SC Web Site New and Improved

If you haven't surfed by Southwestern College's Web site in the past month or so, it's time for another visit. The college's cyber-presence, www.sckans.edu, has been re-designed and has a fresh new look. Even more important than the look, though, is a new navigation system that should make it even simpler to find your way around.

Web producer Rhett Joy designed the site, which places pages of most interest front and center. Prospective students, alumni, and visitors to the college can find information and news by clicking through such categories as "About SC," "Admission," "News and Events," "Academics," "Professional Studies," and "Alumni." A new search feature is displayed prominently.

Campus audiences (students, faculty, and staff) find scholarship information, cafeteria menus, the daily electronic newsletter and other features through campusNet.

The alumni front page also links to zMoundbuilders.com, Southwestern's alumni portal to the latest news and off-campus information.

Joy continues to update and streamline the site which, when he began the re-design, contained more than 9,000 pages. Terry Quiett, coordinator of the Center for Academic Technology, is in charge of academic pages.

"A Web site is always a work in progress, but I'm hopeful that visitors will be able to find their way around Southwestern College's site in an easy, logical way," Joy adds.

Mark Your Calendar:
Upcoming SC Alumni Events

Technology expert John Kuglin proved to be a popular speaker at an education seminar held in conjunction with Homecoming 2000-and Kuglin returned the compliments to Southwestern.

"John Kuglin speaks all over the nation, but he said he couldn't remember the last time he had been on a campus where he could just walk in to a classroom, plug in his equipment, and be ready to present the seminar," says Victoria White, director of SC's teacher education program.

About 70 educators, high school counselors, and current education students attended the presentations.

"The response from people who attended was so enthusiastic that we're considering having (Kuglin) back again," White adds.

One teacher seconded the opinion: "That was worth leaving my third graders for the day," she said. "I learned so much and I am still trying to process the rest. If you bring him back, I must know about it."

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One million people have participated in Disciple Bible studies, the United Methodist Publishing House has announced. Richard Wilke, bishop in residence at Southwestern College, and his wife, Julia, are co-authors of the popular study. The millionth participant signed up in August. Disciple: Under the Tree of Life is scheduled for release next year. Wilke will present the consecration message for Bishop-elect Robert Solomon during the General Conference of the Methodist Church in Singapore Dec. 8. He will be accompanied by Steve Wilke, vice president for enrollment management at Southwestern, and the two will represent the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry as they visit colleges in Malaysia.

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SC's men's cross country team won its 21st consecutive KCAC title and women finished second during competition in mid-November. As this issue of The Southwesterner went to press, the men's team, Cassie Helmer, and Beth Barbiers were on their way to participate in national championships. For up-to-date information, check the cross country home page at www.sckans.edu.

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Sarah Melcher, Ottawa junior, won first place in her division at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Convention at Kansas State University Oct. 26-28. The convention attracted students from Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Kansas. Melcher is a music education major with a minor in youth ministries. She also is student director for the Keynotes group as it travels to area churches for ministry and music. Brandi Henline, Augusta; Meagan Burns, Newton, and Kristi Weaver, Wichita, also competed.

SC Theatre Joins Forces With Community Theatre in Schoolhouse Rock Live Production

Theatre at Southwestern has taken on an intergenerational twist this year with the involvement of the Winfield Community Theatre. The community theatre is in transition between venues (the Theatre Barn at Winfield's fairgrounds was damaged beyond repair in 1999 floods) and Roger Moon, director of Southwestern's theatre department, has invited them to collaborate on several shows.

The traditional SC students participating in the recent Schoolhouse Rock Live, for instance, got a glimpse of lifetime learning when it comes to exercising creative energies. They worked alongside lawyers, social workers, former school teachers, and homemakers-community members who have been involved with theatre since their youth and continue to stretch their skills.

Also participating in the show were 15 community children, making the age range of cast and crew from five to about 65 years of age.

"On stage, the older people and the kids brought a freshness to what we do here at school," says Megan Burns, a sophomore from Newton who acted and served on the props crew for the show.

"The community theatre folks were so helpful and on-the-ball committed to everything we were doing," she adds. "They were willing to do the extra things. We worked very well as a team. There was no separation between community people and students."

And the whole group kicked up their collective heels on a multicolored Richardson stage to such Saturday morning cartoon favorites as "Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function?" and the "Preamble of the Constitution."

But the intergenerational experience will not stop with Schoolhouse Rock Live.

Also scheduled for collaboration between the college and the community is a December production, Last Stab, five directing scenes done by the Directing II class; a March production, Six Characters in Search of an Author, a serious drama; and an April showing, With and Without, a festival of Becket and others.

"This is a good chance for community theatre members to have an acting challenge in a drama," says Moon. "They can experiment with characters or with sound, with stage design or lighting in a production that is not bound by ticket sales."

Southwestern is a learning community, Moon stresses, and the shows chosen for production here are not necessarily based on what will sell, but are based on what the students can gain from the experience. And this gives community members a chance to gain as well, he says.