EducationQuest sends scholarship dollars MLC’s way

A release from the nice, nice people at EducationQuest.

EducationQuest Awards $1.1 Million in
Scholarship Funds to Nebraska Colleges, including Midland Lutheran College

(LINCOLN Neb. September 5, 2008) – Midland Lutheran College is among 32 Nebraska public and non-profit colleges that will share $1.1 million in need-based scholarship funds awarded by EducationQuest Foundation. The funds are designated for undergraduate students from Nebraska who demonstrate financial need. Each college selects the students who will benefit from the scholarships.

This marks the tenth year that EducationQuest has awarded need-based scholarship funds to Nebraska colleges. Since the program began in 1998, EducationQuest has awarded a total of $8.6 million benefiting nearly 8,300 students.

EducationQuest developed the scholarship program – and has continually increased the annual distribution amount – as part of its mission to improve access to higher education in Nebraska.

“We developed this program to help offset the shortage of state-funded financial aid for low-income students in Nebraska,” said EducationQuest President Liz Fieselman. “$1.1 million will go a long way toward helping hundreds of students realize their educational dreams.”

According to the 2008 National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs Survey, Nebraska ranked 41st in the nation in estimated grant dollars per fulltime undergraduate enrollment for the 2006-07 academic year.

Campus Crusade Schedule Change

The Campus Crusade group advises of a slight shift in their meeting time to accomodate movie night.

Hey everyone,

Due to free movie night on Thursday, the Campus Crusade meeting will now be held at 8:00 PM and not 9:00.

Everything else is still the same. Alphonso Cooper will be sharing his story and it’s gonna be a great time. So just a reminder that everyone is encouraged to come! See you Thurs, 8:00 PM, at Clemmons Hall!!

Blessings,

CRU leadership

Get Your Fall Athletic Schedules

Good news Warrior fans, I just saw the Fall athletic schedules being delivered!

Get yours now so you never miss a game.

They should be dispersing across campus as I type, but they will always be available over in the athletics office.

Just tell Karen or Rich WarriorWay sent ya.

Cast Your Vote On Midland’s Sign Proposal

The good folks over at the Fremont Tribune are asking people to vote on the College’s proposed sign at 9th and Bell Streets here in Fremont.

So pop on over to their main page, and look about halfway on the right. It’s pretty simple, click yes if you think the College should be allowed to build a sign, click no if think it should not.

This is the WarriorWay, and we approved this message.

Erickson places 23rd at Olympics

Midland Alumnus Bret Erickson finished 23rd in International Trap Shooting during Olympic competition in Beijing, China, over the weekend.

The gold medal went to Czech Republic, which is a perennial power in the shooting sports

Again, congratulations go out to Erickson for his accomplishment. Anytime you can say you are in the top two dozen of anything in the world, it is something of which to be proud.

Midland’s Olympian Prepares for Competition

From the fine folks at USA Shooting:

In shotgun, trap shooter Bret Erickson (Bennington, Neb.), 47, will be representing the U.S. on his fourth Olympic team. Erickson will be looking to claim his first Olympic medal in Beijing. He beat the odds when he competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, despite a heart attack that nearly claimed his life right before the 2004 Games. Five weeks before the Olympics were set to begin in Athens, Erickson’s heart stopped during a run with his teammates. His teammates were able to get his heart going again and the doctors installed a pacemaker. Four weeks later, he shot in the Olympic Games in Athens. Erickson, who is retired from the USAMU, has had an extremely successful 2008, capturing a bronze medal at the 2008 “Good Luck Beijing” ISSF World Cup, which served as the test event for the Olympic Games in April, and a silver at the World Cup Suhl in June.

In a late schedule change, Erickson starts competition on Saturday . Thoughts and prayers go with you, good Warrior.

Meet the New Instructional Technology Specialist

Again, from the Dean’s Office (he’s been busy)

It is a pleasure to announce that David Bentz has accepted the Instructional Technology Specialist Position at Midland, effective August 18, 2008. He will report to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College.

He earned the Bachelor’s of Arts (BA) Degree in Anthropology in 1996 and the Master’s of Secondary Teaching (MST) with concentrations in Curriculum and Instruction/Instructional Technology from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), Lincoln, Nebraska. Also, he is currently studying for his Doctorate of Philosophy in Instructional Technology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which he plans to complete in the fall of 2008.

