Students Jonathan Bell and Dustin Staves kept a journal of their activities while in Cuba. If you missed the first few posts, you can read their account from the beginning. You can also see a full photo gallery of the trip on KWC’s Flickr account.

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Day 11
Headed to the airport – the USA is only 90 miles away. KWC will return to CUBA in the Fall of 2012 with graduate students from Arizona State University. The course will be “Justice, Public Health and Culture.” Travel back in time with us and experience a travel abroad course like no other. If you’re interested, contact Dr. Ken Ayers at Kentucky Wesleyan at 270-852-3169 or kenay@kwc.edu.

Below are a few more photos from the trip we haven’t posted yet. Hope you enjoy them — thanks for reading!

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Read all about them in the latest issue of KW Today, our alumni magazine. You can also read the rest of the magazine on our website. Happy reading!

After all the votes (money) were counted, Dr. Lynette Taylor was the (lucky) winner! She’s a psychology professor, so she can probably explain why she ended up winning — latent hostility against her grading methods, perhaps?!

Whatever the underlying reasons, she got an entire pie of shaving cream smashed into her face — but it was all for a good cause. Some photos of the action below:

Thanks to Dr. Taylor for being a good sport! Check out our Flickr account for more photos of the pie fun.

For three short weeks, you get to take the college classes you’ll remember for a lifetime, the classes that aren’t requirements for your major, the classes that you’ll write home about (literally), the classes that are the reason you came to college. And you get to do it all at half the normal tuition rate.

We created Winter Term to let professors and students get out of their traditional class routines and have an adventure or two. Classes change every year — in 2011, try Leadership Through Sailing (in the Virgin Islands! On a real sailboat!) or The Tudors (including 10 days of touring in England) or jump into another culture with a international studies trip to Calnali, Mexico.

If international travel isn’t your thing, we’ve got other options right here in Owensboro. Physics and the Arts (the math is easy), the Bible and Literature or Film History (hey, we all like to watch movies) all promise to be great.

The point? You can have fun and earn credit all at the same time with a winter term class at KWC. Plus, the price is half off. Seriously.

So if you need an extra class to graduate on time or if you want credits at a reduced rate or if you just want to broaden your horizons or have some fun, check out KWC Winter Term 2011 for a world of possibilities.

Class List (click links for more details)

Travel Classes
- BIO 2307 – Tropical Marine Biology (Class in January, travel to Belize on Spring Break)
- ENGL 3342 – Tour of England: The Tudors
- INS 2309 – International Studies: Trip to Calnali, Mexico
- LS 3390 – Leadership Through Sailing (Virgin Islands)

On-Campus Classes
- ACCT 4318 – Principles of Auditing – Senior Project
- BA 3353 – Operations Management
- BA 4355 – Organizational Leadership
- CART 1341 – Basic Public Speaking
- CART 4310 – Topics: Film History
- ED 2302 – Educational Technology
- ED 3202 – Teaching Reading in the Content Area
- ENGL 2330 – World Lit: Classical Mythology
- ENGL 3377 (or REL 3377) – The Bible and Literature
- HIST 3336 – History of Europe 1815-1914
- HIST 3390 – Korea and Vietnam
- MATH 1301 – Verticality of the Math Pre K-12 Curriculum
- MUS 3300 – Rock and Roll: Its Influence on Society
- MUS 3350 – Topics: History of Musical Theatre
- PHIL 3300 – The Ethics of War
- PEH 3311 – Physical Activity for Special Populations
- PHYS 1302 – Physics and the Arts
- PHYS 4303 – Topics: Analog and Digital Electronics Through Hands-On Interaction
- SOC 3330 – Practicum

WINTER TERM DESCRIPTION
Winter term courses at KWC meet five days a week during the month of January. Students may enroll in one course for a total of three or four credit hours per term. Tuition is $260/hour — half the normal rate. Travel classes have additional costs.

WINTER TERM SCHEDULE
- Residence halls open for residential students participating in WT Jan. 2
- Instruction begins 8:00 a.m. Jan. 3
- Drop/Add begins 8:00 a.m. Jan. 3
- Final date to drop without course appearing on transcript Jan. 4
- Final date to drop with “W” Jan 14
- MLK Day (no classes) Jan. 17
- Last day of class Jan. 20
- Examination or project due date Jan. 22

REGISTRATION
Registration for Winter Term 2011 classes begins November 8, according to the following schedule:

- Seniors (90+ hours): Nov. 8-9
- Juniors (60-89 hours): Nov. 11-12
- Sophomores (30-59 hours): Nov. 15-16
- Freshmen (0-29 hours): Nov. 18-19

Status is based on hours earned and does not include hours still in progress. First-semester freshmen must register through their academic advisor. Everyone else may register through PantherNet. You may register after your registration dates, but not before.

If you’re not a student at KWC and want to take a Winter Term class, contact our Admissions office at 270-852-3120 or admitme@kwc.edu. If you have questions about the classes, check with the Academic Dean’s office (peggiegr@kwc.edu or 270-852-3117).

Don’t wait to register — some class sizes are limited or must meet a quota to be held. Register today and in a few weeks, you’ll be having the time of your life.

The six brave souls who participated in the contest include, from left, Scott Kramer, Miles Mallette, Randy Chapman, Jill Switzer, David Knight and Matt Ruark.

Congratulations to Miles Mallette (women’s softball coach), who won the competition and a $25 gift card to Great Harvest.

Check out the video below — a good time was had by all!

