TECHNICIAN
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Ceresnak takes office AND DISCUSSES WHAT LED HIM THERE FORMER STUDENT JOURNALIST TURNS TO POLITICS AFTER TRANSFER FROM UGA STORY BY SAJA HINDI| PHOTOS BY DREIER CARR
W
hen Jim Ceresnak is passionate about something, it’s no secret. You can tell from his face. Eyebrows scrunched, talking fast with a Red Bull in hand, he pushes the idea around in his head until he’s ready to voice it publicly to inspire change.
Raleigh, North Carolina
Team searches for ‘new’ Vista Collaborative team solicits input from faculty, students before moving on to a recommendation Alison Harman Science & Tech Editor
Alan Schueler sits at his desk opposite two twin computer monitors, moving the cursor through an invisible barrier as he tries to find a specific class section on a pilot version of Moodle, an open source application that could replace Blackboard Vista as a campus-wide course management system. “You come in and see what you’re registered for, which in my case is a bunch of junk,” said Schueler, who is the director of Academic and Administrative Technology for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Schueler has been working with the Moodle pilot since the idea to transfer course management systems was proposed in 2007. He clicks through a few more pages of red text and rounded edges, still looking on both monitors, before finding the one he wants. “Let’s go to ALS 103, Spring 2009.”
And Ceresnak shouldn’t have a problem having his voice heard next year — he’s the 2009-10 student body president. But politics wasn’t always his forte. After graduating from high school, Ceresnak attended the University of Georgia with the intention of graduating with a journalism degree. “My parents were pushing hard for me to go to Carolina,” Ceresnak said. “But it wasn’t for me.” Ceresnak said he was editor of his high school newspaper for two years and even had the chance to be on air at a local radio station when he was in middle school because he called in so much — the hosts then invited him to be on the sports show. At his Catholic high school, in addition to his involvement with the newspaper, Ceresnak was also on both the baseball team and the swim team. However, after spending some time in Georgia, Ceresnak realized that UGA was not going to be in his future despite his heavy involvement with Delta Tau Delta. “I didn’t really have any direction there. I didn’t really have any focus,” he said. “I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with my life.” So he transferred to UNC-Charlotte the second semester his sophomore year, pulled up his grades and saved money, and then transferred to N.C. State. “It ended up working out,” Ceresnak said. “It was really amazing how a lot of hard work really paid off.” And that’s when he started to become engrossed in the world of politics. “I ended up getting an internship in Raleigh that summer [before transferring to N.C. State] at the General Assembly,” Ceresnak, a junior in political science, said. “It was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I found out that I really wanted to be involved in political science and N.C. State seemed like a great option for me.” Sen. Tom Apodaca (R), whom Ceresnak serves as intern for, said he is sure Ceresnak will do a good job as student body president. “I’ve watched him mature,” Apodaca said. “He’s become more confident as he goes.” Apodaca said he tries to stress the importance of serving their constituents to his interns, and Ceresnak agreed that he learned that from working under Apodaca. “The main thing I want them to get out is we’re here for the people who elected us,” Apodaca said. “We’re here helping them navigate the bureaucracy of government.” Ceresnak said public service is really important to him and that’s why he decided to take his political activity even further and volunteer with Students for Pat McCrory for Governor. “One of the reasons I love Pat McCrory is so much is because I feel like the guy is genuine and he does the job that is meant to be done in his position. He’s an ego-free sort of leader who is really a public servant first,” Ceresnak said. That was the extent of Ceresnak’s involvement with the University though, minus some work with the College Republicans. At least until he decided to run for student body president. “It wasn’t something I was thinking about over Christmas break. It wasn’t even something I was thinking about at the beginning of the semester,” Ceresnak said. But his relationship with the 2008-09 student body president, Jay Dawkins, put the idea in his head. Dawkins is Ceresnak’s roommate. “Being so close to Jay and being with Jay so much, I understand how hard the kid works. I see how he’s not there — he’s never at home. He’s always in the office, getting stuff done. And the decision I had to make was, ‘am I going to be willing and able to commit as much time and
A natural progression Everything has a lifespan. 85 years, 7 billion years, 24 hours. But anything that falls in a technological category tends to live as long as it takes for something newer, shinier and faster to come along. For campus course management systems, more formally known as Learning Management Systems, this natural progression comes about every four or five years, according to Donna Petherbridge, associate vice provost for DELTA’s Instructional Support Services. Wolf Ware, the first campuswide LMS, was written about 14 years ago. In 1999, the University subscribed to Web CT, a commercial course management system. “That particular product was not as enterprise as we needed it to be,” Petherbridge said. So about five years ago, Vista took over as the official system for faculty to post quizzes, lectures, notes and references that is available to students based on their course schedule. “It’s time for another evaluation and pilot of another system because so much has changed over the years,” Petherbridge said. MOODLE continued page 5
CERESNAK continued page 3
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Pirates shut out State 7-0
East Carolina completes season sweep with victory in Greenville. See page 8.
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