sports, Winona State University

WSU All-American Has a Shot at the NFL

Leave a comment

Getting to the National Football League from a division two program is not impossible.

It’s improbable.

Out of 1696 players in the league, 120 come from D2 schools, according to Hero Sports.

Some make a big impact, many don’t, but to even be on a practice squad will make the athlete a league minimum $7,200 per week.

This equates to around $150,000 for the regular season alone – quite the entry-level pay wage for a 23-year-old.

Meet Andrew Spencer, a 23-year-old student/athlete at Winona State University who majors in recreational tourism – a degree that earns an average of $40,000 a year.

If he had to pick between careers, Spencer said he is interested in the former.

Craig Johnson: Spencer Joining hands with his fellow captains before a game.

This past season, Spencer was a first-team All-American on numerous publications, earned NSIC Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors and captained a 10-2 Winona State team that forced the second most turnovers in all of NCAA football – D1 included.

Because of these accomplishments, Spencer’s recreational tourism degree may have to wait because he has signed an agent and is training for the NFL combine at the end of February.

“That’s the only occupation I want to do,” Spencer said.

If all goes well, he may join his cousin, Clay Harbor, who plays for the New Orleans Saints and has enjoyed a 10-year career in the league.

Spencer said his driving force throughout this journey is to reimburse those who have invested in him; a shortlist that starts with his mother.

Spencer was born to a single mother with many siblings and not much money to go around.

His father has been incarcerated his whole life.

That is not something he gives much energy to – he said he would rather focus on what his Mom has provided.

“We kind of struggled a lot. We had to grind for money,” Spencer said. “I just think this is how life came out for us. We had it harder than other people, but I feel like this is just hard work paying off.”

Spencer described taking care of his mother with his first check not as something he wants to do, but something he is going to do.

“I just have to do it,” Spencer said. “My mom gave me a good life… she’s just a blue-collar woman who worked hard. She got put in a s*** position, I’m gonna pay her back,” Spencer said laughing.

Submitted: Spencer Joining his mom, Phyllis, after a win.

Loyalty is important to Spencer.

He said it took a community to get him to where he is today and is committed to giving a return on others’ investments in him.

“I got a lot of help and support from my friend’s families so I pay a lot of respect to them for actually getting me to this spot,” Spencer said.

Among those friends is a man who has seen Spencer’s development from the beginning, high school and college teammate, Justin Bergeron.

“He just always had that mentality whether it was pickup basketball in the driveway, football, golf, video games, it was like he was going to win,” Bergeron said. “That’s something that’s always been in him and that’s cool to see.”

It’s never been a question for Bergeron that Spencer is made for sports, but what has increased dramatically over the years is the maturation of Andrew Spencer.

“Along with his maturity changing, the seriousness of his engagement with understanding the purpose of working out and the importance of doing the little things right,” Bergeron said.

Spencer earned second-team All NSIC honors his junior year and Bergeron said this lit a fire under him.

“That’s something that just hit him like, ‘I’m way better than that, something needs to change’,” Bergeron said.

Winona State head football coach Tom Sawyer said he recalls recruiting an immature high school kid with infinite potential.

“I think he’s one of the biggest success stories that we’ve had,” Sawyer said. “I don’t think very many people gave him a chance to get a college degree and play at this level because he didn’t understand the importance of a college degree at that point.”

Sawyer said Spencer came to Winona State as a kid with tons of energy, but developing into a man with direction has been a process.

“We saw the transformation take place. We saw him start to grow as a student and as an athlete,” Sawyer said. “He all of a sudden realized people were looking at him for answers instead of just playing. That’s when he started to become a complete athlete.”

Sawyer explained once Spencer started to focus on the technique of the game, the whole thing opened up for him.

“One is the academic piece – he understood that education is important, then he started understanding technique and doing things right is important, now the culmination of that is one of our most decorated student-athletes we’ve ever had here.”

Heading into the combine in the next few weeks, Winona State defensive backs coach Brian Curtin explained the importance of testing well and stressed the importance of Spencer believing in himself.

“He needs to understand that he can play at that level and have that confidence to go out there and not get caught up in ‘this guy played here that guy played there.’ Just get out there and play ball,” Curtin said.

