State conservation honor

Bethany Walters, a Central Lakes College Natural Resources honor student from Crosslake, has been named Minnesota’s Student Conservationist of the Year. The Minnesota Chapter of the Wildlife Society presented the award at its annual meeting held jointly with the American Fisheries Society, Society of American Foresters, and Society for Conservation Biology March 1-3 at Grand View Lodge, Nisswa. Walters is a sophomore at CLC and co-president of the Natural Resources Club. Nominated by Dr. William Faber of the college faculty, she has been a leader directing several projects overseen by the Natural Resources program. Among them: Placement and monitoring of 22 Brainerd campus bluebird houses, doing likewise with a registered purple martin house, chimney swift nest, and osprey nesting platform at CLC. Walters has supervised campus aviary activities year-round during two years as a CLC student. Faber said the award-winning student can be credited for making Central Lakes College a bird-friendly campus.

In the community

Central Lakes College students continue to have a presence in the community. Recently, they were among the 75 candidates (including staff) for American Red Cross Blood Drive donations on the Brainerd campus. In observance of March-National Reading Month, at Sacred Heart Elementary School in Staples members of the Staples Campus Student Senate read aloud from Dr. Seuss books to pupils in grades K-6. Even Cat in the Hat made an appearance. At a March 1-3 conference of the Minnesota Chapters of the American Fisheries Society, Society for Conservation Biology, Society of American Foresters, and The Wildlife Society at Grand View Lodge for about 400 professionals, CLC Natural Resources students helped with registration, running audio-visual equipment, and handling various requests for services. ASL students are helping coordinate the March 26 Melissa Wooden Memorial Scholarship Fundraiser, a spaghetti dinner and silent auction March 26 from 4-7 p.m. at the Brainerd Eagle sClub. Proceeds go to the fund in memory of the late Melissa Wooden, who was a part-time ASL instructor. The CLC Foundation supervises the endowment and scholarship distribution.

CLC leads enrollment increase

Students enrolled in record numbers this spring at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, resulting in an increase of 14,338 students, or nearly an 8 percent gain, over a year ago. The MnSCU system has 197,576 students taking credit courses, compared to last spring's enrollment of 183,238. The latest growth spurt was on top of a record increase last fall when an additional 12,641 students enrolled compared to the year before. Enrollment increases were particularly strong at the two-year colleges. Fourteen colleges had increases of 10 percent or more. Central Lakes College's headcount increase is the highest in the state at 21.1 percent. Overall, enrollment at the system’s 25 two-year colleges increased this spring by 10.2 percent; the number of students at the seven state universities went up 3 percent. CLC went from 3,812 to 4,616 as of the 30th day of the spring term. Full-year equiavalent went from 3,020 in FY2009 to 3,350 in FY2010, a 10.9 percent gain.

Community service

For the second straight year Central Lakes College has been placed on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement. CLC is one of 13 Minnesota colleges and universities and 621 in the nation recognized in the Honor Roll. Others in the state recognized for efforts in 2009 are Carleton, Hamline, Gustavus Adolphus, University of Minnesota - Crookston, St. Olaf, St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Metropolitan State, Winona State, Normandale, Century, and Inver Hills. Honorees for the award were chosen based on a series of selection factors, including scope and innovation of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses. CLC service-learning initiatives involve college students volunteering beyond the classroom to help the community through projects that are meaningful, relevant, and exemplary.

Conference presenters

Nancy Paulson (right) and Betsy Picciano from Central Lakes College were presenters for a break-out session titled "Mentoring That Matters" at the MNSCU Center for Teaching & Learning Conference Feb. 26 and 27 at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. They talked about CLC's faculty mentoring program. Others attending were Kari Frisch, Kathryn Black Lance, Martha Kuehn, Dave Bissonette, David Stumpf, Leane Perius, Ryan Deblock, Ann Domagala, Michael Amick, Pamela Nelson, and Connie Moroni. CLC's Center for Teaching & Learning provided 8 conference scholarships to defray costs in light of dwindling budgets. Conference break-out topics included innovations in teaching tools and techniques, mentoring and advising, recognizing and measuring best practices, quality and assessment, student persistence and graduation. Linda Baer, senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs, was the keynote speaker Friday. Paul Wasko, deputy director for ISeek Solutions, was the keynote speaker Saturday.

Post-season honors

Three Central Lakes College men's basketball student athletes were named to the 2010 All-Northern Division Team. All three are freshmen. Nick Grewe, a 6-4 guard-forward from Berth-Hewitt, Nash Faulk, a 6-2 guard from Howard Lake, and Marcus Ayala, a 5-11 guard from Phoenix, Ariz., earned the honors, joining 12 other players from Hibbing, Itasca, Mesabi Range, Northland, Rainy River, and Vermilion. Faulk averaged 14 points per game and converted 41 percent of his three-point attempts and 78 percent from the free throw line during the regular season, when CLC built a 12-2 record to tie Northland for the Division title. He led the team with 16 points in the final game of the season, an overtime loss to fifth-ranked Minneapolis in the MCAC tournament. Grewe shot 54 percent from the field in the 27 games ahead of the MCAC meet. Ayala averaged 13 points, 3 steals, and 3.4 steals per game.

Health Fair volunteers

Central Lakes College students in nursing, dental assisting, child development, and medical secretary volunteered to provide information and coordinate activities at the Brainerd Lakes Health Community Health Fair Sat., Feb. 27 at the Westgate Mall in Brainerd. The event featured free and low-cost health screenings, speakers, educational booths and fun, healthful activities. The Nursing Club helped with numerous health screenings and educational demonstrations such as "Germ City," where guests were shown how bacteria are able to survive despite our best efforts at washing hands. A booth resembling an ice fish house featured a black light illumination of hands before and after washing as evidence to support thorough washes. Students Cara Herold (left) of Pierz and Kelly Budnick of Little Falls shared their knowledge with Symphany Hunter, 5, of Baxter.