CWI News – Oct. 14, 2022
Spotlight
CWI Creative Writing student and Anthropology Club President, Maddox Lightning, led a presentation on campus for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Monday, Oct. 10. Lightning, who identifies as Indigenous, shared with the audience more about her culture and her own story learning about her Indigenous heritage.
"After the event, I was absolutely elated. I felt the community united, minds gathered as one," Lightning said. "I shared hugs with audience members, received sincere thanks from members of diverse communities, and spoke with Shoshone Bannock and Paiute elders who attended. I was so happy to bring people together in such a good way. I think hearts were moved."
News Highlights
Opening Doors Event Raises More Than $218K
After two years of completely virtual events, College of Western Idaho (CWI) Foundation’s Opening Doors Benefit Event was back in-person and saw very generous support from the entire CWI community! The ninth-annual Opening Doors Benefit Event and online auction, Sept. 28 – Oct. 9, raised more than $218,000* for student scholarships.
The event, hosted Oct. 5 at the Galaxy Event Center in Meridian, featured former CWI Foundation Board President, Ivan Castillo, as emcee. Guests heard remarks from current CWI Foundation Board President, Mike Peña, and CWI President, Gordon Jones, as well as special video messages from CWI Board of Trustee Chair, Molly Lenty, and Idaho Governor Brad Little.
Joining the event were a number of current students and scholarship recipients representing a wide range of major areas as well as Law Enforcement Program Spring 2019 graduate, Seferino Tapia. Tapia was a highlight of the night as he was recently recognized and awarded the Idaho Medal of Honor for his heroic acts during a hostage situation as part of the Caldwell Police Department.
“Seferino certainly had character and a willingness to serve and sacrifice for the community before he came to our program,” said Law Enforcement Program Director, LeRoy Forsman. “CWI provided the training, education, and practical skills that gave him an opportunity to go to work and impact his community immediately. We are proud of his accomplishments.”
Guests at the in-person event enjoyed dinner, drinks, and dessert as well as the chance to participate in a silent, and live auction, the latter of which was conducted by auctioneer, Kevin Seward.
This year’s auction saw one-of-a-kind metal art created by CWI students, wall art created by a CWI graduate, experience packages donated by community members, tickets to sporting events around the region, and more.
To close out this year’s in-person event, Castillo invited guests to participate in a paddle raise, where supporters of CWI pledged various amounts of money to donate to the CWI Foundation. The activity saw pledges as high as $5,000.
Money Raised for CWI Foundation
In-Person Benefit Event Auction and Donations
Wednesday, Oct. 5
Total: $83,440*
Online Auctions and Donations
Sept. 28 – Oct. 9
Total: $8,916*
Sponsorships
Total: $125,834*
Grand Total Raised: $218,190*
*The numbers are an early estimate before finalized expenses.
“Opening Doors is a premier, scholarship fundraising event bringing together community leaders, students, and members of the CWI family,” said CWI Foundation Director and Chairman of the 2022 Opening Doors Benefit Event, Kevin Rigenhagen. “The sole objective is to raise scholarship funds for deserving students who are looking to further their personal growth through education, knowledge, and skill development.”
It is never too late to give the gift of education. Visit the CWI Foundation online to learn more and donate today.
Contact the Foundation at 208.562.3100 or foundation@cwi.edu for more information and ways to get involved.
Accomplishing a Lifelong Dream Thanks to CWI
College of Western Idaho (CWI) Drafting Technology program graduate, Chris Sinsel, is making a name for himself in the landscaping technology world! He has created and recently patented the Universal Sprinkler Fitting, a tool that is able to fit into any sprinkler head and pipe. Sinsel attributes his experience at CWI for helping him turn a life-long dream of inventing something into a reality.
"The idea started while I was working on a project here at CWI," Sinsel said. "I was designing something else, and this Universal Sprinkler Fitting design ended up being a solution to the project. I continued to take measurements and realized there wasn't something quite like it on the market. That is when the light bulb went off, and I continued to create different prototypes while at CWI."
