritage, love, family, and the magnetic attraction of home, was translated to Finnish and first performed in Finland, then in English and Finnish at CLC, and in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at Ironwood, near where the Finnish-American playwright was raised (Wakefield). The Omaha conference schedule states that each of the 30 playwrights’ scripts “will be rehearsed by local and national directors and actors and performed in staged readings. Playwrights will hear their play and receive feedback from master playwrights, theater scholars, directors and the public, in a guided response setting.” The daily PlayLabs are free and open to the public. Donna said she is grateful to everyone who has worked with the different versions of the script: Central Lakes College Theatre and Finnish Theatre Fiasko/Floppi, for starters. “Directors Tuire Hindikka, Erik Steen, and Patrick Spradlin taught me a lot by letting me hang on the fringes,” she said, “and the casts who brought the script to life helped me see how it worked and what it needed. They all were instrumental to the script's becoming what it is.”

World affairs programming

The Center for Lifelong Learning at Central Lakes College announces the addition of the Great Decisions as part of its international programming, allowing an opportunity to learn more about world affairs and their implications for U.S. foreign policy. The Great Decisions program has existed since the 1950s, instituted by the Foreign Policy Association in New York City and co-sponsored by the Minnesota International Association. Bob Passi, local program coordinator, said there are currently Great Decisions groups in every state, but Minnesota has the highest concentration of those groups. The Center for Lifelong Learning is forming a group for the Brainerd Lakes Area to meet on a regular schedule starting in April. Meetings of two hours in the afternoon  will be based on eight topics for the year with a meeting for each of those topics. Participants receive a book as part of their membership fee. At each session, a DVD will be shown with additional information followed by discussion. The number of participants will be limited. For information on participating in Great Decisions, contact Bob Passi at bobpassi@charter.net or (218) 825-0397. For information on The Center For Lifelong Learning at Central Lakes College, visit www.clcmn.edu/lifelonglearning or contact Bill Brekken at bbrekken@clcmn.edu or (218) 855-8146.

Community support

Nine local organizations reaffirmed support for the Central Lakes College Veterans Resource Center Feb. 11 when representatives met to plan assistance to veteran students struggling with housing, food, and transportation needs. In the past few months the school has seen a tremendous increase in financial hardships of their veterans, service members and dependents. Some of this is due to Veterans’ Administration payments being later than normal. Another impacting reason is people struggling to find jobs in an economy with such significantly high unemployment rates. The community meeting featured presentation of a $2,000 check from the Brainerd Elks in support of the organization’s Fare for All food program that functions in support of CLC veteran students. Jim Van Duyn of the Elks made the presentation to Kathy Marshik, coordinator of the Veterans Resource Center at CLC.

Educating for careers

Chances are you or someone you know has a better job today thanks to a skill-centered  education designed to sustain a technical career. Congratulations. Central Lakes College and other Minnesota colleges and universities with career and technical education programs are observing Career and Technical Education Month. Gov. Mark Dayton signed a proclamation citing statewide awareness of the important training under way at public-supported campuses. The list of career programs at the Brainerd and Staples campuses of CLC provides proof that the community and technical college stands out as a regional workforce partner. Examples: Brainerd campus – Accounting, Administrative Assistant, Automotive Technology, Business Management, Child Development, Computer Technology, Criminal Justice, Dental Assisting, Horticulture, Marine and Small Engine, Medical Secretary, Natural Resources, Nursing, Welding and Fabrication. Staples campus – Communication Art, Diesel, Heavy Equipment, Machine Tool, Medical Assisting, Nursing, Photographic Imaging, Robotics, Videography, Viticulture and Enology.

Wildlife Society

Seventeen Central Lakes College natural resources students played an integral part in the annual joint meeting of the Minnesota chapter of The Wildlife Society from Feb. 7-9. This meeting was held in conjunction with The Wildlife Society of North Dakota and was in Fargo. The meeting was entitled “Learning from Crisis: Opportunities of Ecological Renaissance.” CLC students staffed the registration and membership renewal desk at the event, which drew more than 200 members. Their work throughout the event, including a large opening-night auction that raised more than $10,000, drew several words of appreciation from organizers. Charlotte Roy, treasurer of the Minnesota chapter, said: “You student volunteers did an exemplary job.”

