CHADRON – Assistant Professor of Business Dr. Caitlin Redden made a presentation at the Association for General and Liberal Studies Oct. 2-4, in Louisville, Kentucky.

The title of Redden’s presentation was Re-fermenting Assessment: Using a Sour Mash Approach to Develop a Pillar-Based Assessment Model. Her session explained how CSC distilled the essence of its general education program to create a manageable assessment framework.

In her abstract, Redden wrote that to develop a sustainable and effective general education assessment process, a group of CSC faculty, administrators, and staff refined the most important elements of the Essential Studies Program.

Her presentation discussed the transition from a course-level assessment plan with 12 student learning outcomes to a pillar-based model with four overarching outcomes.

The sour mash approach involves a process where a portion of a previous batch is used to start a new one. To do this, the group Redden served on asked how they could create a sustainable, purposeful, and meaningful assessment model using the existing foundation. Additionally, they defined the hallmarks of a Chadron State graduate. The process helped them identify four main themes that define a CSC graduate without starting from scratch. 

“By creating four pillars for the Essential Studies Program, we have developed an actionable plan to recertify courses within the Essential Studies Program, create rubrics for each pillar, integrate these rubrics into Canvas using the SpeedGrader tool, and begin collecting data on student work,” Redden wrote in her abstract.

In the presentation, she discussed trials, tribulations, and triumphs of the process with practical ideas for implementing a pillar-based assessment model in general education. She also included future goals for assessing student learning.

Coy speaks about resilience 

CHADRON – Kevin Coy, a Chadron State College alum and Academic Advisor with Upward Bound, spoke about the various ways he has built strength through overcoming adversity in his Graves lecture Oct. 21. 

Coy, a Davenport, Florida, native, enrolled at CSC in 2014 on a football scholarship. After graduating from high school, he did not feel equipped to face the academic challenges of college, but he preserved at CSC and achieved a 4.0 GPA his first semester. His sophomore year, he continued to flourish and discovered he qualified for the Project Strive TRiO program as a first generation and low-income student. 

“When I heard about the program, I said, ‘Sign me up.’  That’s when my life began to change. After that, I went to [TRIO Director] Jen Schaer many days when I felt like quitting,” Coy said. 

Schaer guided him to resources and provided encouragement for him to persist. 

Today, Coy has come full circle and feels like his background of overcoming obstacles helps the high school students he advises in Chadron and Alliance. 

“I enjoy what I do for them,” he said. 

During his presentation, Coy outlined several areas of his life where he faced adversity, including sports, education, and family struggles. 

Football had been a way of life since he was six years old, so when he suffered a knee injury in his senior year of high school, he continued his season, despite the injury, and played for 10 games. He eventually had surgery to repair the damage. He desperately wanted to earn a football scholarship and even though he had his sights set on Division I, former football assistant coach Craig Jersild convinced him to consider Chadron State College. 

A torn ACL at CSC presented a new set of issues because Coy couldn’t access the medical procedures he needed in Nebraska, so he had to fly back to Florida several times where the care was covered by Medicaid. He found that yoga helped with his recovery. 

“Football taught me there’s no ‘I’ in teamwork. Also, it really matters what you are doing when people aren’t watching, like time in the gym lifting weights,” Coy said. 

Coy said his mother was a high school dropout at 15 when she had his older brother. As a child of one parent without a high school diploma, Coy’s chances were less than half that he would finish high school and only 11 percent that he would earn a college degree. Since his parents couldn’t help him at home with schoolwork, he learned to meet new people and ask others for help. 

Family health problems and tumultuous relationships further complicated his youth in a community where he said drugs and guns were common. 

His family lived with his grandmother who suffered a stroke when Coy was nine years old. He noticed when the EMT arrived to assess her on her porch.  

“[The EMT] asked her to repeat the phrase ‘You can’t teach an old dog a new trick,’ and when she was unable to, a stroke was confirmed, and she was rushed to the hospital. I never saw her at home again,” he said. 

A year later, his parents divorced, introducing increased financial stress. 

