It is Homecoming in Greyhound Nation!

The process has begun in search for the 2018 Homecoming King and Queen. “The candidates were selected by their perspective clubs or sports. After being chosen, they went through an interview process that narrowed down the candidates to the final twelve”, said Vanessa Poyner, who is in charge of the coronation process.

Queen Candidate, Taylor Krokroskia said, “It’s an honor to be chosen for the final six. All the candidates are great representatives of FSCC and I wish them the best of luck!”

The final King candidates include Jasper Dunn, Tyler Cunningham, Ty Covey, Albert Maliko, Alonzo Hokes, and Greg Lorenz.

The final Queen candidates include Tatum Brunkow, Taylor Krokroskia, Logan Mattingley, Leslie Damian, Jaylynn Jenkins, and Yesenia Benitez.

The king and queen will be chosen by popular vote of the student body. The election will be held on Friday, November 9.

King Candidate, Tyler Cunningham said, “Being a freshman, I don’t know many people yet, so I appreciate every vote I can get!”

The 2018 Fall Sports Homecoming football game will be against Dodge City Community College on Saturday, November 10 beginning at 11:00 am. The Coronation Ceremony for King and Queen will take place at halftime of this game.

Fort Scott Community College’s Smoke-Free Campus Initiative

In October of 2017, a grant was written by a committee of current and graduated members of FSCC’s Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society including Shelby Hutchison, Jackie Neher, Ty Covey, and Dustin Erikson.

The society was notified in December 2017 that they would receive the grant. The grant was provided by Truth Initiative®.

Truth Initiative® is the nation’s largest nonprofit public health organization dedicated to making tobacco use a thing of the past.

After the grant was approved, a task force of ten members was created. The members of this task force represent all areas of Fort Scott including FSCC students, faculty and even the community.

Along with the task force, multiple committees were created to use the grant in an effective way. These committees helped bring the new EX Program along with a Smoke-Free Campus Policy to FSCC.

The Ex Program is an advanced quit-smoking program designed to help students and staff begin and end their journey to becoming a non-smoker. This program includes the popular quit-smoking planning tools and an online community from the proven-effective smoking cessation program. The FSCC smoke-free campus initiative will also host a 7-week, face-to-face, smoking cessation workshop.

A Smoke-Free Campus policy was also written by a committee of Phi Theta Kappa members to end smoking on campus.

This became a focus brought to their attention by FSCC President, Alysia Johnston. This policy removes all smoke stations around campus and makes everyone at FSCC responsible for respectfully encouraging others not to smoke on campus. This policy also helps to empower others to inform students and staff to take part in the cessation programs and workshops if they are interested in quitting.

Questions were raised as to why the policy addresses only smoking, as opposed to a tobacco-free campus. The reason for this is because the President, along with the members of Phi Theta Kappa, believe that, due to this being a new policy, starting small is better. Smoking is also something that can harm bystanders, where tobacco, such as snuff and chew, only harms the person in use.

Over the past three years, Truth Initiative® has partnered with 135 colleges, reaching more than 1.2 million students and 275,000 faculty and staff members across 35 states. You can learn more about their work at truthinitiative.org.

For more information on the new Smoke-Free Initiative at FSCC, please feel free to contact Susie Arvidson by email at [email protected] or by phone at (620)223-2700 ext. 3441

On the morning of September 26, the STEM Club at Fort Scott Community College held demonstrations to show other students what STEM Club is all about.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

There is an extra bonus for joining the club.

The STEM club offers a scholarship to pay for books and tuition up to 15 credit hours to all qualifying members.

The club demonstrations Wednesday included the shooting of a potato gun, the bursting of hydrogen-filled balloons, and even some hair-raising with electricity using a Van de Graaff Generator, provided by Elie Riachi, the FSCC Physics, and Physical Science Instructor.

Students joined in, during their passing periods, to watch the demonstration and enjoy a donut or two, donated by Fort Scott’s Price Chopper.

The current STEM Club members would like to be a part of more activities and competitions, but they do not currently have enough members to do so. The FSCC STEM Club is searching for eager students to join them.

This club creates an opportunity for students to learn more about these subject areas, while also having fun doing some interesting experiments and even some engineering.

For example, Trenton Allison, a STEM Club Member, built his own drone.

The STEM Club is sponsored by Robert Doyle, FSCC’s Chemistry Instructor.

Consider joining the STEM Club today and become a part of something that makes learning fun.

For more information, contact Mr. Doyle via email at [email protected].

Kassie Fugate-Cate, Director of Strategic Communication, has officially brought the Zumba exercise program to Fort Scott Community College.

Zumba is a fitness program that combines Latin and international music with dance moves. Although this is where Zumba started, Fugate-Cate has added a more modern twist to the classes as well, using today’s popular music and dance steps.

Fugate-Cate fell in love with the Zumba program when she had the opportunity to be a teacher’s assistant for the class that was offered when she went to Pittsburg State University, she said.

Fugate-Cate thought that getting certified to teach a Zumba class would be a great way to get back into Zumba and also show other students and community members what a great program it is.

The class is offered every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30-6: 30 pm.

Tuesday, September 11, was the first class.

Until further notice, the classes will be held in the auditorium at the college’s Ellis Fine Arts Center.

Each class has a $3.00 fee and welcomes men and women of all ages.

Cate says, “No one is too old for this class!”

To sign up for a session or request more information, please contact Cate via text/call at (918) 801-5060 or by email at [email protected]

Greyhound Lodge, formerly known as Red Ram Motel, is in the final stages of renovation.

Fort Scott Community College began the renovations on the old motel at the beginning of the summer to create more off-campus housing for students.

As the final touches are being made, students were able to begin moving into the lodge on Tuesday afternoon, September 4.

The students moving into the Lodge are primarily rodeo team members, with the exception of a few track athletes and the John Deere program students.

Cory Brown, one of the FSCC Rodeo coaches, was hired to be a Residential Assistant at Greyhound Lodge.

Brown said the college has plans to add TVs, couches, and a pool table in the common room to create an area for the students to meet. There will also be a computer room for students to do studying and homework.

In addition to the computer and common rooms, there is a laundry space and kitchen area.

The lodge is comprised of bedrooms with attached bathrooms.