Volume 2, Number 3 Fall 2007

Christmas Carol in theatre Page 2Fire arms technology 3World-class adventurer 4Real world experience 6Ethnic confl icts 9Switching gears to basketball 10Financial aid information 12

Little did Charles Dickens know that when he penned “A Christmas Carol” it would become the most enduring tale of the Yuletide season and set the standard on how many of us celebrate the holiday. Central Wyoming College theater director Mike Myers, who is directing his own adaptation of the Dickens’ classic for a Dec. 7-9 and Dec.14-15 run at CWC, said the book was written quickly in 1843 to enable Dickens to pay off debt and to support a pregnant wife and his fi ve children. But his story of how the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge could be transformed into a charitable, giving and socially conscious member of society has highlighted the plight of the less fortunate during the season, Myers said. Many people say that we got our modern conception of Christmas from “A Christmas Carol,” Myers said, particularly as a time to donate to charity and to help the less fortunate. “I doubt there has ever been a book written that has had a longer last-ing impact on society,” Myers said. “It has always been in print and trans-lated into every major language.” Since its publication, the story has been told many times in all imag-inable forms. Despite the thousands of times that “A Christmas Carol” has been adapted to stage, movies, and television, the novel remains the most popular and poignant telling of the tale. While “A Christmas Carol” has been so pervasive, Myers said many may not know that it was written during a time of decline in the old Christmas traditions. In the mid-17th Century, the Cromwellian revolt abolished Christmas as well as the monarchy. Contemporaries of the time believed the popularity of Dickens’ book played a critical role in redefi ning the importance of Christ-mas and the major sentiments associated with the holiday. Myers said that at the time Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol,” Queen

Victoria began restoring the traditions of the holiday and that is when the Christmas tree was introduced. Dickens’ idyllic childhood was changed when his father was sent to debtor’s prison and Dickens, at 12, was sent off to work at a London factory to help support the family.

Myers said “A Christmas Carol” is about social injus-tice and Dickens, having suffered considerable hardship and poverty during his upbringing, was inspired to write a Christmas story appealing for charity from those better off. In his story, the family of Bob Cratchit, who works for a Scrooge’s meager salary, still manages to have a happy holiday Some considered Dickens as the spokesman for the poor, for A Christmas Carol and his other popular books

brought much awareness to their plight, the downtrodden and the have-nots.

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“If Christmas, with its ancient and hospitable customs, its social and charitable observances, were in danger of decay, this is the book that would give them a new lease.”

English poet Thomas Hood

December 7, 8 • 7:30 p.m.Sunday, December 9 • 2:30 p.m.December 14 & 15 • 7:30 p.m.

Robert A. Peck Arts Center Main Stage

Little did Charles Dickens know that when he penned “A Christmas

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Wells climbs at Smith Rock State Park near Bend, Or-egon.

By Julian Aguilar IVCWC Outdoor Education student

His father owned two dirt bikes and a cruiser, and at around 15 years old, Central Wyoming College’s new instructor of outdoor education, Dar-ran Wells, began wondering when he too would be able to race. Recognizing the inherent dan-gers, his father planted a seed by trading motorcycles for mountain bikes, introducing Wells to the out-doors. As a South Houston, Texas na-tive, Wells grew up in between the cities of Pasadena and Clear Lake, and remembers watching people climb while biking with his father in different places. “I wondered what that was about,” Wells recalled in surprise of being alive. “A buddy of mine and I started going to places like Enchanted Rock and we did lots of stupid things,“ Wells said about one of his hapless early adventures. “We had this rope that was supposed to be dynamic, but when I looked at it after a climb,

it was frayed.” Wells said through a boyish grin. Wells received his bachelor’s in philosophy and English from the University of Houston after taking a philosophy course while pursuing what should have been a pre-law degree. After graduating from college, Wells planned to become a travel and adventure writer, but quickly realized there was little adventure in his life to write about, and made a decision that would ultimately determine the rest of his life. Wells moved to Dallas while waiting out the year long process of joining the Peace Corps. For two tours, French-speaking Africa would be the proving grounds for Wells determination. Moving between cities and vil-lages in the west central African region of Gabon, and surrounding areas, Wells had no choice but to develop keen navigation skills in order to negotiate dense rainforests and the abyss of desert terrain. To Wells, however, the

