The Winona State University RE Initiative, a group which supports survivors of gender-based violence, encourages members to dig through their junk drawers and forgotten spots in their house to find old, broken or functioning cell phones and accessories such as chargers, headsets and extra batteries. Even if someone has a pager laying around, Verizon HopeLine will accept it.
The Verizon HopeLine is a phone drive which collects those cell phones and accessories and are then used to help victims of domestic violence. Verizon provides the phones with 3,000 minutes to domestic violence organizations.
Donation boxes are available around campus in the main offices of Lourdes, East Lake Apartments, the Well in the Integrated Wellness Center, and the Student Activities Center in Kryzsko Commons from March 1 to March 31.
Once the RE Initiative finishes the phone drive, the phones are sent to Verizon. Verizon sends the phones to a recycling company who recycles the phones. Verizon uses that money to buy new phones to send to domestic violence organizations, according to Meagan Dorsch, public and external relations lead for Verizon and the HopeLine program in Minnesota.
The extra money from the recycled phones is used for grant money to nonprofit organizations, Dorsch said.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010 Summary Report,” (2013). www.cdc.gov. Information from Verizon Wireless website: http://www.verizon.com/about/responsibility/domestic-violence-prevention
Brittney Leland, peer advocate from the RE Initiative worked to bring Verizon HopeLine to campus, along with PACT Graduate Assistant Mike Krug.
“I think it is needed because with my work in the RE Initiative as a peer advocate and educator,” Leland said. “I got called one time and one client was left with literally nothing and one thing she said would be helpful is a phone.”
To call a shelter to see if there is room, a phone is needed, it is an important tool to get people back on their feet, Leland said.
“[Phones] are the norm, those of us who have phones take it for granted and don’t realize how much of a privilege it is to have a phone,” Krug said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in every four women and one in every seven men have experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner.
“Communication is the first thing victims lose,” Dorsch said.
Verizon began HopeLine in 2001, and since then have collected 12 million phones, with 700,000 in 2015.
HopeLine provided more than a dozen organizations across Minnesota with phones and grants in 2015. This number is looking to be very similar for 2016, according to Dorsch.
In 2015, $7,000,000 was given to domestic violence organizations. This money is the extra money from the recycled phone profits that Verizon receives. One of these organizations is Cornerstone, an organization that was established in 1983 to help victims of domestic violence in South Hennepin County and since has expanded to Northern Hennepin County and Minneapolis in Minnesota. They strive for reducing domestic violence, sexual violence and human trafficking.
Cornerstone has had a relationship with Verizon for a long time, and the two are partnered together, according to Courtney Poja, Director of Advancement for Cornerstone.
Poja said clients need safety, which is access to 911, help and shelters, a service support network, and stability once safe to rebuild their life. She also said the phones are used to achieve this.
Each client works with a Cornerstone staff member, and they decide who is in most need of a donated phone. 15 phones are given out every year, and Cornerstone serves 4,000 clients a year, Poja said.
In addition to giving out phones to victims, Cornerstone offers transitional housing options, help with rebuilding, therapy, help through the legal process, and operates a state wide crisis line to call to safety, according to Poja. Cornerstone also works with kids and has clinical services.
It’s awesome that Verizon does HopeLine, Poja said, she thinks it is really great that helping domestic violence victims is important to Verizon.
As of Friday, March 17, three phones and a charger have been donated on campus, according to Leland, which is slower than she expected.
Julie Chiasson, licensed practical nurse for WSU Health and Wellness Services donated a Tracfone that has been sitting in a drawer.
She saw the program in an email, and was appalled by the increasing amount of domestic violence. Chiasson is a member of the Women’s Resource Center, and wants to help out victims.
To donate an unused phone, erase all personal information and remove the sim card if possible. Bring it to any of the donation boxes around campus. They will be collected and picked up by RE Initiative members and locked away until they are sent to Verizon at the end of March.
Phones can also be donated at the Verizon store on Frontenac Drive before or after the March 31 campus HopeLine deadline. The phone and accessories can be from any provider, not only Verizon.
Michael Krug has never received the flu vaccination because he is skeptical about the efficacy of the drug itself.
For Johnna Miller, vaccinating against the flu is one of her priorities when flu season begins.
Krug and Miller, graduate students at Winona State University, have contrasting ideas about vaccinations. No matter if they decided to vaccinate against the flu this year, they both had to show proof of certain vaccinations in order to be enrolled at the university.
According to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, vaccination requirements changed over time and continued to be updated as new vaccines were developed for more diseases. Since the 1940s, some vaccines have been added while others have been removed or replaced.
Polio immunization was recommended in the 1950s, and tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps and rubella appeared in the 1970s. A vaccine for hepatitis B was added in the mid-1990s.
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia also stated by the 1990s, all 50 states required students to receive certain immunizations in order to attend classes.
Mitzi Girtler, a licensed school nurse and the coordinator of health services at Winona Public Schools, said vaccination recommendations are not the same in every country.
In the U.S., she said, school immunizations laws are not imposed by the federal government, but by the individual states. For instance, the state of Minnesota has different requirements than the state of Wisconsin.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the law requires all children seven years of age and older to show proof of vaccinations against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, mmr (measles, mumps and rubella), hepatitis B, varicella and meningococcal.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, children entering kindergarten through fifth grade, and sixth through 12 must have received a specific amount of doses of polio, hepatitis B, mmr (measles, mumps and rubella) and varicella vaccines depending on the age group.
Students who enroll in college have to show proof they have been vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus and diphteria, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Any student who fails to show proof of vaccinations within the first 45 days after first enrollment cannot remain enrolled.
Despite the requirements, not every individual is in favor of vaccinations.
