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Choir Heads for Carnegie Hall

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Of course you know the traditional response to this old joke—practice, practice, practice. But for Southwestern College students, alumni, and friends, there’s a new response.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Join the SC A Cappella Choir there on stage in March 2005.

David Gardner, director of choral music at SC, has been invited to direct a massed choir and orchestra performance at the famed New York concert hall in less than a year, and Southwestern’s A Cappella Choir will be part of the 180-voice choir. Alumni and friends also are encouraged to participate in the New York experience.

This will be Gardner’s second appearance on the Carnegie Hall stage recently—in May 2003 the musical group Gardner directed in Tucson (the Tucson Masterworks Chorale) was invited to be part of a larger group directed by Almeda Berkey.

“I enjoyed that so much that I immediately got in contact with organizers at Carnegie Hall and said I would like to be invited back, this time as the conductor,” Gardner explains.

In December, he received that official invitation.

A choir made up of the SC A Cappella Choir, SC alumni and friends of the colleges, and other groups (probably from other colleges and perhaps area high schools) will spend five days and four nights in New York City, rehearsing with the New England Symphonic Ensemble and performing a 30-minute concert.

“One of the things that’s fun about this experience is that there is time to do some sight-seeing and go to shows in New York,” Gardner adds.

Music to be performed probably will be a major classical work, but there might be time for one shorter piece, Gardner says—possibly the “Beautiful Savior” that has ended SC’s choral concerts for decades.

Now the music department and the institutional advancement office have moved into full gear raising funds for the trip. The goal, which would allow each student to be fully supported, is to raise $60,000.

For more information on the trip, contact Gardner at Southwestern, (620) 229-6302, or dgardner@sckans.edu.


Here Today ---

Gone Today

They stood for 94 years but were gone in less than six hours. Demolition of Southwestern’s beloved 77 Steps began and ended on May 18 as the Heart of the Hill project began to take shape.

The new 77 are expected to be in use when fall classes begin and will be dedicated at Homecoming ‘04. See pictures of the construction progress on the Southwestern College Web site, www.sckans.edu.

 


SIFE Team Wins at Regional Competition

The Southwestern College SIFE team matched its educational outreach projects against other SIFE teams at the 2004 Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Regional Competition and Career Opportunity Fair April 8 in New Orleans, and came home with two of the top awards—Rookie of the Year, and Regional First Runner-Up.

“The experience in New Orleans was enlightening to the team and to me,” says Michael Wood, assistant professor of business and finance and SIFE sponsor. “The competition was stiff and very professional and the projects presented were amazingly effective. Our team met the challenge, however.”

Founded in 1975, Students In Free Enterprise is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with businesses and higher education and is active on more than 1,500 college and university campuses in 37 countries. SIFE encourages students to take what they are learning in the classroom and apply this knowledge to real-life situations, using their expertise to better their communities through educational outreach projects. Southwestern SIFE did this by teaming with the internal revenue service (IRS) in preparing and filing tax returns for lower income, disabled, and elderly individuals; by conducting an entrepreneurship workshop at Winfield High School; by leading seminars on financial planning, and other activities.

At competition, teams are judged on how well their projects taught others the principles of free enterprise.

Wood serves as advisor for the Southwestern SIFE team and was named a Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellow in recognition of his leadership and support of the SIFE program at Southwestern


Professional Studies to Mark 10 Years in August

A decade of degree completion at Southwestern College will be celebrated Thursday, Aug. 26, with the 10th anniversary gala of the Winfield Professional Studies program. The Winfield Downtown Center opened in 1994, and has been the longest-running off-campus center for SC education. Four centers now are in operation—the other three are located in Wichita on the East Side, on the West Side, and at McConnell Air Force Base.

Professional studies alumni and current students are encouraged to attend the come-and-go-social beginning at 5 p.m. Aug. 26. Those who wish to participate will then be part of the Moundbuilding ceremony on campus.


Two to Retire in July
     
  Mary Blake, executive assistant to the president, has assisted three different presidents during her 20 years at SC. She was hired on a part-time basis in 1984 to work in public relations and publications, later becoming full-time office manager of the Investing in Leadership campaign, and moving to the president's office in 1988.   Greg Zuck, library director since 1987, has been on the leading edge of Southwestern's technological advancement. He is credited with founding the CowlNet library consortium, and introduced wireless access in Memorial Library well before the remainder of the campus went wireless.  


Little Builders Preschool Achieves National Accreditation

The Little Builders Preschool at Southwestern College has been accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the nation’s leading organization of early childhood professionals.

SC Little Builders Preschool LogoEstablished as a laboratory experience for the college’s early childhood education students, the preschool is located adjacent to the Center for Teaching Excellence.

“Accreditation by the NAEYC enhances the quality of the program for the children,” explains Shawn Neises, assistant professor of education and director of the early childhood education program. “Parents appreciate being able to place their children in a center where they know they’re being cared for under the highest standards.”

The accreditation process began in late 2000 and was granted following a lengthy self-study and a site visit by NAEYC representatives. A grant from the Ronald McDonald Foundation helped the college improve technology in the preschool, and a grant from the Kansas SRS led to quality enhancement including expanded educational playground equipment.

NAEYC created its accreditation program in 1985 to set professional standards for early childhood education, and to help families identify high-quality child care and early education programs. Programs are accredited by NAEYC for a five-year period.