The Universal Sprinkler Fitting is a green, elbow shaped tool that has four different configurations — half-inch and three-quarter-inch sprinkler heads and three-eighths-inch and half-inch pipe. The fitting tool can fit into any sprinkler head and pipe thanks to the design of Sinsel's patented multiple threaded connectors.
"Installers only need one fitting for any job.”
While it did take Sinsel a lengthy chunk of time to get both the patent and manufacturer to approve his design, he said the long process was worth it.
Sinsel now has about 25,000 of his newly patented fittings manufactured and ready to sell. He is working on selling his product through Amazon and create more branding. He hopes in the near future bigger landscaping technology and sprinkler companies begin to take notice and reach out to work with him. He would love to start distributing his design through stores, like The Home Depot.
"Who knows? Maybe take over the market someday. I don't know if it will happen. But I accomplished my dream by coming up with an idea and turning it into something real. If that is all that happens, then that is all that happens, and I am still happy."
Sinsel graduated from CWI's Drafting program in Spring 2019 and now works full-time at Micron Technology, in Boise, as a Design Drafter. He is thankful for the opportunities CWI provided him and would like to give back by helping current students achieve success of their own, whether that is through bringing in recruiters from Micron or offering career and design advice.
"Patience and persistence. If you have an idea, don't give up. Just keep moving forward and go after it."
CWI’s Occupational Therapy Assistant Students Help Seniors Live Healthy Lives
College of Western Idaho's (CWI) Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) program students are using the tools they've learned on campus to help seniors within the community lead healthy, active lives. Faculty and students within the program have been participating in Chateau de Boise Independent Living Facility's Active Aging Week.
Students have visited the assisted living facility over the last week to present different fall prevention and fall risk reduction topics, such as the need to stay active as people age and tips to avoid a sedentary lifestyle. They were also able to provide screenings for hearing and vision, and referred residents for further in-depth exams with an audiologist and optometrist if issues were noted. Issues with range-of-motion, strength, and balance often contribute to falls and were also tested by the students.
Students made sure to emphasize the importance of getting annual vision exams and obtaining a hearing exam at least once every 10 years from the age of 40 on.
Next week, students will provide home assessments to residents of the community and give recommendations for ways to adapt the resident's home environment to reduce fall risk.
"We are very grateful to the Chateau de Boise community for providing us with such a great opportunity. We hope we provided a valuable service to the residents of their community, and we know our students gained a lot of valuable learning experience from the residents," said OTA program Academic Fieldwork Coordinator and Instructor, Angela Zaugg. "We partner every semester with community organizations, which allows our students the opportunity to receive hands-on experience in providing occupational therapy interventions with people of all ages."
This experience was part of the Fieldwork Level I, Placement 3 course (OTA 180), which requires each student to obtain 45 hours of hands-on experience each semester of didactic course work and prepares them for their 16 weeks of clinical rotations in the spring semester.
The students who took part in Active Aging Week will be the first cohort of graduating students from CWI’s OTA program this spring.
Speech and Debate Team Makes History in Portland
College of Western Idaho's (CWI) Speech and Debate team are celebrating big after making history and earning an unprecedented victory at the Steve Hunt Classic Tournament at Lewis and Clark College in Portland this past weekend.
CWI won the Division 3 title at the tournament, and for the first time in the College's Speech and Debate team's history, they beat the entire debate field regardless of division.
Competitive speech and debate tournaments break its award system down into divisions. While all teams from all institutions compete against each other throughout the tournament, team awards are often separated by school size. For example, Division 1 usually see large, four-year institutions compete. Community colleges, such as CWI, are in Division 3, which helps smaller programs measure their success against more comparable teams.
"Not only is this unprecedented in the history of the team itself, but it is also unprecedented in the history of the tournament," said Assistant Professor of Communication, and Director of Forensics, Luke Yeates. "Across our region no community college has won in overall debate at a designated tournament in well over a decade. Additionally, when including speech events into the total, CWI placed first in their division but also third overall regardless of division. This level of success is so rare for a two-year program to achieve that within hours of the announcement other programs were reaching out to congratulate the competitors on their success."
