September 11 2014
rusader
Never forget 09.11.01
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Year 46, No. 1
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Liberal, Kansas
Hispanic Heritage Month showcases college cultures Efren Rivero Jose Medrano Crusader staff
Crusader photo/Efren Rivero
Chandler Kirkhart, the new coordinator of admissions and marketing, multitasks at work showing a few of his many hobbies.
Kirkhart brings character to admissions Efren Rivero Mariana Peña Crusader staff New to the faculty this year is Chandler Kirkhart. Kirkhart is the new coordinator of admissions and marketing. He attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, where he got his Masters degree in business. This is Kirkhart’s first year working at Seward. “I was on vacation with my family and we were looking on coming back this way for family support and my wife [wanted] to open a running company in this area to do fun little 5k, 10k events since there wasn’t anything in this area. Having both of us gained our Masters’ degree in business; I wanted to use my major. I was told about this position by Celeste and Deb… and I jumped on it. It is exactly as I was hoping to find and so it just kind of fell in my lap. I am still trying to get
around to learning the ropes but it has been fun so far,” Kirkhart said. Celeste Donovan, Dean of Student Services, said “He is fresh out of college so I think he can relate to students just entering college. He is from this area, he is from Turpin, so he comes from a little farm community [and] can identify with a lot of the smaller communities around here and really sell why a student should choose to come to Seward County Community College.” Kirkhart lived in Minneola, Kansas, until he was six and then moved to Turpin, Oklahoma, where he lived until he left to college. In college, Kirkhart ran Track and Field where he was named AllAmerican Track Athlete. He also placed 4th in Nationals in the 4x100 relay in 2012. Kirkhart is recently married and will celebrate his one-year anniversary on 14th of September. He also has a brother who is
23 years old and attends Oklahoma Panhandle State University. He also has a younger sister who is 17 years old and attends Turpin High School. Kirkhart said, “They are both pretty artsy. He is an Art Major [in OPSU]; he does photo shoots for weddings and graduations. My sister is also really artsy but she is really good at sports and she is just concentrating on that right now.” During his free time, Kirkhart enjoys a variety of things. “I love music, all types of music I’m pretty eclectic in that regard. I write and sing country music, first and foremost. That’s been my passion for about the last 7 years. Other than that I love to travel. I have driven the entire length of interstate 40 from ocean to ocean. My wife and I are hoping to hit all the states pretty early in our relationship,” Kirkhart said. Currently, Kirkhart is not in
a band but will continue to pursue his musical goals. Kirkhart said, “I am still writing and singing country music, I don’t ever plan on quitting that. I plan on starting a band and I want to start doing live shows around the area on the weekends on my free time.” He already has experience doing live shows for medium to big size crowds. Kirkhart, along with his band, opened for Gloriana at the first annual Rib-Fest in Wichita, Kansas, at the Intrust Bank Arena. Kirkhart said, “That was a few years ago, I think it was my senior year. We were asked by the radio station that was putting it on two weeks before the show. We were pretty nervous but we were pretty excited about it. I got all of my band members together, they thought I was joking, but we had a great time practicing and performing for it.” nContinued on page 4
As part of the National Heritage Month Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, Seward County Community College/Area Technical School will sponsor events from lollipop hunts and jalapeño eating contests to a movie about the civil rights activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez, and even a fiesta and a mariachi band. With a large percentage of the student body at SCCC/ATS coming from Hispanic backgrounds, the national event seemed a good fit to college organizers. “National Hispanic Heritage Month is not just a school wide thinking, it’s a national month, and we wanted our campus to take part in it,” said Celeste Donovan, dean of student services. The month showcases the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
Crusader photo/Tania Valenzuela
With rain threatening the Green and White Challenge Friday at the Seward tennis courts, these tennis players huddled with teammates. From bottom left, Kellyn Peters, Stephanie Sanchez, Jackie Arnold, Vicky Tela and Edgar Polanco, and in back from left Ramsey Mason and Christian Kurz. After an awards presentation and around an hour of tennis, rain canceled matches featuring the Saints and the Lady Saints tennis teams. See Page 7 and facebook.com/CrusaderNews for more photos.
Crusader photo/Tania Valenzuela
The paint striper will be used in the coming days to finish lines needed in the parking lot.
Drivers tired of parking lot confusion Crusader staff report While parking at SCCC/ATS may be free, lately it seems that parking is a free-for-all due to the problems with the parking lot lanes. In some spaces, the lanes are not wide enough for a car to fit. In other areas, there are no lines at all, leaving students to park at random. This has left students complaining about tight spaces to park and worrying about having their cars door-dinged. It all started with improvements done to the parking lot in the summer. The college hired a company to re-surface the parking lot and the majority of the streets on campus. After the rock had settled in, the same company swept up the rock. To finish the job, SCCC personnel started painting the
parking lanes. “We ran into difficulties,” said Dennis Sander, dean of finance and operations. “The first thing that happened is that the [machine] had a cable break. So we started and then stopped and that was delayed.” After the cable got repaired, work started again and was completed to a certain point. Shortly after the painted process began again, the pump malfunctioned and the painting had to stop, leaving the outer areas in the parking lot without any lanes. In regard to the lanes not being even, Sander said it is not for certain what happened. “I can’t exactly tell you what happened,” Sander said. “I think it’s partially due to that machine… Not certain what happened there, obviously. Best guess is operator error, I
Student Life will also be involved in the activities planned for Seward, and Wade Lyon, director of Student Life and Leadership, will organize some of the events, including what is being called the Sweet Celebration Search. One thousand lollipops wrapped with a Hispanic Heritage Month logo will be hidden all over campus. “Students will go around finding these lollipops that will have a logo printed on them,” Donovan said. “The person who collects the most wrappers will win a cash prize.” Those who find the lollipops can eat them, and then take the wrapper to Lyon in his office at SU118 in the student union. Awards will be given to those collecting the most wrappers, $100 for first place, $50 for second place and $25 for third place. Competitions for money heat up with a jalapeño eating contest at 12:30 p.m. Prizes for winners are also $100 for first; $50, second; and $25, third. nContinued on page 4
mean as far as being consistent because some lanes are wider than others.” As of Tuesday, the machine had been fixed and painting had started again in an attempt to finish the parking lanes. Roger Scheib, director of facilities, said, “We will be striping more within a week.” Scheib did say rainy weather, which is predicted for Friday, could cause conflicts with the project. While parts of the painting will be completed soon, a major project could be in the works, according to Sander. “What we will probably do next spring, when we get the opportunity again, we will probably go back through it and re-paint it and try to straighten it out,” Sander said. “But we need to get an idea where it needs to be adjusted.”