Bert's Alerts - May 13, 2016
In the Spotlight
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Recently, a College of Western Idaho (CWI) employee had the chance to showcase his commitment to helping Treasure Valley residents bridge the gap to higher education. Tomas Puga, coordinator of Advising and New Student Services, was scheduled to host a group of parents from Parma for a campus tour and information session. Unfortunately, they were unable to get time off work and had to cancel the visit. Puga responded by traveling to Parma to meet with the parents in the agriculture fields they work and answer questions about CWI. One parent captured the visit in the above photo. Thank you Tomas for going above and beyond to help promote all CWI has to offer the community.
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News Highlights
CWI Students Rack up Awards at National Event
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Business Professionals of America (BPA) chapter has added to its illustrious history with an outstanding showing this month (May 5-9) at the 2016 BPA National Leadership Conference. CWI’s success at this year’s event, held in Boston, Massachusetts, was highlighted by one gold medal, three runner-up finishes, and a third-place award. Since joining the organization in 2010 CWI students have thrived at the annual event, placing in the top-three 31 times.
CWI’s success this year was headlined by a first-place finish from Evan Lewis in College Payroll Accounting. Lewis graduated from the CWI Applied Accounting program this spring. His win marks the 12th gold medal earned by a CWI student at a national BPA conference.
Joining Lewis on the podium were students from CWI’s Business and Information Technology programs. Kristin Burbidge, Laura Bagley, and Pam Roemer joined forces to place second in Administrative Support Team. Meanwhile, Travis Clemmens earned silver in IT Concepts and Kaj Forney took second in Computer Security. Forney capped the honors for CWI with a third place finish in Management, Marketing, and Human Resources.
Dual Credit Students Try to Advance in Geothermal Contest
Five College of Western Idaho (CWI) Dual Credit students are competing for $2,500 and a trip to California through a nation-wide contest aimed at promoting geothermal energy. The competition is hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office, in partnership with the Center for Advanced Energy Studies and the Idaho National Laboratory, to promote the future of clean energy. Students from Thomas Jefferson Charter School in Caldwell entered the competition as part of a CWI Dual Credit class project. Fifteen high school entries from Idaho, including two from Thomas Jefferson Charter, were selected to advance to the second round of the contest.
Emma Brickey, Rebecca Lamb, Dorla Rueda, Breanna Thompson, and Emma Siple make up the two Thomas Jefferson teams selected to advance in the contest. The project was part of Jamie Brunmeier’s biology 120 class, through which all five students are earning college credits from CWI. Thompson and Siple collaborated on one submission, while Brickey, Lamb, and Rueda partnered on another. Their entries required research on geothermal energy and creation of an infographic on the topic.
After being selected to advance to the regional round of the competition, both teams have been revising their work based on judges’ feedback. Updated infographics must be re-submitted by May 15 for consideration in the final, national round of the competition. The final phase of the competition will consist of developing and executing a social media campaign to promote the submitted infographic.
The winning teams selected from round three in both the high school and college categories will receive $2,500. The overall grand prize winner will receive $2,500 and a trip to the Geothermal Resource Council’s 40th Annual Meeting in Sacramento, California, Oct. 23-26. For more information on the competition, visit www.caesenergy.org/geothermaldesign/.
2016 CWI Commencement a Success
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) 2016 Commencement ceremony is in the books and thanks to the support of countless CWI employees the celebration was a perfect closing to a phenomenal year. Ceremony manager, Crystal Van Komen, estimates close to 600 graduate candidates and GED completers attended the ceremony held at Taco Bell Arena in Boise. This is an increase of 200 students compared to the previous year. In addition, record number of family, friends, and supporters were in attendance to cheer on their favorite graduate; the arena reported 5,182 attendees.
The engagement and energy was also at an all-time high. Much of the excitement was shared through the #cwigraduation hashtag, which can be viewed at cwi.edu/graduation. A video recording of the ceremony can be found on the graduation webpage as well.
Long-Time Paramedic Pays it Forward
A retired paramedic is stepping forward with a gift to the College of Western Idaho (CWI) Foundation. Local business owner Joe Levitch has established a scholarship for students going through CWI’s Paramedic program. Levitch, who worked to save lives for nearly 40 years, says the scholarship is his way of paying it forward.
“This scholarship was a gift to me from my coworkers and (St. Luke’s Health Systems) on my retirement,” Levitch said. “I loved the profession. It shaped me and this is my legacy.”
Levitch started working in emergency medical services right out of high school. He became a paramedic in 1979 after completing his studies at Stanford University Medical Center. He moved to the Treasure Valley a short time later and continued his passion. Along with being a founding member of Saint Alphonsus Life Flight, he also worked for Ada County Paramedics and Air St. Luke’s.
“I like the concept of carrying things on,” he said. “Years ago, I paid for a friend’s paramedic education and he paid me back. I then used that money to pay for another paramedic education and they repaid me again—all the while the account was growing. I have helped very deserving people by loaning money to pay for people to go to school for years. They paid it back and the pot has grown. Now, it fills me up to give money to offset the cost of becoming paramedics.”
The Air St. Luke's/Joe Levitch Pay it Forward Paramedic Scholarship is available to full-time students enrolled in the Paramedic program, offered through CWI’s Workforce Development division. Applicants must be prepared to write an essay.
