All adults 55+ with curious minds may want to plan to be in the East Wing at Northwest State Community College, rural Archbold, for a one day gathering on Friday, October 21. The topic is Then and Now and presenters will highlight the changes in four areas over the last 4-5 decades – farming, medicine, politics and education.
The coffee will be on and the cookies will be out at 8:30 as adults from throughout the four-county region gather for a day to reflect on the many changes in our world.
Dr. Tom Stuckey, College President, will welcome the Lifelong Learners at 9 a.m. in room A 225. An elevator just inside the East entrance at the college will make the classroom easily accessible.
The informal day will begin with a look at the changes in farming by Eric Richer, agriculture agent for Fulton County through OSU extension services. Eric’s passion for the agricultural started as a boy, raised near Wauseon on a grain and livestock farm. Today he spends most of his time working on farm research, precision agriculture, 4 R Nutrient Stewardship and farm management programs. Through Eric’s Then and Now agricultural lens (four decades), he has seen most family farm operations triple in size while becoming more technologically advanced, resource conscious and socially aware.
After a short break, the microphone will be handed to Bette Hughes, a member of the nursing staff at the College. She followed in her Grandmother’s footsteps and in 1991 became a graduate of Northwest State’s second RN class. As a registered nurse Bette has worked in coronary intensive care, bariatric surgery, and physical rehab, but her real passion is home health and hospice. She loves the atmosphere at NSCC where she is the nursing lab coordinator and teaches a nursing elective on end-of-life care. She has always been fascinated by nursing and medical history, and collects old nursing and medical textbooks.
The lunch break is included in the $12 participation fee which is payable at the door if you pre-register, by Monday, October 17. It’s usually soup and sandwiches and something to satisfy a sweet tooth.
The afternoon session will bring Jim Hoops to the podium. With politics part of the breath of Americans in this political season, Jim will bring a local, knowledgeable face to us as we see how much change has come into our political system. He was a former county auditor in Henry County and former State Representative. Now he’s at the College serving in a VP position to inform elected officials of issues important to Northwest State and Terra State Community College.
Before the day wraps up Aaron Rex, superintendent of the Archbold Area Schools will help the group see the changes in our educational system. He grew up in a time when schools were full of chalkboards, textbooks, ditto machines and film strip projectors. After nearly 20 years in education, he says that times have changed. His job is to help facilitate learning in classrooms with iPads, laptops, smart boards, chrome books, and the many tools needed to be a 21st century learner. The biggest challenges that he believes education faces today are the changing mandates involving student testing and school funding.
To reserve your seat for the one-day seminar, contact the Center’s Coordinator Cecily Rohrs at crohrs@northwest.edu or call the College at 419-267-5511 and ask the receptionist at 0 to be put on the list for the October 21st seminar.
INFORMATION PROVIDED