My First Post in Iowa Lakes Blog

Hello-- I'm glad you're taking time to read our college blog. Our web page editor "jumped on it" when I barely mentioned that I could write in this blog as one of the faculty/staff from the Emmetsburg, Iowa campus. So, here we go.

This takes me back many moons to when I was writing each week for my high school newspaper. I'm sure our college administration will hope that I don't get as controversial as I did in those days. My high school principal was invited to appear on Good Morning America, because I exposed that he was locking mischievous students in a "slammer" all day. The wire service picked it up from our small town newspaper where the high school page appeared. He, of course, refused to appear on the show, and I, of course, was very disappointed they didn't call me instead. It could have been my ticket to fame and fortune. But, instead. . .

Twenty years of my life have been spent walking these college hallways and usually landing in Room 533. This is where, as of lately, I've spent my days listening to students and student speeches. I find the students and our classroom time to be fascinating, amazing, motivating, often funny, often sad, and always enriching. This is a challenging career and not easy at all if you want to do it well. I want to do it well, so I'm constantly working toward more engaged students, motivated students, and students that are better able to think critically. Besides working with students "on the ground," I also teach public speaking online to students across the state. Yes, it is possible to take public speaking online, and I'll share more of that experience at some point.

The students and I will be traveling down a pathway to informative speeches in the next couple weeks before our break. This week, students will be finding good examples of informative/demonstrative speeches on youtube.com to share with the class. I'll share a few of their favorites with you next week.

Our college leadership changed this past week, in an unexpected turn of events. Change is never easy, but I'm very optimistic about our college future. We have our first ever female president in Val Newhouse, and I believe she is also the first college president to reside in Emmetsburg. She knows our campus faculty and staff well and that should be an asset for all of us and the students. I wish Val the best in this key leadership position.

I was visiting the Iowa Historical Museum in Des Moines this weekend and I found a significant Iowa quotation to use as a closing tonight. It seems important for hope as we look out at our frozen tundra in late February and our national economy.

"The land being fertile, never failed to produce good crops. . . .We always had plenty; our children never cried from hunger, neither were our people in want."

MA-KA-TAI-ME-SHE-KIA-KIAK
Black Hawk Sauk
Autobiography

Cross your fingers, as March should be arriving within a week.

Renee