The team excelled in the debate portion of the tournament where their novice division was able to accomplish something special — all five of the novice debaters from CWI who attended the tournament, placed in the top five of the division.
CWI Geography student, Alex Norris, was the tournament champion and finished in first place, while History student, Trace Van Sickle, earned second place. Both History student, Sam Easley, and Communication student, Kelly O’Dowd, earned the two semifinalist positions, and Business student, Elijah Charlton, earned fifth place.
"This is called a closeout, where the top finishers are all from the same team," Yeates said. "This happens occasionally at the finalist level where the top two debaters will be from the same school, but only rarely does a team close out at the semifinalist level. CWI just did.”
Norris, Van Sickle, and Easley each had undefeated records for the length of the tournament, going 5-0 in preliminaries.
In the Junior division, Political Science student, Kevin Chase, took home a Semifinalist spot, finishing within the top four. Both Business student, Terrence Howard, and Engineering student, Oliver Heaviside, earned quarterfinalist finishes as well.
Debate rounds are judged in two different ways, a win/loss record, and speaker points, which is a ranking of your rhetorical and logical speaking skill during round.
In the novice division Norris again earned first, Van Sickle took second, Easley took third, O’Dowd took fifth, and Charlton took ninth.
In the junior division Sharrer, took home second place, Chase earned fourth, and Heaviside earned eighth.
In speech awards, CWI's top performer was Liberal Arts student, Joe Nigro, took home top novice for their informative speech. This speech also took second place in the junior division.
Additionally, Van Sickle earned first in novice impromptu speaking. In novice extemporaneous speaking, Sharrer earned second place, Norris took home third, and Easley won fourth.
In Junior extemporaneous, Heaviside won the division with a first-place finish, and Chase earned fifth overall.
CWI's Speech and Debate team walked away from the tournament with a total of nine first place finishes across individual and team awards.
"It’s hard to explain how monumental this performance was to people outside of the speech and debate community," Yeates said. "As their coach I want them to find success, but that success will only come from hours and hours of work outside of class, outside of practice. So much of what they do is self-motivated, and without those elements none of this success would have been possible. This small community college team has eyes for trophies that should be beyond them, and that hunger will take them far. It already has."
For those with questions, or in need of more information, contact Luke Yeates at lukeyeates@cwi.edu.
Anthropology Club Connecting with Younger Generation to Share Principles of Preservation, Stewardship, and More
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Anthropology Club is connecting people, culture, ecology, and stewardship and preservation of public lands and waterways to younger generations at a local Boise school. As part of an ongoing collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Riverstone International School fifth-grade class, the Anthropology Club hosted the Adventure Race project, Friday, Oct. 7.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for fifth grade students to not only learn about important concepts, but also raise the profile of CWI in the community,” said Associate Professor of Anthropology and Anthropology Club Advisor, Nikki Gorrell. “For me, it is about putting the “community” into community college and being involved around the valley.”
CWI Anthropology Club was able to engage with Riverstone students and spread awareness of key subjects, like learning about the importance of pack it in, pack it out principles, environmental stewardship, sustainability, and more. The collaboration allows CWI students to get experience doing field work, develop their leadership skills, and engaging with young people in our community.
“You are never too young to learn about preservation,” said CWI’s Anthropology Club President, Maddox Lightning. “Preservation is a foundation for all cultures. Creating a fun way to engage in preservation invites children to approach it not from a scary place but from an excited place where they can hopefully grow up to carry it and be proud of it".
This was the third year the Anthropology Club put on the Race where 29 students from Trevor Lindsay and Carissa Schlachter’s fifth grade classes participated in the fun, informational event.
There were five different stations students were able to engage with including Leave No Trace, Sustainability and Plastic Pollution, Salmon Life Cycle and Healthy River Ecosystems, Environmental Policy Challenges, and lifeway traditions of Great Basin Indigenous Peoples. Students were able to have fun while learning about these topics through scavenger hunts, soccer activities, hula hooping, and more.
