________________________________________
Doug Lee, the associate dean of the Division of Continuing Education at the University of Iowa, learned about the National Sierra Club Service trip to the Loess Hills led by David Zahrt. He approached us about sponsoring a spring student service trip rescuing native prairie.
Chad Graeve and I have been planning this prairie service trip with the University of Iowa. The web address below will show you the full press release with pictures.The University News Service has sent this press release out to news outlets in this part of the state as well as other news outlets. The text of the release can also be found below in the email itself. If this story appears in your newspaper, we would appreciate knowing. Thanks.
This trip takes place March 14-18 Brrrrr
Jim Redmond
Northwest Iowa Sierra Club
712=258-8303
http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2010/february/022310alternative-springbreak.html
________________________________________
From: Gray, Lois J [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 3:44 PM
To: Lee, Douglas J; Dorale, Jeffrey A; McCormick, Maureen A
Cc: Ashton Shurson; [log in to unmask]; Redmond, Jim
Subject: Thanks, Doug and all - here's full release as text - best wishes!
Greetings, Doug and all and many thanks for your note and putting me in touch with Chad and Jim!
Chad and Jim, by clicking the link below you can easily view the entire release with the images embedded.
UI students travel to Loess Hills to preserve prairie over spring break
This spring break, a group of University of Iowa students will have an opportunity to help with prairie management and explore a rare ecosystem in a trip to the Loess Hills region in western Iowa. The Loess Hills trip is only one of many alternative spring break options available to students through the university. There are 16 classes for academic credit as well as service-learning and volunteer opportunities.
http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2010/february/022310alternative-springbreak.html
However, if this doesn’t work for some reason, here’s the full text of the release for your reading pleasure!: Please let me know if you have personal connections with any of the editors and reporters in that area, and we appreciate you helping us to spread the word and create awareness about this exciting educational collaboration in this beautiful part of the state.
Best wishes & warm regards,
Lois Gray
BEGIN RELEASE TEXT
University of Iowa News Release
Feb. 23, 2010
UI students travel to Loess Hills to preserve prairie over spring break
This spring break, a group of University of Iowa students will have an opportunity to help with prairie management and explore a rare ecosystem in a trip to the Loess Hills region in western Iowa.
Jeffrey Dorale, an assistant professor of geoscience in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will take eight students on the alternative spring break trip in Pottawattamie County. The group will participate in hands-on activities while camping at the Hitchcock Nature Center in the Loess Hills. The course, offered through the UI Division of Continuing Education, is partnering with the Hitchcock Nature Center, the Pottawattamie County Conservation Board and the Northwest Iowa Sierra Club.
"It's an interesting part of Iowa that a lot of the student population doesn't know much about," Dorale said. "But it has arguably the most scenic landscape in the state."
Wind-blown silt -- or loess -- exists throughout the world, but the extreme thickness of western Iowa's loess deposits can only be found in one other place in the world -- China, Dorale said.
The Loess Hills were formed when glaciers moved across the upper Midwest and ground underlying rock into fine particles. The glaciers eventually melted, forming the Missouri River and creating a floodplain full of sediment that later dried and left behind a thick layer of silt. The prevailing westerly winds carried the silt and dust particles away from the mud flats and deposited them east of the Missouri River, creating the Loess Hills we see today.
The big hills and valleys are also home to dry areas that consist of rare vegetation and animals unlike any parts of the Midwest. The group -- which leaves Sunday, March 14, and returns Thursday, March 18 -- will primarily work on several prairie management projects along with other strenuous outdoor activities including hiking.
"The Loess Hills are a tremendous natural resource right here in Iowa, and yet they are not well known," said Doug Lee, the associate dean of the Division of Continuing Education. "The trip provides a great educational experience and helps integrate the University of Iowa into western Iowa."
A UI Faculty Engagement Corps traveled to the region last year, and this year's trip is another effort to continue a relationship with the western side of the state.
UI promotes other alternative spring break opportunities
The Loess Hills trip is only one of many alternative spring break options available to students through the university. There are 16 classes for academic credit, and more than 200 students are already registered.
Lee said many students are looking for options to continue their education over break, and some students want to get away from campus during that time and learn new skills.
"We're trying to put together a number of attractive, healthy options for students to do over spring break," he said. "We want to provide opportunities for service learning and ways to give back to communities as well as ways to promote student success and achievement."
Providing a legal helping hand
Some students will get the opportunity to get out of the Midwest in other UI sponsored spring break trips. Students from the UI College of Law have the opportunity to travel to either South Dakota or New Orleans to work with various legal organizations.
In South Dakota, students will be partnering with Dakota Plains Legal Services to provide volunteer legal services on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations. At the request of the Reservation Tribal Courts, they will help to organize the tribal court system's appellate decisions -- a service desperately needed for the functioning of their courts. In New Orleans, 20 law students will volunteer 40 hours during the week with two nonprofit organizations -- the Alliance for Affordable Energy and Southwest Louisiana Legal Aid, where students will provide legal services to low-income individuals.
