Et Cetera

By: Kelsey Nunn Spruce 1 was sent to Colts Neck, New Jersey to assist FEMA Region 2’s Closeout Processing Center (CPC) back in December 2014. They have spent the last 14 weeks helping FEMA closeout projects from Hurricane Sandy and other declared disasters. FEMA Corps member, Matthew Atteberry states, “Similar to our first round, Spruce 1 has been aiding FEMA Region 2 with the closeout process.

By: Christina Wilbert & Katherine Radam Hickory 3 has spent the last few months serving with FEMA in Arlington, Virginia. As they are wrapping up their project the team has begun to reflect on what they have accomplished. One highlight was their Martin Luther King Day of service on January 19. On this day Hickory 3 distributed emergency preparedness kits to a neighborhood in Arlington.

  March 2, 2015    The Vinton Garden Club, member of National Garden Clubs, Inc., District II and Central Region met at 1:00 pm at the home of Sharen Stueck for the February 25, 2015 meeting, which was postponed to March 2 due to snowstorm.  The program was on “Saving Our Wildlife and Native Wild Flowers,” speaker was Jason Gritsch, a Benton County DNR Private Lands Technician.

Samantha Wenndt, a sophomore from Keystone, Iowa (52249), was one of thirteen students from Iowa State to be selected to work for Precision Meetings and Events Inc. to help with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. March 1-3. Wenndt is studying event management in apparel, events, and hospitality management within the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State University.

Riley Ries of Vinton, has been accepted to Ashland University for the fall semester of 2015 and will receive the President's Scholarship for $11,000 annually to attend Ashland. Ries is a senior at Vinton-Shellsburg High School. Ashland University, which has been ranked in the top 200 colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report's National Universities category, is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.

The North Eden Willing Workers 4-H club gathered at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Vinton, on Monday, February 2nd at 5:30 PM. Committee Meetings were held before starting at 3:10 PM. to discuss and new business that committee would need to share to the club. The meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and the 4-H pledge. This was followed by the Roll Call which was, “ Name your favorite red food.

Marissa Brandt of Center Point and 21 other Central College students are setting a record. They’re filling the labs with Central’s largest-ever number of chemistry researchers, says professor of chemistry Cathy Haustein. Brandt, a chemistry major, has been working with visiting assistant professor of chemistry James Dunne to use chromium lignins to create useful chemicals.

Jenna Schade, a native of Walker, IA, was named to the University of Iowa President's List for the 2014 fall semester. The President's List was established in the fall of 1983 to recognize academic excellence. In order to be included on the list, a student must have a minimum 4.0 grade point average (4.0 is an A) in all academic subjects for the preceding two semesters, with a total of at least 12 semester hours of credit per semester during that period.

 Students from your area received a degree from the University of Iowa at the close of the fall 2014 semester. Those students include: Kelsie Kithcart of Atkins BBA-Marketing Caleb Kimm of Keystone  BS-Human Physiology Dylan Vaughan of Newhall  BFA-Art Rachel Blake of Shellsburg BA-Political Science Brian Bertram of Urbana  BLS Approximately 1,300 degrees were awarded at the end of the semester.

Tristan Ingalls of Van Horne (52346) has been admitted to Cornell College for the 2015-2016 academic year. One of the 40 "Colleges That Change Lives," Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, is a national liberal arts college with a distinctive One Course At A Time curriculum. The One Course schedule provides students the chance to dive into their studies, focus more intensely on the disciplines of their choice, and learn authentically with the unique freedom to shed the confines of the traditional classroom to study off-campus, pursue research, or accept an internship--all without missing out on other classes.