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stays home to teach outdoor leadership

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broke out and all foreigners were told to leave the region. Unfortunately for the small group of volun-teers, a hijacked plane would lead to all air traffi c being shut down. Wells knew they were stuck with a war rag-ing outside the walls, and admits he wondered whether he would die. Knowing he had developed the skills neces-sary to navigate his way to safety, he surveyed the room of nine volunteers, many of which were aging, and knew in his heart it would be wrong to leave the others. Finally, word came that they were moving overland to a boat on the coast where they would be shuttled to a Chevron oil platform before

being fl own to the safety of Cape Town, South Africa for a debriefi ng. Back in the United States, Wells received a recommendation letter from an upper level administrator in the Peace Corps to attend a NOLS instructor training course, and moved to Aspen, Colorado in order to hone his mountain-eering and backcountry skiing skills. “I hadn’t taken a NOLS course and I didn’t know who these guys were. Had they climbed Everest?” Wells remem-bered thinking. “I really didn’t have a lot of climbing experience.” Wells fi nished his NOLS mountain instructor course in the Wind River Wilderness in May 1999, and began his climb in the NOLS hierarchy. Technically still a NOLS instructor, Wells has taught courses that include mountaineering, caving, canyoneering,

rock climbing and whitewater canoeing, and has acted as a professional training coordinator. Wells also has competed in several adven-ture races including four Eco-Challenges, Global Extreme and the fi rst Primal Quest. Wells believes that adventure racing helped his understanding of team dynamics because par-ticipants rely heavily on their teammates. “Everyone experiences each other’s highs and lows,” Wells said. “So often, you hear people new to adventure racing say ‘you can only go as fast as your slowest member,’ but that’s not true,” he said. “In reality you can go faster because teammates recognize each other’s shortcomings.”

Peace Corps taught more. He gained an understanding that there is so little one can control in this world, and patience truly is a virtue. Until that point, Wells believes he had no idea what it meant to be Ameri-can, and that he did in fact grow up in a very different place. During the years 1995-1997, while on his fi rst two-year tour, Wells worked to train Africans in AIDS/STD prevention, and agro-nutrition. On assignment in Niger, he met someone from the National Outdoor Leadership School’s branch in Kenya, Africa, but wanted only to return withthe Peace Corps for a permanent job he hadn’t yet acquired. Fortunately, Wells was given the honor of be-ing invited to serve in what he believes to be the second or third group dispatched as part of the newly formed Crisis Corps division of the Peace Corps. Designated to offer aid in hurricane relief and similar circumstances, his group was sent to the war-torn region of Congo on a polio vaccine campaign. In 1992, after a 30-year span including an ousting of one president, a coup d’état of his suc-cessor and the assassination of the next presi-dent, the fall of the Soviet Union helped move Congo into multi-party democratic elections. However, just fi ve years later, as Wells re-turned for his second tour, the Congo Civil War

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adventurer

Darran Wells (right) shows students how to navigate while hiking on Bonney Pass in the Absaroka Mountains. CWC outdoor education students with Wells are (from left) Todd Yerian, Julian Aguilar IV, Micah Lloyd, James Nesbit, Jake Kembel and Matt Harrison (behind Wells.)

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Central Wyoming College has purchased a virtual fi re arms training system that allows students, law enforcement offi cers and other fi rst responders to practice shooting weapons in a controlled environment. The Fire Arms Training System (FATS) replicates scenarios in a realistic setting, providing instant feedback on force training, said Jeff Hosking, head of CWC’s Rural Health and Safety Department.