Girtler said some people and communities object to school immunizations because they disagree with the mandates and have religious or personal beliefs that are in disagreement with vaccinations.
Other factors imply a lack of confidence, uncertainty toward the effectiveness of the vaccine and increased perceived risk of side effects of the vaccine, Girtler said.
Individuals who do not want to immunize their children, she said, can request an exemption to address their concerns.
In Minnesota, the Department of Health may allow exemptions from immunizations if a statement signed by a physician is submitted to the administrator, or in case of conscientiously held beliefs of the parents.
Depending on each state, some communities of people, she said, will not follow the state requirements. For instance, she said home school families typically are against vaccinations.
Vaccine hesitancy refers to those parents who show concerns about the decision to vaccinate one’s self or one’s children, according to Daniel Salmon, author of an article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The article specifies the number of parents who claim non-medical exemptions to school immunization requirements has been increasing over the past decade. Other causes of vaccine hesitancy may include the fear of allergic reactions, the inability of parents to control the risks of adverse reactions, and the possibility the child’s immune system might be weakened.
The influenza vaccination is one of the immunizations parents are skeptical about, Girtler said.
In terms of influenza vaccination, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported on the national early-season flu vaccination coverage with findings showing approximately 40 percent of all persons and 37 percent of children were vaccinated by early November 2016.
The graph shows vaccinations among children were higher at the end of the season compared to all persons.
The late flu season vaccination report from 2013 to 2016 showed 45 percent of all persons and almost 60 percent of children were vaccinated against the flu.
The CDC noted efforts are needed to increase the percentage of the population vaccinated during the next few months in order to reduce the burden of flu.
The CDC showed the percentage of vaccinations in Minnesota is higher compared to other states, with a coverage in 2010-11 through 2015-2016 of 49.7 percent of all persons that is compared to a 42.7 percentage in Wisconsin.
Winona Senior High School, Girtler said, is an example of schools in Minnesota where vaccination trends are high.
Girtler said the school claims a high percentage of the required vaccinations needed to be registered, with over 96 percent of the students being fully vaccinated.
The school does not provide the vaccine but encourages students and families to go to their health care provider.
Because immunizations are a state law requirement, Girtler said the high school acts as a gatekeeper, and keeps track of them through school attendance.
The district’s immunization plan includes three groups of students: incoming kindergarteners, seventh graders, and new students coming in from another state or district.
With kindergarteners and seventh-graders, the district makes sure to contact the families months before the beginning of school, letting them know about the state requirements. Parents of the incoming students will individually meet with school officials.
The school officials send alerts to parents of sixth graders, similar to a phone system of advertising, she said. Girtler said the school encourages vaccinations in an effort to protect students who cannot be vaccinated due to health reasons or allergies.
Students who do not have the proper vaccinations at the beginning of the school year will usually get the shot right after they have been notified. The district, she said, occasionally has to turn away a student or two due to a lack of immunization.
“We provide them resources and try to find funding or transportation if needed,” she said.
In the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau school district in Wisconsin, Registered Nurse Barbara Hogden said almost every student in the school is vaccinated. Only 37 out of 1,392 students have personal waivers, exempting them to immunize, she said.
Hogden said 103 students decided to get the influenza vaccination at the school, and the other children had the choice to get it through their health care provider.
This year, Hogden said there were only three cases of influenza at the school because most of the students are vaccinated. The few who decide not to vaccinate usually do not believe in the vaccines, or they do not have enough information about them, she said.
For those parents who are in contradiction with the vaccines, Hogden said she encourages them to gather information from reliable online sources and to talk to their health care provider.
“Parents should always weigh both sides and do their research,” Hogden said. “There is a lot of information out there; they just need to look for it.”
While parents determine children’s necessity of receiving a flu vaccination, college students like Krug and Miller, can decide whether to vaccinate on their own.
Krug said he is skeptical about flu shots because he read online the vaccine protects against three types of the virus only, though there are more; and the virus constantly changes.
“I have always trusted that with good hygiene and proper nourishment, I can stay healthy for the most part,” Krug said.
On the other side of the spectrum, Miller takes advantage of the flu shot every year.
Miller said she is glad the flu vaccine is so easily accessible for students, especially in a college environment where germs are passed easily. The flu, she said, can spread quickly, and have a large impact on a population.
Vaccination requirements, Miller said, should be recommended but not mandatory because people need to have a say in what they receive in their bodies. She said she thought it is important to get vaccinated not only for a person’s health, but for the health of a whole community.
“When different things are forced or required, they can have negative connotations associated with them,” Miller said.
Winona State University Registered Nurse Joyce Peckover said the Health and Wellness Services on campus administered about 350 flu shot vaccinations this academic year.
The Health and Wellness Services is able to administer immunizations for several diseases, and the flu shots are available at the clinic for $25 billed to a student’s insurance. Peckover said the shot is covered by most students’ health insurance under preventable care.
According to Peckover, the amount of flu shots the university administers depends on whether there has been a bad outbreak of influenza across the U.S. In that case, she said, the following year people are more willing to vaccinate against the flu because they are afraid they might get sick again. This year, influenza started later than usual, with a peak in January, she said.
When students walk into the Health and Wellness Services for an appointment, Peckover said the registered nurses try to encourage the flu shots. Sometimes, students decide not to be vaccinated because they do not believe in the vaccine, or they have never taken it before.
Peckover is in charge of the Ask-A-Nurse line, and said she often receives calls from parents who want to keep track of their son’s or daughter’s health and ask if they have received the shot. Other times, the students purposely will not get vaccinated because of their parents’ decision.
Until the flu shots expire in June, Peckover said she will keep administering flu shots. Health and Wellness Services collaborate with the health promotion center to encourage flu shots via online and across the university through informative posters.