Spencer said he is confident in his abilities. He admitted to being concerned about his 40-yard dash.

NFL scouts don’t really give D2 guys the benefit of the doubt, so it’s imperative Spencer uses these upcoming weeks wisely.

“We were just there to help him with the football part, now he has people to help him with the combine,” Curtin said. “It’s like in school when they teach for the test, that’s what he’ll be doing for the next couple months is preparing for that test.”

Gerilynn Wood: Spencer returning an interception against Sioux Falls.
sports, Uncategorized, Winona State University, Women'a Basketball

WSU basketball player stars on and off the court

Leave a comment

Winona State Universities, Hannah McGlone, is on track to play in more games for WSU Women’s Basketball, then anyone who has ever played for the team.

When Hannah McGlone steps on to the floor at McCown Gymnasium, Feb. 18 she will tie Natalie Gigler, 2007-11, for most games played, at 119.

McGlone needs to play one game in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament to take the record.

Fortunately for McGlone every team in the NSIC qualifies for the tournament, barring injury she will hold the record when her collegiate basketball career comes to an end this spring.

McGlone said that, playing in 100 games and other career milestone like 900 points, 800 rebounds and 70 steals are all just meaningless stats, if they didn’t help the team win.

McGlone, the lone senior for the Warriors this season, will leave a mark on the Winona State campus not only for her play on the court but also her efforts off-court.

“I’m a hard worker and competitor,” McGlone said. “At the end of the day there is more to life than basketball. Being a good friend, family member and person off the court is what matters most.”

Hannah McGlone leads her team in a 59-51 win over The University of Sioux Falls Cougars

McGlone’s personality when she isn’t playing basketball dates to her humbling roots growing up in what she said is an average family.

Spending her childhood in the middle-class neighborhood of Streamwood, Illinois, McGlone said she never realized her full potential in basketball, until high school where she played on the varsity team for four years.

McGlone’s father always had supported her in everything she did and had high hopes for her future, however he didn’t always expect Hannah to become the basketball player she is today.

“She always had the size, but struggled with catching the ball when she was young.” joked Greg McGlone. “She had what we called blocks for hands.”

Hannah McGlone says that family is everything to her and the reason that she plays basketball.

Both Greg and Peggy McGlone coached their daughters, Hannah and Megan, while they were growing up.

McGlone was the captain of her high school team in Streamwood, Illinois

McGlone claims her parents and uncle are the reason she has become the basketball player she is today.

Everything from coaching to practicing in the driveway, her family was the most important part of her growth as basketball player, said Mcglone.

McGlone said she has no immediate plans for her future but knows basketball will no doubt be a part of it.

“If I get the opportunity to continue my basketball career on the court, it will be hard to pass.” McGlone said. “I know for a fact that I want to coach at some point.”

On track to earn a teaching degree this spring, McGlone wants to eventually work her way into an athletic director or coaching job at the collegiate or professional level.

Campus, Events, Local, Winona, Winona State University

Winona State Celebrates Frankenstein Anniversary

Leave a comment

Exactly 200 years ago, in 1818, Mary Shelly’s iconic Promethean creature was brought to life when her novel was first published.

In celebration of the 200 anniversary of “Frankenstein” being published, Winona State University is hosting a variety of events throughout January and February.

The events began Jan. 24 at 8 a.m. in WSU’s Science Laboratory Center atrium with a live reading of the entire 1818 edition of the novel.

The nearly eight-hour event hosted a constant influx of audience members, ranging from none to double digits at different times.

According to Dunbar, althogether there were an estimated 75 to 100 attendees.

The live reading was the brainchild of Ann-Marie Dunbar, an associate professor of the English department and director of the events.

“The bicentenary of Frankenstein’s publication gives us a great opportunity to celebrate one of the most original and fascinating novels written in English,” Dunbar said. “A novel that is just as relevant today as it was in 1818.”

The reading featured most of the University’s English department faculty, including Paul Johnson, an English and Film Studies professor.

Paul Johnson, WSU’s Film Studies director reads From Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” in character.

Johnson performed the first few chapters of volume two with enthusiasm, creating voices for the characters, making the event that much more noticeable for the students passing through the atrium, many of whom stopped for a moment to listen.