Gorrell and Lindsay timed the Adventure Race as the culminating event to bookend Riverstone’s fifth grade unit on ecosystems and urbanization, where they studied the tensions between naturalist conservation and urban development. Riverstone is located in Southeast Boise, where they are surrounded by rapidly developing urban growth, but still have access to natural spaces, like Barber Pool Conservation Area.
“We value having these natural connections and opportunities to collaborate with other organizations,” said Lindsay. “CWI’s Anthropology Club, BLM, and our school are like minded where we have a stewardship and appreciation for the environment, culture, and history. We do a lot, especially with our fifth-grade kids, to learn about the world right around us. To learn from more of an anthropological view of the world around us enhances what we are already doing.”
"This is experiential learning, and in academia, we call that a high impact practice. The best way to learn is by doing, and that is exactly what these students are doing,” Gorrell said.
While this is the Anthropology Club’s third time organizing the Race, BLM’s Backcountry Wilderness/River Ranger, Evan Worthington, originally created a similar event years prior called BLM Field Day.
Part of Worthington’s job is educational outreach to promote preservation of wilderness, wild scenic rivers, and stewardship of our public lands. When he was introduced to Gorrell and the Anthropology Club, he felt it would be a great partnership to help educate younger generations.
“We need to introduce kids to those ideas,” Worthington said. “I think it is something that must be ongoing with every generation. Because if not, if you do not get through to them when it is early about protecting the places they love, those places will not be there for them to love. That is my goal with all this.”
Because of how engaging these activities are, it is common for alums from the Anthropology Club to take part in the Race after they graduate CWI. This year’s events saw two alums return.
“Many of my club members are lifelong friends,” Gorrell said. “This club creates a supportive space for like-minded students, who clearly love anthropology, to come together.”
Gorrell and the Anthropology Club were also able to provide the fifth graders CWI swag bags that had items like, CWI t-shirts, branded hacky sacks, educational materials, and more.
For those with questions or in need of more information about CWI’s Anthropology Club, contact Nikki Gorrell at nikkigorrell@cwi.edu.
Beta Sigma Pi ‘Dash’ for Student Scholarships
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Beta Sigma Pi Honor Society, a chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), took part in the PTK Foundation Scholar Dash 5K and raised hundreds of dollars Saturday, Sept. 24.
The Scholar Dash 5K raises funds for the PTK Foundation’s Golden Opportunity Scholarships, which provides students with financial support and access to benefits of PTK membership.
CWI’s Beta Sigma Pi opted to do a hike around the Nampa Campus Academic Building. Eight members participated in the 3.1 mile trek to raise funds for the scholarship.
As part of the PTK Rocky Mountain Cascade region, which includes Idaho, Utah, and Oregon, they were able to raise $1,421. In total, the Scholar Dash raised more than $47,000 — which creates nearly 800 Golden Opportunity Scholarships.
“PTK has given me opportunities to meet peers, work on my skills, and participate in community projects,” said CWI Beta Sigma Pi Honor Society Vice President of Service, Breanna Upchurch. “This 5K is important because it allows me to give back to PTK and provide another scholar the same opportunities.”
The mission of PTK is to recognize academic achievement of college students and to provide opportunities for them to grow as scholars and leaders. The National Honor Society has over 1,300 chapters and 3.25 million members worldwide.
For questions about how to get involved or learn about CWI’s PTK chapter, Beta Sigma Pi, contact ptk@cwi.edu.
Restoration Week
Students and instructors with College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Horticulture Technology program are launching a new community project with a week full of service and fun. Restoration Week will allow Horticulture Technology students to take break from the classroom setting and bring them outside to take part in activities, get to know one another, and hear from restoration experts.
The week is in conjunction with the kick off to the Horticulture Technology’s restoration work on a new plot of land they’ve acquired through the Boise River Re-WILD project.
“Students do not get a break until Thanksgiving, and they become so exhausted,” said Horticulture Instructor, Casey O’Leary. “The department wanted to think of something to do outside of the classroom norm, while students still learn about good content. When the work with the Boise River Re-WILD project came up, I thought this could be a great way to kick off to doing work on the site, have some fun, and learn.”