“We are always looking for new ways to encourage it,” Peckover said. “As much as we market the flu shot, it’s never enough.”
Peckover said the registered nurses work together with nursing students every fall, and set up a flu shot clinic to make it more convenient for students to stop by the booth during their lunch break.
Peckover said it is important to educate on flu shots because they can prevent serious illnesses and doctors’ visits. At the academic level, she said students who get influenza might be absent from classes for a few days, and lower their performance.
According to the CDC, an annual seasonal flu vaccine can keep people from getting sick with influenza, reduce the risk of flu-associated hospitalization, and protect people with chronic health conditions who are more vulnerable to flu illnesses.
No matter if individuals have had a flu shot or not, in order to prevent influenza and the spread of germs, Peckover said getting good nutrition and resting helps to keep the immune system built up.
The CDC recommends avoiding contact with sick people, covering the nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and objects that may be contaminated with germs like the flu and others.
“Everything comes down to prevention,” Peckover said. “Our goal is to provide education and prevent diseases to stay healthy.”
Despite the high percentages of student vaccinations in the Winona area public schools, in some cases, Girtler said students could be sent home from school because they do not have the proper vaccinations, or proof of exemptions from them. Kindergarten is the time they can first be blocked from schools, she said.
Rochester public schools recently did not allow 80 students to attend classes in the school building because they did not submit the paperwork before the deadline on March 1.
The district notified the families whose children did not have all the required vaccinations from Jan. 27 through Feb. 20, but they were not successful in providing the documents.
Both Girtler and Hogden said diseases, which used to be common in the U.S., including polio, measles, diphtheria and rubella, can now be prevented with vaccination.
Those parents who are against vaccinations were not alive when polio spread all over the country and are not aware of the number of people who died from it, Hogden said.
Agata Blaszczak-Boxe, author of an article on vaccine refusals, said parents think vaccine-preventable diseases are rare these days, and their memory of these diseases may be fading.
Some of the recent measles outbreaks prove those beliefs wrong. Girtler said California experienced a large, multi-state measles outbreak at Disneyland in 2015 from a traveler who became infected overseas with measles. Other measles cases occured quickly afterwards.
Girtler said in order to encourage more vaccinations in the future, interventions are needed on the individual level. She said health care providers are the best source of information for individuals who are hesitant to immunize their children.
One-on-one conversations usually work best because parents are able to listen closely to an expert’s opinion on the matter, she said.
“We are encouraging vaccinations to protect not only children, but the whole community,” Girtler said. “This is a public concern.”
Eager students, colorful posters and free treats are at the forefront of every Winona State University club fair. These attractions, along with inviting games and cute animals, often lure students to tables — a tactic clubs use every year.
At a club fair, group members are present and strive to attract new recruits for two reasons: it is mandatory and necessary to avoid termination.
Winona State lists specific requirements for creating and maintaining official club or organization status. This includes having at least 10 student members, an updated roster and constitution, and participation in the fall club fair.
Joe Reed, Winona State’s Student Union director said the first and most important step in creating a club is the Student Senate approved constitution, which is often resubmitted if changes need to be made. This constitution must include at least one purpose of the club and membership, meeting and funding requirements.
“The key element is to have the constitution approved by Student Senate,” Reed said. “If you are recognized by Student Senate, you’re a club. This is usually the first step when creating the club.”
Reed has been working with student clubs and organizations at Winona State since 1989. During his time at the university, the number of clubs has increased from 85 to 222. Reed said growing numbers could be attributed to interest in more athletic and academic based clubs.
Both Reed and Tracy Rahim, associate director of Student Activities & Leadership, work closely with clubs and organizations. At the beginning of the academic year, they have to educate new club leaders.
“We have a lot of the same issues every year because we have to reinvent the wheel. You have new officers and there is a lot to learn. It keeps evolving and we are here to keep it going,” Reed said. “Tracy keeps everyone in check.”
With 222 clubs in Winona State’s directory, the Alliance of Student Organizations oversees all these organizations and removes inactive clubs from the list. According to ASO Director Megan Grochowski, nearly 30 clubs have been removed from the directory since she assumed her student position in fall 2016. She said she receives two or three requests a week for the creation of new clubs.
According to Reed, the number of clubs on Winona State’s campus has grown from 85 to 222 in 28 years.
Reed said the best way to maintain a club after its creation is to continue recruiting members, which is why club fairs are hosted several times a year.
When Darrell Krueger began his presidency at Winona State University in 1989, he had big plans for the campus – plans that earned him the title of “absolutely crazy.”
The vice president of university advancement at the time, Gary Evans, said he and Krueger would often walk around campus, speaking to people and looking at the grounds. During the early 1990s, the streets bordering the university ran through the campus.
“I remember he and I were making that walk one day when he stopped and said to me, ‘We need to close all these streets,’” Evans said. “I remember saying specifically to Darrell, ‘You’re absolutely crazy… the city of Winona will never allow that to happen.’”
Krueger said he simply saw the need for the campus to match its surroundings.
“The river and bluffs are so beautiful, yet the campus had streets all the way through it,” he said.
Evans said once Krueger developed what campus would look like without streets, resources were needed to make it happen. After people began to support Krueger’s vision, Winona State went to the state university board for an allocation, and it was approved.
Since then, campus beautification at Winona State has been of high importance to faculty, staff and students.
While Krueger took the initiative to change the campus, he said when the first street was transformed into a wide sidewalk, “People started to see other possibilities.”
Over the next few years, donations were received from alumni, community members, faculty and staff to further beautify the campus. Krueger said some of the most well-known and enjoyed elements on campus were donations: the benches, gardens near the Performing Arts Center and Gildemeister Hall, Lauren’s Pond, gazebo and many trees.