Grant to double international student enrollment

Central Lakes College will receive $604,737 to host 18 students from Central America and the Caribbean for two years through a Youth Scholarships program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The students, who will arrive in August, will come from countries participating in the Scholarships for Education and Economic Development (SEED) program administered by Georgetown University’s Center for Intercultural Education and Development. Those countries are Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Dr. Suresh Tiwari, vice president of academic and student affairs at the community and technical college in Brainerd and Staples, announced Friday that CLC is the only partner institution in Minnesota selected for the two-year grant and one of nine colleges nationwide awarded the federal grant. “It doubles our international student enrollment,” he said, noting that “it is a wonderful complement to the Community Colleges for International Development program that has been at CLC for three years.

'My Antonia'

The Illusion Theater of Minneapolis will present “My Antonia” at Central Lakes College in Brainerd on Friday, Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Chalberg Theatre. The production is presented by the Cultural Arts Series at CLC. Since 1974, Illusion Theater has been making light of the illusions, myths, and realities of our times and uses the power of theater to catalyze personal and social change. Their Ivey-Award-winning production of “My Antonia” brings Willa Cather’s novel to life in a new adaption by Allison Moore that is capturing hearts and minds throughout the Midwest. “My Antonia” was written about the European immigrants of the 1880s who came here to make their American dreams come true despite the bitter winters and hard-scrabble conditions on the prairie. This production is wrapped up in the environment of the changing prairie as created by actors, set, and sound. Ticket prices are $10, $20, or $25 depending upon location of seating. Tickets are for assigned seats. CLC Theatre may be reached at (218) 855-8199 or clctheatre@clcmn.edu  For full ticket details and seating charts, visit www.clctickets.com

Writing workshop

Jodi Schwen, editor of the Lake Country Journal Magazine, will lead a writer’s workshop, “Finding What’s Right to Write (for You!)” at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23 in Room E203 on the Brainerd campus of Central Lakes College. The workshop is sponsored by the Center for Lifelong Learning at CLC.The act of writing is hard work, said Schwen, who intends to help participants build on individual creativity and writing interests. She will discuss genres of writing (fiction, memoir, family history, etc.) and explore ways to bring your writing passions to life.

Earth Day

The Central Lakes College Environmental Studies class, in collaboration with the Green Team and Green Club at CLC, is planning the Community Earth Day Fair on the Brainerd campus Wed., April 25. It is expected to run from 9:30 or 10 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m. The event follows several years of similar activities to demonstrate awareness and discussion of environmental matters, including efforts to combat pollution, erosion and other detrimental elements. It is an opportunity for organizations to illustrate products and services related to conservation and quality of life via things such as recycling, rain gardens, bee keeping, composting, shoreland buffering, backyard birding, rain barrels, and general environmental education. Space and tables may be reserved by clubs, agencies, businesses, and all organizations with environmental focus of message. Gary Carson, instructor, is the contact at gcarson@clcmn.edu or (218) 855-8079.

'Dream Alive'

Joe Rogers, who served as the youngest lieutenant governor in the United States during his time in Colorado, presented “The Dream Alive,” as a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement today in the gymnasium of the Brainerd campus at Central Lakes College. The commentary took audience members back in time to the renowned 1963 March on Washington where King delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech -- to his final words delivered in 1968 in Memphis, Tenn.  The audience included about 250 high school students from Brainerd, Onamia, and Isle, along with many CLC students and staff. Rogers also met with the sponsoring CLC Diversity Leadership Council and members of the CLC student senate for a working lunch on "The Content of Your Character -- What it Takes to Be Young and Lead" and convened a session in the afternoon that was open to all CLC students. The topic: "Diversity -- the New Frontier in American Leadership."  Co-sponsors for the Black History Month activity were the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, Student Life, and the CLC Office of Diversity.
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58518185@N04/

State honor

Brainerd resident Julie Jo Larson, an honor student at Central Lakes College, has been recognized by state organizations with scholarships she said qualified students shouldn’t overlook for themselves. “It is my hope that I can inspire more students to take the time and fill out the scholarship applications,” she said. “There is money out there for students who are willing to try.” Larson was recently named to the 2011-12 All-Minnesota Academic Team.

Partners for jobs

Central Lakes College on Friday, Feb. 3 hosted a press conference featuring two state legislators with a jobs plan for Minnesota and an update on educational partnerships focused on job creation and employability. Reps. John Ward (shown) and Tim Mahoney described measures they hope will increase employment for thousands of Minnesotans, including the Brainerd area, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state (13.3%). "Getting Minnesota back to work is our top priority," said Rep. Ward, Brainerd. He and Rep. Mahoney outlined initiatives the DFL legislators believe will create more good jobs and improve workforce development and training. The CLC review of efforts that coincide with economic stability included updates on the College in Schools program, Post-Secondary Enrollment Option, and other partnerships with K-12. Speakers included President Larry Lundblad, Deans Kelly McCalla (Liberal Arts) and Rebecca Best (Workforce Development), Diversity Director Mary Sam, SBDC Director Greg Bergman, and Secondary Relations Director Betsy Picciano, as well as ISD 181 Supt. Steve Razidlo.

