Month: March 2024

The Neurodiversity Fair, hosted by the Club of Diverse Minds, was a chance for the community to learn more about people part of this group.

The club wanted to raise awareness and give people the opportunity to ask questions, meet people and get access to resources.

Neurodiversity is the idea of understanding that everyone sees the world differently, whether that be the way things are seen, heard or interpreted.

Founder of the Club of Diverse Minds, Ian Kelly, a junior communications studies major from Chicago, said he believes “disability” should be viewed as “ability.” In some cases, it gives them the ability to do more, whether that be artistically, scientifically or mathematically.

This fair was created to raise awareness for individuals who see the world and life differently. There are many neurological or developmental differences and learning disabilities including:

• ADHD
• Autism
• Bipolar disorder
• Dyslexia
• Tourette Syndrome

President of the Club of Diverse Minds, Rebeka Felsted, a freshman psychology major from Collegedale, Tennessee, said: “We [neurodivergent people] are ignored. We are often put down. There is a lot of discrimination just by the way that we act. Assumptions are huge and first impressions are also huge, and the way to help solve this is to help more people understand that this is just our way of life.” 

The club leaders wanted to make a space for any and all students to be able to feel safe, respected and wanted. 

Vice President of the Club of Diverse Minds, Andi Bates, a senior sociology major from Twin Falls, Idaho, said: “Education is the basis of justice for neurodiversity and disability. People need to know and understand these issues before we’re going to make progress, and so this event is about education and getting people that information as well as fun and playing games.”

The fair included booths from TURN, Techie For Life, RRCI and the Booth Wellness Center. The booths had resources from the community, who are willing to give help, advice or other opportunities to those who are disabled or neurodiverse.

With the booths, there were small carnival games such as Jenga, spin the wheel, knock ‘em down ball toss and more. Light refreshments like muffins, lemonade, chips and cookies were also offered.

Felsted said: “With the food specifically, we chose food that was neurodivergent friendly. A lot of people don’t realize that we have texture problems, this is particularly with Autism. A lot of us have struggles with texture.”

Throughout the time of the fair, people were given the opportunity to get prizes from a drawing, playing the games or spinning the wheel. These prizes consisted of neurodivergent-friendly items including: 

• fidget toys
• plushies
• fuzzy blankets
• Nintendo Switch
• coloring books
• weekly planner

Each of the prizes is significant to the club, but the planner had significance to the club runners. They felt it was important to include this as a prize because writing down plans or things that need to be done can help people focus and remember. 

Kelly said: “Part of the reason we do weekly meetings as a club is because we want to keep consistency going so people can stay on track. If we do it bi-weekly, we might forget which week we’re meeting, so a big part of it is just organization and being consistent as a club.”

The Club of Diverse Minds meets each week on Mondays at 7:30 p.m. in the Udvar-Hazy building on the second floor in the Idea Room. 

Kelly said, “Just like any marginalized group, we want to raise awareness and help people who are neurodivergent just feel included and get involved on campus.”

Utah Tech University students and community members gathered to watch a night of talent at the Greatest Showcase March 26 on the Eccles Main Stage.

The event was hosted for the first time by the Center for Inclusion and Belonging as a part of Inclusion Week. There were 12 participants at the event with talent ranging from singing to belly dancing.

Mia Tom, a sophomore general studies major from Ivins, was the point of contact for the event and one of the hands backstage helping it run smoothly. She said the inspiration behind the event was to create an opportunity where students and community members could showcase their talents and cultures.

Some of the local artists were from Las Vegas, including a belly dancing group called the Mari Fusion Belly Dance. Mari Jepson and Camila Dossiantos were the two dancers part of this performance. Jepson said they were reached out to by the director, Mike Nelson, as a way to showcase talent in the community.

“The showcase was part of the inclusion,” Jepson said. “So because there were different cultures that performing, that was my favorite part.”

Jepson has been performing for 19 years, and it is something she does frequently. She teaches classes at a studio in Las Vegas and online, while also doing shows and events.

There were also performers by groups from Utah Tech like Fusion and the K-Pop Dance Club. Halia Moriguchi, a sophomore recreation and sports management major from Kaui, Hawaii, was one of the performers apart of the K-Pop Dance Club. The dance club’s performance included a mashup of their favorite K-pop songs, along with group and duo performances.

“I decided to join the K-pop group because I wanted to share my passion for the love of K-pop music with Utah Tech students, and also because they’re very well known for their dance,” Moriguchi said.

The performance included two different dances that involved all of the team members, which was one of Moriguchi’s favorite parts. The dance club practices every Wednesday at 8 p.m. and is always welcoming new members.

“We wanted to just showcase that anyone can come dance, learn and have a fun time,” Moriguchi said.

Eliza Nordgren, a freshman population health major from Salt Lake, is a member of the K-Pop Dance Club and was an audience member that night. Nordgren said she made some of her best friends in the club, so it was really cool seeing them all perform.

However, she also enjoyed seeing the different groups showing their talents. Performers represented their talents by singing a variety of genres to even performing a warrior’s hoop dance.

“I think it’s really cool to see a bunch of different people doing what they love to do and seeing them in their element,” Nordgren said. “It’s cool to see how diverse it was because we have lots of people from different backgrounds doing very different things, and I enjoyed watching it all.”