After Krueger retired as Winona State’s president in 2005, Evans, who left Winona State in 1998, said the campus fell into “pretty serious neglect.” Eight years later, Evans returned for a three-year stint as interim vice president and heard the current president, Scott Olson, discuss the beauty of the campus in a university meeting.
“It was no question – the campus was, and is, beautiful,” Evans said. “The fact also remained that it was a pale resemblance of its former self.”
Olson made sure a budget was available for the maintenance department to transform the campus back into its previous state and maintain its beauty.
Evans explained upholding the image of Winona State to future Warriors as an “extremely important component” to future enrollment.
“It’s been proven over and over again that prospective students that come to look at Winona State are stunned by the beauty of campus,” Evans said. “That, combined with the beauty of the community, is responsible for recruiting a great deal of students to the university.”
As Olson began to place emphasis on the appearance of the campus, Jim Reynolds, a now-retired Winona State sociology professor, was placed as co-chair of the WSU Landscape Arboretum Committee.
Until the early 1990s, roads cut through Winona State’s campus. Wide sidewalks now replace the roads as part of the university’s efforts to beautify campus.
According to Reynolds, the Arboretum is concerned with campus beautification as well as developing the campus to be representative of the diverse southeastern Minnesota biome.
The Arboretum’s goal is to promote this unique landscape on Winona State grounds, create opportunities for the campus to be used as a living classroom and laboratory, continue to develop the native species on campus and model ethical use of land and practices.
Reynolds said a big accomplishment for the committee was appointing an Arboretum director and landscape architect, Lisa Pearson, who has a “wealth of experience.”
At the start of January 2017, Reynolds passed his committee chair position to Pearson and Allison Quam, a Winona State faculty member. These women now manage a staff that includes a senior groundskeeper and horticulturist, turf and irrigation specialist, certified arborist, and student landscape workers.
Evans recalled a Winona State maintenance employee (Bill Meyer, a now-retired groundskeeper) telling Krueger, shortly after the street transformation, that he thought Winona State was close to having every tree native to Minnesota on the campus grounds. This thought turned into another campus goal for Winona State.
As the number of native trees grew over the years, a complete tree inventory has recently been done of the campus. The inventory reveals there are more than 1,500 trees on Winona State’s campus comprised of 143 species. Reynolds said it is important to maintain diversity in the university’s tree stock.
“We don’t want to develop a monoculture of one type of tree,” he said. “That’s not healthy.”
Two years ago, a rapid restoration of the entire university landscape was conducted. Reynolds said the majority of the funding for these significant expenditures came from a settlement with the DuPont Corporation.
Prior to the restoration, Winona State had used lawn fertilizer from DuPont that was mistakenly toxic to trees. Reynolds said Winona State lost around 100 trees due to the use of this fertilizer, and Winona State received a sizable settlement from the corporation in the nationwide lawsuit. The Arboretum used the settlement for the restoration, which involved hiring a Rochester firm to assess and prune the trees across campus.
Reynolds said the rapid restoration was “such a mammoth undertaking that our staff just wouldn’t have had the time to do. It involved a couple dozen people from firm devoting an intensive amount of time.”
The time and effort the university’s Landscape Arboretum has put into planting and maintaining the trees on campus, combined with involvement in Arbor Day activities, earned Winona State recognition as a Tree Campus USA the past three years.
In an effort to educate the public and its students about the trees on campus, the Arboretum sponsors tree tours in the summer and fall months. Many of the trees on university grounds display a label with its respective popular name, scientific name and a QR code to scan and give smartphone users more information and photos about the species of tree.
While strides have been made in beautifying Winona State’s campus, Reynolds explained the Arboretum is a long-term project that will continually evolve. This includes using an organic approach to maintaining the university’s landscape, transitioning away from commercial flowers to more native plants of southeastern Minnesota and developing a river landscape feature in the central part of the main campus.
Reynolds said these changes would enhance students’ learning in the landscape as an outdoor classroom and appeal to the public.
“We want to see Winona State’s campus become a destination point for travelers passing through the area,” Reynolds said.
Today, as tourists, community members, students, staff and faculty walk the sidewalks on campus to admire the bio-diversity and beauty, Evans emphasized the importance of Krueger’s definitive words during their stroll on campus in 1989.
Evans said there is no question that removing the roads was “the first critical step in beautifying the campus.”
While Krueger may have started the campus beautification initiative, he said it has taken “a whole community to make the Winona State campus as beautiful as it is now.”
Krueger said, “I’m very thankful to have been able to serve and have the support we had during those times from the city, state, faculty and staff, and the students. The students led a lot of these changes.”
Reynolds said the Landscape Arboretum Committee would like to see more student-engagement regarding projects related to their academic programs. He suggested there needs to be a new culture and attitude on campus about maintaining the landscape.
He said, “Everyone has to pitch in on this. Not just the landscape staff, but students, faculty and staff as well.”
With a tight budget and recent cuts, Evans said this is a threat to the Landscape Arboretum, just as any program.
“I would hate to see any less spent on campus beautification than is currently being spent,” he said. “I certainly hope that campus beautification is never again allowed to become deficient.”
As warmer weather starts to hit the Winona State campus again, so do the bike thieves.
Scott Bestul, the assistant security director on campus, said that so far in 2016 there have been five reports of stolen bikes on WSU campus. He also disclosed that open investigations could not be counted as of yet.
Most of the thefts occurred at East Lake and around Kryszko Commons.
In addition to the five bike thefts, there have been two reports of missing bike parts.
According to Bestul, some thieves steal and stockpile front tires, and even the seats.
With seven recorded thefts before the peak bicycle season mid-spring, Bestul said that the theft numbers remain fairly consistent from year-to-year.
“I’ve been here five years, I haven’t seen a drastic change one way or the other,” he said.