Prior to beginning graduate studies at the University of Nebraska, he was Nebraska Wesleyan University’s first full-time Web Technician, where he was responsible for Web site architecture and design overhaul and coordinated the Blackboard system for the entire campus, serving as the primary staff member assisting faculty and students with the use the system.

In addition to serving as Educational Technology Liaison at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI,he has had extensive experience as a professional photographer, with his work appearing in magazines such as, Newsweek, Life and U.S. News and World Report.

He has also held adjunct teaching positions in teacher education, curriculum, communication and theatre arts at UNL and Nebraska Wesleyan University. Of special note are his extensive presentations such as “Online and face-to-face classes: A comparative evaluation of eight large –scale introductory food science classes”, Graduate Research Conference, Lincoln, NE, 2007.

In this position, he will be responsible for designing/developing and supporting the use of technology-assisted course delivery systems for classroom – based and on-line learning activities.

As an old darkroom rat myself, I’m always pleased to see a photog get a real job.

A hearty WarriorWay welcome to Mr. Bentz

Meet the New IT Director

From the Dean’s Office:

Ken Clipperton, the person responsible for the nation’s first all-wireless college campus, has been named the new Director of Information Technology at Midland Lutheran College.

During his terms as the managing director of University Information Services for Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, Clipperton designed and implemented the first all-wireless college campus in the country. As a result of this groundbreaking achievement, Clipperton has been approached by more than 200 organizations to see how he runs his department.

A believer in Midland’s faith-based approach, Clipperton expressed a deep passion for the college’s core values. While doing research on the area, Clipperton said one of his first priorities was to find a church in the area that he and his family could attend.

Clipperton earned his Bachelor’s Degree in History from Saint Paul Bible College (now known as Crown College), in Saint Bonafacious, Minnesota. He then earned his Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems from Metropolitan State University, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Clipperton is a “visionary” and an “industry leader,” said Ralph Oxley, a senior account executive for Gateway Computers. “Ken has a history of keeping projects moving and completed on time, lining up appropriate resources to accomplish tasks and coordination of multiple partners. He has implemented several large scale complicated projects that institutions of similar size wouldn’t normally try to execute.”

Before working at Buena Vista University, Clipperton was the first full-time IT staff hired by Crown College where he oversaw all computing and telecommunications functions.

Clipperton will begin his duties at Midland Lutheran College in August.

Everyone I’ve talked to who has meet Clipperton is excited he’s here. His work at Buena Vista really is pretty cutting-edge and he has a lot of cool ideas for Midland.

Also… I want to be sure to welcome the person who controls my e-mail.

Warrior Wingshooter Beijing Bound

Bret Erickson (Class of ’82) will be making his fourth Olympic appearance this weekend.

As a trapshooter, Erickson is one of the older athletes at 47. Make no mistake, though, International Trap requires lightning fast reflexes, razor-sharp eyesight, and extreme mental focus.

This is not the trap shooting you see at the local gun club. International Trap flings small clay discs at sharp angles across and away from the shooter. Depending on the angle, the trap fly past at speeds up to 70 mph.

For more on the more difficult Olympic version of the game, check out this comparison.

Missing is not an option.

The gold medal in 2004 went to a shooter who broke 149 of 150 clays. It is not uncommon to need a shoot-off to break perfect score ties at the end of three rounds.

Erickson won the national qualifier tournament back in March with a score of 499 broken targets out of 500. That’s two days of high-pressure, high-speed trap shooting… with a single miss.

For a nice read on the Olympic athlete’s journey back to the Games, check out this profile in the Omaha World-Herald.

After these Olympics, Erickson has said he will retire and concentrate on teaching. Check out his shooting school Web site here.

EDITED TO ADD: You can watch Erickson shoot by logging onto NBC’s Olympic Web site on Friday, Aug. 8 and Saturday, Aug. 9. (subject to change).

(Photo courtesy BretErickson.com)

Bookstore Closing for Inventory

Just an FYI from the Warrior Bookstore:

The Warrior Bookstore will be closed Wednesday, July 30, 2008.  We will be in the process of doing Inventory all day.  We will re-open Thursday, July 31, 2008 for regular store hours.

Sorry overachievers, you’ll have to wait until Thursday to get a jump on your reading.