Students with academic scholarships received an email March 13 from Joni Hale, associate director of scholarships, containing the changes to the requirements for obtaining and keeping scholarships.

These changes included:

• Students before had to take 15 credits a semester, but now it is 12 credits.
• Students before took 30 credits completed per academic year, and now they must take 24 credits.
• Scholarships are renewable until students reach 130 overall credit attempts to get a bachelor’s degree, and transfer students have 150 credits to get a bachelor’s degree.
• The scholarship change will not be eligible for summer semesters.

Hale said about 60% to 70% of students lose their scholarships at the end of their first year in college because of the credit requirement. These changes are attempting to help students succeed in college. 

Even though the credit requirement is 12 credits per semester, it is recommended to take 15 credits instead. This is to help students stay on track with the four-year plan for a bachelor’s degree.

These changes are affecting students in different ways. Some students have had their time with the scholarship extended. The 12-credit workload may make it easier for students who are working to manage their time.

Kaylyn Munson, a freshman general studies major from Hurricane, said, “I’ve been running out of things to do for my generals and so having the limit go down from 15 to 12 has made it a little bit more possible for me to fill up my schedule with 12 credits.”

Another way students are affected is they might not meet the requirements for the scholarship by not having enough credits for next semester. Students sometimes don’t meet the GPA requirements for the scholarship, or their time has been cut short due to the 130 credit limit.

Liam Hoyle, a senior computer science major from Perry, said, “I’m very excited for it because I wish I would’ve had that opportunity because I lost my academic scholarship.”

To help keep scholarships, Hale said students can make up for GPA or credit requirements by enrolling for summer semesters, but students will have to pay for these classes out of pocket.

However, with the lower requirement of 12 credits, students can make up the credits the following semester, as long as students meet the academic year requirement of 24 credits. Students can appeal for the scholarship or fill out an extension application.

For those in financial need, Hale said, “Definitely start applying for scholarships and do it now.”

Utah Tech University is growing exponentially. With new programs, buildings and construction, many students can’t keep up with the constant changes.

Aside from growth at Utah Tech, students have a wide range of services available to them that they may not know about. Much of this growth is due to the construction and expansion of Utah Tech.

Bryant Flake, executive director of planning and budget, said, “The future of Utah Tech is incredibly bright.”

South Campus

One of the biggest changes coming to Utah Tech is the addition of a south campus. Nesting between the Career and Technical High School and Desert Color lies 186 acres of land waiting to be developed.

Jon Gibb, director of planning and construction, said, “It’s a really good opportunity to expand and grow programs.”

This addition of the south campus would make Utah Tech’s campus 296 acres in total, doubling the size of the campus now.

Paul Morris, vice president of administrative affairs, said they are currently testing soil levels and creating a master plan to discuss possible buildings and programs that will be offered there.

Morris said: “From academic buildings to athletic facilities and hotels to buildings where entrepreneurship will happen to an innovation district. It’s a lot of fun to start at the ground level and take up a raw piece of ground and build a campus.”

Currently, the plan is to continue growing the main campus for another 10 years before working on the south campus, which would add more facilities to Utah Tech.

Gibb plans to announce the master plan for the south campus at a public forum for students to attend in the Eccles main stage April 1 at 11:00 a.m.

“We would love student feedback,” Gibb said. “It will be exciting to see what it could look like.”

St. George Fire Station 1

With large bays and ample office space, Utah Tech purchased this fire station in November and has plans to move programs in there.

The first big move will be for the Road Scholar Program, which is currently parked at the University Inn. This space will allow the buses to be closer to campus.

“We have all our buses that provide for athletics and other transportation needs,” Gibb said. “The new space fits the buses really well. They can park and maintain them easily.”

Another addition to this space will be for government vehicles.

Morris said, “We will have about five state cars over there and an electric key box where government employees can rent those cars and pick them up from that location.”

The last addition to this fire station will be partially moving the Outdoor Adventures Recreation Center. The space is currently underneath the gym in the Student Activity Center.

Because the fire station has large bays, the ORAC will move their larger items over to the station to allow easier cleanup and rental services.

Students can rent bikes, kayaks, paddle boards and other large items in the new space. Morris said this will allow students to easily pull their cars up to the garage doors and load the equipment into their cars.

General Classroom Building

The General Classroom Building will be the hub for all freshman and humanities and social science students.

The building is estimated to be completed in summer 2025. It will house many programs in the 120,000-square-foot facility, and it will include 53 teaching spaces and 125 faculty offices.

Upon completion, the English department will move out of the Holland building along with the Humanities department in the McDonald and into the new building.

“The domino effect of this building is we will eventually have everyone out of the North Plaza,” Morris said. “The Testing Center will move to the fourth floor of the library, and the Booth Wellness Center may end up there, but that’s not for sure.”

Gibb said the McDonald Center building will also be renovated, which will allow the art department to move in there. In the future, Morris said the North Plaza will be torn down to make room for parking or a field.

“It [the General Classroom Building] has an art project in it that is just phenomenal,” Morris said. “It’s pieces of colored glass that hang on cable from the ceiling. I can’t do it justice by attempting to describe it.”

With all of these changes, future students can expect more buildings and programs than ever before.

Gibb said, “The whole point is transforming campus into a place where students can live, learn, be resilient and find their destiny.”