Many of the investigations don’t end in a recovery. 2014 WSU graduate Joe Klehr is one of many students on campus that never got his stolen bike back.
“My bike was stolen [in 2012] and I never found it,” Klehr said. “I snooped around campus for my bike a few times and kept my eyes open until I graduated, but it never turned up.”
Klehr took matters into his own hands when his roommate’s bike was stolen, and later turned up at Winona State’s Integrated Wellness Complex.
“After sharing my story, I realized lots of people shared that same story,” Klehr said. “My roommate’s bike also got jacked [in 2014] and we found that baby locked up by the IWC. I ended up cutting the chain from the thieves lock, and stole it back. It didn’t get taken again.”
While unorthodox, Klehr felt that the options to get his roommate’s bike back otherwise were slim.
“I didn’t report the crime because I just assumed the police had bigger issues to resolve,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t know how the police could find a stolen bike anyway. The option of cutting the lock just seemed like the quickest solution without involving unnecessary parties.”
2015 graduate Will Ahlberg had three bikes stolen from him during his time at Winona State.
“One of my bikes was stolen outside my house, one was stolen after I forgot to lock it up for 10 minutes during the day, and one was taken by someone with a cable cutter just snapping my lock off,” Ahlberg said. “The last bike that was stolen by the cable cutters I had actually built myself completely so that one stung quite a bit.”
Bestul said that some bikes that are recovered by the Winona Police Department are kept for up to six months at a place commonly known as the “bike barn.” After six months, the bikes are auctioned off. If nobody claims them before or during the auctions, the bikes are destroyed.
Ahlberg had no such luck at the bike barn.
“Never recovered any of them,” he said. “I reported the last two to the police and they said I had to go to the warehouse to try and find it, but it was only open one day a week for like two hours, and I always had class right over that time so I never had a chance to even go and try to find them again.”
Bestul says the best thing for students to do to avoid theft is to thoroughly document their bikes, including a serial number.
“When filing a report we like to have a detailed description of the bicycle, whether or not anyone else had access to the lock combination or key, the exact location from where it was stolen, and the date and time it was last seen,” Bestul said. “The students can file reports with WSU security and the Winona Police Department. We encourage and prefer both.”
That said, Bestul also recommends that students ensure their bikes are correctly secured with the right equipment.
To register a bicycle with the City of Winona, click here.
To report a lost bicycle with the City of Winona, click here.
To view recovered bicycles at the Bike Barn, viewings are on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. For more information, click here.
For the local improv group on Winona State campus, being a member is a part of an exclusive club.
There are nine improvisers on the RunnerUp comedy troupe, a student manager, and a tech assistant, bringing the total to 11 members.
The Tuesday before Winona State’s spring break, 15 students showed up to try their luck in the troupe’s annual auditions.
“It’s more than we’ve ever gotten, RunnerUp facilitator and WSU junior Keagan Anderson said. “The largest audition that I’ve seen here is six.”
RunnerUp formed back in 2008 with a handful of members. They primarily do shows on Winona State campus, but have recently started to increase their reach.
Show locations around Winona include Blooming Grounds coffeehouse, Ed’s No-Name Bar, Bub’s, and the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. Additionally, the troupe has collaborated with La Crosse’s troupe, The Backwards Thinking Society, and plans to do a show with WSU’s A cappella group Hear and Now in April.
On a national scale, RunnerUp is growing too. For the first time in three years, RunnerUp competed in the Chicago Improvisational Tournment (CIT). Regionals were held in December at the Minneapolis HUGE Theater.
RunnerUp won the first round with their trademark sketch, called a “Mockumentary.” Members compare the sketch to the show “The Office,” where characters can have an aside to address the audience.
The group finished third in the Midwest at CIT, their best finish at a national tournament.
“I think the name we make for ourselves through our shows really ended up speaking for us,” Anderson said.
Megan Hayes (left) offers drinks to Brad Krieger (center) and Keagan Anderson during practice
While the number of students who turned up for auditions was surprising to the group, it’s evident RunnerUp’s plan is working.
“This year’s turnout really speaks to how much we got the word out, but also how much people appreciate our club and want to be a part of it,” Anderson said. “We’ve definitely been more present on social media. Beyond that, we were very good about publicizing events, and a lot more word of mouth than we have in the past.”
Anderson said going into auditions, RunnerUp was expected to bring on three new members. With the overwhelming amount of talent to choose from this year, they doubled the total to six. Over half of the 15 students who auditioned were freshmen.
Emma Tomb, a sophomore, was eager to compete for a spot in the group.
“All through high school I was on a [sic] improv troupe, and it was quite a community,” Tomb said. “Through seeing what [RunnerUp] has created, it seems like they have a nice little community here, and it seems like something that I’d want to be a part of.”
Freshman Will Diedrich said the group could also help build real world skills.
“I want to be in RunnerUp because I want to learn to do improv,” Diedrich said. “Improv has a lot of real world use. It pretty much applies to anything you want to do, and it uses a lot of communication skills, which I could work on as a person.”
Tomb and Diedrich were part of the six people notified they had made the troupe, shortly before Winona State’s spring break last week.
“I think it was overwhelming,” Diedrich said of the audition process. “I didn’t expect that many people to be there. But it worked out well in the end.”
Now, the new members will practice every Tuesday and Thursday from 8-10 P.M. in Winona State’s Performing Arts Center − preparing for upcoming shows and learning new improve skills.
“The first practice was alright, the big thing was that you have to perform with everyone else now that’s in RunnerUp,” Diedrich said. “It was a little difficult to step up to their level. They’re all really encouraging and everything, but it’s still a little bit nervous when you’re dealing with all the people that are experts in the field.”