Johnson is the planner of the film series that is a part of the “Frankenstein celebration” at WSU.

The film series began off on Monday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. in the Miller Auditorium at WSU with a double feature of the 1931 film “Frankenstein” and it’s 1935 sequel “The Bride of Frankenstein.”

Robert Pack, WSU Film Studies student, hosts a showing of the film “The Bride of Frankenstein.”

“For those of us who love the novel and love the tale and love Mary Shelly’s composition of it,” Johnson said, “simply being able to bring that to life for a day is a really rich source of enjoyment for us.”

The film series is the most expensive of the events, costing between $1,600 -$1,800 for public performance rights according to Johnson.

According to Dunbar, the English, Art, Mass Communication, and the University Theme committee are all sponsors working for and donating to the project.

The double feature began with an audience of about 75, most of which were students attending for class.

After an intermission between the films the audience decreased to about 25.

Audience waits for the double feature of “Frankenstein” and “The Bride of Frankenstein” to begin at WSU

Brittney Bluhm, an English and Film student at the university attended both features having read the book recently but never seeing the films.

Bluhm said that she liked the venue, but especially enjoyed watching the films together.

“I think that we could have had the five-minute intermission quicker. It was more like a 10 to 15-minute intermission,” Bluhm said.

Zachary Zaboj, an independent studies student who attended for class said he was surprised at how much was changed from the book to the films.

Johnson said he thought the first few events went well, the audience sizes being more than satisfactory.

Frankenfest will continued Feb. 19 with the next film in the series, “Young Frankenstein,” at 7 p.m. in WSU’s Miller Auditorium.

Journalism, Winona State University

Winona360 Site Updated

Leave a comment

Community members in and around Winona, Minnesota, will be able to view a variety of interesting news articles on the newly updated Winona360 web site.

The site is a function of the Winona State University Mass Communication department and is populated with articles, photographs and video stories created primarily by upper division journalism students.

Students in the Spring 2018 semester’s senior journalism capstone class, Publication Practicum, are researching, interviewing, photographing, video recording and editing articles. They will upload their articles to the site and then hope to hear feedback from site viewers.

The site is located at a new web address: https://educate.winona.edu/winona360.

art, Campus, Community, Digital Life and Learning, Events, Outdoors, technology, Winona State University

Yuge Zhou: In the Shape of a City

Leave a comment

Winona State University’s Art and Design Department hosted a video installation exhibit by Chicago based artist, Yugo Zhou, called In the Shape of a City, on Oct. 16 through Nov. 6. The exhibit featured two video pieces, Midtown Flutter and Underground Circuit, which were filmed on the streets of New York City as well as the subways.

Art Gallery Coordinator, Roger Boulay, oversaw the exhibit.

“Yugo Zhou exhibited at Winona State last year,” Boulay said. “I saw it and I loved it, and I decided to invite her to exhibit here, and she accepted.”

Boulay said it was interesting to bring two pieces that were investigating urban spaces to Winona.

“Since Winona is located in such a rural environment, to have two pieces about a big city, is a nice change of pace,” Boulay said. “It might make many of our students, many of which come from rural backgrounds, think about the city in new ways, and maybe disrupt preconceived notions about the city.”

Rachel Hollcraft, of Crookston, Minn., and a sophomore and WSU, viewed the exhibit with her classmates.

“The different people, especially in the piece on the floor, gives a sense of individuality to every person caught on tape, and in a way that makes New York City seem smaller,” Hollcraft said.

“I really appreciated the detail put into timing people with the stop light, in the piece on the wall,” Hollcraft said. “The piece on the floor was my favorite, because the amount of time put into filming, and then creating a loop of different people entering and exiting from each square is incredible, and shows the hard work of Zhou.”

Boulay said there were over 300 layer of video in Underground Circuit, and Zhou listened to entire television series during the video editing process.

Boulay said Zhou received an $800 stipend, and stayed at the WSU Alumni House during her stay in Winona.  The exhibit was supported by WSU and by a grant from the WSU Foundation.