Central Wyoming College has purchased a virtual fi re arms training system that allows students, law enforcement offi cers and other fi rst responders to practice shooting weapons in a controlled environment. The Fire Arms Training System (FATS) replicates scenarios in a realistic setting, providing instant feedback on force training, said Jeff

Not only does the system pro-vide training in the use of fi re arms, it also enhances judgment in the use of force and the use of less-le-thal weapons. “Physical and mental responses to acute stress have a direct impact on the ability to respond effec-tively,” said Hosking, a former FBI agent, who emphasizes that FATS is a state of the art training simulator. The simulated situations are customizable and interactive, pro-viding a cost-effective and timely solution for acquiring fi rearms and weapons training, he explained. The system allows people to practice gun play without mortal conse-quences by using digital technol-ogy and laser-emitting weapons to provide realistic weapons training. Hosking said the training sys-

tem is so realistic that the weapons recoil and require reloading. Simu-lated arms range from OC spray and semiautomatic pistols to rifl es and shotguns. Similar products are used in training military and security personnel, he added. “In the United States from 1992 to 2001, 643 offi cers were killed and 597,000 were assaulted,” Hosking said. “Every year, law en-forcement agencies pay out billions of dollars in civil litigation resulting from offi cers’ alleged improper use of force.” He said the FATS system gives offi cers the ability to practice in stressful situations. Offi cers get instant feedback to their reactions, including fi rst shot accuracy and the need for multiple shots. The scenarios allow the users to scan for additional assailants,

barricades for cover and the appro-priate level of force. Scenarios pro-vide situations for offi cers to spot weapons and assess attack cues. Hosking said scenarios also include less lethal and non lethal options such as verbal commands, chemical spray and TASERs.

Hosking, who teaches crimi-nal justice and homeland security courses at CWC, said many of the scenarios provided by FATS are based on current concerns, such as school violence. “The use of realistic scenarios, such as active gunmen in schools,

FATS replicates real-life scenarios

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Wyoming community colleges received high marks in a survey of high school students, their parents, current students and alumni, but it was noted that the respondents were unaware of the experience community college fac-ulty bring to their classrooms. The staff of the Central Wyo-ming College Public Information Offi ce was not surprised by the posi-tive responses collected during the survey by Equation Research, a fi rm hired by an advertising agency that is developing an awareness cam-paign for the state’s seven colleges. Yet, CWC Public Information Offi cer Carolyn Aanestad was astonished to learn that respondents were oblivi-ous to the experience related to their subject area that CWC faculty bring to their students on a daily basis. A majority of the alumni and current stu-dents responding to the survey found their experi-ence at Wyoming community colleges better than expected, crediting excellent faculty and staff the most, yet the respondents were unaware of their instructor’s credentials before enrolling. In response to the survey, an advertising campaign is being developed by Aanestad and Publications Coordinator RoJean Thayer to de-scribe the depth and breadth of CWC faculty “real

world experience” in upcoming months. A radio, publications and newspaper cam-paign is being developed as well as television spots, created by CWC broadcasting students.

Some of the best examples of “real world experience” that instructors bring from their respective fi elds to the class-room come from the college’s recent recruits who have been hired to develop new programs at CWC. Bill Hitt, hired in 2006 to develop and teach a new Fire Science program at CWC, has been a fi refi ghter for 20 years and is an active volunteer member of the Fremont County Fire Protection District. Hitt has traveled to several states to fi ght wildland fi res and has responded to major natural disasters, such as Hurricane

Katrina and Rita and a tornado in Greens-burg, Kansas. He is an arson investigator and is frequently called as an expert wit-ness. Darran Wells, hired this past summer to continue the development of the college’s fl edg-ling Outdoor Education and Leadership program, literally wrote the book on the subject he is now teaching. (One of Darran’s adventures is to the Gannett Cirque in the photo above.) As author of the NOLS Wilderness Navigation, Wells has been teaching students to use terrain association, map orientation and much more. He

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FIRE SCIENCE CLASSES OFFERED THIS SPRING:

FIRE-1810-30 Intro to Wildland Firefi ghting 3 cr.