“We would come home and not know if the lights or water were going to be turned off or if there was going to be food in the refrigerator,” Coy said. 

An anonymous benefactor paid his tuition to transfer from public school to a Christian academy. At age 16, he came home to find an eviction notice pinned to the door. He gathered his belongings in a tote and couch surfed for his final two years of high school with a family whose child also attended the academy. 

At 18, Coy went to visit his father and noticed he couldn’t lift his arm to shake hands. His father was also slurring his words. Remembering the symptoms of his grandmother’s stroke nine years earlier, Coy stepped into the role of assessing his father’s condition by asking him to repeat the same phrase the EMT asked his grandmother to repeat. When his father could not comply with his request, Coy drove his father to the nearest hospital. After being refused immediate help at the first hospital, Coy drove his father to another hospital where he received medical care. 

Three points Coy said he follows to help with resilience are self-care, healthy coping, and celebrating small successes. 

“I have a Bucket Of Small Successes, or BOSS, for my students. So, if they get an A on a test, they can drop that in the bucket and we can all celebrate it and they can build on it,” Coy said. 

Coy summed up the sources of his resilience as faith in God, strong relationships and community, and a positive mindset. He expressed gratitude for the opportunity to make his home with his wife, Taylor, whom he met at CSC and their two children 

“What happens to you can create happiness, but joy is what you choose,” said Coy. “I choose to anchor myself in values and purpose, my family. And I take the perspective that I am blessed, not oppressed.” 

Bike Share program expands

CHADRON – Chadron State College’s Bike Share program continues to roll right along.

The program, which provides bicycles to help students travel around campus and the community, was initially funded by a grant from Healthy Blue and continues to be supported by that grant and supplemented by a Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska American Rescue Plan Act grant.

Students say the bikes save time, encourage exercise, and make daily life easier.

“They’ve been life savers when I’m running late for class or need to transport materials,” said Esosa Iyengunmwena, a senior majoring in Communication Arts from Levelland, Texas. “They’ve also been helpful for grocery shopping and exercise. I love them.”

Shelby Westinghouse, a sophomore majoring in Communication Arts from Hot Springs, South Dakota, said she uses the bikes for entertainment.

“My roommate and I ride the bikes around town on nice days. I have found that the bikes are a great way to have fun exploring town while taking a break from homework,” Westinghouse said.

Men’s Basketball Head Coach Chris Francis said the program has been a game-changer for his players.

Isaiah Randolph, a freshman Business major from Long Island, New York, said he rides to practice and uses the bikes to stay active on rest days.

“They give me an easy way to exercise and get around campus without needing a car,” he said.

Zach Smith, a senior majoring in Sport, Fitness, and Recreation from Hartford, Connecticut, said he rides everywhere on campus and often uses the bikes as a warm-up before basketball practice.

Randolph and Smith’s teammate, Patric Prince a junior majoring in Sport, Fitness, and Recreation from Grovetown, Georgia, enjoys using the bikes and since they are equipped with front baskets he’s able to carry mail and other items on campus.

Associate Director of Residence Life Christian Miller, who helps administer the bike share program, said maintaining the fleet requires teamwork. History Professor Dr. Kurt Kinbacher and the Assistant Directors of Residence Life help handle repairs and upkeep. There is also a self-help tire repair station at the Student Center on the north side where students can pump up tires and make minor repairs.

“That has been incredibly helpful,” Miller said. “It’s also important that bikes are returned to designated racks so others can use them.”

The program currently includes 26 bikes, including 10 recently purchased and assembled with CSC branding and baskets.

“It’s been great to see the bikes all over campus and around town, including places like Walmart and downtown businesses,” Miller said.

Miller said students should respect the bikes so they can be used for as long as possible and that students should bring the bikes back to campus instead of leaving them at their off-campus residences overnight or at other establishments.

“Unlike big city bike shares, we encourage all bikes to be placed back in the designated bike racks, rather than left anywhere on campus. Any damage to bikes can be considered damage to college property and subject to disciplinary action,” Miller said.

Anyone who notices a damaged bike is encouraged to contact Miller at cmiller@csc.edu.