Logan Garrels to pursue MFA

Logan has accepted an offer to pursue an MFA in Fiction at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and has also been awarded a position as a graduate teaching assistant for composition. Logan was also accepted to Texas State University and is on the wait-listed by the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Logan shares fun facts about Minnesota: Minnesota is also home to various kinds of food on-a-stick, many of which are created/debuted at the Minnesota State Fair. Some foods include but are not limited to cheesecake, spaghetti and meatballs, calzone, eggrolls, corned beef and cabbage, the Reuben, and walleye, all of which are fried and served on-a-stick. (editor's note: pizza-on-a-stick has been seen at the Illinois State Fair.)

Logan's short story "Floaters" will be published in an upcoming issue of _Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley_. The journal is published semi-annually by Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau and "explores multidisciplinary issues and events concerning the 10-state area that borders the Mississippi River, from the United States/Canadian border to Louisiana's Gulf Coast.

Congratulations, Logan!

Griffon Yearbook Wins National Accolades

The 2009 Griffon Yearbook has been selected as one of the top yearbooks in the country by Associated Collegiate Press, which has named the Missouri Western State College yearbook as one of fourteen Pacemaker Finalists.

Each year since 1927 the organization holds a competition for the Pacemaker award, considered one of student journalism’s highest honors. The 2009 Griffon has been nominated for the Pacemaker award in the category of yearbooks with under 304 pages.

“Becoming a Pacemaker Finalist is such an honor,” said Raphael’le Drew, Co-Editor-in-Chief of the 2009 Griffon. “I am so proud that all of our hard work and dedication has been noticed nationally.”

Raphael’le Drew and Amy Chastain were Co-Editors-in-Chief of the 2009 Griffon. Other editors included Kailey Alexander and Linda Shireman, Photography Co-Editors, and Sara Derr, Business Manager. Amy Chastain also served as the Copy Editor, and Raphael’le Drew served as the Design Editor. Staff included Ashley Macintosh, Courtney Puett, Emma Piehl, Erica Stevens, Raya Shafer, Hallie Delagardelle, EmmaLee Jones, Harvey Jackson, Frank Nemeth, Shawn Lesny, Jourdan Huffman and Olin Kinsey. Additional staff included Brittany Rivers, Heather Kietzman, Kelsey Wear, Bonnie Land, Melissa Friger, Amanda Hake, Carmen Smith, Missy Clinton, Courtney Slater, and Lauren Dillon.

Foreign Language Day

High school students from around the region converged at Western on Thursday for Foreign Language Day. From Poetry Slam to student-produced commercials, a range of events provided students the chance to show what they know in their respective language.
Award winners received music, movies, and books for their performance. Outstanding students in the Poetry Slam and the Great Moments in History re-enactment received scholarships to Missouri Western.

News from Stephanie Howard Boothe

Stephanie (Howard) Boothe reports that 2010 "has started out with a bang for me and my family." Stephanie gave birth to daughter Juliet on January 11, 2010 in Independence, MO (future trivia question: name the two U.S. Presidents from Independence, MO).

Her employers had a tough time of it with Stephanie gone on maternity leave, so upon her return the good folks at The Examiner promoted Stephanie to Managing Editor.

Stephanie is evidence of what a good internship can do: she was a student intern with The Examiner in 2000 just before her graduation from Western.

Congratulations, Managing Editor Boothe!

Send Stephanie a note at stephanie.boothe@examiner.net

Luke Akers Receives Leadership Award

English major Luke Akers is the recipient of the
National Orientation Directors Association Region IV Student Leadership Award. Region IV includes Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas, so the pool of candidates was considerable.

You may remember Luke as Homecoming King (see our October 17, 2009 post). This new plaque will look fine in his throne room.

Congratulations to Luke for a well-deserved honor.

See the Griffon News online for a complete story about Luke: http://www.thegriffonnews.com/2010/03/11/student-receives-leadership-award/

(Photo by Robin Ussher)

Graduate Student Wins Award

Amy Chastain, our sole graduate teaching assistant (who needs more of them when you have Amy?) is one of the inaugural recipients of the Blake K. Scanlon Applied Learning Presentation Grant Fund. The award was established by James and Lauren Scanlon. Amy will be presenting a paper at a national graduate student conference (Composing Ourselves: A Graduate Conference in Literature, Composition, and Rhetoric) this April at the University of Cincinnati.

Congratulations, Amy!

Foreign Film Series

Join us at the foreign film series for spring of 2010! Here's the line-up:

March 3: Entre les Murs (France, 2008; Dir. Lauren Cantet) in Kemper Recital Hall. Introduced by Susan Hennessy.

March 10: Une Bonne Anne (France, 2006; Dir. Ridley Scott) in Spratt 203. Introduced by Nadege Saint-Maxent.

March 26: Machuca (Chile, 2005; Dir. Andres Wood) in Hearnes 102. Introduced by Karina Vazquez.

April 9: Fresa y Chocolate (Cuba, 1994; Dir. Tomas Gutierrez Alea) in Hearnes 102. Introduced by Eduardo Castilla-Ortiz.

April 21: Life of the Others (Germany, 2006; Dir. Florian Henkel von Donnersmarck) in Spratt 203. Introduced by Karina Vazquez.

April 30: Los lunes al sol (Spain, 2002, Dir. Fernando Leon de Aranoa) in Hearnes 102. Introduced by Jason Youngkeit.

All sessions start at 6:30 PM.

This is FREE and open to the community.