Campus
Communicator
SEPTEMBER • 2015
New martinsvi
lle Friends of th
e College
NM Annual Friends Dinner
Mix together the 1950s, the Soviets, UFOs, beatniks, a sock hop---and a
murder---and what you get is hilarious fun as the New Martinsville Campus Friends of the College presents its second annual fund-raising event
Oct. 24 at the Mollohan Center.
“Johnny B. Dead,” a murder mystery dinner theater production from
Mystery Theatre Unlimited and cosponsored by the WVNCC Foundation, will be performed at the New Martinsville facility from 6:30-9:30
p.m., with doors opening at 6. The show, an all-new, original interactive
musical comedy production, is the 44th written by local playwrights Bert
Furioli and Butch Maxwell.
A home-style dinner prepared by Shooters Saloon and Catering of Reader will be served, ending with a root beer float/sundae bar for dessert.
Other festivities for the evening include wine tastings, raffle baskets,
photo settings and door prizes. Audience members may want to come
dressed in their best ‘50s attire. Proceeds will provide scholarships and
other support to students attending the New Martinsville campus.
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In the show, students at a high school in 1957 face scrutiny from a federal
government investigator on the trail of top secret information apparently being leaked to the Soviet Union.
The action centers on a typical American teenager, Johnny Armstrong (portrayed by Maxwell,) who has wanted to be a
government investigator ever since he saw the landing of an unidentified flying object that he is convinced was flown by
aliens from another planet. He is so focused on his career objective that he barely notices that a classmate of his, Joanie
Chachi (played by Renee Zelinski,) wants desperately to be his girlfriend.
All of the action leads up to a sock hop and the unexplained
murder of one of the characters. Along the way, there are lots of
laughs and musical parodies of classic 1950s popular songs. In
fact, “Johnny B. Dead” offers more musical parodies than any
previous Mystery Theatre Unlimited production.
Tickets to the fund-raiser are $30 each; RSVP deadline is Oct.
21. For more information, contact Debbie Bennett at 304-5108761 or via email at dbennett@wvncc.edu.
From left, Bert Furioli as Bongo, Renee Zelinski as Joanie
Chachi, Butch Maxwell as Johnny Armstrong, Josh DeBeni as
Popov Smirnoff and Michael Moran as Special Agent Jack Storm.
Mourning Traditions
Judi Hendrickson, WVNCC academic
affairs secretary, and Jeanne Finstein,
both well-known Wheeling historians,
will present a program on “Mourning Traditions” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday,
Oct. 22, in the B&O Building auditorium.
They explained their presentation as
follows: “To describe 19th century
mourning traditions, this presentation
first will outline the conditions of the
time, including disease, lack of sterile
practices, diets that lacked essential
vitamins and nutrients, and medical
treatments barely a step above witchcraft – all of which made death a very
common occurrence.
“As the Civil War added another cause
for mourning, rituals became more
Wheeling Ca mpus
clearly defined and adhered to as
much as finances and circumstances
allowed. In large part, the stage had
been set for these traditions by England’s Queen Victoria, who mourned
the death of her husband for decades.
Other traditions grew out of necessity – flowers at funerals, for example,
to mask the odor of death and wakes
that served as a safeguard against premature burial.”
Presenters Hendrickson and Finstein
will describe these and many other
traditions of the time, some of which
continue to be observed. Their talk
will be illustrated with pictures, showing such things as mourning garb
and vintage photographs. They will
be dressed in mourning attire of the
historical period being reviewed.
TV Celebs Visit Mall
WVNCC was a major sponsor of back
to school promotions at the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville, including
visits by Peyton Meyer of the Disney
Channel’s “Girl Meets World” and
Keegan Allen of ABC Family’s show
“Pretty Little Liars.”
WVNCC Students Out n’ About
Delilah Ryan, associate professor of history, loves to make learning fun. Students were recently given the opportunity to visit some
local landmarks to learn more about our WV heritage.
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WV Adult Ed. Program
& Northern Collaborate
The West Virginia Adult Education
Program and Northern are collaborating on a new opportunity for adult
students to launch a career in the
growing oil and gas industry.
The “Moving Pathways Forward” initiative is a pilot program in the state’s
Northern Panhandle that will provide
career contextualized instruction as
a bridge to the oil and gas industry.
Classes will be held from 8 a.m.-1
p.m. Monday-Thursday beginning
Oct. 12 at Northern’s B&O Building.
Classes end Dec. 18 because there are
no classes during Thanksgiving week.
Kim McConnaughy, adult education regional coordinator located at
the offices of RESA 6 in Wheeling,
explained that objectives of the pilot
program include offering an intensive
nine-week bridge course focused on
the oil and gas industry and assisting completers of the program with
entering the workforce in the oil and
gas industry or with entering the petroleum technology or mechatronics
programs at West Virginia Northern.
In addition, McConnaughy said, the
coordinators will collect data on the
participants, their academic levels and
their placements upon completion.
Participants must meet criteria to be
considered for enrollment, it was noted. The course is at no cost to participants but class attendance is mandatory. The course will include the applied
mathematics, reading skills, writing
skills, science, speaking skills and
social studies needed for attainment
of a high school equivalency diploma
as well as for college and careers. All
coursework will be contextualized to
the oil and gas industry.
