Five NIACC accounting students were awarded a total of $1,500 in scholarship monies from the NIACC 75th Anniversary Scholarship Fund.

The scholarship proceeds are applied to the student's tuition for the spring 2006 semester.

The scholarships were awarded in December of 2005 prior to the semester break.

Honored as scholarship recipients were the following students: Tyler Johanns $500, Scott Dunning $250, Brittney Johnson $250, Nicholas Johnson $250 and Steve Moretz $250.

These scholarships, awarded through the NIACC Foundation, were established in 1993 as part of the celebration surrounding 75 years of educational services in Mason City.

NIACC was originally started as Mason City Junior College in September of 1918.

The selected students go through an application process and are chosen by NIACC accounting instructors based on their scholastic achievements, attitude, class attendance and commitment to an accounting-related career.

After an application and interview process, the Logos editors for the 2006-2007 year have been selected. John Schnackenberg will serve as editor of the Logos for the 2006-2007 school year, while Monica Kiley will serve as assistant editor. Christine Harms will serve as the advertising manager. Other staff positions include Tabitha Thies as news editor, Heather Sherman as feature editor, Amy Degen as entertainment editor and Logan Weeks as sports editor. Schnackenberg will also serve as opinion editor and Kiley as photo editor.

Becky Arey
For the Logos

Last month, NIACC faculty and students participated in a project called CAEL (Council for Adult and Experienced Learning).

Surveys were completed and wrapped up on March 8.

"Two hundred and ninety-four students, or 26% of those surveyed, completed the surveys," Shelly Schmit, director of Human Resources at NIACC, said. Schmit added that the institutional portion of the survey was mailed shortly after the student assessment.

The student assessment portion of the data will be compiled by Knoel-Levitz, an accounting firm.

"After the data has been compiled, a comparison will be done and NIACC will be benchmarked against the other 24 community colleges that took part in the project," Schmit said.

An incentive for completing surveys was available and the following students' names were randomly drawn for prizes.

Bryon Sletten and Renee Stonebrook each recieved three semester credits toward a class or classes.

Stephen Simpson, Marisa Magennis and Debra Steele each won $250.

Results of the project should be returned to NIACC by the end of April.

Brandon K. Watson
News Editor

Nineteen-year-old Nic Grayson isn't your average math student. He's rather above average. The NIACC sophomore, currently enrolled in Calculus III, said that math has always come easy to him.

"In 6th grade I was told that I was going to 9th grade math instead of 7th grade math," Grayson, a Mason City native, said.

It was that type of math skill which led to Grayson earning a reputation in high school for being a "math whiz." In fact, due to his strong knowledge of math he served as a tutor in the subject while attending Mason City High School.

At MCHS, Grayson said that the teacher he learned the most from mathematically was Gary Sinnwell, who taught several advanced math courses.

During his junior year of high school, Grayson participated in several statewide math competitions. He even qualified for the Great Plains Math League Finals in Ames.

Entering NIACC with four math credits completed by passing the Advanced Placement math exam in high school, Grayson entered the complex ranks of Calculus II, earning high grades.

As in high school, his grades and knack for solving problems are so strong that he tutors NIACC students in math, though mostly in the beginning courses.

Tutoring students in math, Grayson said, is preparing him for his future career as a college math instructor.

"Throughout my schooling, if I can teach kids to learn math it will help them learn logically," Grayson said.

He plans to major in mathematics at the University of Northern Iowa next fall.

Chelsie Anderson
Entertainment Editor

College students in need of roommates are able to post ads on universities' Web sites advertising what type of roommate they would like.

One Web site that has this service is the University of Northern Iowa.

NIACC students Nancy Mechem and Nicole Smith used this service when they were looking for one more roommate to fill their apartment for next fall.

Mechem and Smith needed to fill the last room or their rent would be raised. This is a common scenario for many transfer students.

"We were worried about how to find a roommate because we don't have any connections in Cedar Falls," Mechem said.