Keagan Anderson (right) performs with Elladee Zak on Thursday, March 17th.
Anderson said that the new members will be put to work right away.
“We’re really looking to push them,” he said. “During the audition process you only see two or three different sides of a person, and maybe we see a lot of potential, but you want to push them and open up that potential and show us what they got.”
Even with a new mass of members, the group dynamic is still the same.
“We’re definitely a group that fits together,” Anderson concluded.
Runner Up’s next show is currently scheduled for April 30th, in Winona State’s Student Activity Center. The cost is free. For more event updates, follow RunnerUp on their Facebook page.
To view clips of RunnerUp’s shows − including their winning CIT performance − visit their YouTube page.
Even in his campaigns logo crested T-Shirt, amidst the throng of trade show masses, Winona State University public relations student Phil Robin started to sweat.
“It’s nerve-racking, and I want to go to sleep,” he said exhaustedly.
For many public relations and advertising students in Winona State’s senior campaigns class, Thursday’s trade show in Kryszko’s Student Activity Center was their first real world experience.
At the start of the semester, Mass Communication professors Tanya Ryan and Muriel Scott had each student fill out a skill survey and submit a resume. From there, students were sorted randomly into five different groups, so that students with similar skillsets weren’t together.
Each group had to develop their own company name, logo, and identity. From there, they decided on the roles they would have for the duration of the semester.
“The first day we sat in a circle and all said what our strengths and weaknesses are,”public relations major Megan Hayes said. “I said I was good at social media.”
Since the class mixes public relations and advertising majors, only a small portion of the students knew each other. In a real-life atmosphere, groups have to manage with what they have, just as they would with coworkers they don’t know anything about after getting hired.
“We all just clicked right away… we’re all in the same boat, so we might as well like each other,” Hayes said.
For the students, there are no textbooks needed for this class. Everything that goes into the class involves time and resources.
“We meet five days a week for about two hours,” Hayes said. “We went over our budget first, then what we wanted to give out for ‘swag.'”
Hayes’ group named themselves Origin Communications, as “success originates with us,” as their mission statement says. Other groups include Avantive, Radiance, Meraki and Acai Eleven.
Origin’s booth at the trade show, which was manned by Hayes among others.
For the next two months, these five groups will be duking it out over a span of four events, vying for the coveted top spot. Each group was given two and a half weeks to prepare a booth for the first trade show, along with other handouts and information for a professional client. This year’s client is the Director of Communication at the Mall of America, Dan Jasper.
The students have to sign confidentiality forms and intellectual property forms in order to take the class. While the winning campaign isn’t used by the client, the winning group does receive some perks.
“Last year a client gave the mass communications department a donation, and it was used for [an end-of-the-year] banquet,” professor Tanya Ryan said.
She added that one time, “Best Buy gave everyone a gold membership.”
Professor Ryan said there is little teaching involved, other than feedback on how a group is doing after each event. The feedback and consequent rankings makes the groups strive to be better by the culmination of the class.
“You can’t ask your boss questions – they expect you to know what to do,” Ryan said. “The class is to empower students to make their own decisions, and teach them to become more confident in their knowledge and skills.”
Luckily for the group Avantive, advertising major Elizabeth Clark was able to offer some advice from her past experiences.
“I’ve done trade shows before at Mayo Center similar to this one for a gym [business],” Clark said.
That said, nothing could ever completely prepare students for what lay ahead – the trade show.
Students were cast into the fire as friends and strangers alike crowded the space around the booths, rifling off fast-paced questions and bumping into each other to fill out contest forms for the groups’ raffles.
“No matter how prepared you are, there are things where you wish ‘oh, I wish I would’ve done that,'” Clark said. “That and you always tell yourself to speak in a more professional manner.”
Amongst the photo booths, caricaturist and mini golf competition that groups brought, students kept piling in. Some WSU students had no vested interests in the trade show, and came to support friends. For Nicole Cullinan, a photographer at Winona State, she came to help her friends and help herself.
“One of my roommates is in Origin, and the other is in Avantive,” Cullinan said.
Like the groups, Cullinan was given a shortened deadline comparable to the real world.
“I shot for one team Wednesday, the other on Thursday, and then I sat down Friday night and did them all – I did it all in three days.”
Cullinan’s work was featured in slideshows playing at the booths during the trade show, and was also featured on social media.
“It was a good experience for me to do more studio work, and take more headshots,” Cullinan added. “It gives me a sense of pride, to see my work printed at the trade show.”
Hannah Ingebrand echoed Cullinan’s thoughts.
“This was the most real world thing I’ve ever done. I was really impressed by the whole thing. Everybody was on the same page,” Ingebrand said.
Winona State senior Phil Robin looks on during the Campaigns trade show, eager to answer questions the patrons might have.
On the far end of the SAC closest to the stage, Phil Robin and Meraki waited patiently to talk to the client. Jasper’s first question when he arrived – why the group wasn’t dressed like the rest.
“When people asked us why we were wearing T-Shirts, we said we want our work to speak for us, yet remain approachable and comfortable,” Robin said coolly.
Jasper told Robin he was impressed with Meraki’s overall message and mission statement.
“[Jasper] was more forward than anyone… nice guy, but a straight talker who was actually pretty intimidating,” Robin said. “Based on feedback from my teammates, we thought we’ll rank pretty well.”
An hour and a half later, it was all over. The groups were able to relax and consume some of their leftover cupcakes they had brought for the show.
Their first glimpse of the real world was just beginning.
Each semester, a select number of students from Winona State embark on an academic journey away from the community of learners they know in order to learn in another culture across the world.
According to publicity materials from the university, the study abroad program at Winona State is open to any student, provided they meet three basic criteria: they are not on disciplinary or academic probation, they have their Warrior Hub account paid in full, and they have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher.