The Shape of a City exhibit allowed viewer to interact with the pieces. Viewers could walk on Underground, if they took off their shoes. Viewers could also look behind Midtown Flutter to see how the piece was made and look at its various dimensions.

Watkins Gallery hosts six exhibits by visiting artists each year and six by current WSU students. The next exhibit called, CHASTUSHKI, by Amy Toscani, will be on display from Nov. 13 through Dec. 8.

 

Community, Family, Local, Winona

Pumpkin Carving Creations

Leave a comment

Besides Christmas, Halloween is a kid’s favorite holiday, because you get to dress-up in costumes, scare friends and family, and carve pumpkins. Carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns is a popular Halloween tradition that originated hundreds of years ago in Ireland. Rachelle Tollefsrud, age 10, from Mabel, Minnesota demonstrates her carving skills of a pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern for Halloween.

Pumpkin Carving Audio Slide Show

art, Community, Local, Outdoors, Winona

Winona’s 10 Annual Family Art Day

Leave a comment

Parents and children gather excitedly Saturday morning Sept. 2, 2017 at Jaycee’s Pavilion in Winona’s Lake Park for the tenth annual Family Art Day.

Sponsored by a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council this event helps introduce children to a variety of art mediums that may not be available to them otherwise.

Winona’s River Arts Alliance board runs the event with help from Winona Parks and Recreation and the Winona State University Art Department.

Aundra Arre paints on mural boards set up in Jaycee’s Pavilion for Winona’s tenth annual Family Art Day last Saturday.

With two years on the board under her belt, event coordinator Tove Wiggs said she was eager to help organize Family Art Day.

Wiggs said “Many people who volunteer are from the arts community, art supporters, a handful of WSU students and members of the River Arts Alliance board.”

“The River Arts Alliance has all sorts of different artists as members and friends of the organization,” Wiggs said.  “I just really wanted to expand into some of the forms of art that are beyond 2D and 3D; into music, movements and poetry.”

With 23 art activities, around 30 artists, live music and food from Rubio’s, the event was busy from the start, with numbers close to the 550 people who participated in 2016 according to Wiggs.

The art stations included familiar arts like water color, pottery, finger painting and beading while adding more unique art mediums like movement arts, weaving, poetry, cosmic knots and wood carving with wire.

Potter Mickey Maslowski explains how to make designs on a pot while Kara Reller and her one-year-old son, Stevie, observe.

“I had a number of people that I ran into this week that told me they were really excited,” Wiggs said. “Their kids have been looking forward to this and asking about it.”

The Minnesota Marine Art Museum has participated in this event for 10 years.

This year, the museum introduced a type of art that included a small history lesson called cyanotype.

Cyanotype is photographic printing process that uses the sun to expose a special cyan paper to produce images of objects laid on top of the paper, some artists would use this medium to document plants along the Mississippi River.

“This isn’t just for kids, parents are doing activities too,” Wiggs said. “While this is primarily for children adults have just as much fun being here and trying things out too.”

Volunteer potter Amanda Griggs shows Odin Prigge-Mavl, 5, how to raise a pot at Family Art Day on Saturday outside Jaycee’s Pavilion.

During Family Art Day families can sit down with individuals who make their living as artists and learn from them.

Artists come from surrounding communities and sometimes from outside the state.

Like Sarah Johnson from La Crosse, Wisconsin is trained as a mental therapist and practices multi-media art as her hobby. She said she often uses art to aid in therapy.

“This is the first year I have been involved in this and I think it’s awesome,” Johnson said. “I’m loving watching the families creating art together, it’s really cool and makes me really proud of Winona.”

After hearing about the event from a friend, Johnson said she decided to become one of the artist volunteers.

“It’s right up my alley, I love are and love young people and seeing their creativity, anything that builds community I support.” Johnson said.

Brewery, Community, Events, Local, Outdoors, Winona

Big Muddy Brew N’ Que

Leave a comment

Winona’s Levee Park was the site of the second annual Big Muddy Brew N’ Que during Labor Day weekend.  People from Winona and the surrounding area had the opportunity to experience live music, wine and beer tasting, a bean bag toss tournament, and barbeque tasting.

The Clams’ Alex Miller and Eric Wittenburg, perform classic hits for all ages during the first day of the Big Muddy Brew N’ Que.

