Campus Communicator

APRIL • 2017

Beth A. Thomas, a Wheeling native who is executive vice president/man-aging director of consulting services for Sequent, a Columbus-based firm, will be the keynote speaker for the class of 2017 commencement exer-cises at Northern.

The event will be held beginning at 7 p.m. May 12 at WesBanco Arena, downtown Wheeling.

Thomas, who resides in Westerville, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, is re-sponsible for the overall success of the human resources consulting practice. She has 25 years of experience spe-cializing in transformational change, whether implementing new systems and processes or a total cultural rede-sign.

The nationally-recognized speaker and author, in addition, has been named the 2017 Distinguished Alumnus at WVNCC which Thomas

attended in the mid-1980s. She will be honored at the conclusion of her address to the graduates.

Prior to joining Sequent, Thomas was the senior vice president and head of retail training development and plan-ning at JP Morgan Chase. Before that, she led the Learning Center, OCM & Service Management practice for all LimitedBrands. She also has worked as a regional support executive for the international brokerage firm, The Fritz Companies, Inc.

In addition to many volunteer groups and boards she is involved with, Thomas is a globally recognized thought leader in organizational change, leadership and employee en-gagement. Her work has been recog-nized throughout the world and she has been a trusted advisor to dozens of Fortune 500 companies. She is a leading executive coach in helping leaders change and foster an engaging culture.

Thomas is a frequent speaker, and her professional work has been recog-nized with national awards and in several national-circulating magazines and newsletters. She also is a con-tributing editor on four books, “On Demand Learning;” “Implementing eLearning;” “Learning Rants, Raves and Reflections;” “Lies About Learn-ing” and, most recently, the author of her own book relating to her experi-

ence with employee engagement, “Powered By Happy.”

Casey Lee Lyons, a student on the Weirton campus, has been named the valedictorian of the WVNCC Class of 2017.

Casey, a native of Weirton who now lives in Colliers, will be graduating with an associate in science degree and will lead the class at ceremonies scheduled for 7 p.m. May 12 at Wes-Banco Arena in Wheeling.

She is a tutor on the Weirton campus, was named to Who’s Who and is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the aca-demic honorary for two-year institu-tions. She plans to attend West Virgin-ia University to study in its pharmacy program. She said she decided to enroll at Northern when she was laid off after working for eight years at the job she secured after high school.

Commencement 2017

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The valedictorian is married to Jeff Lyons and the couple has a 4-year-old son, Zachary. She is the daughter of Tina and James Chafin. She said she has lived in four different states: West Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina and Michigan and graduated with high honors in 2005 from Lincoln High School in Warren, Michigan. She returned to Weirton in 2006 and is a member of Open Door Baptist Church in Colliers.

PTK Catalyst 2017

The Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society holds its annual convention every year in a new city. This year Northern’s Chapter, Omega Epsilon, attended Catalyst 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Gaylord National Convention Center. Three students, above, from left, Ciera Parr, Rosemary Ketchum, and Courtney O’connor, drove to Nashville with adviser Mark Goldstein for the three-day event.

During the three days everyone at-tended “Educational Forms” or Ed Forms, 30-minute TED Talk-like sessions on different topics. Topics that our students attended included Making Difficult Financial Decisions Simpler, Healthy Living (Even As a Stressed-Out College Student), Back-stage Pass to Live Event Production,

Money, Power, Prestige or Ethics: What Drives You?, and many more. During these three days there were four general sessions during which all 3,763 attendees would gather.Rosemary Ketchum said, “For my last international convention, (I was) able to witness my fellow community col-lege members’ progress in their aca-demic careers. I appreciated the aspect of networking and being able to share the community college experience with people. I liked being surrounding by nontraditional students like myself and friends.”

Ciera Parr said, “It was really inspiring to be there and meet other people, to build friendships and meet everyone. I really liked Platon, what he said re-ally stuck. I learned so much.”Courtney O’connor said, “I loved that we were able to attend last year in D.C., and coming back this year there were many familiar faces. I love that when walking around I feel as if I know everyone and everyone knows me. You can walk up to anyone and exchange numbers or add each other on Facebook. I feel at home, with all 3,000 friends.”

Not only did the students work hard every day, some down time was on the schedule. The students enjoyed time at the local mall and in Downtown Nashville. They had a night of music and food at “The Listening Room,” a restaurant with live country music. Some sightseeing favorites were the Candy Kitchen, a bicycling tavern, and even the Gaylord Resort itself. Overall, the convention was a warm and family atmosphere.

Peace Corps Lunch & LearnAn informational Lunch & Learn was held in the Wheeling campus B&O Building auditorium on April 11. Tami Becker, student services director, said the event “was an opportunity to learn more about this wonderful volunteer service opportunity.” The Peace Corps offers hundreds of jobs in education, health, environment, agriculture, business and economic development, and youth develop-ment. According to the organization, volunteers “serve two years in your country of choice and receive all travel and expenses paid, free medical and dental health care, paid vacation days, and $8,700 upon completion. After service, returned Peace Corps Volun-teers enjoy graduate school benefits, federal hiring benefits, and global connections that ensure a successful career path.”