(Watch for Matt Ruark’s head to get shoved into the pie at the very beginning …)

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A guest post by Professor Marisue Coy …

To call our trip an odyssey is appropriate because we traveled on our journey, had adventures, and struggled (a little) to find our way home. More on that later…

When a city names its professional football team the Titans, that city obviously respects Greek mythology. As further proof of that respect, Centennial Park stands in the middle of Nashville, and its reproduction of the Parthenon, the ancient Greek temple honoring Athene, goddess of wisdom, has attracted visitors for decades. Students enrolled in my Classical Mythology classes have visited the Parthenon nearly every semester, but this spring they got an added bonus, a visit to the Frist Museum.

April 17 started out as one of the most beautiful spring days of the year. Eight students and I left KWC’s campus in a van at 9:00 a.m. to travel to Nashville, TN. Nashville’s Frist Museum had an exhibition of Greek heroes, so we first stopped at the museum, where we saw ancient vases and artifacts depicting the stories we had studied. We could take “quizzes” to see which hero or heroine we most resembled and then look for “ourselves” in the exhibit. We wandered around that exhibit and came away with an even better appreciation for the ancient Greek stories.

In addition, we saw not only the collection of European Masterpieces (one of which depicted the “Judgment of Paris,” a pivotal story in Greek mythology), but also an innovative and fascinating exhibit by a Korean artist whose combination of metal and lights and electronics to create flowers and other unusual creatures fascinated us. It was absolutely beautiful.

After seeing all we could at the museum, we boarded the van for the quick trip to the Parthenon. When we approached, finding a place to park proved tricky because of a huge festival taking place in the park, but at last we found a spot and walked across the street to a restaurant to grab some lunch.

After another stop at an ice cream shop, we walked back to the Parthenon and spent time roaming inside to see the 40+ foot statue of Athene along with many other statues and pieces of information about the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. We then walked around the outside of the Parthenon and enjoyed a stroll through the park. As much as we might have liked to stay longer, we found our way back to our van and headed home.

In true Greek mythology fashion, we faced a few obstacles. Like Odysseus in his journey back from the Trojan War, we found that going straight home just wasn’t meant to be. When the gas gauge indicated a need for gas, we found ourselves pretty much in the middle of nowhere with what seemed to be an empty tank. Again, in true Greek mythology tradition, we relied on heroism (two students got directions from some friendly farmers) and maybe even a little divine intervention (we found a gas station fairly easily once we got back on track). To say we were relieved would be an understatement.

At last, we arrived back on campus maybe a half hour later than we planned. In the end, we decided the entire trip was worth the effort, and no one complained about the final part of the adventure. We were thankful that at least, unlike Odysseus when he traveled home in the Odyssey, we weren’t lost for ten years.

For more photos, check out the Classical Mythology Nashville Trip photo set on Flickr.

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Dr. Connor (far left) and his students at PITTCON

 Dr. Henry Connor, Professor of Chemistry at KWC, recently took four KWC chemistry majors to PITTCON (the Pittsburgh Conference), held in Orlando, Florida.

PITTCON is an analytical chemistry meeting that includes the largest exposition of scientific equipment in the world. About 20,000 people attend. The first conference was in Pittsburgh but it soon outgrew the facilities in Pitt.  It now moves annually between Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta and Orlando.

The KWC contingent (Dr. Connor, plus Ben Wilson, Alycia Lynch, Stacy Webb and Ashley Humphrey) left Owensboro on Friday, Feb. 26. After more than a dozen hours of driving, they arrived the next day in Orlando. 

The group went to the beach the next morning before launching full-speed into the conference that afternoon (Feb. 28) and returning home on March 3.

 This is the tenth time Dr. Connor has taken students to PITTCON. In 2008 they went to New Orleans — next year’s conference is in Atlanta.

A few photos from the trip:

At Coco Beach

Students with PITTCON info

Sales rep demonstrating a product

Students with NASA Rover

Click here to find out more about opportunities through KWC’s Chemistry Department.

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Her class recently finished reading  Mr. Popper’s Penguins and decided it would be fun to build a milk jug igloo. Her mom helped round up milk jugs from faculty and staff at KWC, and 276 jugs later, her third grade class finished the igloo!

They plan to use the inspired creation as a classroom reading spot.

KWC president Cheryl King also visited Ms. Harrison’s classroom for ”I Love to Read” Day. She spent time reading  Teammates to the kids and explaining why reading is important for everyone.

–UPDATE–

The igloo had to be moved recently, and of course, this was the result:

But never fear. Ms. Harrison (and her husband) put the igloo back together again:

Follow more of the Cravens Elementary School third grade adventures at Katy Harrison’s blog: http://harrisoncravens.blogspot.com/.

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They gathered to decorate festive Christmas trees and enjoy holiday refreshments including hot chocolate, cider and cookies.

Five different student organizations set up their own Christmas trees, with Student Life raising a 12-foot tree in the Winchester Rotunda.

Contest winners were as follows:

Most Creative Tree:  Sigma Alpha Mu

 Most Festive Tree:  Circle K Club

 Prettiest Tree:  KWC Cheerleaders

 Overall Champion Tree:  Kappa Delta

If you’re on campus, stop by the fireplace to get in the holiday mood!

Photos from the event:

KDs decorate their tree.

Yeah, that's a tall tree behind them.

Does this really go here?

Dean Kramer gets in on the action.

The final 12-foot tall tree in the Rotunda.