 

The Big Muddy Brew N’ Que had a new layout this year.  Due to construction at west end of Levee Park, the location was moved to the east end or the park near Godfather’s Pizza.  Another first, was expanding the event to a two-day event.

Joe Piper competes in the second annual Big Muddy Brew N’ Que bean bag tournament.

 

Ben Knuesel, 27, of Winona attended last year’s event, and was pleased with how the second year improved.

“It was fantastic,” Knuesel said, “Last year was the first time we had something like this on the levee, and utilizing the river, which is a big part of Winona.”

Winona’s Awesome Eats food truck offered their barbeque pulled pork sandwich at the Big Muddy Brew N’ Que at Levee Park.

 

Co-founder of Insight Brewing from Minneapolis, Ilan Klages-Mundt, returned to his hometown to experience the event for the first time.

“It’s awesome to try local beer, so for people to hear that we’re from here,” Klages-Mundt said, “there’s a little bit of pride to bring the beer back to Winona.”

Klages-Mundt said he couldn’t attend last year’s event he said he was pleased with the professionalism and organization of the second year’s event.

Klages-Mundt said the venue made the experience seem busy, but not over-crowded.

“It felt like there was a really good energy the whole time,” Klages-Mundt added, “People came back to the booth multiple times, and I didn’t hear any complaints.”

Community, Outdoors

Winona County: Helping Complete your Bucket List

Leave a comment

Most people I know have a bucket list, you know that list of things that you want to do before you kick the bucket. And for some, their list may be filled with things they will probably never get to do. However, for those of us who live, work, and go to school in Winona County there are activities to experience, that someone may never have thought of, to add to their list.

One of these is hiking up the bluff in John Latsch State Park, near Lock and Dam 5, just north of Winona. This might not sound like a big deal, but if you take into consideration that you have to hike 405 feet straight up the hill it becomes a little more of a challenge, something each Winona County resident has to do at least once in their lifetime. This is the challenge that I took up, on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Yes, I have done this hike before, however unlike some things on my bucket list, this was not a been there done that situation. On this day it was a I have been there and done that but I’m going to do it again situation.

Over 550 stairs wooden stairs make up the “Riverview Trail” in John Latsch State Park.

The sign at the beginning of the “Riverview Trail” said that this journey would be difficult and would take about an hour, I was ready. The trail consists of over 550 stairs and after 30 or so I began to get tired. A reason for doing this hike more than once is that you never see the same thing twice.

Ripe berries, are one of the things that, can be seen in the late summer along the “Riverview Trail.”

Different times of the year bring different stages of life to the forest, from seedlings to blooming flowers to leaves changing color in the fall. I get to see a lot of new things each time I hike up this trail. However, the best part is reaching the top, one because of the sense of accomplishment and two, the view of the river valley below.

The view of the Mississippi River valley from the bluffs overlooking John Latsch State Park make all the hard work worthwhile.

After I soaked in the view, took some pictures, and caught my breath I began the trip down the hill, which in some cases is even harder, on the legs, than the climb up. By the time I got back to the car, my legs were in pain and I was soaked with sweat, yet I was glad that I had once again made the journey. Because that is what life is, a collection of journeys.

Campus

Pedestrian Tunnels Are Open

Video Leave a comment

After more than a decade of planning, and more than a year of construction, two pedestrian tunnels under the railroad tracks adjacent to the Winona State University campus are open.

The tunnels opened in time for WSU’s Homecoming football game on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017.

WSU received a federal funds grant in 2006 to assist with the cost of construction of two pedestrian tunnels under the Canadian Pacific rail lines that run east-west through the campus, separating the main part of campus from athletic fields.

Students, faculty, staff and community members now can safely cross the tracks by using the tunnels which also include ramps that follow Americans With Disabilities Act guidelines.

The tunnels were built after many years of research and planning, and cooperation between the university, city, county and state agencies and railroad company planners.

WSU Mass Communication Professor Tom Grier used the department’s unnamed aerial vehicle to shoot video of pedestrians using the tunnel while a train passes prior to the WSU Homecoming football game.

A Showcase For Mass Communication Students