McConnaughy said the course “will
not be just for adults without a high
school diploma. It will be for adults
who may have graduated high school
but who are under- or unemployed or
it may encompass adults with a little
college experience.”
Cindy West, with SPOKES/ABE in
Wetzel-Tyler counties, explained,
“This course incorporates the use
of contextualized curriculum which
engages the whole class into a study of
the basics skills of math, reading and
writing within the oil/gas and manufacturing industries. Students will not
only be learning with each other, but
also from each other.”
A “Navigator” will work with the
class instructor and the participants
to assist them in overcoming barriers (childcare, transportation, etc.) as
well as guiding them through the job
or college application process. The
Navigator will meet weekly with each
participant to review progress and
determine needs.
For more information, contact Marilynn Schnupp with Ohio County
Schools’ adult education located at
WVNCC at 304-214-8948. To apply
go online at goo.gl/5ACYCF.
Get to Know Petro
“Introduction to the Petroleum Industry” is a fast-track class designed for
people who are interested in learning
more about the fast-growing petroleum industry in the area. The course
will begin Thursday, Oct. 1, at Cameron High School and will run for six
consecutive Thursdays from 6-9 p.m.
According to Dr. David Shahan, vice
president of economic and workforce
development at Northern, participants
will receive an overview of the industry and gain a basic understanding of
the functions of its different segments.
He said students will learn about
industry related jobs and an array of
basic types of companies that make
up the petroleum industry. Fee for the
class is $125.
Those interested may register for the
class on any WVNCC campus by using the green Continuing Education
registration forms. Upon completion
of the class, attendees will get a certificate of completion. No academic
credit will be awarded.
Session 1 will be “Geology and Exploration;” session 2, “Drilling/Completing the Well;” session 3, “Rigging and
Loading;” session 4, “Producing Oil
and Gas;” session 5, “Transporting,
Processing and Refining;” session 6,
“Safety, Protecting Workers and the
Environment.”
HIT Students
Participate in Retreat
On Sept. 18, Health Information
Technology students of Korene
Silvestri attended and participated
in the West Virginia Health Information Management Association Fall
Retreat at Jackson’s Mill. Students had
the responsibility of introducing the
speakers.
Those in attendance were seniors
Anna Otto, Brittany Spencer, Cerra
Atkins, and Melissa Shafer and freshmen Dana Becker, Jennifer Gorrell,
Jessica Richard, Amber Patterson,
Michelle Dietz, Melissa Karkowski,
Lori Stephenson and Hang Tran. Topics of interest included Information
Governance, Privacy and Security
Audits, Health Information Exchange,
Revenue Cycle, and the long awaited
switch to the ICD-10-CM/PCS coding
system.
Former Student –
Now Author –
Donates Books
From left, Lee Ann Blair, librarian, and
Tamala Workman, author.
Tamala Workman recently donated
both her first and second publications to the New Martinsville Campus
Library. Tamala was a student on the
New Martinsville campus a few years
ago and had Dr. Terry Craig as her
English professor. She credits both Dr.
Craig and the flexiblity of the classes
at Northern for her current success.
She noted that Dr. Craig helped her
develop her love of writing and establish a solid background in storytelling.
She said her courses were offered at
various times which allowed her the
opportunity to take college classes;
some day she intends to complete her
degree.
Ms. Workman’s first book, “Call of the
Dove,” a historical romance fiction,
centers on the character Rhain Dove
Cloud who is a strong woman living
in a small West Virginia town. While
her second book, “The Angel’s Bluff¸”
is not a continuation of the story from
her first book, some of the same characters make their appearance in this
novel as the family lives in a West Virginia town. Tamala incorporates some
of the local small town of Rowlesburg,
W.Va., surroundings and landmarks
into her writings and characters.
Both books are available through the
New Martinsville LRC and for purchase on Kindle and Amazon. You can
New Martinsville Ca mpus
After Orientation students line up for the bookstore and to get their ID photos
taken.
New Student Orientation
Many of the new Fall 2015 students participated in the Orientation offered
on Aug. 6. This session provided them an opportunity to learn about life as a
student at Northern. Staff from the financial aid office explained both federal
and Northern requirements that affect their aid package; the academic support
center staff let them know that they provide a variety of free services to help
them achieve in the classroom; the LRC staff gave an overview of the resources
and services that are available to help with research projects; and Ina Robinson, counselor, shared general information on the services available through
the service center. After the group presentation, smaller groups were taken to
the bookstore to purchase books and other materials needed for classes and
to see Kim Whiteman, service center workstudy student, to get their photos
taken for their IDs. The students seemed to appreciate all the attention given
to help them get a great start on the semester.
Kim W
hiteman
,w
taking a ork study,
n ID pic
ture.
reach Tamala through her Facebook
page or via email at gypsyquillbooks@
yahoo.com.
