Submitted by
Dee Loflin, SMT Manager/Editor
Poplar Bluff, Missouri - Three Rivers College, as part of the Missouri Community College Association (MCCA), signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Missouri on Wednesday, Oct. 9 establishing a partnership to provide Internet connectivity access to community college graduates who enroll in courses and degree programs through Mizzou Online.
In the agreement, each MCCA community college agrees to furnish, as needed, Internet connectivity through designated campus computer stations as a free and secure access point for Mizzou Online students. Use of these work stations are limited to associate degree graduates of the respective community colleges who enroll in Mizzou Online courses.
“Using technology and building partnerships to make high-quality, affordable higher education available to our service area is one of Three Rivers’ highest priorities,” said Dr. Devin Stephenson, president of Three Rivers College and chair-elect of the MCCA Presidents and Chancellors Council. “This agreement will make it easier for anyone who graduates from Three Rivers, or any of the MCCA member institutions, to get their bachelor’s degree in the field of their choice while still staying close to home.”
The purpose of the partnership is to expand the availability of distance education courses and degree offerings across Missouri so more citizens may earn associate and bachelor’s degrees while continuing to live and work in each MCCA community college’s service region.
“MU is proud of its tradition as a land-grant university of providing bachelor’s degrees and beyond to Missourians who thrive in the fast-changing technology-driven environment of the 21st century,” MU Provost Brian Foster said. “This partnership takes this tradition forward in an important way and reflects these institutions’ opportunity to expand and strengthen options for Missourians.”
MU will not compete with the respective community colleges when it comes to lower-division general education and prerequisite courses in a student’s major. Students who are deficient in those courses will be encouraged to first complete those at the sending community college.
“Part of our heritage at MU is to serve the state of Missouri by making higher education accessible to citizens across the state,” said Jim Spain, vice provost for undergraduate studies and interim vice provost for eLearning. “Our distance education programs were designed to meet the needs of individual students who face unique situations that prevent them from coming to our campus to study. Mizzou is proud to collaborate with the MCCA institutions to support their graduates who are interested in furthering their college education.”
“Mizzou is pleased to partner with the community colleges of Missouri and assist their graduates in pursuing a bachelor’s degree from Mizzou Online,” said Terry Barnes, assistant to the provost for community college partnerships. “At Mizzou, we have chosen to expand and strengthen our degree programs which provide high-quality accessible opportunities that truly will improve the lives of the citizens in the communities served by these institutions.”
Several active transfer and articulation agreements that facilitate the transfer of Three Rivers graduates to Mizzou Online courses and degree programs are already in place. Mizzou Online offers more than 90 University of Missouri undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates.
“It is exciting for MU and the institutions of the MCCA to combine resources to better support these students interested in advancing their education,” said Mizzou Online Co-Director Gera Burton. “The exciting outcome is the opportunity these students will have to utilize their degrees to advance professionally.”
Member institutions of the MCCA are Crowder College (Neosho), East Central College (Union), Jefferson College (Hillsboro), Metropolitan Community College (Kansas City), Mineral Area College (Park Hills), Moberly Area Community College (Moberly), North Central Missouri College (Trenton), Ozarks Technical Community College (Springfield), St. Charles Community College (St. Peters), St. Louis Community College (St. Louis), State Fair Community College (Sedalia) and Three Rivers College (Poplar Bluff).
Three Rivers College is committed to contributing to the quality of life in Southeast Missouri with quality, affordable higher education opportunities and community services that support and encourage the economic, civic, and cultural vitality of the region. For more information about college and workforce programs and upcoming events, visit trcc.edu.
Submitted by Jill Temples
SMT Writer
The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation supports over 1,400 college students each year, with annual scholarships of $3.45 million, through two nationally recognized programs. With the 25th class in 2013, the Foundation has provided over 5,250 Coca-Cola Scholars with more than $51 million.
The Coca-Cola Scholars Program Scholarship is an achievement-based scholarship awarded to graduating high school seniors each year. Students are recognized for their capacity to lead and serve, and their commitment to making a significant impact on their schools and communities.
Applicants must be:
-Current high school (or home-schooled) seniors attending school in the United States (or select DoD schools);
-U.S. Citizens; U.S. Nationals; U.S. Permanent Residents; Refugees; Asylees; Cuban-Haitian Entrants; or Humanitarian Parolees;
-Anticipating completion of high school diploma at the time of application;
-Planning to pursue a degree at an accredited U.S. post-secondary institution;
-Carrying a minimum 3.00 GPA at the end of their junior year of high school.