“For me, this is much more than a money thing,” Levitch said. “I want to be tied to your success and career. It means a lot to me that I am encouraging future generations to be great paramedics.”
The application period for this scholarship is currently open. The deadline to apply is May 31.
CWI Veterans Association Supports Eagle Field of Honor
The College of Western Idaho (CWI) Veterans Association is fostering an important partnership with the Eagle Field of Honor this month by volunteering to support the organization’s annual patriotic flag display. The Eagle Field of Honor is a breathtaking tribute that features 600 U.S. flags.
The student-led Veterans Association has partnered with the Eagle Field of Honor for the past three years to host a similar display at the College’s Nampa Campus Academic Building. CWI’s Patriot Range is open to the public during the week leading up to Veterans Day.
In support of the display in Eagle, five CWI students volunteered on Wednesday (May 11) to help assemble flags at Lithia Ford of Boise. The group helped assemble 400 flags for the display. CWI students will continue supporting the effort next week by volunteering to relocate the flags, set-up the field, support the opening ceremony, and take down the field.
The 10th annual Eagle Field of Honor will stand from May 21-31 at Merrill Park in Eagle. The flag display is set in perfect rows and includes yellow ribbons with the name, rank, branch of service, and war/campaign of veterans and currently serving military personnel. For more information on the tribute, visit www.eaglefieldofhonor.org.
Earning Credit Where Credit is Due
Students at Caldwell High School recently earned credit where credit is due. Thanks to a community effort between College of Western Idaho (CWI), the Whittenberger Foundation in Caldwell, and Boise State University, more than 50 students got a jump start on their college education. They collectively earned 728 credits through the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP).
CWI’s CLEP Initiative
Over the past few years, CWI’s Dual Credit team has been actively working to help Spanish-speaking high school students earn college credit through native language skills testing. Students who successfully pass CLEP testing can earn between eight and 16 credits. The tests are conducted at Boise State’s Testing Services. The credits earned are kept in a national database for up to 20 years, and can be transferred to a student’s institution of choice when they are ready.
“The test isn’t the most important part of this; getting them here on campus is,” Steve Jenkins, CWI’s Dual Credit and College Readiness Project coordinator, said. “Exposing them to college is key.”
Students Who Benefit
Some of the students who recently tested say they have already chosen where they want to go to school. CWI, Boise State, and University of Idaho are among their top choices. Then there are a number of students like Max San Pedro who have yet to decide. Out of 80 possible points, he scored a 78—the second highest score to date.
“I know I want to work in the oil industry as an engineer,” San Pedro said. “But I don’t know where I want to go to school yet. I’m only a junior. I’m taking chemistry as a dual credit course. I just have to figure it out.”
That’s where people like Claudia Beltran can help. The Spanish teacher at Caldwell High School worked to expand this CLEP initiative to include all high school students who could benefit—not just juniors and seniors.
“One of the students testing here today isn’t even a native language speaker,” Beltran said. “Our goal is to give all students an incentive to go on.”
Partners Make it Happen
The Whittenberger Foundation played a large role in this day’s testing effort. The actual test and transportation cost per student is roughly $150. The Foundation awarded the CWI Foundation with a $5,000 grant to help cover the majority of the expenses.
“The Whittenberger Foundation chose CWI for this grant because of its focus on the youth of Southwest Idaho,” Scott Gipson, the Whittenberger Foundation’s board president, said.
In addition to the grant, Boise State provided students with lunch and allowed them to tour the campus. CWI also picked up some of the cost, and coordinated the testing.
“We could not do this without our valuable community partnerships,” Stephen Crumrine, CWI’s Director of Dual Credit, said. “This is a brand new initiative. We (CWI) are the only ones who are doing this, and we have the connections to make it happen.”
“Being a newer institution, it gives us the flexibility to offer these types of services,” Jenkins said. “Some of these students weren’t even thinking about going to college. Now they are. This is a catalyst to get them there.”
To date, the Dual Credit team has helped Treasure Valley high school students earn 2,213 college credits through CLEP testing.
Administrative Specialist Faculty Wins May Honor
Teri Harbacheck has been selected as College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) May Faculty of Distinction.
Harbacheck is a faculty member in the CWI Administrative Specialist Program. She came to the College from Boise State University’s Selland College of Applied Technology. She currently teaches business English, business writing, business editing, and an entry-level Microsoft Word class for the four majors in the business department. This is her eighteenth year of teaching.
She was nominated by a coworker for her incredible breadth of knowledge in her field, willingness to provide advice and mentoring to other instructors, classroom savvy, and giggle.
Harbacheck has been married to her husband Joe for 35 years and has two children. Kyle is 30 and is completing culinary school in the Basque County, Spain. Katie is 29 and works for an orthopedic surgeon in downtown Boise as his athletic trainer. Harbacheck enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, reading, scrapbooking, playing the piano, and is an active member of her parish.
Please join in congratulating Teri for this well-deserved honor.
HR Updates
Employment Opportunities
There are no new job postings at CWI this week. Employees can access internal job postings by visiting cwinternal.silkroad.com/ or view all external listings on cwijobs.silkroad.com. Jobs are posted as they open throughout the week. Upon application submittal, you will receive a confirmation email. If you do not receive an email, check your "Junk/Spam" folder, then email HR@cwi.edu to verify receipt of your application.
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