Alpha Delta Alpha – Phi Theta Kappa Updates

The Phi Theta Kappa will be hosting their annual food drive for the Cheer for the Holidays at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Dec. Every year they run a food drive to collect food for the people who need it the most.
Members also reported that 58 pints of blood were collected during the Anoka-Ramsey Blood Drive they sponsored Oct. 6.
And the board set three major events that will be coming up in the end of Oct. through Nov. These events are orientation, induction, and Good as Gold Week.

The Cheer for the Holidays is an event that helps families who need help providing their children with toys, food and clothes. Every year the Phi Theta Kappa holds a competition between the faculty and students to see who can collect the most nonperishable food items. The food drive will be held Dec. 7 through Dec. 11 and this year will be the first year a trophy will be awarded to the winning side. The same trophy will be awarded back and forth to the winning side in future years.

Next the board members reviewed the Anoka-Ramsey blood drive. Their goal this year was to collect 60 pints of blood and came up collecting 58 pints. They fell only 2 pints short because some walk-in students could not wait for an opening to donate. Also some students were amazed that it took an hour to donate and did not schedule enough time before they would have to leave. The Phi Theta Kappa used a double booking technique that helped them to get up to their 58 pints collected. Using this technique they set out open signup sheets at three different locations around campus and students signed up. Some students were signing up at the same time on a different sheet. Since there were a lot of no shows there were no problems with people that signed up at the same time. This way they got at least one person at each signed up time. Overall, they had a lot of volunteers helping and next year they hope to handout flyers at the door as students walk into the college telling them there is a blood drive going on.

The events calendar then took a turn to the future in preparation for orientation. Orientation is an open meeting for all current Phi Theta Kappa members and interested members that have questions about what the Phi Theta Kappa is and does. The meeting covers all the upcoming events sponsored by the Phi Theta Kappa and gives opportunities to the members to get involved. It also has a question and answering session to get all the looming questions answered. The members who volunteer can earn prizes as they gain star levels. Star levels show how active a member is. They can be earned by volunteering, attending meetings, events and varies other tasks asked by the board members. There will be a folder handed out to each attendee with a bunch of information and star level sheets. Cookies, fruit punch and water will also be provided. The meeting will be Oct. 21 at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in room B206 at 2 p.m.

Orientation isn’t the only event that is coming up in the future, induction also is. Induction is a formal ceremony to induct new members into the Alpha Delta Alpha of the Phi Theta Kappa. It is held every year in the Performing Arts Center. This year’s will be held Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. Members who attend can invite family, friends and professors to sit in the audience and show support for their academic achievement. There will be an opportunity for the members to thank their guests for coming during the ceremony. Also members will receive a scroll and recognition as they pass across the stage. Cake, punch, cookies and water will be provided at the end of the ceremony during the reception where all attendees are welcomed to socialize and enjoy.

Good as Gold Week will be held Nov. 16 through Nov. 20 and each day of the week has a different event. Induction will be Monday’s event which is honoring new member’s day. Tuesday is service day and will be hosting the event feed my starving children. The Honors Seminar will be the event for scholarship day on Wednesday. Thursday is founder’s day and members will be at a table in the business bulge handing out cake to students for participating in trivia. Last but not least, an ice cream social will be held Friday in the student lounge.

Summary 7: Tuxedo Denied in Yearbook

Girl in tuxedo denied a place in school yearbook
By Chris Joyner, USA TODAY
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-18-yearbook-photo-lesbian_N.htm?poe=HFMostPopular)

Summary: 17-year-old Ceara Sturgis is a straight-A student, a goalie on the soccer team, a trumpet player in the band and active in Students Against Destructive Decisions. She is also gay and prefers to wear boy’s clothes. In July she decided that she was going to wear a tuxedo for her senior portraits. Now she is battling officials at Wesson Attendance Center in the Copiah County School District to get her picture into the yearbook. Candace Gingrich of the Human Rights Campaign said that it is not uncommon for LGBT students to have this issue with their schools. The district has been warned by the Mississippi chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union that they are violating Sturgis’ constitutionally protected freedom of expression. However, the district’s attorney has assured Superintendent Ricky Clopton that they are within their rights to exclude the photo.

Obituary: Michelle Bisset

Michelle Bisset, who was VP of Leadership for the Phi Theta Kappa at Anoka Ramsey Community College and an active member in both the community and her school, died yesterday at the age of 22.

