Back to School 2009 Campus News Wallace State biology students team up with Cullman County’s SWCD Water Quality Technician Bob Keefe to assess Thacker Creek
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In any particular field, the best learning tool is a hands-on approach. Wallace State students in Connie Briehn’s biology classes in Hanceville used practical experiences to complement class work recently by teaming up with Cullman County Soil and Water Conservation District Water Quality Technician Bob Keefe to test the water and quality of life in Cullman County’s Thacker Creek. It’s become an annual tradition for Briehn’s students to use their spare time out of class to help Keefe with his bio-assessment of Thacker Creek, which flows approximately 10 miles from Wallace State’s campus. It’s located near Highway 91 between Hanceville and Interstate 65. “I’m a firm believer that the love of biology isn’t complete without a field experience and something that helps you engage with nature,” said Briehn. “The foundation starts in the classroom, but the love and passion for nature occurs outside.” Keefe monitors 18 creeks in Cullman County
and takes pleasure in associating and working with the Wallace State students during their Stream Quality Assessment. “I really enjoy it. It’s important to teach people and students about the tremendous biodiversity in our state. Alabama is the second best state in the country for biodiversity. We’re only behind Florida,” Keefe said. “It’s a good way for the biology students to take what they have learned in class and apply it to real life. Most of them who have lived around here are very surprised what they find in Cullman County creeks. It’s just so rich in biodiversity.”
Briehn’s classes have helped This WSCC Principals of Biology Class posed for a photo following their Keefe test the quality of living for stream assessment of Thacker Creek. macro-invertebrates at Thacker Creek. Macro-inverteThat wasn’t the case when Briehn’s first class visited brates are organisms without the creek with Keefe. Thacker Creek was once an backbones which are easy to extremely polluted stream where living conditions spot by the naked eye. were not suited for many organisms. It once was The Wallace State students deemed impaired by the Alabama Department of spotted and identified organisms Environmental Management (ADEM) due to the like stoneflies, mayflies, snails, strong pollutants. crawfish and worms. The stuA team effort turned Thacker Creek’s fate dents separated into groups around. throughout the process. Some “The biggest problem was battling bacteria captured the organisms by castspun off from man-made pollutants,” said Keefe, who ing the nets, while others identireceived the Mike Mullen Award in 2008 for submitfied and filled out the appropriate ting the most water chemistry records (164) in one forms for the assessment to year. “Local farmers have also taken steps to prohibit reach its final stages. livestock from as much interaction with the creeks. In The results of the Thacker fact, all farmers have become more conservationCreek assessment came back as minded over the last 10 or 15 years and that’s helped excellent and, as a recovering all creeks maintain a better quality.” Bob Keefe, center, helps Wallace State students identify the macro-invertecreek, it’s an adequate location brates they captured during their project at Thacker Creek. for macro-invertebrates to inhabit.
What if Everyone on Campus Read the Same Book? Common Read to Help Students Find Common Interests By: Sam Rolley ” During the fall 2009 semester students and faculty members will embark on a college-wide literary journey spanning the pages of Mitch Albom’s critically acclaimed novel “Tuesdays with Morrie.” The new initiative is known as “The Common Read.” The implementation of a campus-wide reading program has been developed through a committee of the college’s faculty and staff members who are intently focused on enhancing learning across the curriculum. “Deeper learning occurs when students are presented with an opportunity to reinforce that learning in a variety of settings,” said Wallace State President Dr. Vicki Hawsey. “We have also implemented learning communities and paired courses that provide similar opportunities for active learning. I applaud our faculty for being learning-centered and student-focused .” “Tuesdays with Morrie” is a chronicle of Albom’s time with his former college professor, Morrie Schwartz, during the last months of the older man’s life. Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, rekindling the professor-student relationship they had in college and resulting in one final "class": lessons on how to live. Albom’s book, first published in 1997, spent more than four years on the bestseller list before being published in paperback. It was later produced as a television movie starring Jack Lemmon and as an off-Broadway play. The Common Read committee has planned to implement the novel into as many aspects of Wallace State’s campus life as possible. Instructors will utilize it in classroom discussions, finding various ways to supplement English, philosophy,
speech, psychology, and other curriculums with its life lessons. Each year the Common Read Committee will choose a book to be read campus wide. But Common Reading is more than just reading a book--it is an initiative that fits hand-in-hand with the college’s mission statement,” said committee chair and English instructor Dr. Mary Barnes. “It is student centered, it is learning centered, it is community based, it involves diversity, and it inspires lifelong learning. However, it requires engagement and involvement from everyone.” Students are encouraged to read the work even if it does not fall under the requirements of their course curricula. Meetings will be set up by the Common Read committee over the course of the semester to discuss and to share ideas as the novel is read across the campus. The college has also asked students to set up meetings among friends and acquaintances for the same purpose. The committee believes this will be not only an invaluable learning experience but also a wonderful opportunity for individuals across campus to meet new people and to form lasting friendships. Members of the Common Read Committee include chairperson Barnes, adjunct English instructor Dana Barnett, theater director Lauren Cantrell, library staff person Clay Cobb, transitional learning instructor Heather Congo, history instructor Leigh Ann Courington, speech instructor Mona Hopper, English Department chair Dr. Beth Johnson, human services and sociology instructor Susan O’Rear, student activities and recruiting staff member Whit Rice, and bookstore staffer Courtney Walker. Copies of “Tuesdays with Morrie” are already available in the Wallace State bookstore.
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