FIRE-1550-01 Arson Detection for First Responders 1 cr.

FIRE-1800-01 Wildland Operation Urban Interface 2 cr.

FIRE-1840-01 Crew Boss 2 cr.

FIRE-1845-01 Engine Boss 1 cr.

FIRE-1852-01 Field Observer 1 cr.

FIRE-1900-01 Facilitative Instructor 3 cr.

FIRE-2730-01 Intro to Fire Inspection Principles 1 cr.

FIRE-2735-01 Managing in a Changing Environ. 1 cr.

FIRE-2740-01 Man Company Tactical Ops-Prep 1 cr.

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the Wind River Indian Reservation.

American Culinary Federation, and Four Seasons Teton Village Executive Chef Simon Purvis. Also teaching courses are Michael Dart, head of Teton County’s Health Department, and Culinary Arts Program Director Henry A. Cittone, Certifi ed Hotel Administrator and graduate of Houston’s Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Man-agement. Cittone developed a similar program at a community college in Galveston, Texas. Dudley Cole had a long career in his business before he was hired at CWC in 2001 to jumpstart

is a longtime instructor and program coordinator for the National Outdoor Leadership School and has also participated in multi-sport adventures around the world. At NOLS, he’s taught leadership skills to NASA astronauts, bankers, executives and wildland fi refi ghters. He also teaches rock climb-ing, mountaineering, canoeing and caving around

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CLASSES TAUGHT BY DARRAN WELLS THIS SPRING:

PEAC 1287Outdoor Rock Climbing (April 15-May 3) 8 a.m.-5 p.m., S

1 cr.

PEAC 2058Backcountry Ski/Snowboard (Jan. 19-Feb. 23) 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., S

1 cr.

EDUC 1050Leading Adventure Programs9:30-10:20 a.m., MWF

3 cr.

EDUC 1055Intro to Outdoor Education12:30-1:20 p.m., MWF

3 cr.

the world. (See related story on page 3.) The Outdoor Leadership and Western Ameri-can Studies programs at CWC were developed to capitalize on CWC’s unique location near the Wind River Mountains and the historic Continental Di-vide. Todd Guenther was a natural to take on as the developer of the Western American Studies program because of the experience he brought from his “real world” jobs. Guenther, who has degrees in An-thropology/Archaeology and in American Studies, was curator at South Pass City Historic Site for seven years and was director of the Lander Pioneer Museum for 10 years. Guenther was also on the staff of the Offi ce of the Wyoming State Archaeologist and worked on survey and excavation projects all over the state, including

CLASSES TAUGHT BY TODD GUENTHER THIS SPRING:

ANTH 1200Intro to Cultural Anthropology10:30-11:20 a.m., MWF

3 cr.

GEOG 1020 Intro to Human Geography (telecourse) 3 cr.

HIST 1220 U.S. History II (telecourse) 3 cr.

HIST 2010Mormon Migration2:30-3:50 p.m., TTH

3 cr.

HIST 2060Crazy Horse/Custer Warfare9:30-10:20 a.m., MWF

3 cr.

HIST 2315Equality State Gender & Ethnicity6:00-9:00 p.m., W

3 cr.

Amanda Watkins was wooed from a “dream job” at a San Francisco television station to re-turn to her alma mater to re-start CWC’s television broadcasting program. Watkins, who graduated from CWC’s broad-casting program in 1996, moved quickly up the ladder of television news production when she got hired at an NBC-owned-and-operated station in San Francisco.