Bisset died at 3:30 p.m. from hemorrhaging during labor at Unity Hospital. Her complications started when the placenta detached from the uterine wall and delivered first. Her son, who was later named Calvin, was delivered safely.

Bisset was attending Anoka Ramsey Community College in hopes to finish her generals before transferring to the University of Minnesota. She was in the process of completing her last semester before accomplishing her hopes. She had also just finished planning the Induction Ceremony for the Phi Theta Kappa.

Bisset is survived by her husband, Sean, and her son, Calvin, and her mother, Tina H#######, and her father, Ron T########, and her sister, Kassi Bisset.

Bisset’s memorial service will be at Withrow Ballroom Church 3 p.m. Saturday. She will be buried in the Sunken Gardens Cemetery immediately following the service.

Summary 6: Kanabec County Sees Stimulus Program

STIMULUS MONEY FLOWS... ...BABY STEPS FOLLOW
By Mike Kaszuba
Star Tribune, Thursday October 8th, 2009

Summary: The $787 billion stimulus program from President Obama is reaching Kanabec County which has the highest double-digit unemployment rate of any county in Minnesota. This stimulus increase has recently raised pressing questions about the difference it can actually make because even with the increase the national jobless rate continues to creep higher. Not only that but, Obama is considering a second stimulus package that could include a mix of new spending and tax cuts.

Unfortunately, Kanabec County has problems that are larger than any temporary cash flow can solve. For decades, they have remained relatively isolated due to the lack of major highways. In January and February, during the hardest recession since the 1930s, their unemployment peaked at 17.8 percent and sits at 11.2 percent today. At Kanabec Hospital, the county’s largest employer, costs to treat uninsured patients jumped from $2 million to $3.1 million in two years. However, despite these few downfalls, the federal stimulus money is making baby steps possible.

Heart Like a Hero - Lashaya Meyers, Keys and Vocals

Lashaya Meyers is a 20-year-old mother whose hobby is to sing and play the keyboard. When her husband, Josh, asked her to join his band as a bass guitarist in 2007, she accepted. She switched to playing the keyboard and singing vocals when she joined her current band Heart Like a Hero. Heart Like a Hero is a local band based out of the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities. Josh, her husband screams vocals and plays the lead guitar. The other band members are: Kyle who rocks the drums, Brian who sings and plays guitar and Tom who strums the bass guitar.

Meyers favorite thing about the band is playing shows and seeing the crowd enjoy something that they have worked so hard on. She would love to play music for a living and this is her plan. However, she feels that they have to become famous first to do this. If playing music doesn’t work out, she has a backup plan to be a full-time mother because she loves her daughter. The band practices at least one night a week when they don’t have a show to prepare for. If they have to play a show they try to practice more. That is one of her least favorite things about being in the band, not enough time to practice.

When Meyers was asked to give advice to someone who wanted to start a band she said, “You have to be dedicated and you need to find a good singer because that is 80 percent of what people listen to.”

Michelle

Interviewing Brett Boxwell on Baseball

Interview: Brett Boxwell

First set of questions:

(Q) 1. What is your favorite hobby?
(A) My favorite hobby is playing baseball.

(Q) 2. What made this your favorite hobby?
(A) It became my favorie hobby because I have an older brother who also enjoyed playing while we were growing up so it was something we were always doing and have continued doing to this day.

(Q) 3. At about what age did this become your favorite hobby?
(A) I always liked playing baseball but I don't think it became my favorite hobby until I was in high school.

(Q) 4. How often do you do this favorite hobby?
(A) I still play quite a bit. I'm on the colleges team here at AR and I also play on an amatuer team in the summer.

(Q) 5. Has anything happened to you while doing this hobby (good/bad/anything)?
(A) The only thing I can think of is the time I was at practice in the eighth grade and got hit with a ball and broke my nose.

(Q) 6. Where is your favorite place to do this hobby?
(A) I've played at hundreds of different fields over the years but my senior year in high school my summer baseball team made it to the finals of a sixtey team tournament and we got to play the championship in the metrodome. We won and it was a really cool experience to play where the pros play.

