Volume 1, 4/11/08                                          

______________________________________________________________

PBL-SIFE Heads to State in Kearney After Success at Regionals

By Nathana Faddis

PBL-SIFE is an active and successful group on the York College campus. Phi Beta Lambda and SIFE are similar to the college level FBLA and SIFE combined. Their sponsor of 26 years is Associate Professor of Business Marti Soderholm. As a group they do community projects and compete throughout the year. However, PBL is more individualized in its competitions while SIFE members compete as a team.

SIFE is an international non-profit organization that is active on over 1,400 campuses and in 48 different countries. It is an organizations whose members get involved in their communities by organizing projects that help teach about market economics, entrepreneurship, personal financial success skills, and business ethics.

They then present these projects at competitions where they are judged in different areas, including creativity, innovation, and effectiveness. Their mission statement is, "Students Educating Students for Life". They are involved in many activities local and abroad. A few different ones the York College chapter has been involved with this past year are: the Rwandan Well Project, Mission Sunday, American Enterprise Day, Career Center Assistance, Helping Hands Shoppe, Eternal Threads, Teach a Child to Save, Investment Group, Ethics Class Survey/Debate, Habitat for Humanity/Toy Workshop/Thanksgiving Meals, and many more. Altogether, they have logged over 1,500 hours of work and reached over 8,000 people of all ages.

On March 31, the YC chapter attended the SIFE USA Regional Competition in Denver, CO. The four students who attended were: Rasheem Richards, Kaitlin Spanel, Jaye Lewis, and Landon Bailey. They had to present their community projects for the year to a panel of 18 prominent business leaders from major corporations such as Walmart.

The team had seven minutes to set up the room, 24 minutes to present their projects, 5 or more minutes for a question and answer session, and one minute to clear the room. They were competing against approximately three dozen other colleges and universities, most of which had not only larger student bodies but also much larger budgets. Despite the odds, the YC team’s hard work paid off, and they walked away with 1^st Runner Up in the overall competition.

Now that Regionals are over for SIFE, they are focusing in on their PBL State Competition this Friday and Saturday in Kearney, NE. The top two from the State Competition get to move on to Nationals, which will be held this summer to Atlanta, GA.

York College’s PBL-SIFE has impacted many people, including those involved. Kaitlin Spanel spoke fondly of PBL-SIFE, saying, "It has helped me build better business and organizational skills for the future."

_________________________________________________________________________________________

By York College Education Department

The Education Department at York College celebrated Read Across America Week with a variety of activities in their classes. This week was planned in honor of Dr. Seuss and his impact on literacy in America.

To kick off this celebration, the Education Department wore t-shirts and ties in honor of Dr. Seuss on Tuesday, March 4. Bob DeHart put together a special video that was shown during Chapel picturing a variety of students, faculty, and staff holding their favorite books. The end of the video summed up an important sentiment in education stating, "If you can read this, thank a teacher!"

Reading is a major foundation of all learning and the Education Department wanted to remind everyone on campus to pick up a book and read.

Read Across America was celebrated in PED 222, Non-Rhythmic Activities, by eight students who each took part in a variety of activities inspired by a number of Dr. Seuss books read aloud by class members. After reading Ten Apples Up on Top, students were required to balance beanbags on their heads while moving around, and they had to retrieve the beanbags of classmates from the floor without losing their own.

The class also played Cat, Cat, Hat and Knock the Hat Off the Cat in response to reading The Cat in the Hat. Climbing aboard and maintaining balance on a very large cage ball, while wearing the Dr. Seuss hat, provided opportunities for cooperative activity and great pictures. This game followed the reading of Oh, the Thinks You Can Think.

In Health Education, PED223, Renee Willard, wearing a Dr. Seuss hat, shared her dramatic reading of Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book. The story provided a fun introduction to a discussion about the effects of sleep deprivation on health and learning for students of all ages.

In Mrs. DeHart's Reading and Writing for the Secondary Content class, students celebrated Read Across America by: Celebrating Dr. Seuss, reading The Butter Battle Book by Seuss, and discussing the various meanings and inferences in his books.  They did a writing activity in which the students created their own Dr. Seuss character.  And last but not least, they ate Cat in the Hat cookies made by Mrs. DeHart. 

The class also brought their favorite books to share with the class and for the Education Chapel video. Mr. DeHart brought in several Dr. Seuss books to his Introduction to Learners with Exceptionalities for students to read and discuss.

