Summer ASL Coffeehouses

See you there!!!

Google Docs, Open Office and Microsoft 365 are just a few products that have entered the market to meet word processing, spreadsheet and presentation needs. Because most are available at no cost, Purdue has seen a significant drop in the purchase of Microsoft Office and Windows and as a result, has stopped selling these products to students on campus.

Today in history, the presidential bowling alley was inaugurated in the White House. Harry Truman was the president when the 2 lane alley was built. Truman was honored by the people of Missouri with the alley for his birthday. They donated and helped build it in the west wing of the White House. Truman didn’t bowl much, but did encourage a white house bowling team filled with the staff of the building. The alley stuck around until 1955 when Dwight Eisenhower turned it into a mimeograph room. Other lanes have been built since then, along with other luxuries, such as a pool (that was later filled in), a pool table, and a track for running.

A Little Bit on Mitch:

Governor Daniels was elected in 2004, and again in 2008, making his position open to a new person in 2012. Governor Daniels has been part of many reforms to help improve how the government of the state of Indiana operates. He is also responsible for the 2006 leasing of the Indiana toll road. The lease was the largest in American history, generating almost 4 billion dollars to reinvest into the state.

Today in history it is rumored that William Shakespeare was born. Shakespeare was baptized the 26^th which would have been the right range of time for a baptism to happen. Shakespeare was an English poet in the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries. Shakespeare wrote over one million words total between the 38 plays that he wrote over his 20 year career. Some of his most famous plays include Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors and Macbeth.

Shakespeare retired to Stafford at the age of 49. Only three years later, he died. The crazy thing about all of this was the date that he died, Apr 23, 1616. Shakespeare died on his birthday at the age of 52.

Conserve Energy

Switch your light bulbs from incandescent to CFL’s (compact fluorescent lamps). CFL’s use up to 75% less energy than standard light bulbs and are rated to last from 8 to 15 times longer than incandescent light bulbs. Switching some, or all, of your light bulbs to CFL’s will not only help you make a difference environmentally, but these little bulbs will help lighten your financial load as well. Switching to CFL’s can save you up to $30 in electricity over their lifetime.

Set your thermostat a few degrees lower during the winter months and a just a few degrees higher in the summertime. Adjusting the thermostat helps to save on heating and cooling costs for the home. In the winter time dress warmly, use blankets, or fire up the fireplace if you have one. During the hotter summer months dress accordingly and find ways to stay cool. These small changes can make a big difference in the long run.

Washing your clothes in cold water instead of hot is another quick and easy way to conserve energy and decrease your carbon footprint. But what’s the big fuss about washing your clothes in hot water? It takes a considerable amount of energy to heat the water in the washing machine. Instead, make the easy decision and switch your washer to the cold water setting.

Turn Off the Lights!

This is probably one of the easiest ways to conserve energy that a lot of people take for granted. TURN OFF THE LIGHTS! It’s as simple as that. Just turning off the lights when you leave a room can significantly reduce your home’s energy usage. Lighting a home can account for up to 15% of an electricity bill. Turning off the lights is one of the quickest and easiest ways to start going green, and it is as simple as flipping a switch.

HERE’S A THOUGHT:  Don’t even turn on the lights at all if you can help it. Push back those curtains and utilize the big light bulb in the sky that gets turned on every day… for free. Taking advantage of natural light is another effective way to go green.

Duh, Recycle

Recycling is probably one of the most popular ways to go green and it only takes a second of thought. Many public locations, including the Purdue North Central campus, have both trash and recycling receptacles.

Instead of buying plastic disposable bottles of water, invest in an inexpensive reusable water bottle. This small change can make all the difference and reduce the amount of plastic used to produce these bottles. It will also prove to be significantly cheaper in the long run.

BONUS TIP: We’ve all seen them at the grocery stores. Reusable shopping bags are a great way to go green. Stop the plastic from the plastic bags from ending up in some landfill and invest in a reusable bag. Leave one or two in the trunk of your car for whenever you go to the store.

Conserve Water

There are several easy ways to conserve water on a daily basis. To start with you can turn off the water when you brush your teeth or turn off the water when you are soaping your hands. It’s a quick thing you can do to help conserve water.

This may be a shocking for some readers but it is possible to take shorter showers. Just knocking a few minutes off of your shower time can save gallons of water and effectively cut your water bill.

If you already are a quick shower taker you can still do your part to help conserve water. Invest in a low-flow showerhead. They help control the amount of water you use while showering and will make a difference in the money you spend on your water bill.

These quick, easy, and inexpensive tips will help you to reduce your carbon footprint and do your part to make the world we live in a better place for us now and the generations to come. Take these tips and apply them, so maybe next Earth Day you won’t feel so guilty about not doing your part and going green.

