Bert's Alerts—Oct. 20, 2017
In the Spotlight
Employees from Hummel Architecture were on campus Thursday, Oct. 19, experiencing a day in the life of a College of Western Idaho (CWI) Law Enforcement student. The hands-on training, an auction item at the CWI Foundation’s 2016 Opening Doors Benefit Event, included a program overview, introduction to defensive tactics and arrest techniques, scenario-based exercises, and instruction at the firearms range.
News Highlights
Speech & Debate Results for October Tournament
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) speech and debate team started the 2017-18 competitive season with a strong victory at the Steve Hunt Classic, hosted at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, Oct. 13-15. The tournament featured 42 schools from 11 states, for a total of more than 600 entries. In addition to winning the community college division, CWI received second place in speech events among all two- and four-year schools. This marks the first time CWI has achieved such a high honor at the Steve Hunt Classic.
Fifteen CWI students competed at the tournament in both speech and debate events, bringing home awards in both categories on the way to winning the community college division.
The Steve Hunt Classic marks the first of three Northwest Forensics Conference (NFC) designated tournaments in which the team will be competing to earn points toward the division championship decided in January. The team is now preparing for The Mahaffey Memorial, the second tournament in the NFC designates, held at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, Nov. 10-12.
STEVE HUNT CLASSIC RESULTS
Individual Events:
Dramatic Interpretation
1st Place Novice, 6th Place Open DI - Adrianna Davis
Extemporaneous Speaking
5th Place Novice - Marley Dawson
Informative Speaking
1st Place Novice - Emily Lawrence
2nd Place Novice - Izzy Stoddard
Impromptu Speaking
6th Place Novice - Garrett Ellison
Prose
1st Place Novice - Sarah Darby
2nd Place Novice - Tim Cornell
3rd Place Novice - Marley Dawson
Debate Events:
IPDA Finalists
Novice Octofinalist - Izzy Stoddard
Novice Octofinalist - Marley Dawson
IPDA Speakers Awards
4th Place Novice - Izzy Stoddard
10th Place Novice - Marley Dawson
Overall Team Sweepstakes
Community Colleges - 1st Place
Speech Events - 2nd place among all colleges
Southwestern Idaho Bridges to Baccalaureate Program Accepting Applications
The Southwestern Idaho Bridges to Baccalaureate program, what we call the SWID B2B program or simply B2B, is now accepting applications for summer of 2018 and 2019 Bridges Fellows!
If you plan to graduate from College of Western Idaho (CWI) in May of 2018 or 2019 then now is the time for you to apply. These are paid positions! Preference will be given to those students having completed Principles of Chemistry I (CHEM 111), Introduction to Cell Biology (MMBS 260), Genetics (MMBS 280), and/or Ethics in Science (SCIE 102). Demographic requirements also apply. More information can be found on the B2B website: https://stem.boisestate.edu/b2bprogram/
The B2B program is a National Institutes of Health sponsored effort to fuel the biomedical research pipeline beginning with 2 and 4-year colleges and universities. The B2B program does this by specifically recruiting underrepresented students from community colleges and encourages their transfer to a partnering four-year school by way of authentic research experiences in biomedical research laboratories. Participating students enter the program while at College of Western Idaho, are mentored, and are placed in paid positions in research labs during their “bridge” summer and during their first academic year at Boise State. They will engage in a variety of professional development opportunities such as social networking and responsible conduct of research training. Students will meet regularly with faculty advisors and laboratory team members and attend one or more conferences at the end of the program to present their specific contribution to the team’s research. The B2B program is an excellent opportunity for students that might not typically follow a biomedical research career path to experience what it would be like to be a researcher and advance knowledge in a rapidly changing, exciting, and highly technical field. For more information on the application process or to see if you qualify, please write to Dr. Steve Lysne: stevelysne@cwi.edu
B2B QUICK FACTS -
- B2B is a 5 year, $1.5M grant to BSU & CWI from NIH
- Bridges Fellows will be compensated 40 hours/week for ten weeks during their first (and possibly second) summer AND 10 hours/week during their junior year at BSU.
- B2B is designed to increase participation by underrepresented students in Biomedical Research Career Paths
- Underrepresented students for the purposes of this NIH award are defined as
- Individuals from racial and ethnic groups shown to be underrepresented by the National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Blacks or African Americans
- Hispanic or Latinos
- American Indians
- Alaska Natives
- Native Hawaiian
- other Pacific Islanders
- Individuals with disabilities
- Veterans
- Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds
- low-income (defined as Pell-eligible)
- born and raised in rural Idaho (defined by zip code)
- first-generation to attend college (self-disclosed)
- Individuals from racial and ethnic groups shown to be underrepresented by the National Science Foundation (NSF)
- B2B expects to help students transition to a biomedical research career path via
- Advising and Mentoring
- Academic Preparation
- Authentic Research Experiences
- Opportunities for Networking
- Financial Support
Award-Winning Poet to Read at CWI
Idaho Prize for Poetry winner, Melissa Kwasny, will read from her new book, Where Outside the Body Is the Soul, on Tuesday, Oct. 24, on the second-floor atrium at the Nampa Campus Academic Building (NCAB). In her latest book, Kwasny explores ancient ideas of the soul through prose and free verse poetry, focusing on shamanic and ecological ideas of the soul in the natural world. Where Outside the Body Is the Soul is part of the Pacific Northwest Poetry Series published by the University of Washington Press.
Kwasny is teaching a poetry craft workshop on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 4 p.m. in NCAB 309. Both the reading and the workshop are free and open to the public.
Idaho Prize for Poetry judge, Christopher Howell, describes Kwasny’s work as fitting into “the great tradition of meditative poetry”. She focuses on nature imagery in the West including petroglyphs, plants, animals, and her home state of Montana.
Kwasny is the author of many poetry books, as well as a collection of essays. She explores the prose poetry form in much of her work and her book, Reading Novalis in Montana, was named one of the Top Ten Books of 2009 by Huffington Post. Additional poetry collections by Kwasny include Thistle, Pictograph, and The Nine Senses.
Teri Harbacheck Wins Faculty Award
Teri Harbacheck, Assistant Professor in College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Administrative Specialist Program, recently received the 2017 Outstanding Educator Award from the Idaho Business Education Association. This award recognizes outstanding professionalism and is given for contribution to business education through classroom involvement, curriculum development, student organization contribution, administrative responsibilities, and/or publications by a business teacher at the postsecondary level, technical, or community college (less than 4 year institution).
National Medical Assistants Week
College of Western Idaho students performed blood draws during National Medical Assistants Week, Oct. 16-20, recognizing the importance of this service to patients. Medical Assistants are an important component in medical offices taking patient’s vital signs, medical history, and symptoms before the doctor arrives. In addition, Medical Assistants greet patients as they arrive, answer phone calls, and schedule appointments.