On Thursday, the cafeteria continued the week-long celebration with a special dinner. Items on the menu included foods in celebration of various Dr. Seuss books:

Egg Salad: Horton Hatches the Egg

Tuna Salad: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Foot long hotdogs: The Foot Book

Apple Dumplings, Apple Pie, Apple Cinnamon Cake, Apple Licorice, Apple Crisp and Waldorf Salad: Ten Apples Up On Top

Eggs and Ham: Green Eggs and Ham 

Two students, (Brenden Hanaphy, Ian McEnerney), dressed up as "Thing One" and "Thing Two" and greeted the students and faculty as they entered to dine.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Flood in the Campus Apartments

By Paldin Khodabandeh

On Thursday, April 10, flooding occurred at the men's apartments at around 9 p.m. Witnesses say that an object struck the fire sprinklers causing part of the third floor of the apartments to flood. Fortunately, only one wing and the main apartment are currently occupied being on the third floor.

The water also started running out into the parlor area and caused some minimal damage to the north side of the parlor. Many students who live on the third floor used quick thinking, and ran and got towels to put underneath their doors in order to keep the water from going into the rooms.

Logan Bahler, a resident of the men’s apartments, says "that no one was in his apartment at the time of the flood, but the water only got into the kitchen area." The fire trucks were out at the apartments until around 10:30 p.m. No official report on the total damages and the costs involved has been made available, but officials say one will be available within the next few days.

The police authorities don't know what exactly caused the sprinklers to go off, but the police department was at the scene and will probably make information public as soon as they have found the exact cause of the incident. The damages could have definitely been worse, but due to the fast thinking of some of the students on the third floor, the damages were kept to a minimum.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Choir Celebrates Another Year Past

By Meghan Shruck                                                        

On Tuesday, April 8, the York College Concert Choir held their annual Choir Banquet at Chances "R" Restaurant. The Choir enjoyed fellowship with one another as they reminisced with special choir memories throughout the many years students have been involved.

Seniors Erin Mogul and Michal Dudrey organized the banquet this year and served as hostesses throughout the evening. There were a number of senior speakers who shared with the choir and guests many personal thoughts and notes of thanks. Patrick Good told how choir provided a constant for his life, insisting that he can leave all of his troubles behind when he walks into rehearsal daily.

Melody Carey shared many fond memories of the many friends she made while in choir, as well as stories of the annual choir tour. Alyssa Solenberger shared the importance of music in daily life. Solenberger gave advice to underclassmen to cherish every moment left in choir, because it will be greatly missed in the years ahead. Bethany Stanger told of her own personal growth through choir.

Dr. Clark Roush honored several students with various award denoting their hard work and growth. Soprano, Sara Firm; alto, Bethany Stanger; tenor, Zach Rush; and bass, Matt Carlson received honors for their effort as section leaders this year. President, Patrick Good; vice president, Michal Dudrey; secretary, Alicia Florea; and treasurer, Caleb Rush also received honors for fulfilling their duties as this year’s choir council.

The "Wow" award was given to Brad Brunson for his personal growth this year. Maegan Simpson was named Outstanding Female Freshman. Matt Ward was named Outstanding Male Freshman. The overall Outstanding Male award was given to Matthew Roush. Overall Outstanding Female was awarded to Bethany Stanger.

Dr. Roush spoke about the strong bonds made by choir members. Roush also noted that choir sustains life for many people on a personal level. God has called members of the York College Concert Choir to sing, in order to sustain lives.

The evening closed with the singing of two of this year’s works, Goin’ Home on a Cloud, featuring soloist Renee Willard, and O Magnum Mysterium.

"I thought Michal and Erin did an exceptional job of planning banquet this year, says Dr. Roush. "I love the time to sit down, eat, talk, and honor my students. I think it is great ‘family time.’ I was moved and touched by the senior speakers and always leave with a renewed sense of just how special my singers are, and how much I love them."

The community can look forward to the choir’s annual Spring Works Concert on Tuesday, April 29. The performance will be 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church.

"This year will feature the music of Franz Joseph Hadyn," says the longtime Choir director. "The Concert Choir will perform his majestic Te Deum, and his thrilling Lord Nelson Mass. A unique feature this year is using vocal performance majors as the soloists.

"I am extremely excited about sharing these marvelous works with the campus and community. The choir has worked very hard and is nearly finished polishing up all the necessary components to make this a stellar event."

The York College Concert Choir has made some wonderful music this past year. However, the music would not have been possible without the dedication and passion of the hard-working Choir members and conductor Dr. Clark Roush.

______________________________________________________________________________

College Banquet

By Selena Emery

As this academic year comes to close, students are turning in their end of the year projects and getting ready for the activities of summer. The college hosts an end of the year dinner to recognize the achievements of their students throughout the year. The York College banquet is on Thursday, April 24 at 6:30 p.m., at Stone Creek in McCool Junction. Ticket prices are $8 and will go on sale next week. During the banquet, Mr. and Ms. York College will be announced. The Teacher of the Year award is given out, and the various club awards are given to the winning clubs. Don’t miss out on a great time of fellowship with classmates and teachers and a little break from the busy atmosphere of school.