Fall Awards
Contest for Book Collectors David Ragsdale – English - $250.00
David proposes a contest for book collectors which will promote book appreciation and book collecting among Lone Star College-Kingwood students. Three winners will be announced at the end of a contest in which a student will enter an annotated list of 14 books he or she owns and has collected on a single subject of interest. A one page description of the collection as a whole will be included. Winners will receive a $75 award and have their picture and book collection featured in the library’s display cabinet. Annotations by the winners will be distributed. Framed certificates will be given to the winners; certificates of participation will be given to all applicants. The mini-grant will pay for certificates and the cash awards.
Attendance at TESOL Convention in San Antonio for 3 ESL adjunct faculty Masoud Shafiei – English – Intensive English Program - $1153.00
Masoud has requested grant funds for a professional development opportunity for three ESL adjunct faculty to attend the TESOL Convention in San Antonio from March 30 to April 2, 2005. Ten thousand professionals attend this international conference. The committee felt this is a wonderful way to reward adjunct faculty who will then share new ideas with other ESL adjunct faculty at Masoud’s regularly scheduled ESL training sessions. The department is paying for two additional attendees to this conference. Lone Star College-Kingwood will be well-represented there.
Evans Gully Trail Environmental Tour Cherith Letargo and Betsy Morgan - Geology and Biology - $500
Cherith and Betsy plan to work together at the Evans Gully Trail, accessible from Sorters Road and originally created by Lee Topham using funds from 2 mini-grants. Evans Gully Trail is a two-mile long pristine nature trail that provides an overview of the ecosystems in wetlands, swamps, and fluvial (river) environments. Their goal is to provide self-guided hands-on lessons on the environment to Kingwood and K-12 students. An Outdoor Teaching Center will be introduced to local community residents interested in nature trails, bird watching, or wetland ecosystems. The trail will be cleared, maintained, and activity stations will be marked. Interactive exercises will be included at each station. The committee loved the idea of continuing the Sorters Road project and suggested encouraging Cherith and Betsy to create an ‘audio tour’ at some future date.
Design-a-Thon Jason Ford and Donna Monteferante – Visual Communication - $415
The 2nd Annual Design-a-Thon, which provides students with real world experience and service learning credit, will once again be supported by the mini-grant. While this grant money Is generally considered ‘seed money’ for new projects, the committee felt that the success of this project last year warranted one more year of support. Graphics students participate in a 12 hour design-a-thon by providing free graphic design services, i.e. logos, brochures, flyers, for local area non-profit organizations. Because of the overwhelming number of non-profit organizational requests for Design-a-Thon services this year, Jason and Donna are expanding the event so that a second class will participate. The grant will provide specially designed tee shirts and food to keep these busy students fortified.
Blankets for the Homeless Franklin Emeka – Sociology - $200
Franklin has already collected over sixty blankets (please donate) for the homeless in our community. The students in his class will gain a real-life experience when they deliver the blankets directly to the homeless. Franklin hopes to integrate practical experience with theoretical concepts. He is a true believer in, “Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand.” The mini-grant funding will pay for lunch for this group of volunteers on delivery day, and what stimulating lunch conversation we anticipate!
Art Car Mari Omori and JoAnn Szabo - Art and Night Administrator - $1150
Mari and JoAnn are working together to create an art car. Working in collaboration with the art students, art club members, and other interested student groups, they will direct the design and creation of a Lone Star College-Kingwood Art Car to help promote awareness of the college in the community at large. After its creation, the art car (which has already been donated) can be used in parades, campus festivals, sports events, and in other events to promote college awareness. Mari and JoAnn already have several volunteers and ‘in-kind’ donations to make this a real success.
Training for Developmental Studies Faculty Dahlia Khalaf – Developmental Studies English - $550
In an ongoing effort to improve student success, Dahlia, DS English coordinator, is organizing a strong training program for all Developmental Studies faculty. Monthly daytime and evening sessions will focus on grading procedures, teaching and learning research, and common assessment. Mini-grant funds will pay for supplies, printing, refreshments, training, and incidental experiences related to this effort.
