Rocky Now - January 2009

ROCKY NOW Vol. 4 Issue 1

Fresh news every day at www.rocky.edu

January 2009

Rocky Now: Keeping our friends and supporters informed about what’s new and exciting at Rocky Mountain College

It’s all about our students . . . who learn lessons of generosity from our alumni and friends Rocky Now typically profiles one of our outstanding students, but, to begin a new year, we thought it would be a good idea to feature a collec tion of our students. Rocky Mountain College teaches leadership and, heading into the holiday season, it was apparent those lessons are well learned. Our students count their blessings throughout the year, mindful that they are well supported in their efforts by generous donors, by devoted alumni and friends, by a faculty that teaches, and by a committed staff. They demonstrate “giving back” in a variety of ways to show their appreciation. We feature some of those now.

Lessons well learned “I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”

-- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

BY MICHAEL MACE, PRESIDENT, ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE

Photo: Dave M. Shumway, RMC staff

One of the highlights of the campus Christmas events is the annual RMC Choir performance of “Lessons and Carols.” You don’t have to look far to see how the union of purpose and participation is so well learned

by RMC students. Joining with the student choir and band, RMC Trustee Ron Tjaden reads a lesson, above; RMC President Mike Mace, below, sings with the RMC Choir, under the direction of Dr. Steven Hart. Other students, staff and faculty also participated in reading lessons.

This holiday season we were especially proud of our students, and you should be proud of yourselves. The lessons of generosity and support that you provide all year, year after year, reverberated with those you have helped.

I am truly overwhelmed when I see how our Rocky Mountain College students, joined by faculty and staff, demonstrated what they have learned in so many ways.

Let me share with you some stories of the charitable nature of our RMC community from just this season: ❏ Before Thanksgiving, our students were pitching in to help construct new homes under the auspices of the Habitat for Humanity. Our students joined alumni on one occasion; our men's basketball team wielded saws and hammers on another. ❏ RMC members of Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) completed a number of community service projects. These students were featured in a Billings Business Journal article about community service. Mentioned were RMC students teaching investment classes, including teaching elementary kids to make excellent piggy banks to complement the lesson.

(Please turn to back page for more LESSONS LEARNED)

FEBRUARY 12, 2009 ✮ 5:30 P.M. ✮ BAIR FAMILY STUDENT CENTER ✮ MCDONALD COMMONS The College’s heritage of perseverance and commitment in the face of adversity is commemorated annually with the CANDLELIGHT DINNER, which recognizes the early beginning of the College. This year marks a CENTURY OF CELEBRATING this tradition.

Ron Sovey, RMC ‘64, will be honored with the Alumni Association Outstanding Achievement Award, and Dr. Lawrence Small, with the RMC Distinguished Achievement Award.

Be sure to mark your calendar to attend.The dinner will include the PRESENTATION OF DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AND SERVICE AWARDS. Dinner is free, but we ask that you call the Alumni Office (657-1006) to make reservations. Seating is limited.

100th Candlelight Dinner

LESSONS LEARNED/ Continued from front ❏ The Billings Business Journal editor, Tom Howard, extended a compliment echoed in many quarters: “It is nice to see some college kids who are engaged in the community.” ❏ Joining in a similar effort were students of the Intervarsity Club who conducted a Halloween “Trick or Eat” campaign to collect non-perishable food items for the Billings Food Bank. ❏ Our student artists, who had a recent exhibit, found ways to help others. Ann Marie Wodrich, with Brittany Alberson and Ashley Doerrer, asked people coming to their reception to bring canned goods for the Montana Rescue Mission. Ms. Wodrich also donated proceeds from the sale of her art to World Vision, an organization she was familiar with from a mission trip she joined to Juarez, Mexico. ❏ Our campus also partnered with Sodexho, our food service, to try to break a Guinness record for collecting canned goods to feed the hungry, called “Cans Across America.” The campaign enlisted colleges across the U.S. to join in the effort.

“It is nice to see some college kids who are engaged in the community.”

-- Tom Howard, editor, Billings Business Journal

❏ Our campus community’s sharing with others and lending a hand to those who need help continued all through November and into this month. Our athletes, from the Battlin’ Bear girls’ basketball to the Battlin’ Bears football team, pitched in to help with “Flakesgiving,” a huge effort to provide food boxes during the holidays, spearheaded by local KCTR radio, and cheered on by the popular morning disc jockeys, the “Breakfast Flakes.” Our students rolled up their sleeves to unload trucks, pack food boxes and distribute them to 1,500 area families.

Sometimes, our students share a different gift. ❏ During Thanksgiving, our RMC Band provided a wonderful public concert. ❏ Our equestrian program’s students invited the public to their annual winter drill, where the students entertain with themed performances, like last year’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Included as part of the event are free pony rides for kids and cookies and hot chocolate for all comers. ❏ The RMC Choir performed the traditional “Festival of Lessons and Carols.” This celebration of the Christmas story with Scripture readings and music and song, is so popular that two performances are offered. This is also a remarkable event because it really exemplifies what we mean by the Rocky family. Staff and faculty, board members and friends, join to read lessons and sing with the choir. ❏ Our campus shared the holiday spirit in other ways. No feat of decorating matches what Patricia Morledge works on every season in Prescott Hall and on the exterior of buildings across campus, but she certainly inspires the participation of the various departments who decorate their office entrances. No one coming on campus would fail to be warmed by these expressions of the season. ❏ Faculty and staff again provided a unique way to help the American Cancer Society “Relay for Life.” They conducted a bake sale of homemade cookies, cakes, breads and other goodies. They also collected canned and nonperishable food items. Last year, the RMC team raised $700 that went directly for cancer research and services.

These are by no means all that our students and our staff and faculty do to make Christmas meaningful. That would take far more space than I have here, and more time to read than you can likely spare, but I hope it makes your heart as warm with wonder and gladness as it makes mine. Whenever you doubt that what you do makes a difference, know that the lessons are learned well. Another generation, thanks to you, will show the same charity and devotion.

One of my favorite passages from “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens, and one which never grows trite from being repeated, is that familiar one spoken by Ebenezer Scrooge. “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”

Those are only a few of the lessons our students are learning well. Thank you for being such gracious and generous teachers. We appreciate your loyalty and support.

Photo: Dave M. Shumway, RMC Examples of RMC students pitching in to help with community projects or providing a community service include, from top to bottom: The RMC Equestrian Program held its annual open house and winter drill. Samantha Reynolds, on her horse, Blossom, joined in a Disney theme program. There were also refreshments and pony rides for the kids; RMC Choir Director Anthony Hammond and the 60+member RMC Band enjoy applause during their winter concert, a prelude to the annual Festival of Lessons & Carols in December; Jade Peterson helps load boxes of food for needy families, just one of several Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) community projects; Members of the RMC Battlin’ Bears men’s basketball team donated “sweat equity” to the local Habitat for Humanity home building program; Members and coaches of the RMC women’s basketball team helped Radio Station KCTR with its annual “Flakesgiving,” which provides 1,500 food boxes to needy families during Thanksgiving. The event is named for the “Breakfast Flakes,” two morning on-air radio personalities. The women were joined in helping assemble and deliver the boxes by members and coaches of the RMC football team.