Et Cetera

  Name: Amanda Skalicky Hometown: Paynesville, Minnesota   Amanda is serving her second year in NCCC as the Class 18 Oak Support Team Leader at the Vinton campus in Iowa. As a Unit Support Team Leader she will be assisting Unit Leader Fritz Noren with supporting the seven Oak teams and leading teams in the field as needed.

Name: Paolo Baltar Hometown: Sunnyvale, California   Paolo is serving with the Vinton campus as the Class 18 Operations Support Team Leader where he is assisting Support Services Specialist John England with supporting teams with uniforms, tools and other supplies as well as leading teams when needed. As a Team Leader, Paolo hopes to learn a great deal from the experiences and challenges he faces while in NCCC.

  Name: Rachel Lebeaux Hometown: Merrick, New York   Rachel served as a Corps Member of Maple 5 at the Vinton campus as part of Class 17 in 2011. Rachel is serving a second year with AmeriCorps NCCC as the Community Relations Support Team Leader at the Vinton campus where she will be assisting with recruitment and media outreach in addition to leading teams when needed.

  At its Jan 5 meeting the Center Point Friends of the Library reviewed the Barnes & Noble Bookfair they had in December and decided to sign up for Easter and Christmas 2012 Bookfairs. Library patrons and the kindness of strangers and Barnes & Noble helped Friends have a successful fund raiser for the Library. (Final figures aren’t yet in for the Dec.

    Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Universityof Nebraskawill be teaming up to offer a Feedlot Roundtable session at Manchester, Nashua, and Garner on Feb. 14 from 12:45-4 pm. The feedlot roundtable sessions are conducted annually in Nebraskafor feedlot operators and agribusiness interest.  Through a cooperating agreement between ISU Extension and Universityof Nebraska Extensionto share livestock educational resources and programs and the benefit of technology the roundtables will be offered at three Iowalocations this year.

  Feb. 7 - Postville Vet Clinic, noon to 4 pm Feb. 9 -Jackson County Extension, noon to 4 pm Discussion Topics - Introduction, why retain heifers in 2012?   Heifer development recommendations Health protocols, pelvic measurements and reproductive scoring Ration recommendations, heifer development budgets Ultrasound fetal examination demonstration Good AI practices and synchronization recommendations Reducing calving difficulty with proven calving ease sires Question and answer There will be a meal served at each site Sponsors – Iowa Beef Center/ISU Extension and Outreach          IowaCattlemen’s Association Postville Vet Clinic                                                      Maquoketa Embryos ABS Global                                                                  Accelerated Genetics    Genex Cooperative                                                      Select Sires Land of Lakes/Purina   Registration fee - $15 payable at the door (please pre-register by Feb 1 for arrangements) To pre-register contact Denise Schwab 319-721-9624, or e-mail dschwab@iastate.

  By: Angela Sarrels   Name: Amanda Trontell Hometown: Pueblo, Colorado   Amanda served as a Corps Member at the Perry Point campus as part of Class 16 in 2010. Amanda is serving a second year with AmeriCorps NCCC as a team leader at the Vinton campus. Amanda chose to serve with NCCC because while volunteering for All Hands Volunteers, she had the privilege of interacting with an AmeriCorps NCCC team from Perry Point.

  Name: Monica Hodges Hometown: Seattle, Washington   Monica is serving a second year with AmeriCorps NCCC. She was a Corps Member last year at the Vinton campus. She enjoyed her year so much she decided to apply to be a Team Leader because of the challenge it would present and the additional skills she would gain in a leadership position.

    Class 18 Team Leaders began arriving last Wednesday in Vinton. The campus welcomed six Support Team Leaders on Wednesday, January 4 and 21 Field Team Leaders arrive today. For the next four weeks the 27 Team Leaders are going through an intense training to prepare them to lead a team of 10-12 Corps Members for 10 months. They are participating in trainings such as supervisory training, financial management, campus policies, media training, nutrition and cooking, role of the Team Leader just to name a few.

  State Treasurer Michael L. Fitzgerald announced today that the deduction amount for College Savings Iowa has once again been raised. "Iowa taxpayers can now deduct the first $2,975 they contribute to each College Savings Iowa beneficiary account from their state taxable income," said Fitzgerald. "This means that a married couple with two children will be able to deduct up to $11,900 in contributions on their 2012 state taxes.