Math Advantage 2005 Janis Terry and the Learning Center Tutors - $320
Janis and the tutors have found and tested a supplemental software that includes math skill practice for Pre-Algebra, Algebra I and II, Geometry, Trig, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Statistics, Real World Math, and Business Math. The mini-grant will pay for this software (Math Advantage 2005) to be installed on 8 computers in the lab. The math tutors will review the modules and link them to the textbooks. Students will be encouraged by the tutors to complete identified modules. This inexpensive product, if as successful as we predict, could be licensed for remote access by students at a future time. The committee considers this to be excellent use of seed money via the mini-grant.
Kid Care Frances Andrews and Carol Abbott – Community Education - $750
Frances and Carol turned in two grants, each requesting funding to modernize the Lone Star College-Kingwood Kid Care Program room and to create an attractive and safe place for the children who attend. Terry Sawma has agreed to match funds for this project. Requests included ideas like murals, painting, furniture, flooring, creating project stations, and storage. The committee is rewarding a part of the request to be spent in any way deemed best by the applicants. We hope this will provide a good beginning on a needed renovation.
Rock and Roll Steve Davis – History - $300
Steve brought Kathleen Hudson, Professor of English at Schreiner University in Kerrville, to speak on Townes Van Zandt, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Tish Hinojosa in his Rock and Roll History class and, additionally, for faculty and staff during lunch. Kathleen’s book, Telling Stories, Writing Songs: An Album of Texas Songwriters, was published by UT Press in 2001. It is based upon dozens of interviews with figures like Marcia Ball, Willie Nelson, James (and Larry) McMurtry, Guy Clark, and Lyle Lovett. Kathleen has a current contract with UT Press to do a book on women in Texas music. She is executive director of Kerrville’s Texas Heritage Music Foundation which does an annual living history day in that town and also helps keep alive the memory of Jimmie Rodgers, the famed “blue yodeler” and Father of Country Music who lived in the Kerrville in the early 1930s. Steve’s popular classes especially enjoy meeting an expert in the field. This would have been impossible without mini-grant funding.
Spring Awards
Science Self-Study Resources in the Library - Jan Benjamin, Brian Shmaefsky, Jimmi Rushing, and Anne McGittigan - $400
This grant will provide additional access to microscopes and slides for Anatomy & Physiology, General Biology, and Microbiology students. The library will house purchased microscopes, slides, and charts for in-house check out. Because of the additional hours the library is open, this plan offers greater access to students. Future purchases are planned.
Design-a-thon - Jason Ford and Donna Monteferante - $250
This project will provide Kingwood Visual Communication students an opportunity to get ‘real world experience’ and service learning credits by offering area non-profits FREE graphic design services. Ten or twelve students will participate in this one day Design-a-Thon, lasting from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The grant will help provide food for the students. Jason and Donna are hoping this will be an annual event. Jason reports that six non-profit organization have already signed on to have flyers, brochures, logos, posters, and even a CD cover created.
20th Anniversary of Lone Star College-Kingwood Oral History - Peggy Lambert - $750
This grant will pay for a Web Designer to coordinate and create a website to house the oral history interviews of Peggy’s History 1302 Honors class. In this Service Learning project, students will interview founding faculty, administrators, and staff members of Lone Star College-Kingwood. Results will include a written document and a website containing interviews and photographs. Students will interview as wells as consult on layout, graphics, and web development. This project gives students an opportunity to act as historians and will lead to a greater appreciation of the history of Lone Star College-Kingwood. Several interviews have been completed.
Children’s Art Series - David Ragsdale, the Visual and Performing Arts Department, and the English Faculty - $500
The money for this grant will help buy supplies and food for participants in The Children’s Art Series. Elementary and middle school children will participate in a musical performance, hands-on art projects, an Interior Design session called I Hate My Room, and more. The group’s primary goal is to enrich the minds of the children who participate by demonstrating and offering hands-on opportunities in the visual and performing arts. A long term goal is to promote the artistic offerings and reputation of Lone Star College-Kingwood. David and group want to ‘plant the informational seed’ about how diverse the college programs are.