The Boise River Re-WILD project is a grassroots project that aims to restore over 50 acres of habitat along the Boise River by 2023. CWI’s Horticulture Technology program is one of 100 community organizations who have adopted a half-acre plot and are working to remove invasive species, grow, plant, and maintain native plants, and monitor project outcomes.
The plot of land is located at 5657 E. Warm Springs Ave., Boise, ID 83716, which is on Idaho State Parks and Recreation land, near the Idaho Shakespeare Festival.
“For me, this project is a good example of what's possible when you you base your coursework on a community project. It can lead to increased student engagement and goodwill within our institution and around our community,” O’Leary said. “I think it has a lot of potential to serve our students and the community really well.”
Restoration Week will kick off on Monday, Oct. 24, with a full line-up of industry experts and guest speakers who will share their expertise about these types of restoration projects including information about the Boise River corridor ecosystem and insights on industry-standard best practices in and around the Treasure Valley.
Throughout the week, Horticulture Technology students will engage with one another to explore the project more in-depth in their coursework. The week will end with a department-wide planting day on Thursday, Oct. 27.
Restoration Week Activities
Those with questions or in need of more information, contact Casey O’Leary at caseyoleary@cwi.edu
Cybersecurity Awareness: Keeping Your Information Safe
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. With more ways to stay connected these days, hackers and scammers are keeping up to steal personal data and information. It is important to take extra steps to secure your information and not let it fall into the wrong hands.
The University of Maryland found there is an average of 2,244 cyberattacks per day, which is one every 36 seconds. According to the Federal Investigations Bureau’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center, people made more than 791,000 complaints and reported losing more than $4.2 billion due to cybercrimes in 2020.
We often think cybercrime can only happen to someone else, but bad actors are always looking for easy ways to access organization’s information.
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Information Technology (IT) has some tips to keep you and your information safe:
- Keep your passwords protected. If they are written down somewhere whether on a piece of paper on your desk or in a drawer or in a text file on your computer, that's like leaving your house key taped to your front door or your car unlocked with the engine running. Your account information is important and should be protected.
- If you are having trouble creating or remembering unique passwords, check out our tips on password creation.
- You can also use a password manager on your computer as well to store all your passwords.
- Double check before you click on a link, in an email, or on a website. You can hover your mouse cursor over most links to see where they may lead at the bottom of your web browser before clicking on them. Being cautious is also a good practice before downloading an unexpected or untrusted file from an email or website.
- When you step away, lock your computer. If you need to temporarily walk away from a computer you are using in a public area (school, work, etc.), make sure to always lock the screen, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
- On Windows, it’s as easy as pressing Windows Key + L to lock your computer.
- Use Search + L for Chromebooks and Ctrl + Command + Q for Macs.
- Enable MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) to add an extra layer of personalized security on your account. When you use MFA on your account, along with entering your password, you will also have the option to be sent a code via SMS (short messaging service) text message, get a call, or verify your identity with an authentication application on your smart phone. This extra layer of security helps ensure that only you can access your account.
Contact Mike Wilson at michaelwilson1@cwi.edu or 208.562.3193 with questions or for more information. For those interested in learning more about cybersecurity or a career in this field, visit Cybersecurity's program page.
CWI's Branded Template Platform System Has a New Name & Features
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) branded template platform, Lucidpress, has recently been rebranded to Marq. With a library of customizable templates, branded tools, and design assets along with a streamlined approval process, the College’s Marq contributors are empowered to produce professional print and web friendly materials.
Aside from the name change a few updates have been made that will benefit contributors, including:
- User experience enhancements
- Streamlined navigation and editor interface updates
- Expanded template features
Utilizing Marq helps CWI maintain campus-wide consistency to build a stronger brand, all while helping the College community create customized, timely materials. More information on the system update and available resources will be sent to the College’s Marq contributors.
Questions about Marq should be directed to College Relations at communications@cwi.edu.