DECA event

Central Lakes College Business Management students Nathan Wickham, Kelsey Olson, Erica Wilson, and Melissa Contreras, all of Brainerd, and Drew Wikelius and Mary Richards, both of Deerwood, joined instructor Pat Swarthout to assist with judging high school District DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) competition at the Crossroads Mall, St. Cloud, Feb. 1. Over 200 students from 10 high schools competed in a variety of Marketing Education competitive events.  Top students earned the right to advance to state competition. The CLC students also helped coordinate three of the events:  Business Finance, Human Resource Management, and Food Marketing.

Donation from MDHA to NR Club

Gae Davis (left) of the Minnesota Deerhunters Association (and a CLC Criminal Justice instructor) presented Dr. Bill Faber and the CLC Natural Resources Club a check for $700 from the state group in appreciation for the assistance the students give each hunting season the past four years for the Hides for Habitat program. The NR students help prepare deer hides for shipment to processors that convert the hides into items such as mittens and gloves. MDHA works for the conservation and betterment of tomorrow's wildlife and hunters through education, habitat, and legislation. "We support youth hunting education at Deep Portage Conservation Reserve, Firearm Safety Classes, the youth hunt at Camp Ripley, we purchase habitat acreage for the public to use for bird and animal sightseeing and hunting, and we provide habitat improvement and sightseeing trails in 12 wildlife management areas," said Gae, who along with Casey Stengel of Brainerd, serves on the MDHA state board of directors. "We really appreciate the funds for the club," said NR student Malcolm Stroot of New York Mills, who accepted the check along with Dr. Faber on behalf of all club members.

South Africa

Shanice Hector (left) and Nqobile (Obi) Mahlangu of South Africa presented the Feb. 2 Cultural Thursday program at Central Lakes College in Chalberg Theatre on the Brainerd campus. Shanice, 19, is from Cape Town and Obi, 20, is from Johannesburg. The two articulate, intelligent women, who are students at CLC, gave a very informative and personalized illustrated talk that described traditions of a vibrant culture. Theirs is a nation built on the strength of family and friends that  validate that culture. South Africa has the largest economy in Africa, and the 28th-largest in the world. South Africa (officially the Republic of South Africa) is multi-ethnic and has diverse cultures and languages.

College self-improvement effort

The Central Lakes College community is focused on measurements that convey the degree of success the institution has achieved in preparing its students for endeavors of choice. In advance of an accreditation team visit and review of improvements that will be acknowledged by the Higher Learning Commission, the HLC Steering Committee at CLC is hosting forums -- brown-bag lunches -- on the Brainerd and Staples. Self-study is a process that shows strengths and challenges, and the current state of this self-study is open for input from students and staff through this series of forums. Administrators Rebecca Best (shown) and Charles Black Lance led the first forum, which examined the Engagement and Service criterion, which is one of five related to the self-study. The forums and administrative-assigned workshops for staff and faculty are also aimed at upgrading CLC's status in a performance dashboard of accountability established by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

Give Kids a Smile

The annual Give Kids a Smile event is in the CLC Community Dental Clinic on the Brainerd campus, where 128 youngsters over two days are offered free oral health check-ups, x-rays, and cleanings, courtesy of the Minnesota Dental Association and CLC students in Dental Assisting. Braydon Abbott, 2, of Deerwood had his first dental experience, with mother Trisha nearby. CLC students Stacie Olin (left) and Abby Mushel completed the cleaning of Braydon's 20 baby teeth before Dr. Hoghaug, the dentist, inspected their work and the young patient's tiny mouth.

Legislators here Friday

On Friday, Feb. 3, from 9 to 9:45 a.m., in the Fireside Lounge at the Brainerd campus, Central Lakes College will play host to a Legislative Press Event.  State Representatives Tim Mahoney (DFL-St. Paul, shown) and John Ward (DFL-Brainerd) will attend. The Minnesota House of Representatives has invited local and regional Press to attend the event.  The legislators and Press will be hearing from several CLC administrators as well as Lisa Paxton of the Brainerd Chamber, and Steve Razidlo, superintendent of the Brainerd School District. The speakers will be talking about the Small Business Development Center, Post-Secondary Enrollment Option, College in the Schools, and Bridges Academies and Workplace Connection.