CCSF awards funding through three scholarship programs each year:
Coca-Cola Scholars Scholarship – High school seniors with a minimum 3.0 unweighted GPA may apply on our website in August of their senior year until the October 31 deadline.
Coca-Cola Community College Academic Team – Fifty Gold $1,500, fifty Silver $1,250, and fifty Bronze $1,000 scholarships. Current students at two-year community colleges may apply between October 1 and December 2. This scholarship is administered by Phi Theta Kappa, and application details can be found on their website, www.ptk.org.
Coca-Cola Leaders of Promise – 180 scholarships of $1,000. Current students at two-year community colleges may apply between February 27 and April 30. This scholarship is administered by Phi Theta Kappa, and application details can be found on their website, www.ptk.org.
How to apply for the Coca-Cola Scholars Scholarship: An initial application becomes available on our website in August each year. If you are at that time high school senior with at least a 3.0 GPA, you may apply by completing the online application by the October 31 deadline. The application asks for you to list your grades, school and community activities, and employment, but no essays or additional materials are required. How can the scholarship be used? This scholarship is unique in that recipients have between 4-6 years to use their full award and may opt to defer all or part of the award within that 6 year time-frame. In addition to using funds for tuition at an accredited college or university, Scholars may also use their funds for other educational expenses, such as on-campus housing, a computer, and textbooks. For more information or to apply online visit the scholarship website: http://www.coca-colascholarsfoundation.org/applicants/#programs
Submitted by Jill Temples
SMT Writer
The College HELP Scholarship is a scholarly competition for college students based on things they should know before they graduate college. As the title suggests, the Higher Education Life Preparation scholarship prepares college students for life after they graduate. The quiz topics are based on important facts such as finance, careers, etc.
To be eligible for this scholarship you must be a United States college or university student.
Awards
1st place on Career Fact Quiz - $500 scholarship
1st place on Financial Fact Quiz - $500 scholarship
How it Works
Participants must register with CKSF to take the scholarship quizzes. The Challenge Round quiz runs twice a year, September through December and January through April. A new quiz begins during the first week of every month. Scores from each quiz are added together for each participant and the top 25% of scorers will advance to the Championship Round. The highest scoring student from the Championship Round will receive a $500 scholarship.
Quiz Dates:
Career Facts
Quiz 1: 09/01/2013 - 12/15/2013 - Careers and Majors
Quiz 2: 10/06/2013 - 12/15/2013 - Job Search
Quiz 3: 11/03/2013 - 12/15/2013 - Professional Protocol
Quiz 4: 12/01/2013 - 12/15/2013 - Combination Quiz
Top 25% of scorers advance to the Championship Round
Championship Round: 12/18/2013- 12/20/2013
Financial Facts
Quiz 1: 01/05/2014- 04/20/2014 - Benefits and Taxes
Quiz 2: 02/02/2014 - 04/20/2014 - Personal Finance
Quiz 3: 03/02/2014 - 04/20/2014 - Credit and Loans
Quiz 4: 04/06/2014 - 4/20/2014 - Combination Quiz
Top 25% of scorers advance to the Championship Round
Championship Round: 04/23/2014 - 04/25/2014
Quiz Details
To participate, you must register with the Common Knowledge Scholarship Foundation at http://www.cksf.org/. For all CKSF scholarship quizzes, 500 points are awarded for each correct answer and one point is deducted for each second taken to complete a question. Results are available immediately to each participant and the overall ranking is available within three hours under the "Results" tab.
Essex, Missouri – This week already marks the end of the First Quarter, wow! Since it is a new month, the new Student of the Month for October has been chosen. The nominees for the Elementary School were: John Siebert, Nathan Elles, Ashland Wheeler, Sophie Pearce, Kamryn Rice, Jayden Robinson, and Kylee Rich, but the overall winner was Ciara Barber. Congratulations! The Student of the Month and all the nominees will be treated to a special lunch on October 23rd. Good job Richland Elementary and keep up the good work and good grades!
Here are some dates that the Elementary students and parents should remember for this month!
October 9th – Open Library will be held in the library. Be sure to check out some great AR books tomorrow night!
October 9th – Tomorrow is also picture re-takes. Please call the elementary office if any order forms are needed.
October 11th – Marks the end of the First Quarter.
October 11th – Field trip to the Malden Bootheel Youth Museum, grades Kindergarten through second. Be sure to turn in permission slips!
October 14th – There will be a Science Club meeting for grades third through fifth. Help kick off the brand new club and discuss their multiple fun activities taking place this year!
