Thursday, February 25, 2010
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www.msureporter.com
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Auditing the system
‘Eko’-smart
kid-friendly
MnSCU office spending up .5 percent since 2002 JOHN FRITZ
staff writer
photo courtesy of msu theatre and dance department Alice sat on the mushroom, pondering her fate. “One side will make me grow larger and the other side will make me smaller.”
MSU graduate writes play to teach kids about the importance of recyling, tours Southern Minn. schools ASHLEY JOHANSEN
staff writer
index
A cast of Minnesota State students packs into a van twice a week to give kids a bright and bubbly bite of ecofriendly education at schools in southern Minnesota. MSU graduate student Nikki Swoboda created “Rikkie Recycle and the Eco Kids,” a play about a heroine whose mission is to stop the evil character Carbon Footprint and save the planet by making it more eco-friendly. Children at 38 different schools in the southern Minnesota area will be educated and entertained by the new musical production, Swoboda’s second “kiddy tour” production. “Rikkie Recycle” has already been to 16 different schools and the students have set out to teach children the importance of caring for the environment through a colorful, cartoon-like performance that Swoboda created based on the current curriculum in schools. Editorial...................................4 Voices......................................5 Variety......................................9 Sports....................................11 Classifieds.............................19
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Schools are really focused on being green and being earthfriendly.”
— Nikki Swoboda, MSU graduate “I discussed with my mother, who is a grade school teacher, asking her what schools are really focused on right now and she brought up that schools are really focused on being green and being earthfriendly and it grew from there,” said Swoboda. The plot surrounds Rikkie and her two friends as they follow around Carbon Footprint, who tries to sabotage their eco-friendly deeds. Ms. Recycle and her friends come to discover that he is merely misunderstood and actually has a crush
on Rikkie. So with a little help, the planetloving bunch help to educate Carbon to live a green life, but Swoboda hopes it is the audience who will really reap the benefits of their lessons. “Rikkie teaches him how to be earth friendly it sends a great message for students everywhere,” Swoboda said. According to Swoboda, this play is different from “Abiyoyo,” her first “kiddie production” based around a monster who didn’t like music. This time around, she wanted to create a play that would be relevant to children and school right now. Instead of being very “rustic and heartfelt,” Swoboda wanted “Rikkie Recycle” to be silly and comical, and she did so hands-on, from the music to the set and just about every aspect in between. The music, created by Robb Krueger a theatre student at MSU, with the help of Swoboda, includes many different styles of music from R&B to pop. “Nikki wanted to bring the
Do students use campus computer labs? Page 2
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system needs stricter oversight of its central office and the contractors it has hired to overhaul the information technology system, according to an audit released earlier this month by the Office of the Legislative Auditor. The MnSCU system office, which employs about 400 people, spent $89 million in the 2009 fiscal year — more than half of that paid for upgrades to IT services that college administrators and students still find lacking. From 2002 to 2009, system office spending grew from 4.1 percent to 4.6 percent of total MnSCU spending (MnSCU revenues were $1.8 billion last year) and added the equivalent of 80 full-time positions. The presidents of the 32 colleges and universities that comprise MnSCU “are split between those who think the MnSCU system office is too large and those who think it is about the right size,” according to the audit. Providing services to campuses, developing policies and ensuring system-wide accountability and fiscal integrity, the system office has steadily increased in size and importance since MnSCU was created in 1995. Yet the audit found that the office still hadn’t fulfilled some of its earliest objectives — such as making it easier to transfer credits among participating schools — while imposing itself onto some areas best left to the separate campuses — such as fundraising. The audit recommended that the MnSCU 15-member board of trustees should
Kid-friendly / page 9
System / page 9
Honors students lobby at the capitol Page 4