The young broadcaster witnessed some of the biggest stories of the new millennium, including the events of September 11, 2001. United Flight 93, the plane hijacked by terrorists that went

down in Pennsylvania, was sup-posed to land in San Francisco. Skills she developed in the news room are being passed on to her broadcasting students at CWC. Teaching the CWC Culinary Arts program in Jackson are

high-powered individuals in the hotel and restaurant industry,

including Chef Dan Davis, CEE, ex-ecutive chef and the president of the (continued on next page)

CLASSES TAUGHT BY DUDLEY COLE THIS SPRING:

AUTO 1690Power Train Fundamentals11:30-12:50 p.m., TTH

4 cr.

AUTO 1765Automotive Electrical Systems8:30-9:50 a.m., TTH

4 cr.

WELD 1550Occupational Safety & Health10:30-11:20 a.m., MW

2 cr.

WELD 1770GMAW-FCAW Welding2:30-3:20 p.m., MW

4 cr.

WELD 2680Welding Metallurgy8:30-9:20 a.m., MWF

3 cr.

real world

Culinary arts instructor Chef Dan Davis and director Henry Cittone work with students of the program in a garde manger lab class.

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the college’s auto and welding programs and to develop a power sports curriculum. His fi rst job was as a technician in a Harley Davidson shop and then he put himself through school to develop additional skills. He ran the NOLS transportation department for four years and then was at Hallam Chevrolet and Hallam Susuki/Polaris in Lander. He also worked as a fi tter, then a welder, at a gate manufacturing company, and returned to school in 2006 to sharpen his welding skills to enhance his instruction for students at CWC. CWC took advantage of art instructor Matt Flint’s “real world” experience, utilizing his background as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, to create a graphic design option for CWC’s art department.

Having a wife, Stacy, who also was a NOLS instructor made married life diffi cult, especially after the birth of their daughter, Willow. Because he truly enjoys teaching, Wells said he decided to fi nish a masters of arts program at Prescott College in Arizona in the fi eld of adven-ture education administration and partnerships. Wells decided it was time to settle down, and although he said he misses being outside climbing, hiking and skiing, he can’t go for a month anymore without seeing wife and baby, and while his adventures at one point became more important than his adventure writing, Wells fi rst book, NOLS Wilderness Navigation, was published in 2005. Knowing he wanted to continue living in Lander, but teach at the college level, Wells set his sights on CWC and benchmarking to determine the needs of the outdoor education program here. Wells said he hopes to create learning op-portunities that include comprehensive founda-tional theory and fi eld components coupled with practical outdoor leadership experiences. “We want people to come back from a NOLS course and teach other CWC students who are just beginning the program here,” Wells said, explaining how all of the theory in the world cannot replace practical experience. “In geology class you have to pass a rock around to understand what you’re talking about,” he said, “For outdoor education, passing the rock around means getting outside.”

and has won numerous awards, including the Best of Show at the Wyoming Governor’s Art Show. Fellow art instructor Lonnie Slack, who mostly teaches photography, has experience as a studio and commercial photographer as well as a news-paper photographer. He has worked on ad cam-paigns for the Wyoming Division of Tourism and his photographs have been on several billboards. His work has been shown in eight different coun-tries. Wayne Montgomery, who developed an ad-dictions option to CWC’s Human Services pro-gram, worked as an addiction and mental health counselor for numerous years before entering the teaching profession. His experience also includes work at halfway houses for ex-offenders and re-covering addicts. Though Chontelle Gray has been on staff at CWC for almost a decade, she brought a wealth of experience in technical theater to her scene and lighting design classes. At 17, the Denver, Colo., native began her professional career working for the Country Dinner Playhouse and The Denver Center for the Perform-ing Arts. She has designed scenery for the world premiere of the opera The Scarlet Letter, the Wyo-ming tour of the AIDS education play Secrets, and many others. Gray worked as a properties master for the California Repertory Company and Shake-speare Orange County, and as a scenic artist for the Oakland Ballet, Long Beach Civic Light Opera, the Missouri Ballet Co., and the Colorado Ballet. CWC’s academic staff has revamped and introduced a number of new programs in re-cent years and has been successful in recruiting experts in those areas, said Vice President for Academics J.D. Rottweiler.