Future educators gain experience in diverse urban setting
For the second year in a row, 12 UI students will engage in a service learning experience with Chicago elementary children, though this is the first year that the College of Education will work with two Chicago public schools -- Chalmers Elementary School and McAuliffe Elementary School.
UI students will help Chicago elementary students with reading and writing projects as well as teach them what it is like to be a college student as part of the course titled "Topics in Teaching and Learning: Spring Break Service Learning Course in Chicago Public Schools" taught by Kathryn Whitmore, UI professor of teaching and learning. This course offers UI students the opportunity to work directly with students in an urban setting, where one school is predominantly African-American and the other predominantly Hispanic.
From salsa to scuba diving, UI offers fun learning
On campus, the university offers for-credit courses in ballroom dancing, salsa dancing, lifeguard training and fitness and yoga classes through the UI Recreational Services.
There are also SCUBA diving, sea kayaking, and bouldering trips in places all across the country including Ginny Springs, Fla., Lake Powell, Utah, and Horse Pens 40, an outdoor historic nature park in Georgia.
For more information and a detailed listing of the spring break courses, enter keyword "spring break" on ISIS at http://isis5.uiowa.edu/isis/courses/search.page.
Service learning for fun
Other campus groups are offering alternative spring break trips but without academic credit available. The student organization, Students Today Leaders Tomorrow, is hosting two multi-day and multi-city "Pay It Forward" trips. Students can engage in service learning projects in each city and learn about social issues, building lasting relationships, and making a commitment to continued action when they return home. Both tours will visit six cities before arriving in Dallas. For more information, visit http://www.stlf.net/chapters/uiowa/events/university-of-iowa-college-tour and http://www.stlf.net/chapters/uiowa/events/university-of-iowa-2-college-tour.
For more information on other service learning and volunteer opportunities, call the UI Civic Engagement Program in the Pomerantz Career Center at 319-335-3531.
STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Services, 300 Plaza Centre One, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500
MEDIA CONTACTS: Doug Lee, Division of Continuing Education, 319-335-0444, [log in to unmask]; Lois Gray, University News Services, 319-384-0077, [log in to unmask]; Writer: Ashton Shurson
END RELEASE TEXT
________________________________
From: "Lee, Douglas J" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:29:01 -0600
To: "Gray, Lois J" <[log in to unmask]>, "Dorale, Jeffrey A" <[log in to unmask]>, "McCormick, Maureen A" <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: Ashton Shurson <[log in to unmask]>, <[log in to unmask]>, "Redmond, Jim" <[log in to unmask]>
Conversation: Release out today re: Loess Hills trip, alternative spring break activities
Subject: RE: Release out today re: Loess Hills trip, alternative spring break activities
Thanks for the note, Lois. The contacts for Hitchcock/Pottawattamie County Conservation Board and the NW Iowa Sierra Club are Chad Graeve and Jim Redmond, respectively. I sent the news release to both of them earlier today and I have copied them on this so they can see your suggestion regarding contacting the local media. Would it be possible for you to send a PDF version of the press release—including photos? That will make it easier for them to share the information with their various constituencies.
Thanks for all your help.
Doug
From: Gray, Lois J
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 3:06 PM
To: Lee, Douglas J; Dorale, Jeffrey A; McCormick, Maureen A
Cc: Ashton Shurson
Subject: Release out today re: Loess Hills trip, alternative spring break activities
Greetings, and just a note to share that the following release appeared in today’s University News Digest and was sent to all local and regional members of the media:
UI students travel to Loess Hills to preserve prairie over spring break
This spring break, a group of University of Iowa students will have an opportunity to help with prairie management and explore a rare ecosystem in a trip to the Loess Hills region in western Iowa. The Loess Hills trip is only one of many alternative spring break options available to students through the university. There are 16 classes for academic credit as well as service-learning and volunteer opportunities.
http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2010/february/022310alternative-springbreak.html
The release is also featured on the UNS Web site home page at:
http://news.uiowa.edu/
And on the UI Home Page at:
http://www.uiowa.edu/
It’s also been posted on the UI Facebook account and is being Tweeted about on Twitter!
Doug and Jeff, do you have direct contacts with the Hitchcock Nature Center, the Pottawattamie County Conservation Board and the Northwest Iowa Sierra Club? It would be even more effective to share a copy of this release with them and have them make personal connections with media in that area since they will have more influence in that media market. Thanks for sharing your contacts
In that area, there’s the Avoca Journal-Herald, the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil, the Neola Gazette, the Oakland Herald and the Walnut Bureau. We can also try the Omaha World-Herald.
Tom Jorgensen is also planning to take photos for a future fyi photo feature!
Best wishes & warm regards,
Lois
--
Lois J. Gray
Assistant Director, University News Services
The University of Iowa
300 PCO
Iowa City, IA 52242
(319) 384-0077 (voice)
(319) 384-0024 (fax)
http://news.uiowa.edu/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]
Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp
To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp
|