Photo Credits:

http://www.tradegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/4867517353_e335074a1e.jpg

http://www.cfagbata.com/mywp/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/going-green.jpg

SGA 2012-2013

Executive Officers:

Sean Casey, President

Katie Hines, Vice President

JD Ziegler, Treasurer

Greg Mohlke, Secretary

Representatives:

Rebecca Tucker

Alexis Lange

Jon Wilhelm

Robb Stephenson

Morgan Olsen

Kathryn Orr

Travis Mc Claskey

Today in history, The American Revolution began.  It was on this date that an eight year long struggle for independence began. It all began with British troops were ordered to seize all of the weapons from the American armories. Their other tasks were to catch the patriot rebels John Hancock and Samuel Adams. The British entered the town of Lexington at 5 A.M. There were 700 British soldiers marching into the town, when they came across the 77 minutemen that were waiting for them. No one knows who fired first, but that shot became known as the “Shot heard round the world”. By the time the smoke cleared, 8 Americans were dead and 10 wounded. Only one British soldier was wounded in the battle.

The British were in search of John Hancock and Samuel Adams. What they didn’t know was that Paul Revere and others had taken an early morning ride letting everybody know, “The British are coming!” John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Paul Revere had taken off to Philadelphia by the time the British reached Lexington. The British made it to Concord by 7 A.M. to their surprise. There were hundreds of armed men waiting for them. The British, seeing the armed men decided not to fight, but rather return to Boston, a 16 mile trek back.

This was the beginning of an agonizing eight year fight for what the patriots thought was right. It was the start not only of a fight for independence, but a fight for a new start, a new beginning and by the year 1883 it was over. The Treaty of Paris was signed Sep 3, 1873.

The event begins at Cabela’s in Hammond, Indiana on July 3 at 10:00 a.m. when a motorcycle escort accompanies the tribute to Purdue North Central.  Volunteers will then set up the display on Hicks Field and the opening ceremony will take place that evening at 7:00 p.m. with former Governor Joe Kernan scheduled to be our guest speaker.  This exhibit will be open to the public 24 hours a day until the closing ceremony on July 7 at 11:00 a.m.  On July 4, 5, and 6 there will be brief ceremonies at 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Veterans’ organizations are welcome to take part in these ceremonies or at another time convenient for them.

Please visit www.pnc.edu/avtt for information on volunteering and monetary/gift in kind donation opportunities.  Any monies collected above what is absolutely necessary will be donated to veterans’ causes.

This is going to be a great event on our campus!  Even if you are unable to assist, please join us between July 3 – 7, 2012, and let others know about this opportunity.

New Student Orientation (NSO) is a half-day program designed to introduce incoming first-time freshmen and their families to our campus.  Our NSO is designed around several sessions and mini-sessions, targeting potentially problematic or daunting arenas in the life of new freshmen and their families.  We are not only targeting the students in NSO, but also the first-generation parents and families who may have a limited understanding of what the college experience should be like and how much work it takes to earn a degree in four years.  We are hoping to begin to create a sense of identity as a college student — and more importantly —  as a PNC college student.  The introduction to our campus via NSO allows students to begin to picture themselves as students here.  Further, it allows them to see and meet some of you, building a sense of themselves as part of the PNC family.  During NSO, we offer them a snapshot of their future as students on our campus.

At an NSO, students and parents learn about:

• Banner and the PNC Portal
• Being a PNC student/parent and what that means specifically
• The campus resources that are available to them and where they are located
• Becoming successful PNC students
• The importance of graduating in four years
• The ways in which dropping a course(s) can affect their financial and academic future
• The cost of attending PNC
• Financial Aid Basics and Satisfactory Academic Progress
• The need to create their Career Road Map

Additionally, NSO students and their parents meet their prospective Academic Advisor in a group advising session where both parents and students can ask questions about majors, plans of study and degree programs.   Prior to their NSO, students pre-registered for classes with their Academic Advisors and discussed the year-long schedule.

NSO also works in tandem with our Freshmen Year Experience course, creating a foundation upon which FYE can build.  The NSO goal of crafting better-prepared students who SEE themselves as PNC students continues in FYE.  All of the topics that we introduce in NSO are then explored in detail within the framework of the FYE courses.

NSO is important to our community for several reasons, but the most important one is retention.  Nationally, we see that institutions with an existing NSO demonstrate higher retention rates.  Similar research has been done with FYE course with the nearly the same results.  Integrating these two initiatives into a tightly knit component will help us to build our Fall-to-fall retention rates.  We are interested in not only seeing our students succeed in each and every class, but to see them succeed again and again over their four years with us.  The more effort and energy we exert in initiatives like NSO, the more dividends in the future as we retain and graduate larger numbers of better-prepared students who will then enter the work-force as tangible evidence of our success.

We all share in creating student success on the PNC campus.  On a smaller scale, we are all part of the success of each NSO we will hold for our beginning freshmen in the class of 2016.  To that end, we are including the full calendar of dates below for you because we firmly believe that everyone in the PNC community is integral to our success and that of our students.  Below are some ways that you can help on an NSO Date:

• Slow time in your area?  Volunteer to work the registration tables for an hour.
• Checking the flowers and see a family wandering?  Direct them to the registration area.
• Get a call about NSO in your Department’s office?  You now have the information to either answer their question or direct them to someone who can.
• Walking back from lunch and see students with their families?  Put on your best PNC smile and welcome them to campus.

NSO is one way we are building student success and increasing our fall-to-fall retention rates. Everyone is part of creating that success.