CLASSES TAUGHT BY MATT FLINT THIS SPRING:

ART 1000General Studio Art12:30-3:00 p.m., MW

3 cr.

ART 1178Digital Imaging2:30-3:50 p.m., TTH

3 cr.

ART 2130Graphic Design II1:00-2:20 p.m., TTH

3 cr.

ART 2141Professional Practice in Arts4:00-5:20 p.m., TH

1 cr.

ART 2210Painting I9:30-Noon, MW

3 cr.

ART 2275Portrait & Figure Studio10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., TTH

3 cr.

ART 2405Advanced Projects-2D10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., TTH

1 cr.

PEAC 1387Indoor Rock Climbing9:30-11:20 a.m., F

1 cr.

Flint is also a practicing fi ne artist and is represented by two galleries in the West. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally

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adventurerreal world

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A Central Wyoming College professor who has witnessed ethnic confl icts around the world is offering a political science course this spring entitled “Ethnic Confl ict and Genocide.” Professor Jim Thurman, who has lived in many places where ethnic confl icts were a serious issue, teaches the three-credit course on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. The course is delivered live over the Interactive Classroom Network to Jackson. Major topics of the course include con-cepts of ethnicity and nationality, reasons for ethnic confl ict and other types of group violence, the meaning of genocide and the motivations for it, and the psychology of perpetrators and bystanders. Specifi c cases of both ethnic confl ict and genocide, including the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, Serbia and others, will also be discussed. Thurman was motivated to develop this course after living in such places as Osh, Kyrgyzstan, where Uzbeks and Kyrgyz had major confl ict and hundreds have been killed in recent years; Crimea, where Russians, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars have a history of diffi cult co-existence, and Turkey, where there continues to be confl ict between Turks and Kurds as well as Armenians.

Thurman also worked for about seven years in refugee resettlement, and in many cases, the refugees he dealt with had been victims of ethnic confl ict, including Bosnian Muslims, Kurds from Iraq, and Tutsis from Rwanda. Initially his interest in the subject re-sulted from visits to Dachau in West Germany and Buchenwald in East Germany and he was “surprised at how different they were in terms of the way history was presented. “I had done some reading about the Holocaust as a kid, and this fueled my interest to learn more,” he said. These and other issues have been a major part of Thurman’s graduate education. He was recently selected to participate in the annual Hess Seminar, a week-long educator workshop at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. He anticipates the expe-rience from the seminar will add a lot to his upcoming course. “This class (POLS 2115) is one of the fairly small numbers of classes that meet the new general education diversity requirement,” Thurman said. Other interesting political science courses being taught by Thurman this spring include Introduction to International Rela-tions (POLS 2310), Religion, Extremism and

Violence (HSEC 2008), Politics and Terror-ism (HSEC 2005), and two homeland secu-rity courses co-taught by Thurman and Jeff Hosking. Hosking also teaches Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction (HSEC 2006). Related courses are offered through CWC’s Western American Studies program. Instructor Todd Guenther teaches Equality State Gender and Ethnicity (HIST 2315) and Mormon Migration (HIST 2010).

Class focuses on ethnic confl icts around world

A Turkish woman stops to visit in Ulus. Recent news focuses on Turkey and Kurdish rebel confl ict along the Turkey/Iraq border.

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At Central Wyoming College, Serol Stauffenberg is switching gears and moving in a new direction. He’s taking off his volleyball coaching hat and is settling into a dual role as ath-letic director and women’s basketball coach. Hired in 2005 to coach women’s volley-ball when the college decided to reinstate the intercollegiate program, Stauffenberg is now concerned with recruiting athletes for the re-turn of both men’s and women’s basketball at CWC.