If a student meets these requirements, the next step is for them to meet with a peer advisor. Peer advising was introduced this year as a way to guide students through the programming, application and preparation process with aid from a student who has already studied abroad. Since the peer advising program is relatively new, there is currently only one peer advisor: Kathreen Smith.
Smith is a senior at Winona State triple-majoring in economics, political science and communication studies. She studied abroad in Muscat, Oman, during spring semester 2015 and said she had a great experience. Smith said she believes everyone should study abroad at some point and hopes to help other students accomplish their dream of studying abroad.
Smith said she mainly helps students narrow their program choices, as this is where students often struggle.
“Some people don’t even know how to look for one, they can search through and read it but they don’t know what exactly they’re looking for,” Smith said.
Students first apply for approval from Winona State to study abroad through an online application. For semester study away programs, once a student is approved by WSU, they can apply to the program of their choice at the respective university abroad they wish to attend. Following this application, students wait to hear back from the institution abroad. If they are accepted the preparation for their semester abroad begins.
Cassandra Pearson, a senior global studies major, said although her experience studying abroad in Shanghai, China, two years ago was good, she dealt with frustrations both before and after the trip. The first, she said, was in regards to paperwork.
“I actually got really confused on the process at first because you need like a lot of paperwork to fill out just to apply at the WSU stage to get approved to study abroad,” Pearson said. “You had to have like two letters of recommendation from professors and then you had to fill out a sheet saying what courses you’d think you’d take over there and how they would come back to WSU.”
The second, Pearson said, was due to slow response from her abroad university when she needed to know if she would actually be allowed to go or not.
“It was very frustrating, especially waiting so long for that paperwork and you know not having signed up for housing here, not having signed up for classes and if this fell through I would just have a semester of nothing,” Pearson said
Lastly, Pearson said the school in Shanghai was awful with communication and as a result, she did not receive her transcripts until nearly a year after completing her semester abroad.
“I had a bad situation leaving in the case of getting my grades to come back and so I went through a phase of really regretting it, but overall I’m really glad I went,” Pearson said.
When Pearson traveled abroad, the peer advising program had not yet been put in place, as a result, she experienced greater difficulty getting some of her personal questions answered.
“This program to this school [was] fairly new,” Pearson said. “I think maybe two or three students had gone before me and I knew one of them personally but he wasn’t the most reliable with answering questions.”
In the time since Pearson’s semester abroad, the application process has been moved online entirely and the peer advising program has been put into place. These changes may rectify some of the issues within the current application process.
Despite the potential frustrations, Smith’s advice to those who wish to study abroad is simple.
“Just do it. Make it work,” Smith said, “There’s always a way to make it work. There’s so many different options out there.”
Short video newscast to accompany this article:
Kathreen Smith talks about who has the most safety concerns for students abroad:
Cassandra Pearson talks about a strange experience she had when registering for classes at the start of her semester abroad in Shanghai:
Kathreen in the middle of the Omani desert.
Kathreen before seeing a show at the Royal Omani Opera House.
Cassandra against the backdrop of the Pudong skyline.
Cassandra poses in front of the zig-zag bridge in Shanghai.
Relevant Links:
WSU Study Abroad Student Resources:http://www.winona.edu/studyabroad/resources.asp
Book an Appointment with a WSU Peer Advisor if you’re considering going abroad:https://my.setmore.com/shortBookingPage/406bc7da-1b59-4cc0-a262-ff8eadba2667
Study Abroad Vs. Travel: Studyhttp://www.winona.edu/studyabroad/about.asp
College students in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System can expect the cost of their meal plans to go up about 11 percent next year due to the growing demand for more food options.
Greg Ewig, The Director of Capital Development for MnSCU said students can expect to pay approximately $2,900 per year for an average food service plan compared to the $2,603 they currently pay.
According to Ewig, the increase is due to student demand for more meal options.
“Part of the price increase reflects the fact that there is an expectation that there is going to be some improvements that will happen to the food on campus,” Ewig said, specifically referring to the Winona State University campus.
Ewig said students are especially interested in seeing more locally grown food and gluten-free options.
All schools in the MnSCU system have been in contract negotiations with food vendors and will begin the new contracts starting July 1.
WSU will renew their contract with Chartwells and students will see new changes to meal plans this fall.
Ewig said student voices impact choosing a food service vendor.
“Student involvement has been robust and sustained throughout the process,” Ewig said.
“For each university, students served on the selection committee and discussions engaged student and the Residence hall advisory and related student boards.”
According to Ewig, MnSCU schools engaged in extensive surveys of students, faculty and staff to better understand the food service needs. During this effort, 4,217 individuals responded to the surveys at the universities.
While WSU students can expect an increase in the cost of a meal plan, they will also see changes on campus for the 2016-17 school year.
John Sinniger, director of Chartwell’s at WSU, said student’s opinions are important and their feedback has been heard.
“We’ve always engaged in food committees on campus,” Sinniger said. “They have a really good one here and I’ve been with the company for over 30 years and I use that as literally my arms and legs.”
Sinniger said student’s dietary concerns such as providing gluten-free and vegan options, are often discussed concerns.
According to Sinniger, WSU’s Jack Kane dining center will be renovated to include a large center island where they will serve allergen-free food.
He said the island will provide food free from seven major allergens such as dairy, gluten, peanuts and soy.
The island will also have its own dishes, dishwasher and freezers to avoid cross-contamination.
Along with the renovations to the Jack Kane Dining Center, Sinniger said the Darrell W. Krueger Library will get an Einstein’s Bagels and Caribou Coffee.
There is also discussion of expanding the Mugby Junction in Somsen Hall and doing small renovations to the dining center in Lourdes Hall.