So they found that by posting on the UNI Web site they could potentially find a roommate.

After reviewing the Web site, Mechem said she was able to find a student at UNI in need of an apartment without even posting an ad.

"She said she needed roommates for next year, so I just emailed her and we began talking," Mechem said.

Mechem said she used AOL Instant Messenger and Facebook to get to know her perspective roommate. After Mechem found the roommate, she said she contacted the other girls living in the apartment to tell them about whom she had found.

"We were so happy about finding someone who had the same interests as us," Smith said. "It's going to be exciting to have someone to live with that we don't know."

They found it was a good alternative to having the apartment complex match them up with someone. This way they were able to talk and get to know the roommate before they were comfortable letting her sign the lease.

"It was crazy, one day we were looking for a roommate, and the next day she was signing the lease," Mechem said. "I was expecting it to be much harder to find someone."

Sources recommend not using Web sites to find roommates unless the sites are hosted by the university or the apartment complex.

There are no guarantees, but looking online is just one way for transfer students to gain contact and get roommates.

John Schnackenberg
Staff Reporter

One of the major expenses in college is buying textbooks.

Imagine if you didn't have to pay for them, even for just one semester.

That's exactly what will happen to two NIACC students.

The NIACC Campus Bookstore is sponsoring a contest in which three teams of two will create a display in the bookstore's display window using products found in the bookstore.

The teams were chosen via a lottery style drawing of students who were interested in the contest.

Each team will have two days to create its display and will then be available for the rest of the week for students and faculty to see.

A panel of NIACC faculty and staff will judge each display window after it is completed and will decide the winners.

The team that comes in first will win free books during the fall semester.

"We want students to see that we have other merchandise in the bookstore other than just textbooks," Peggy Pitzenberger, NIACC Campus Bookstore manager, said. "We want them to see us as being like a general store."

Pitzenberger said the winners of the window display contest will be announced sometime during the last week of classes.

Nicole Hayungs
Staff Reporter

Danielle Hill, a NIACC sophomore, and her family thought that spring break this year would be a memorable vacation. And it certainly was.

They were booked for a cruise on the Star Princess, a liner in the Princess Cruises fleet. On the morning of Thursday, March 24 at 3 a.m. Hill said she saw something unusual on the balcony of her cabin.

The deck was in flames.

"I was shocked," Hill said. "I couldn't believe what was happening."

Her cruise ship had caught fire about 50 miles north of the coast of Montego Bay, Jamaica, according to a report by CNN.

There were 3,813 people on the cruise ship when the fire happened.

According to Hill, one theory is that the fire started as the result of a cigarette butt that was dropped on the eleventh deck, which was where Hill's cabin was located.

Ê When they evacuated the area, Hill and those on the ship went to aÊmuster station for about seven hours.

According to Hill, it took about three to four hours for roll call to make sure everyone was accounted for, and the entire time they waited the cruise staff gave them only bottled water.

Hill said it took about an hour for the fire to be extinguished. Those in cabins that weren't destroyed got to go in first and get their belongings.

Hill and her family were in one of the 150 cabins that the fire destroyed. She said they had to wait awhile to see if anything in their room was salvageable.

When they finally went to the room, Hill said everything was damaged.

"Everything was gone," Hill said. "Everything was destroyed, all my belongings including my clothes, my cell phone, etc."

The family tried to collect anything they could that was able to be saved. Finally, the boat docked in Jamaica, which would have been the next destination on the cruise.

Most people flew out right away, but Hill and her family had to stay in Jamaica for three days.

"It was difficult to find a flight back home because they were all booked," Hill said. "So we waited."

Hill said their family will be reimbursed for all lost belongings, including the cost of the trip.

She added that they did not have any time to enjoy Jamaica and because of the fire the cruise did not make its final stop, a private island owned by Princess Cruises.

"It took a while to get everybody back home," Hill said. "But thankfully we made it home safe and all in one piece."