Wanted: Student contributions
Submissions for the next issue due
DECEMBER 18, 2009.
Send your contribution ASAP to
student.government@davenport.edu
Are you winning awards? Working on a cool project?
Helping your community? Let students hear about what
you and your student organizations are doing!
The Student Government Newsletter welcomes
articles of interest to all students of Davenport
University. The newsletter will be published monthly
and will be available at all of the campuses.
Benjamin Brewer, a student at the Lettinga Campus,
will be serving as Editor-in-Chief. Natalie Wagner,
Executive Director of Student Life, is the staff adviser,
and Charmayne Mulligan, English professor, is the
faculty adviser for the newsletter.
Student Government is a student organization
designed to allow students from all campuses to have a
voice in the governance of the University.
Join our portal group! Login to your Davenportal,
scroll down and look for the Group Studio Activity
Channel and click "View All Groups."
On the next page, click on the Groups Index tab and
go into the Academic Folder. Scroll down and click on
the "Student Government Group.” On the Student
Government homepage, look on the right hand side and
click on the Panther Press Newsletter link. In the next
window click on the “join group” button.
Panther Press
December 2009
CEO Elevator Pitch Competition
The recently formed Collegiate Entrepreneurs
Organization (CEO) just held their first Elevator Pitch
Competition. In an elevator pitch competition,
participants are given 90 seconds to present their
business idea to investors.
Every entrepreneur must develop a strong business
pitch, and pitch competitions are great practice for the
real world. In the case of our competition, students
were presenting to a panel of five judges comprised of
local CEOs and faculty members, who had prize
money to “invest.”
After the first round of 90 second pitches, the top
five participants were called back to answer 3 minutes
of questions from the judges. The pitches covered a
variety of different businesses, but all of the
participants brought viable, creative, and interesting
ideas.
The top three pitches were awarded prize money to
invest in their business with no strings attached. The
winner of the competition was Helena Stieg, whose
pitch of Marcell Helene earned her the $1,000 top
prize. The $500 second prize was awarded to Matt
DeYoung for his real estate investment business. Josh
Fuhr won the third prize of $250 with his internet
marketing pitch.
The Winning Pitch
Women want to look good
and feel good about
themselves. Marcell Helene
is a business that focuses
on teaching women how to
style their hair, apply
makeup, and enhance their
individual features.
Training customers
through hands-on classes
will allow them to know
what types of styles,
products, and tools work
the best for them
specifically. Through
creative fun classes women
will be able to pamper
themselves at an
affordable cost. Marcell
Helene makes women
confident and happy with
their appearance.
RSO Profile
Student Activities Committee (SAC) is a Registered Student
Organization (RSO) on Davenport University’s Campus. SAC’s
purpose is to employ positive attitudes and engagement of the
students on campus.
To do this, SAC hosts events and programs that give students an
opportunity to get involved outside of the classroom, while making
connections with other students. SAC focuses on boosting the
college experience of individuals and building a positive Davenport
community. SAC continually encourages individuals to join the
committee, bringing their ideas and thoughts on how to better
Davenport University.
There is always a need for more input and direction to enhance
each student’s experience on campus. SAC opens up the door to
anyone that has an interest or desire to be part of an
organization that is bettering the community of Davenport
University. If you are interested in joining, please contact Janel
Elenbaas at jelenbaas5@email.davenport.edu.
By Janel Elenbaas
Executive Board
Marketing
Janel Elenbaas
Finance
Kyle Holstege
Pictured from left: Matt DeYoung, Josh Fuhr, Helena Stieg, Judge Christopher Anbari,
Dean Kojo Quartey, Associate Dean Frank Novakowski
Administrative
Tim Sepanik
Front Cover - CEO Elevator Pitch
Competition
Page 1 - Dining Hall and Global
Student Organization
- Helena Stieg
SAVE THE DATE
Table of Contents
Membership
Jerome Jayapal
By Josh Fuhr
Page 2 - Shall We Dance?