October 15th – Junior High Basketball is well on its way and they will be playing Leopold at home.
October 16th – Field trip to Beggs Family Farm for grades third through sixth.
October 17th – ½ day of school due to Parent/Teacher Conferences. Teachers will send out more information regarding the conferences throughout this week so that sessions can be scheduled accordingly.
October 18th – No school! Have fun on your Fall Break.
There will also be a correction on the October Breakfast Menu that was recently passed out. October 28th is listed as a No School Day, but the correction date is October 18th! Corrected Breakfast Menus should be passed out later this week. Sorry for any misunderstandings.
Student Health Screenings for grades Kindergarten through third grade, fifth grade, seventh grade, ninth grade, and eleventh grade are scheduled for October 8th through 10th. Notes were sent home with the students last Wednesday, but please feel free to contact the school nurse if you have any questions.
Each month the elementary will be holding a contest to determine which class is spending the most time reading and/or passing tests on our new MyON reading program. The winning class for the month of September was the sixth grade. They will get a popcorn party for their hardwork.
Thanks to the Richland PTO for providing supplies to our classroom teachers! We appreciate all their support. And thank you to all the students and the CTA for collecting Box Tops! CTA donated all the proceeds to help pay for our new playground. Since May 2013, $462 has been collected. Great job, Rebels!
For the Junior High and High School News:
October 9th – Picture re-take day and senior composite pictures. Seniors must dress in either black, white, or red and must bring a $10 sitting fee if they wish to have their picture taken. Senior composites will be the pictures used in the 2013-2014 yearbook and will be hung on the wall later this year.
October 11th – Marks the end of the First Quarter.
October 12th – Junior High and High School bands will compete in the Charleston Parade.
October 12th – Both bands and FBLA will be attending Six Flags directly after the parade. See Mr. Carter or Mrs. Duley for more information or permission slips.
October 17th – The Great Shakeout
October 17th – Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held. More information will be given out to the students as the date gets closer.
October 17th – ½ Day, students will be released early at 12:00.
October 18th – No School! (Students enrolled in college classes are encouraged to attend their morning classes due to TRCC being in session).
October 24th – Sikeston Career and College Fair. Permission slips should be turned in soon, if you do not have a permission slip, you can visit the high school office.
October 31st – School-wide Balloon Launch and another ½ Day with an early release at 12:00.
Cape Girardeau, Missouri - Local high school journalists, photographers, and editors just had the chance to experience an event of a lifetime last week at the Southeast Missouri Student Press Association (SEMSPA) workshop. The SEMSPA executives teamed up with Jostens, our local high schools’ yearbook publishers, to create an event that students will remember for the rest of their lifetime.
Multiple Stoddard County schools, including Dexter, Richland, and Puxico, travelled to Cape Girardeau and attended this special workshop on the University of Southeast Missouri campus. Students got great advice from the SEMSPA leaders, photographers, journalists, and editors that have worked in the media field for multiple years. Students got the chance to talk to these great people and got to go to sessions to help further their knowledge with their media classes at school, including yearbook and journalism.
The guest speaker for this event was Aaron Manfull, who travelled all the way from St. Louis to meet with the students late last week. Manfull is a current JEA Digital Media Chair, director of STL Media Now, won the National DJNF Journalism Teacher of the Year Award, and is currently the Francis Howell North Journalism supervisor and business teacher. Manfull was an excellent speaker and gave advice to not only the students, but the teachers and directors as well. Manfull oversaw the publication and designing of Francis Howell North’s yearbooks for multiple years, but his most recent (2011-2012) yearbook just won the title as the best yearbook for both the state level and the national level.
Students and teachers learned so much from Manfull’s presentation and many joined him afterwards for more advice on how to make their yearbooks better. Young yearbook students and journalists also got the opportunity to attend “Breakout Sessions” throughout the workshop. There were a large number of students who attended these breakout sessions and reported back to their teachers eagerly with their new information from their Photo Shop class, photography class, designing class, or journalism class.
Our local students also got the chance to sit down face to face with the Jostens advisors and create the cover of this year’s yearbook.
“It was a great opportunity to see the students excited about it,” Richland’s yearbook adviser Kyle Carter explained. “Jostens sat down at the table with us, we threw our ideas out at them, and they created a phenomenal cover that our Rebels will love when they get their books next August.”
The local high school newspapers and yearbook students are ready to go with their new knowledge. They will be attending more workshops throughout the year to better their writing and photography skills so they can make both their newspapers and yearbooks the best that they can be!