(Q) 7. Does anyone else do this hobby with you?
(Q) 8. Does anyone else have this same favorite hobby as you?
(A) 7&8. A lot of my friends I made through baseball and a few of them from high school are on the college team and my summer team. I also have a younger and older brother who both play so we've always played in non-organized games amongst each other.

(Q) 9. Where do you go to school?
(A) I go to school at ARCC the Coon Rapids campus

(Q) 10. How old are you?
(A) I'm 21, just turned yesterday.

(Q) 11. What city do you live in?

(Q) 12. Do you attend ARCC? If so, do you visit the campus? If not, then where do you go to school (or are you an online student only)?
(A) I attend all my classes but this one at the Coon Rapids campus.

Second set of questions:

(Q) 1. You have said that your older brother has made baseball your favorite hobby, why is that?
(A) Well growing up, I think if a young boy has an older brother he kind of looks up to him and gets involved's going prett, I focused a little more on baseball because I thought it was the sport I had the best chance excelling in.

(Q) 2. You said that it didn't become your favorite sport until high school, what experience in high school made it your favorite hobby?
(A) Well, I also played football and basketball growing up but baseball ended up being what I was best at. therefore, I think I focused more at baseball because I saw more of a future in that for me.

(Q) 3. You said that you are on the team at AR, how is that team doing?
(A) It's actually going pretty well. Last year was my first year and we made it to the state tournament for the first time in about six years. Most of our starters are returning this year too so everybody wants to do even better than last year.

(Q) 4. Do you do anything special as a team (the AR team), any rituals before games/after games/movie nights/hang out?
(A) As a team, we don't really have any rituals. The ly thing I can think of is getting together after games and celebrating big wins.

(Q) 5. Do you do anything special as a team (the summer amateur team), any rituals before games/after games/movie nights/hang out?
(A) The same thing goes for the amateur team.

(Q) 6. Which team do you like to play on better?
(A) I like playing on both teams pretty equally. I have more friends on the summer team and my older brother plays on it as well, but on the spring college team, I get a lot more innings pitching and play a bigger role on that team which I enjoy. (I'm a pitcher by the way)

(Q) 7. Anything else interesting about baseball I should know?
(A) Not much else really, I hope to continue playing as long as my body and skill level allow me too. Hopefully, if this spring goes well I'll be able to transfer to a four year school and play my junior and senior seasons there.

Michelle

“I can’t imagine what my life would be like without bicycling,” Taylor said.

Marsha L. Taylor, 2012 Lincoln Boulevard, was released two days ago after being injured in a bicycling accident. Shortly after she finished the U.S. Tour she was riding down 72nd Street, almost to Southland Boulevard, when a car hit her from behind sending her flying off of her bike. “That’s all I can remember until I was in the hospital,” Taylor said. She suffered a mild concussion, a broken neck, six broken ribs, a broken arm and a broken pelvis. One of the doctors said it was a miracle she wasn’t paralyzed because she had what they called a hangman’s fracture.

After a couple of weeks the doctors sent Taylor to a rehabilitation facility where they discovered she had internal injuries as well. Her intestines were perforated and her liver and gall bladder were injured which caused her skin to turn bright orange. “When my mother saw me she said I looked like a Halloween pumpkin,” Taylor said. These complications put her back into the hospital for four months.

Even though she suffered many injuries, Taylor still wants to ride her bicycle. “If I could, I’d be out there right now, but it’s hard to ride a bike when you have to use crutches,” Taylor said. The main precaution is to wear protective clothing, especially a helmet when bicycling. “It probably saved my life this time,” Taylor said.

Taylor still has to go three times a week for rehabilitation.

Summary 5: 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine candidates

Stem cell pioneers may be Nobel Prize candidates
From USA TODAY
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-10-04-stem-cell-pioneers_N.htm)

Summary: Two Canadian scientists, Ernest McCulloch and James Till, could be candidates for the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine. In 2005 both scientists won the prestigious Lasker Award, which many go on to win Nobel Prizes after. They are candidates because of their early 1970s identification of regenerative cells has paved the way for research today. Stems cells offer the possibility to replace damaged cells, tissues and maybe organs to treat diseases such as diabetes. In recent breakthroughs, scientists have managed to avoid controversial growth of stem cells from human eggs. Instead they are making human cells from ordinary skin cells. The prizes are handed out every year on the anniversary of Nobel’s 1896 death, Dec. 10.