After a successful inaugural season with the 2006 volleyball team, the CWC Board of Trustees last fall decided to move forward and re-start basketball in 2008. Stauffenberg and a screening committee waded through a large stack of applicants to coach men’s basketball, and picked Jamie Stevens, an assistant coach at the Colorado School of Mines. Stauffenberg was then promoted to athletic director, and was named women’s basketball coach. This fall, Serol shared volleyball head coaching duties with his wife, Tiffany, who next year offi cially becomes the lone head coach. “This time, we have something to look back on,” said Serol just days after the completion of a second successful volley-

ball season. That fi rst year, he struggled to recruit quality players to a school which had abandoned intercollegiate athletics in 1990. CWC is coming out from under the cloak of the unknown . . . well, at least in volleyball circles. In basketball, CWC has been scrambling for recognition. High school coaches in the intermountain region are familiar with community college basketball traditions in Wyoming, but don’t know anything about CWC. So, Stauffenberg and Stevens are busy getting the word out. Stauffenberg, and now Stevens, were given a full year on the CWC staff to recruit for their sports and to begin building the tra-dition that CWC once had. While the Stauffenbergs coached volley-ball this fall, Stevens has been busy building 2008 schedules for both men’s and women’s basketball. This winter, Stauffenberg and Ste-vens have the luxury of scouting athletes at regional high schools while their competitors are busy coaching. For example, Stauffenberg was able to recruit Billings, Mont., volleyball player Katie St. John, who had sisters that played at Sheridan and in northern Idaho, before any other coaches had a chance to look at her. “We were able to get some of the talented girls early,” he said.

Stauffenberg credits the initial success of his volleyball program to having the full year to recruit. He only had a small pot of athletic scholarship dollars available to him so he needed to fi nd young women who were not only talented athletes but also serious in the classroom. His fi rst team, a majority of who returned for the second season, combined to have a 3.53 grade point average in 2006, and three were Academic All-Americans. The Rustlers combined grade point average was the fourth highest GPA in the nation overall for volley-ball, including every division in both men’s and women’s sport. “If we don’t recruit academically pre-pared students, we’d be in trouble,” he said, noting he was able to award $12,000 in aca-demic scholarships to his players. Stauffen-berg said his conference foes were incorrectly under the assumption he had a big pocket of athletic scholarship dollars. Academic success of his student athletes also meant Stauffenberg didn’t have to deal with off-court team issues. His girls were very involved in college and community ac-tivities, and many of them worked in various departments at the college while maintaining high GPAs. In addition to recruiting student ath-

Serol Stauffenberg switches gears – to basketball

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letes, Serol is charged with developing a group of athletic boosters. “We need to fi nd the right way to organize a booster club so we don’t hit up the same people over and over again,” he acknowledges. Already, major donations to a Student Life Endowment have come from Fremont Therapy, wyoming.com, and U.S. Energy, and he’s hoping to be like Wyoming conference foes Eastern Wyoming and Northwest colleges by having 60 or 70 banners with the names of supporters hanging in the gym. Serol has certainly witnessed hometown fan support in his fi rst two years at CWC. “We go to a lot of places where we’d have more people at our scrimmage that they’d have at their home games,” he said, emphasizing how important it is to his players to have their hard work recognized. Rustler gym has had standing-room-only crowds for home volleyball matches, which creates some level of concern for Stauffen-berg because he assumes basketball will have even a greater draw. “It’s a good problem to have,” he said, but notes that because men’s and women’s basketball games are being scheduled for the same night, seating for only 700 people could be an issue. “We’ll have to come up with a game plan on how to handle that.”