Constitution Day
Charleen Stokes
The LRC sponsored Constitution Day
in September, celebrating the birth of
our country’s government. This year’s
focus was on Article II of the Constitution which specifies the qualifications that a person must have to run
for President: Be 35 years of age – a
natural born citizen – have lived at
least 14 years in the country. Faculty
member Charleen Stokes got into
the spirit by wearing her shirt – “The
Constitution, I Read It for the Articles.”
Nursing Students’ Dinner
An exciting time for New Martinsville
campus nursing students is the dinner
prepared by the second-year students
to welcome the first-year students to
the program. The 2016 class shared
some advice and lessons for success
which they learned during their first
year in the program. Much of this
advice included, “don’t be late for class
or clinical,” “keep up with your reading and assignments,” “pay attention
to the details,” and “find the way to
study that works best for you.” This
year’s guest speaker was WVNCC
alumni Debbie Glegg who spoke to
the group about how her education
at Northern helped her make a career
change possible. She encouraged the
students to focus on their weekly assignments but to try to include some
personal and family time each week to
balance out their schedules.
PTK Sends Books to
Better World Books
2nd Year nursing students – back row
from left - Dylan King, Rebecca Knight
and Rick Alleman; front row from left
- Cassadi Wells, Felicia Baker and Kyra
Lallathin.
For the first-year students, this dinner gives them a chance to meet each
other and their instructor, Claire
Blatt. The second-year students will
be making changes, too, since their
classes will be at the Wheeling campus
and will include new instructors and
classmates.
1st Year nursing students – from left Spencer Campbell, Abby Durig, Justina
Roberts, Leann Lasure, Yalisha Ford,
Alisha Estel and Jennifer Workman.
Nursing students’ dinner guest speaker,
WVNCC Alumni Debbie Glegg.
From left, Cayliana Miller and Mark
Goldstein, PTK advisor.
If you are wondering where the books
go when you drop them in the Better
World Books donation box located
outside the bookstore, ask a Phi Theta
Kappa officer or the New Martinsville
faculty advisor, Mark Goldstein. Cayliana Miller, vice president of Omega
Epsilon, Northern’s chapter of this national honor society, and Mark spent a
Friday afternoon packing 600 pounds
of books into 15 pre-labled boxes that
have been sent to Better World Books.
This organization takes the donated
books and either distributes them to
third world countries or offers them
for sale and uses the proceeds to continue the collection and distribution.
This project helps organizations and
schools in Africa and South America
by providing free usable textbooks to
under-privileged students. So, when
you no longer need that textbook and
you can’t sell it back to the bookstore,
drop it in the Better World Books box
and help your local PTK chapter and
your fellow student in another country.
Welcome Back Activities
and Chicken Fest
Student Activities started the semester off during the first week of classes
with the annual pizza pass out on
Monday and then Tuesday was the
campus’ Welcome Back BBQ. As the
Students enjoying the BBQ food.
students were still stressing about
where their classes were and what
books they needed, they were happy
to have some fun as part of their week.
Ida Williams brought a bunch of
Northern Student Activities t-shirts,
backpacks, key fobs, pens, and lanyards and set up the prize wheel. The
students had a great time spinning
to see what they would win. The fun
continued with the ice cream social
where students could make their own
sundaes between classes and meet
their current Student Government
representatives.
Then, the campus celebrated our mascot with Chicken Fest. There was food
again for the students and staff, the
prize wheel made another appearance,
and all got to try our luck at “Chicken
Run” and “Chicken Toss.”
And a representative from the Central
Blood Bank signed up several students and staff for the Blood Drive on
Sept. 30.
Hanna Benson and Kim Whiteman
compete.
Rachel Bennett, Central Blood Bank, talks
with students Chris Gillespie and Hannah
Benson about the Sept. 30 Blood Drive at
the New Martinsville campus.
Melanie Baker was on campus to talk
to the students and get them signed
up for the upcoming Student Focus Groups. Natalie Taylor talked to
veteran students and let them know of
the services available to each of them.
From left, Melanie Baker and Natalie
Taylor are ready to talk with students
about the Focus Groups and Veterans’
issues.
At the prize wheel, from left, are Jennifer
Dahms, Ida Williams, Hailey Wade, Sarah
Davis, Taylor Clem, Cayliana Miller,
Mariah Lasure and Jamie Mellott.
The Academic Support Center had an
Open House to encourage students to
come in and meet the staff and learn
about the free services available to
them. Another big help for the first
week occurred when one of the ASC
staffers sat at a table in the lobby to
help direct students to classes each
day.
Weirton Ca mpus
Weirton Holds Career Fair
The Weirton Campus Career Fair, held Sept. 17 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., was a great success, with 23 employers setting up
informational tables and more than 100 visitors. WVNCC’s table was staffed by Leo Gonot, Tami Becker and Lisa Soly
throughout the day. Christy Yeager from Workforce WV, which was a co-sponsor of the event, said she was pleased with
the turnout and is looking forward to working with Northern again next year.
Weirton Campus Nursing Banquet
First- and Second-year nursing students attend the
WVNCC Weirton Campus Nursing Fall Banquet. It
was held Sept. 16 at the Convention Center at
Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack, and Resort.
Second-year students
First-year students