Back Cover - Spirit Store and Student
Activities Committee
Spirit Week,
January 18-22,
2010
Dining in South Hall
Come eat at the Dining Hall located
in the South Hall! The service there is
awesome, and the staff is nice and
works hard. A variety of foods are
served.
The cashiers greet each customer
professionally and the servers make
sure every customer is satisfied. The
varieties of foods include Home-style,
Oriental Cuisine and All American.
The “buffet style” food area allows
everyone to eat to their heart’s desire.
The menu changes every day, so there
is always something good.
There are also plenty of desserts
offered in the dining hall. The
delicious soft serve ice cream is one of
the most popular options. Otherwise,
there are different kinds of cookies,
cakes, and with the holidays just
around the corner, pies.
Working in the dining hall is a
wonderful experience. Many
customers have said the food was
great and are always looking for more
variety. The most common first
impression of the dining hall was that
it looked like the Mystery Machine on
the TV show Scooby Doo. So, if you
never have been to the dining hall,
come try it out. It will be the best
dining experience on campus.
Food Area (Above)
Kitchen (Left)
Shall We Dance?
In an effort to bring exciting, out-of-class activities to
Davenport University’s students, faculty, and staff, as well as
its members, the Global Student Organization (GSO)
launched the first session, in a series of eight, of its unique
Dance Lessons Program.
On Friday, November 13, 2009, at Davenport’s Lettinga
Campus in the Student Center, instructor Jackie Davila, with
the assistance of DU’s Dance Coach, Loren Huggett, taught
participants the first class in Merengue, a Latin Dance.
The Dance Lessons Program is the very first program for
the 2009/10 academic year, which was executed by GSO’s
current management team. All the team members were
extremely enthusiastic in preparing for the event and were
eagerly awaiting the actual results. GSO had anticipated 20
participants for the first session, but the actual number
jumped to almost 30 participants.
Throughout the first session, the happiness was clearly
visible on the faces of every GSO management team member
simply because they saw plenty of smiles on participants’
faces from the beginning until the very end. In a direct
interview with a dozen participants at the end of the first
session, each participant stated that they had a good time
and expected to attend future sessions for Salsa and Bachata. Instructor Jackie Davila (right): “Dancing is a
Whether you dance for fun, exercise, to network, or to
hobby that I hold dear to my heart.”
enrich your aesthetic skills, it is always good to attend GSO’s
dance classes. Let’s dance together!
GSO Dance Lesson Program
By Vinh Nguyen, GSO President
Objectives:
Build/strengthen
relationships with
other students/staff/
faculty
Dining Area (Right)
By Paige Schnicke
Global Student Organization
Davenport University’s Global
Student Organization (GSO) is for
people who are interested in other
countries and cultures, study
abroad, and networking on a global
scale. GSO organizes activities and
events to increase global
awareness.
For example, GSO invited the
Mully Children’s Family to give a
presentation about their
organization in Kenya, Africa.
“MCF’s functional Mission and
Vision is to reach out, rescue,
rehabilitate, protect, and care for
the less fortunate and vulnerable
children in the community” (MCF,
2008).
A continuous event GSO
organizes is “Sample the World.”
This program is meant to show a
little “sample” of a specific country.
The international students at
Davenport are excited to teach
students more about their
countries and culture by showing
beautiful pictures, traditional
music and authentic food.
Gain global and
intercultural
competence
A current and very popular event
is dance classes. There are several
sessions planned to teach the Salsa,
Merengue and Bachata. Our first
session was a great success, and we
received a lot of positive comments.
We also are working on an
international cookbook, local
company visits, and a Christmas
dinner. Be sure to look for event
dates and times in future issues.
By Desiree Wilke,
GSO Marketing Manager
Styles: Merengue, Salsa, Bachata,
Argentine Tango
Contact: Dsiree.Wilke@davenport.edu for
more information about GSO events
Look for more
student events
First steps for learners; a milestone for GSO.
in future issues.