Even though Chartwell’s promises to expand options for those who are gluten-free, there are still some students with other food preferences and opinions that haven’t been heard.
WSU sophomore, Megan Garritty, identifies as a vegetarian.
Garritty said she thinks Chartwells has some good options right now, but is unsure of how healthy it is. She said she thinks another food vendor could have healthier options, and might be a better option for WSU.
Garrity said she has a block meal plan because she lives off-campus, but she hasn’t used it much.
When she does eat on campus, she prefers a grilled cheese from Grill Nation in the Smaug or a Mondo’s sandwich. Garritty also said she often gets smoothies from the C-Store, which she really likes.
“I don’t eat in the dining center anymore just because there aren’t many options for me as a vegetarian,” Garritty said.
Along with not having many vegetarian options, she also said the omelet station in the dining center needs improvement to be better for vegetarians.
“The cooks behind the station don’t clean it in between each person’s order, so when it’s your turn,” Garrity said, “There are sometimes little pieces of meat lying there, or bacon grease.”
Garritty said it would be beneficial to train the cooks or remind them about dietary restrictions to help avoid this problem.
Providing more options for vegans and vegetarians is something Garritty thinks food can always improve.
She said the one small line for vegetarians in the dining center is never very appetizing so vegetarians don’t have enough variety.
Garritty added, “I also think better salad bar options would benefit not just vegetarians, but everyone on campus.”
Reagan Johnson, a WSU junior, is a vegan. She said she was not much of a meat eater growing up and this past fall decided to make it her new year’s resolution to become a vegan.
Johnson said she does not have a meal plan on campus, and said it’s not the best option for her because there is only about three things that are a good option for her to eat on campus.
She said she brings a lot of her own food to campus, or she will get vegetarian sushi from the C-Store or a sandwich from Mondo’s with just veggies.
“It’s nice that they have snacks in the C-Store that you can grab,” Johnson said.
She said she would prefer if Chartwells had more variety.
Although she can’t eat most of the meals because of her vegan diet, she said it would be helpful if they simply removed or didn’t put cheese on a lot of the dishes, such as the pasta in the Smaug.
Johnson said she rarely buys things on campus because she feels they are expensive.
“Especially the sushi. That alone is $6 or $7 just for carrots and cucumber.” Johnson said.
With the prices where they are now, and the expected price increase, Johnson said it would definitely impact her decision-making.
She said she would probably not buy food on campus anymore because it’s not worth the money and she can make a lot of food cheaper at home and be happier with it.
Winona State University’s newly appointed director of security, Chris Cichosz, officially began his duties this past Monday.
Cichosz, a Winona native, received his associate’s degree in law enforcement from Rochester Community and Technical College, a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and sociology from the University of Wyoming, and a master’s degree in public safety executive leadership from St. Cloud State University. For the past 15 years, Cichosz has worked for the Winona County Sheriff’s Office, serving as an assistant detention deputy, patrol deputy, K-9 handler, narcotics and violent crimes investigator and chief deputy.
Cichosz will be responsible for the coordination and management of security departments at both Winona State University and Southeast Technical College. Cichosz said he hopes to bring a more holistic approach to campus security by combatting underlying issues.
“I try to take a big picture approach not just a ‘take care of that one incident’—more try to take care of what’s causing whatever it may be or how we can make it better in the long run—not just right now,” Cichosz said.
As part of this approach, Cichosz said he plans to conduct more active training in the form of practical drills. He plans to build off of some of the training Donald Walski, the former director of security, brought to the university. These include active shooter training or response options to train derailments.
Cichosz said these drills will help better prepare students, faculty, and staff to deal with potential crisis situations on campus.
Cichosz explained he’s had opportunities to attend many different types of training.
“I’ve been able to take in a lot in a short amount of time that has kind of really influenced how I look at things overall,” Cichosz said.
By raising the stress level, Cichosz said, practical drills become more akin to real life. This, as a result, better prepares participants to respond accordingly to actual crisis scenarios.
“That’s how I trained in law enforcement, and that’s how that stuff seems to sink in with people more,” Cichosz said.
Cichosz expressed his interest in returning to a university setting. He said he had always wanted to return to Wyoming where he completed his undergraduate degree. Now that he has a family, Cichosz said the idea was out of the question.
“This opportunity for director of security at Winona State presented itself and it was a good opportunity for my family and I as we progress in our lives,” Cichosz said. “I kind of seized the moment.”
Cichosz said he had always looked forward to teaching in some capacity and feels this new position will allow him to be involved in through daily campus interactions.
“I don’t necessarily think I have to be teaching classes to teach students,” Cichosz said.
In addition, Cichosz said his biggest priority as director will be to improve and maintain relationships between the university and the Winona community as a whole.
Don Walski, who previously served as director of security, said he has known Cichosz for several years. Walski stressed getting to know the staff and establishing close relationships on campus. Walski is confident Cichosz will succeed in his new role at the university.
“He’s a great guy. He’ll do a really good job,” Walski said.
Cichosz said Walski has been a great resource both during the application process and since starting as director.
“I talked with Don a lot going through this process,” Cichosz said, “[To get] a sense of an idea of what this all entails and what am I getting into?”
Cichosz said he plans to keep in contact with Walski as he has been invaluable in learning all he can about this position.
“He has obviously done a good job of keeping the campus safe and I’d like to try to expand on that,” Cichosz said.
Cichosz said his first week on the job has been a flurry of meetings and introductions. He is confident he will settle into the position quickly. Cichosz said he is looking forward to working with a diverse group of students and campus personnel.
“This is a good opportunity to get into that type of environment and to be in that situation,” Cichosz said.
Click the link below for a brief video newscast on Cichosz & what he believes are the biggest security issues facing Winona State University:
