Month: January 2016

Luis Candray, 8, wants to become a dentist when he grows up after receiving dental care from the Dixie State University dental hygiene department Saturday. 

The Give Kids a Smile event at the Russell C. Taylor Health Science Building provided free dental treatments to local children who don’t have insurance or Medicaid. It was the first time since 2013 this event was held to help. 

“It makes me want to help a lot of people clean their teeth now,” Candray said. 

Candray was among the 87 children who received dental hygiene care at the event. In some cases where cavities were bad, restorative work, crownings and extractions were performed on the children. Twelve local dentists, over 40 DSU dental hygiene students and many other volunteers from the community helped with the event. 

Patricia Wintch, interim dean of the school of health sciences and dental hygiene, said there are many low-income people in the community who don’t have insurance or Medicaid and can’t afford dental treatment.

“We’re trying to fill that need,” Wintch said. “Plus, it gives wonderful experience to our students.”

Brooklyn Hansen, a junior dental hygiene major from Santa Clara, volunteered at the event as a Spanish translator and dental assistant and said helping the patients was rewarding and helped build teamwork skills. 

“As a student, knowing how important oral health is, it just makes me so happy to be able to provide care for all of these people who can’t afford it,” Hansen said. 

Other dental hygiene students conducted X-rays on the patients, sterilized dental tools, administered sealants, and helped teach children and their families about oral health. Wintch said it was chaotic at first because, for some students, this event was their first experience with real-life patients. 

Hansen translated for people who couldn’t speak English like Milagro Lopez, a St. George resident who brought her two children to the event to receive dental hygiene work.

“A lot of families can’t afford insurance, so this event is helping our family a lot,” Lopez said in Spanish. “Our kids benefited a lot. I hope to see more events like this in the future, especially for those who couldn’t make it today.” 

Susan Tipton, sales representative for Henry Schein Dental, the organization that donated all of the dental supplies for the event, said uninsured children were found through local elementary schools.

“I’ve seen cases where the child has not received any dental hygiene work at all, and all their teeth are decayed,” Tipton said. “And when their teeth are all blown out, it really hurts for them to chew.”

Wintch said there were so many community members who came for dental care at the event that some walk-ins had to be turned away.

“Some dentists who couldn’t come have offered vouchers to see patients that were turned away in their private offices,” Wintch said. “There are not a lot of resources for uninsured people in the community who need dental work done.”

Photo by Jess Arruda. 

Making the case for why their candidate should become the next commander in chief, representatives from several 2016 Republican presidential campaigns visited Dixie State University Saturday.  

The Southern Utah GOP Straw Poll was hosted by the DSU College Republicans and the Dixie Republican Forum, and it allowed a place for community members and students to vote on their favorite candidate. Republican candidates Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul were all represented at the event by speakers who were each given eight minutes to speak.  

Cruz won the poll with 43 votes. He was followed by Rubio with 13 votes, Trump with 5, Christie with 3 and Fiorina with 3. The results were similar to the results of the Iowa Caucus Monday, where Cruz won with 28 percent of the Republican vote, followed by Trump and Rubio.

Uriah Hernalsteen, a junior elementary education major from St. George and president of the DSU College Republicans, said he helped organize the event because it’s important for students to be informed about what’s going on in politics.

“Everyone who’s registered to vote has an opportunity to say something with their vote, which is why they should keep an eye on what’s going on politically,” Hernalsteen said. 

Political rhetoric and jabs at the Democratic Party were common in many of the speeches. Willie Billings, the representative for Fiorina, said federal overreach on Utah land ownership will become a deciding part of the election in Utah.  

“The only reason the feds still own so much of Utah land is because tens of thousands of Utahns haven’t stood up to them in protest yet,” Billings said. “Utahns are sick and tired of sissy leadership in the Democrats, and we want change.”

This year’s straw poll was the first one at DSU and was more of a trial run, Hernalsteen said. 

“I’m hoping this will become a yearly event and that more students will show up in the future,” Hernalsteen said. 

Angela Harrison, a volunteer for Utah for Cruz from Toquerville, said it was helpful for people to come to the event and hear a live speaker on behalf of the GOP candidates.

“For a lot of college students, they have so much going on in their lives that maybe politics may be the last thing they think of to spend their time on,” Harrison said. “We need millennials to be involved in politics and learn how they can make a difference.” 

As a registered Democrat, McKade Christensen, a senior communication major from St. George, said he attended the event to learn more about the Republican candidates even though he wouldn’t be voting for any of them. 

“Even though I disagree with a lot of the policies, I wanted to come to hear what [the Republican candidates] could offer,” Christensen said.

Christensen said it especially scared him when the representative for Rand Paul spoke on wanting to end the National Security Agency’s surveillance on Americans because “the NSA has caught a lot of bad things that would have happened by using domestic surveillance.” 

“I think it’s really important to voice our opinion, to become well informed, (and) to really know what the issues are about instead of just relying on what we were raised off of or what our grandparents think,” Christensen said. “We need to have our own well-informed opinion on what the facts are.”

Students and community members fill in their ballots at the Southern Utah GOP Straw Poll Saturday. Ted Cruz won the most votes at the event. Photo by Spencer Ricks.

Although freeing up campus parking lots and bringing in more students sound like contradicting ideas, those are exactly the things Dixie State University administrators are pushing for.

DSU faculty members, officials and board members presented at the board of trustees meeting Friday morning. Along with routine business like awarding tenure to faculty members, listening to the status of various building projects, and going over the university’s budget, Friday’s meeting revealed detailed information on a deal between DSU and SunTran, St. George’s most popular public transportation vehicle.

SunTran deal 

Paul Morris, vice president of administrative services, said all faculty, staff and students, both full and part time, are now able to ride the SunTran at no cost to them. 

“We think this is a great initiative to get cars off the road and help free up cars from the parking lots,” Morris said.

Although it’s free for anyone with a student ID, the university is paying $3 for full-time and $1.50 for part-time faculty, students and staff. The university paid about $20,000 in total to SunTran.

“[This deal] is a great value, I think, for the campus,” Morris said.

St. George Mayor Jon Pike said the deal will help the city overall, and SunTran is working on adding larger bike racks to the buses.

In addition to the SunTran deal, Morris said a rental car service will be offered to complement the new student housing project. He said hopefully three to five rental cars will be available for student, faculty and staff use.

Enrollment 

Brett Schwartz, director of new student programs, kicked off the first board of trustees meeting of the semester with a recruitment update. His department’s goal for fall 2016 is to raise total enrollment to 10,000. Schwartz said it’s a lofty goal, but it’s one the university is on track to meet.

One concern brought up by members of the faculty senate was that an increase of students would need to be supported by an appropriate amount of faculty as well. 

“We want to make sure everyone is prepared in advance so people aren’t caught off guard and surprised,” said Erin O’Brien, faculty senate president and chair of the biology department. “The growth is exciting; we just want to make sure the capacity is there and everybody is ready.” 

Schwartz said new strategies have been implemented in order to reach these goals. 

“We couldn’t just do what we’ve done in the past and expect major results,” Schwartz said. 

The new plan involves increasing what Schwartz referred to as the “enrollment funnel,” which describes the process of turning prospective students to registered students. Increasing campus tours, waiving application fees, awarding scholarships early on, hiring new recruiting officers, and sending SWAG boxes to students who have been admitted are the ways he hopes to increase enrollment. 

“The earlier you can offer a scholarship, the more likely you can get that student to come,” Schwartz said. 

Student association 

In addition to a projected increase in enrollment numbers, Student Body President Matt Devore, a junior integrated studies major from Mesquite, Nevada, said DSU’s Student Association is seeing and expecting an increase in student involvement. 

Devore said DSU’s clubs have doubled their service hours, and DSUSA’s service branch logged 2,347 hours last semester. Student life also saw an increase in attendees last semester, Devore said. 

“This is where students get that full college experience,” Devore said.

Luke Kerouac, a DSU alumnus and previous coordinator of student life, has been chosen as DSUSA’s new director of student involvement and leadership. 

Mental health awareness is an initiative that student body presidents across the state have been working on together, Devore said. The campaign’s slogan is “Stand up to stigma,” and a video featuring representatives from every university in Utah is in the works.

“It’s become apparent that this is an issue,” he said. 

Devore said he’s going to work on pushing for more counseling centers. 

“We want to be able to hire more people, so students don’t have to wait so long to see someone,” Devore said.

However, Dean of Students Del Beatty said three days is the longest any student has had to wait to be seen at the Health and Wellness Center. Pike said whether it’s a pressing issue at DSU or not, he applauds the effort. 

“It’s something we can all do together to make sure we’re not just blind to it,” Pike said.

Plans for a new entrepreneurial program are on the horizon at Dixie State University with help from the former mayor of Alpine.

Don Watkins, who stepped down as mayor of Alpine Jan. 21, will be volunteering as an “entrepreneur in residence” at DSU, working with other faculty members to build a program that teaches students entrepreneurial skills. Watkins has volunteered as a mentor at Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University in the past.

The program

The school of business has been looking into an entrepreneurial program for some time, said Kyle Wells, dean of the school of business and communication.

It takes a certain personality type to be able to deal with the risk and pressures of running a business, Wells said. 

“Part of the goal of the program is to find those individuals with that drive and that ability,” Wells said. “The ones that have that drive and the education are more likely to succeed than the ones who just have the drive or just the education.”

Wells is taking examples from entrepreneurial programs at BYU-Hawaii and Weber State University to get an idea of what is successful. He said he is hoping the program will be available by fall 2016 but said there are many factors out of his control.

Wells sent an initial proposal to the dean’s council and President Biff Williams, but he said it is all still quite preliminary. He is hoping to roll out an entrepreneurial certificate that doesn’t require prerequisites in business.

“A biology student or a music student could come in and take these classes to get a certificate,” he said.

The program will be low investment and high reward, including classes that already exist, which means not many new classes or faculty members will need to be added.

“We have to start small,” Wells said. “We have to take an entrepreneurial approach to this development.”

Garett Garcia, a senior business administration major from St. George, said he is excited for the program to come to DSU. He said he hopes he will have enough time to get the certificate before he graduates. He said DSU doesn’t have many options for entrepreneurs, and they are much needed. 

“It’s about time,” he said.

The former mayor

After serving in Alpine in various positions for about nine years, Watkins resigned as mayor Jan. 21. Watkins said Alpine is in excellent condition and feels he could be of better service to students at DSU. His official term as mayor would have ended December 2017.

“Entrepreneurs love to be part of startups,” Watkins said. “Being a part of [DSU] starting up a new entrepreneurship program was something I could not pass up.”

With 40 years of experience as an entrepreneur, Watkins said he is looking for opportunities to serve as he shares stories of his failures and successes with students.

“I love working with the students, teaching classes and working with them one-on-one,” Watkins said.

Watkins’ first experience starting a business was as a student at BYU. He said, as a young man, he developed his own real estate construction company.

“I thought I’d be a cocky 30-year-old millionaire,” he said.

When interest rates skyrocketed, Watkins said he was lucky not to go bankrupt.

He went on to start a company that sold computer accessories and went into the business of auto cleaning supplies two years ago. Some car air freshener products that Watkins’ company sells are “Refresh your car” and “Bahama & Co.”

Watkins is still residing in Alpine, and for the next six to nine months, said he is planning on commuting from Alpine to St. George on a weekly basis.

“I hear the best things about Dixie students,” Watkins said. “I absolutely love St. George, the people and the environment.”

Taking easy classes in order to boost your GPA might actually be damaging to your transcript.

According to Ryan Hickey, Petersons & EssayEdge’s article, “How Getting an Easy A Can Hurt You,” the authors state the problems with taking electives just to boost your GPA. The main points they make in the article are transcripts are reviewed holistically, cruise courses make a student look less focused, and employers generally look at grades of required coursework, not elective credits. 

“I’ve heard a bunch of students say that [taking classes for an easy A] helps, but every adviser I’ve talked to said it doesn’t,” said Sariah Holsinger-Backer, a freshman nursing major from St. George.

Andrew Skaggs, employer outreach for the career center, said it depends on a student’s plan whether or not grades, or even classes on his or her transcript, matter. He said in more academic venues, potential employers would look at a potential employee’s grades and maybe specific classes.

Skaggs said lacking real-world experience can be somewhat compensated for by having classes on your transcript that are considered electives but teach a useful skill. For example, extra computer skills classes can help students look knowledgeable to future employers.

“It’s another hoop you have to jump through to make you as attractive to employers as possible for grad schools,” Skaggs said.

Katie Armstrong, assistant director of academic advisement, also said it is important for students to know what grades they will need to achieve their career and academic goals. She said if students plan to attend graduate schools, they need good grades. Since they know they’ll need better grades, they should plan to study harder in the beginning, she said.

“Every HR person I’ve ever talked to says GPA won’t give you the job, but it will keep you from getting the job,” Skaggs said. 

Skaggs said it’s a lot easier to drop your GPA than raise it up. Retaking classes only looks bad if you did worse the second time.

The Dixie State University policy is to count the most recent grade on a student’s transcript. Students should meet with their adviser to determine whether repeating classes is necessary. Armstrong said there are classes to boost a GPA that don’t necessarily reflect badly. She said the fitness center classes are a good example. In the fitness center, students improve their health and get a little GPA boost if they do well.

Armstrong said she encourages students to look beyond grades and focus on learning and taking classes that expand their skills and qualifications.

Ask yourself why you are taking the class. Is it for an easy A, or do you want to expand your knowledge? Armstrong said if students still aren’t sure whether taking a class is a good choice, they should talk to their academic adviser.

“I always recommend that a student discuss course options, and even elective course options, regularly with the academic adviser in their major,” Armstrong said.

Making sure students have a purpose behind taking an elective is important, Armstrong said. If students are undeclared, they should take a variety of courses in order to determine which major they would most like to study.

“College is so much more than earning good grades for coursework,” Armstrong said. “It’s about rigorous learning, thinking critically, working hard in a subject area that is unfamiliar, and really challenging yourself and your ideas.”

Some Dixie State University students will get the chance to help those who were affected by Hurricane Katrina more than 10 years after the disaster. 

Gabbie Holbrook, a senior integrated studies major from Taylorsville and alternative breaks coordinator for the DSU Student Association, said she looked through different location spots and projects to decide what destination to choose for the alternative break.

The alternative break program is where students get the chance to go to different places and do service-oriented projects on academic breaks. A group of DSU students went to San Francisco for spring break last year.  

“When it comes to this alternative break, you can’t just look at the location,” Holbrook said. “You have to look at what service projects would be offered and what’s going to make the biggest impact.”

The poverty level in Louisiana increased, homes are still in need of repairs, and people are still living in temporary homes after hurricane Katrina and hurricane Isaac made landfall, Holbrook said.

Dillon McKinney, a junior mathematics major from St. George and vice president of service, said he was surprised when he heard New Orleans was still in need of disaster relief.

“That’s something you don’t really think about because mass media and everything [have] this huge coverage and huge push for it, but then, after a year or two, it dies down, and you kind of just assume the problem is fixed,” McKinney said.

The group that is going on the trip will be staying with a camp called Camp Restore, a nonprofit organization that focuses on service and the community, and they will be doing any service that is needed in the area like construction work, painting schools and planting, Holbrook said.

The main goals of the trip are to expand the alternative breaks program, which has only been around for a year, create a service and cultural experience for students, and alleviate some of the stress from the work that still needs to be done in New Orleans, McKinney said. The main theme of the trip is disaster relief.

The trip will take place March 5-12. There are 12 people going on the trip and only one spot left. The deposit of $200 to go on the trip is due Thursday.

Shelby Thomas, a sophomore nursing major from Payson, said she chose to go on the trip because of the opportunity to do service work and to experience the culture and atmosphere of New Orleans.

“I feel like it’s a thing that’s overlooked just because it’s something that happened so long ago, and it’s just crazy that they’re still living in poverty, and they’re still living in homes that aren’t really homes,” Thomas said.

McKinney said St. George is not the only place that needs service. 

“It’s a constant process that needs devoted and really dedicated individuals to help out with the process to strengthen communities,” McKinney said.