Carrie Elfers
Staff Reporter

"Writer's Workbench is the best thing since peanut butter and jelly sandwiches," represents one assessment about Writer's Workbench that was made by a NIACC student in the Writer's Workbench Pamphlet.

This quote best represents the views of students and faculty that use the program.

The Writer's Workbench Lab (WWB) started being used by NIACC Communication Skills I and II faculty in the early 1980s.

Back then, it was owned by AT&T and was later to be purchased by EMO Solutions in the 1990s, according to the Writer's Workbench Lab pamphlet.

WWB provides "immediate, accurate, and impartial feedback directly to writers as they write and revise their compositions in Microsoft Word."

It directs students/writers to make appropriate changes in their writing before turning it in and teaches them how to avoid such errors in the future.

"Students learn to revise and write papers correctly through the use of WWB by using programs such as Organization and Development," Sally Becker, NIACC's Writing Lab specialist, said about the program.

WWB also improves ACT and SAT scores of students and writing percentile rankings of schools using WWB according to the pamphlet.

WWB has 25 analysis programs available. These analysis programs are grouped into six categories including Content, Characteristics, Verbs, Clarity, Words and Punctuation. NIACC installed a new version of WWB this fall, the 8.1 version includes new analysis in Clarity and a more in-depth analysis in Punctuation.

Students are now more apt to use WWB for other classes and not just Communication Skills. This program will carry through with them when they transfer to other schools and throughout their lives.

WWB is not only available on the NIACC campus. Students may purchase it and use it at their home.

Becker said she knows of a student that purchased the program over telephone and it only took him 30 seconds to download onto his computer.

This is the first year that it is being sold at the NIACC Bookstore too.

For more information to order visit www.writersworkbench.com or call (888)EMO-TEAM.

While peanut butter and jelly sandwiches may be the best thing for college students as far as food goes, WWB is right behind it for improving writing skills.

Tiffany Thies
Staff Reporter

For the third year in a row, one hundred percent of the Physical Therapist Assistant graduates passed the licensure examination on the first attempt.

Not only did the NIACC graduates pass, but NIACC's pass rate exceeds that of Iowa and the United States' pass rates.

Carol Patnode, NIACC PTA Instructor, stated that students must have good study skills because the exam is something that is not in the curriculm, so they must prepare themselves. "Our students are well prepared," Patnode said. "We challenged them enough in the classroom for them to pass the licensure exam outside of the class."The NIACC PTA program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy (CAPTE); this is what gives the students the ability to test at the national level.

CAPTE requires that all accredited programs maintain an 80 percent average over a three year period; NIACC has had a hundred percent for the past three years.

After a rigorous five semester program, which includes 19 weeks of clinical work where the student works hands on at a possible place of employment, the student has the option to take the national licensure exam.

The licensure exam is made up of 175 questions and takes a student about three hours to take.

Morgan Shields
For the Logos

If you're an education major, have another major where you will be working with children or you just love working with kids, the Charlie Brown Daycare may be the place for you.

Those students may be excited to know that they can get semester credit hours for working at Charlie Brown Daycare and get to keep the money they make.

"Charlie Brown offers many different types of positions to work with kids of al1 ages," Kristi Peterson, the Pre-school teacher at Charlie Brown Daycare, said.

The ages of children range anywhere from newborns to twelve years old.

In each of these rooms, students would do many different tasks depending on what age group they work with.

The youngest age group would be the baby room (these children are anywhere from newborns to two years old).

In the baby room, workers would work mainly inside with the babies and feed them, change diapers and play games.

The next room is the chipmunk room (these children are two to three years old).

In the chipmunk room , students would watch movies, play games, read stories and sing songs.

Then there is the songbird and eagle room (these children are between three and four years old).

In these rooms, workers would take them outside to play, play games inside, sing songs and write names and numbers.

These rooms start teaching the children how to write names and say the alphabet very early. The last room would be the Pre-school classroom. In this room regular Pre-school classes are held as any other school would have it.

When 3:00 p.m. arrives, the school kids get off the bus and do activities such as science experiments and art projects.

"Our staff is made up of people that have the desire to work with kids," Pat Dall Winther, the on-site director, said.

The afternoon staff usually works from 2:30 - 6:30 p.m.

If this sounds like something that you would like to do, contact Charlie Brown Daycare at 641-424-0065 or ask for information in the Financial Aid Office.

Amy Jeanne Noer
Staff Reporter

The Iowa Workforce Development Center, located at 600 South Pierce in Mason City, offers job seekers many helpful services in the job market arena. The Center offers services in job placement, job training, personal development, financial assistance and labor market information.

"They help people prepare for the workforce by helping job seekers gain confidence, preparing them to find a job with a resume and gain interview skills," Angie Konig, director of the Workforce Center, said.

One may find his or her next job by the internet through the center or by using the job boards. In addition, an individual can submit a company application in the center itself.

Financial assistance can be accessed to help further one's education by scholarships for long term education or by short refresher courses.

The workshops, offered every month, are for everyone and are free.

The Workforce Development Center accommodates people with disabilities. There is an elevator, automatic doors, a workstation that accommodates a wheelchair and a large screen on the computer for the visually impaired. There is also a spanish-speaking adviser for those who need one.

Mickey Funkhouser, Employment Training specialist, said three popular workshops are ACE, Assessment and job seeking skills.

Assessment, for example, includes an interest inventory and aptitude test to decide what career someone might pursue.

The Challenge and Choice workshop, is offered over three days to gain life and parenting skills to help with day to-day responsibilities.

The Workforce Center also offers a General Education Diploma (GED) and Adult Basic Education (ABE) Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8 a.m. -12 p.m.

The Workforce Center is open Monday 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and Tuesday-Friday 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. You may contact them by phone at 641-422-1524.