Archive for the ‘Organizations’ Category

More than 100 volunteers came to paint the halls of Mark Twain Elementary last Saturday for the Murals for Minds philanthropy project sponsored by the Student Government Association.
Missouri Western students and other volunteers in the community helped create a brightly colored environment for the students and faculty of Mark Twain.

The doors opened at 9 a.m. for volunteer registration. Work began around 10 a.m. Each mural was assigned a lead artist and depending on the size of the mural, had anywhere from five to 15 volunteers. The lead artists came to the school Friday evening and sketched the outlines of the murals onto the walls. Saturday morning the volunteers filled in the drawings with paint.

On the main floor of the building five murals were constructed. In the basement, two larger murals were completed and two more are to be completed in the cafeteria.

Student volunteers paint murals in the halls of Mark Twain Elementary School for a SGA sponsored event. Photo | Kelly Findley

“I can’t wait until they go down to breakfast Monday morning,” Kent said. “They’ll turn the corner and they’ll all be going, ‘ahh!’”

SGA had some help from other Missouri Western organizations like Alpha Omega, Phi Sigma Kappa and the Griffon Arts Society. SGA President Josh Todd began his day at 8 a.m. organizing and registering the artists and volunteers.

“It’s really exciting. More exciting than exhausting,” Josh Todd said. “I just helped with the supervising, organizing and cleaning up. The artists organized their own volunteers.”

While not every lead artist was an art student, freshman Jeremy Todd, younger brother of SGA President Josh Todd, is a graphic arts major. Jeremy Todd said he had a maximum of five volunteers helping him and the mural still took lots of time.

“It took about two hours to actually draw the outline,” Jeremy Todd said. “Then took the entire day, so about seven hours, to fill it in.”

Work on the second half of the project begins Saturday, April 17 at 9 a.m. Volunteers are encouraged to come back to help. Any volunteers were unable to come the first weekend are more than welcome to come for the second half. Mark Twain Elementary is located at 705 S. 31st Street.

Pride Alliance members Jerod Saunders (left) and Tyler Rhoad (right) create their mocktail for University Happy Hour. The drink is named Almost Death. Three judges went to each table at the Happy Hour competition and taste tested the drinks presented. Drinks were judged on appearance, taste and creativity. The competition is just one part of Homecoming Week.

Two of Western’s very own were able to present their research at a symposium in Kansas City, Kan.

The two senior nursing majors, Mary Reid and Jennifer Lindberg presented their research, “Senior Nursing Students Initiate Smoke-Free Campus Policy with Evidence Based Data.” The Symposium, “Excellence through Evidence and Empathy” was held at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas.

Their research was conducted through a 16 question survey handed out to students during classes last semester. A total of 2,750 surveys were sent out and 1,715, or 62 percent, were sent back. The surveys were used to get opinions and perspectives about smoking and how dangerous it is. Reid would like to see the campus go smoke free.

“I would love our campus to go smoke free,” Reid said. “We should not have to suffer from someone else’s choice.”
Lindberg is also on board to see campus go smoke free.

“It’s a very good thing to do,” Lindberg said. “Smoking not only affects the smoker, but other individuals as well.”

According to the information gathered from research, a small percentage of students reported smoking daily. A majority of students are concerned about secondhand smoke and its health concerns.

“A large percent of people around campus don’t smoke,” Lindberg said. “There is a desire for a smoke free campus.”

The conference was an opportunity for Reid and Lindberg to present their research in front of other nurses and doctors. There were several steps that had to be done prior to presenting the research. The students had to submit an abstract, which is a write up regarding everything that was found out. The abstract was submitted to the university and Reid and Lindberg were invited to attend the Symposium in Kansas City. Presenting this work was an extra step that was taken on by the students.

Both Reid and Lindberg thought it was a great experience to be able to present their research. Lindberg said there were not really any other students there besides themselves. The nurses that were viewing their poster were impressed by the amount of work.

“It is a very rewarding experience,” Lindberg said.

Reid also thought this was a great opportunity and experience.

“It is a good experience to go to a university with doctors and nurses looking at our poster,” Reid said.

Reid was able to learn time management skills, because putting everything together took a lot of time outside of school. Reid was also able to learn about organization and leadership in general.

Submitted Photo