CWC may be the only college in the region to consider recruiting women for both basketball and volleyball. In the past, some female athletes played both sports, but Stauffenberg said coaches nowadays are unwilling to give up their players because the two overlap at the end of the volleyball season. But Stauffenberg, who will continue to assist his wife in volleyball, sees dual sports recruiting as an opportunity especially be-cause of his limited scholarship dollars. For example, Nicole Sorenson Merrill, a standout volleyball athlete in Utah who played for CWC that last two years, was also a Utah All-State high school basketball player. He’s working on keeping her at CWC for the return of Rustler basketball player next year. Stauffenberg said recruits fi nding CWC even more desirable now that basketball is back. Serol and Tiffany are pretty much in the same spot as they were when volleyball was fi rst re-instated. Only Chaisley Gill of Sun-dance and Kristan Cornia of Randolph, Utah are returning next year. But in just two short years, the Stauffenbergs were able to com-pete, winning 52 times. Last year, the Rus-tlers were third in Region IX and this year, they placed second. “If we’d come out with only 10 wins, it would be extremely more dif-fi cult,” Serol said.

provides excellent opportunities for insight into such events,” said Riverton Police Department Captain Mark Stone, who also teaches criminal justice courses for CWC. “Traffi c stops that turn violent and other dangerous police encounters can be experienced in a controlled environment that allows for evaluation and assessment of of-fi cer response.” CWC’s investment in the equipment provides the college a market niche into law enforce-ment training, said Hosking, who envisions fi rst responders from around the region utilizing it to enhance offi cer skills. Stone is very excited about the partnership his department has with CWC because the FATS is a valuable hands-on training tool. Hosking said the equipment is portable and is the industry standard. Scenarios can be re-played. This equipment is a great resource for law enforcement professionals around the state who will be invited to use the system to augment their current training schemes, he said, adding that POST-certifi ed offi cers will be able to skip the basic and intermediate courses and immedi-ately begin training utilizing the state of the art Advanced I and II course scenarios. All other students will be required to take the basic and intermediate courses as prerequi-sites to the advanced I and II scenarios. The basic and intermediate can be taken concurrently.

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FATS realisticSerol Stauffenberg switches gears – to basketball

Connect is a publication of the CWC Public Information Offi ce and is scheduled to be published quarterly.

Now-August 15 Wyoming Photographers Exhibit

December 7-9 CWC Production – A Christmas Carol

December 10 CWC Music Student Recital

December 14-15 CWC Production – A Christmas Carol

Dec. 24-Jan. 1 College closed for holiday break

January 2 Registration for Spring Semester continues

January 7 Staff In-Service (offi ces closed until 1 p.m.)

January 14 Spring 2008 classes begin

January 9-11 New Student Orientation

January 11 Deadline to apply for First Class Stipend

January 14 Art Faculty Exhibition opens

January 26 Jackpot Series begins at Equine Center

The Little Mermaid

February Diversity Celebration Month

February 8 Jazz Night II

February 10 College Goal Sunday

February 11 Financial Aid Awareness

February 14 Valentine Dinner and a Concert

March 7-9, 13-14 Beauty and the Beast

This winter at CWCCWC Financial Aid Nights in county, Thermopolis Students planning to enroll in college next fall and their parents are invited to free fi nancial aid workshops provided by Central Wyo-ming College’s Financial Aid Offi ce at Riverton, Dubois, Lander, Wind River and Hot Springs County high schools. The workshop is not specifi c to CWC with information presented applicable to all colleges and universities in the nation, Financial Aid Technician Judy Nethercott explained. She will go over the process for applying for federal fi nancial aid and scholarships and explain how eligibility for federal aid is deter-mined. Nethercott emphasizes the workshops are not just for high school seniors. Anyone considering a return to education is invited. Nethercott is available at the places, dates and times, listed be-low:

Lander High School December 4, 2007 6:30 p.m.Dubois High School December 11, 2007 6:00 p.m.Wind River HS January 8, 2008 6:45 p.m.Hot Springs County HS January 10, 2008 6:30 p.m.Riverton High School January 15, 2008 5:30 p.m. (tentative)