Holiday Inn Stops In

Students on the Wheeling campus took advantage of meeting with a rep-resentative from the Holiday Inn Ex-press & Suites during an on-campus employment event held April 18.

WVNCC Attends Marshall County College Fair

Tami Becker, student services director, said many students stopped by North-ern’s informational table at this year’s Marshall County College Fair held in April.

Annual Spring BBQ

The Spring BBQ was held on the New Martinsville campus April 25, Weirton campus April 26 and Wheel-ing campus April 27. At the events, Ida Williams sold t-shirts and also gathered input from students with her message board. Below, Weirton students Janeen Pulver and Deborah Turick enjoy the BBQ lunch.

Above, students Rosemary Ketchum and Courtney O’connor join Shannon Payton and Ida Williams for a final spring BBQ photo before their gradu-ation from WVNCC this May.

Registration Frenzy

The New Martinsville campus held a pilot program, Registration Frenzy, to focus on getting the current stu-dents registered for Fall 2017 while they were still on campus. This event was held Wednesday, April 12, and Thursday, April 13, and all staff and faculty were actively involved. What started as a conversation with Mike Koon during his meetings to address advising ideas evolved into two very successful days of student-focused registration. Faculty were available to meet their advisees to create a schedule of classes for fall, Bob Gibb was ready to check on any issues on holds or missing documents, and Ina Robinson was ready to give students their PINs so they could register for the classes. Once the students regis-

tered for classes, they brought their printed schedule to room 110 to have lunch – Wednesday was taco in a bag because we asked them to “taco-bout their schedule with their advisor” and Thursday was a meatball sub because we wanted them to “meet their ad-visor to schedule classes.” Students signed the Registration Board and received an “I Registered” sticker to show that they had successfully registered for their Fall semester. During the two-day event, 58 students got registered. We had some positive comments from everyone involved and will be tracking those students who are currently registered and have not yet registered for fall to help them get classes scheduled before they leave for summer. A huge shout out to ev-eryone who made these two days (and continue on the follow up) a success for our students and the New Mar-tinsville campus, according to Debbie Bennett.

Ina Robinson works with Aubrey and Darien Ritchie.

Warren Reece, student, talks with Bob Gibb and Jennifer Lantz.

Loretta Ortiz enjoys lunch after she regis-tered for Fall classes.

Wetzel Chamber Honors

The dinner in conjunction with the Wetzel County Chamber of Com-merce Community Awards Celebra-tion was held Tuesday, April 25, at the Mollohan Center in New Martinsville. This community event recognizes many outstanding individuals and or-ganizations and it is seen as an honor to be included in those nominations. Northern had three nominees for the

awards. Mark Goldstein – Educator of the Year; Larry Tackett – Profes-sional of the Year; and Eli Henthorn – Youth Leadership of the Year. The competition was extreme and ev-eryone who was nominated truly deserved to be recognized. Unfortu-nately, neither Mark nor Larry re-ceived the most votes in their catego-ries. However, Eli Henthorn, who is an early entrance student at the New Martinsville campus and has Mark Goldstein for class, did win in his category. Congratulations Eli! He also was awarded a $500 scholarship from the New Martinsville Lions Club that he can use toward his education. The Chamber of Commerce also asks business and organizations to deco-rate tables and provide centerpieces as door prizes. There is no specific theme, which allows for a wide range of creativity in the table displays. Debbie Bennett again created two tables to highlight Northern – “Always Dream” and “Explore the Possibili-ties.” She provided each guest at those tables with a schedule of classes for

fall and information on the upcom-ing Chemical Operator Technology program.

Mark Goldstein, nominee for Educator of the Year; Eli Henthorn, recipient of Youth Leadership of the Year; and Larry Tackett, nominee for Professional of the Year, hold their awards.

Pam Sharma had Eli as a student in her Astronomy class.

Student Leadership Class 2016-17From left, Jeff Sayre, Dr. Riley, Angel Moore, Ayla Butcher, Vicki Yaron, Townsend Midcap, Mariah Lasure, Debbie Bennett, Ayisha Winfrey, Da-mara Winfrey, Reese Warren, Michael Cook, Thomas Jackson, Tomas Emch. Not pictured, Gara Repco, Margaus “Cozy” Bartung, and Bianca White.

The annual Leadership Luncheon was held Friday, April 21, at Quinet’s Res-taurant. The luncheon recognizes the students who have served in leader-ship roles during the 2016-17 academic year. These students have provided assistance to those of us on the campus through their service in the Campus Activity Board, Student Government, Phi Theta Kappa, Tutoring, and Workstudy. Dr. Riley, CFO Sayre, and Debbie Bennett were proud to recognize these young leaders.