The Immersion Semester: Lyndon State College

The first outdoor immersion program ever offered at Lyndon State is off to a successful start, according to participants from the Mountain Recreation Management Department.

 The program, typically referred to as an immersion semester, was launched by Professor Ben Mirkin at the beginning of the school year.

 Its goal is to provide interested students with firsthand outdoor education in the form of trip planning and lengthy wilderness expeditions.

 This fall, students took three hiking trips and a canoeing trip, all of which lasted between three and 10 days. Locations included northern Maine and the Long Trail in western Vermont.

 Sophomore Matt Cowley is one of about a dozen mountain recreation students participating in the school’s first immersion semester.

 He says the curriculum is designed to teach students how to confidently lead groups on wilderness excursions while addressing any issues that arise along the way.

 “I don’t know if I want to stick with mountain recreation too much,” Cowley explained. “But the leadership and group dynamic skills I’ve learned are transferrable to anything. I think that’s really valuable.”

 The group didn’t waste any time getting started, as the first expedition began just two days after students returned from summer vacation.

 In addition to outdoor training, immersion participants are required to plan logistics, gear, and food for each trip.

 The focus of the program has since shifted from off-site expeditions to classroom activities because of inclement fall weather conditions. Students are now taking a wilderness first responder training course and a geology class that will satisfy a general education requirement.

 Despite the unconventional structure of the program, Cowley insists that it is academically rigorous.

 “It was a lot of work,” he said when asked about the expedition portion. “It wasn’t easy at all, but that’s not really a bad thing.”

 Cowley believes that the program is here to stay at Lyndon State. In fact, department officials hope to make the immersion semester a regular part of the mountain recreation curriculum because of its early success.

 For Cowley, the work has been challenging, but ultimately worthwhile.

 “I’m proud that I was able to do it. I’m happy to be here.”

Slideshow Synopsis: The Immersion Semester

For our audio slideshow project, Louis and I plan to focus on the new immersion program that the Mountain Recreation Management Department launched earlier this fall. The program runs for an entire semester and boasts a curriculum focused solely on firsthand outdoor education and experience. As a result, students in the immersion program frequently plan for and embark on canoeing, hiking, and climbing expeditions that span one to two weeks. They also receive extensive training in the areas of outdoor emergency care, group dynamics, and nature preservation.

Tyler Weller is a sophomore mountain rec major and a member of the first-ever immersion class at Lyndon State. Louis and I plan to interview Tyler to get his take on the program and learn more about the curriculum. We think that Tyler's stories and information will make for a very engaging audio piece.

For the project itself, Louis will be conducting the interview with Tyler and I will be writing the accompanying article with input from another student in the program. Louis and I both plan to take pictures of Tyler prepping for his classes/trips, hiking outside, getting his gear together, etc. We also have some pictures from earlier expeditions that we may add to the slideshow with credit to enhance the overall story.

Fish Audio Slideshow

An Audio Slideshow on Fish! Check it out.

Study of Degree Programs at Lyndon State

 Lyndon State College is committed to growing its academic programs despite falling enrollment numbers this year, according to President Joe Bertolino.

 The announcement came during Bertolino’s State of the College Address on Thursday, October 2.

 Hundreds of faculty, staff members, and students attended the speech, which took on a more somber tone than those of years past.

 This year’s freshman class totaled about 400 new students, which was 90 to 100 students less than initially expected after three years of steady enrollment, Bertolino explained.

 As a result, the college had to scramble to cover a $1.5 million budget deficit through unfilled job vacancies, cuts to project funds, and the use of limited in-house reserves. Bertolino was quick to recognize the seriousness of the college’s current financial situation.

 “While I continue to remain optimistic and enthusiastic and positive, these emotions are tempered by the reality of our situation,” Bertolino said.

 However, he confirmed that his administration is working to improve a unique academic curriculum that has recently become Lyndon State’s selling point.

 “Realistically, what will draw students to LSC and keep them here, in my opinion, is our existing combination of liberal arts and professional studies programs,” Bertolino said.

 Priority degree programs will likely include atmospheric sciences, electronic journalism arts, exercise science, mountain recreation management, and music and performing arts.

 Those are the five largest majors at Lyndon State and all of them have at least 90 students, according to an October 2013 report from the Vermont State College System.

 Four of those degree programs also boast higher out-of-state student enrollment than in-state enrollment, although the Exercise Science Department continues to attract more Vermont residents.

 While the administration does not want to be directly involved in academic curriculum decisions, Bertolino noted that the college needs to reevaluate the entire process to eliminate as much red tape as possible.

 “The application of knowledge and preparing students for what is happening in the world is what students and families expect from a degree,” he explained.

 In recent months, several task forces have been created to address Lyndon State’s ongoing enrollment and budget issues. Those committees will be reporting back to the president and his administration throughout the school year.

World's Richest People- Data Visualization

Below is a response to the Data Visualization examples within the article located here.

This article on some of the world's wealthiest people uses a few different types of graphs and charts to show the differences in how much money people make in the United States, and around the world.

The use of the charts and graphs along with the story itself makes the story easier to understand by showing a visual along with it.  One could actually understand the story without reading into it too much by simply looking at the graphs and charts.

I think that a video alongside these graphs and charts could have brought them to life a bit more, adding a little extra to the story.  Overall, this was a good use of data visualization and it worked well showing the layout of the wealth around the world.

Mondi and T-Caddy Podcast

For 3 years now the voices of Tyler Cadorette and Mike Raimondi have been hitting the airwaves of 91.5 WWLR in Lyndonville, Vermont.

Two years ago is when they decided to join forces between their two individual sports talk shows and combine into what we know now as Mondi and T-Caddy.

Mike grew up in a sports family. Even as a young kid, Mike has memories of watching Patriots games with his family. On top of that Mike grew up playing baseball, and still plays for the Lyndon State Hornets to this day.

Tyler didn’t really get into sports until later on in his childhood. Around middle school he began watching the Red Sox and Patriots. At the same time he began to get into television and radio at his local school which has eventually led him to become a part of Lyndon State’s Electronic Journalism program.

 The show today has become very popular in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, and has even won the Horney Award for “Best Talk Show.”

They specialize in baseball and football, but also have segments on hockey, and bring on guest star Dylan Robichaud to talk about basketball.

Both Tyler and Mike admit that they do favor Boston sports teams, but try to limit their bias as much as possible on the show for the benefit of their listeners.

Beyond the airwaves, Mondi and T-Caddy has a Facebook page where they post recent sports news, and communicate with their listeners. This adds an extra element to their show because they are able to add the opinions of the listeners into the show and respond to them on the air.

 If you are interested in the show, check out their Facebook page, or tune into 91.5 WWLR on Monday nights from 8-10.

Podcast Outline

This week on Exploring with Louis and Clark along with on T-Caddy's Thought Spot we are going to be doing a Podcast from the popular radio show on WWLR called "Mondi and T-Caddy." The show airs once a week and talks primarily about New England Sports.

For the podcast, we are going to take about a 5 minute portion of the show focusing on one sports event from the past week.  It will essentially be a snip it of a portion of the show that could act as a sample for what to expect when listening to the full 2 hour show on the radio.

For the news story we are looking to talk more about the two hosts of the show, Tyler Cadorette and Mike Raimondi.  I'd like to talk to them about why they got started doing their radio show, what their future plans for the show are, as well as the future plans for themselves in the Journalism field.