Bert's Alerts—Aug. 24, 2018
President's Message
Hello and welcome to Fall 2018 semester! It’s great to see campus buzzing with students, activity, and feel the energy of a new academic year. Thank you to our Student Affairs division for planning some cool and engaging welcome back activities! Students had a chance to play dodge ball, eat delicious barbecue, and watch “Avengers: Infinity War”.
I also want to give a shout out to all of you who responded to the call to help stock our food pantries located across four campus locations. The #mightyCWI community answered, and our Food For Thought pantries have received a number of donations this past week. Below is a list of locations where you can deliver your contributions of non-perishable food and hygiene items.
Donate food or clothing items to one of our building team members:
- NCAB (Nampa Campus Academic Building)—Mo Shamseldin, Student Life Center-Room 122
- NMEC (Micron Education Center)—DeLynn Bute, Room 2116
- CYNC(Canyon County Center)—Trevi Hardy, Basic Skills Education Lab-Room 106
- AMAL(Ada County Campus Mallard Building)—Liz Otterness or Fern Van Maren, Front Desk
- APIN (Ada County Campus Pintail Center)—Gloria Keulman, Suite 1102
Pantry Locations:
- NCAB—first-floor stairs cove
- CYNC—outside room 106, Basic Skills Education/ESL
- NCME—room 1210, across from Automotive Technology
- AMAL—front lobby
I hope most of you have received your “Welcome Back Toolkit". If not, please reach out to Communications and Marketing. In addition to some #mightyCWI gear, the toolkit contains helpful information related to the Community Education Campaign; an effort focused on educating the community on the need for a Health Science Building to help support additional training opportunities in the health and science career fields. The communication plan for this effort is launching, and you will begin to see and hear messages throughout the community. Visit CWIdifference.com for more information related to this campaign.
If you missed the Fall Address, watch the video on CWI’s YouTube channel!
News Highlights
Harvest Time at the Campus Garden!
Fresh cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and eggplants are just a few of the goodies ready to be picked in College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Campus Garden!
On Monday, Aug. 20, Andrea Schumacher, Department Chair of Physical and Agricultural Sciences, was busy collecting summer squash before the start of class. Schumacher received a Wishing Well Award, from the CWI Foundation, to launch a new garden on the east side of the Nampa Campus Academic Building (NCAB) parking lot. Last spring, she cleared an area with Dusty Perkins, Leslie Blackburn, Dan Schults, Debbie Lady, and other volunteers and installed dripline irrigation. She spent the summer watering and clearing weeds from the garden.
“I’m a person who likes to feed people, so it feels good to see students have access to fresh produce that they can eat with their family,” she said.
During harvest, students can volunteer on Monday’s from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. to help pick vegetables or pull weeds. Produce collected throughout the week is made available to students on a cart in the lobby of NCAB.
Schumacher was handing out vegetables on Monday at NCAB. “A lady came up to me crying and said ‘You don’t know how much this means to me, I’ve been having a hard time putting food on the table this month,’” she said.
Nursing Program Receives Reaccreditation
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Nursing program has received reaccreditation, for the next eight years, through the Accreditation Commission of Education in Nursing (ACEN)!
Faculty and staff have been working on the reaccreditation process for the past 14 months, completing multiple reports focusing on standards used to deliver instruction to students — ACEN members also made a site visit. The accreditation body reviewed funding and support the Nursing program receives from CWI’s administration. Accreditation is crucial to maintaining the program at the College.
“I feel really honored to work with the group of people I work with, they are highly professional, and they really do what is best for nursing as a profession, and our students,” said Allison Baker, Nursing Department Chair. “I love the community college atmosphere!”
CWI’s Nursing program is incredibly effective, the students get a tremendous amount of personal attention, and 97 percent of students pass the state board exam for nursing on their first attempt. The majority of students continue their education at a four-year institution to receive a bachelor’s degree, but are qualified to work as a registered nurse.
Board of Trustees Election
College of Western Idaho (CWI) welcomes all interested parties who would like to serve as a duly elected member of the five-person Board of Trustees.
Trustees must reside within their zone but are elected by the entire district to which is comprised of Ada and Canyon Counties. The trustee position is non-partisan, represents the entire CWI district and is a four-year term. The last day for filing declarations of candidacy is Sept. 4, for the election on Nov. 6. If you are interested in filing a candidacy, visit our website.
2018 Wishing Well Applications
The College of Western Idaho (CWI) Foundation began accepting Wishing Well applications Monday, Aug. 13! Thanks to the generosity of employees, supportive community partners, and approval from the CWI Foundation and Scholarship and Grants Committee, nearly $7,000 was awarded to four programs at the College through the Wishing Well Fund last year. The fund, established in 2015, was created to support small items and student learning opportunities not typically funded through department budgets.
Do not miss out on this exciting opportunity! Applications for this year’s Wishing Well funds will be accepted through Friday, Sept 28. Visit the Wishing Well Grants page on myCWI to learn more and to find the 2018 Wishing Well application. For questions, please contact Rena McKean at renamckean@cwi.edu or 208.562.3182.
