If you see first-year Linnaea Weld on a bike, you might want to gather your food scraps.

Weld and other members of the Industrial Composting Club have started a new bicycle composting pick-up program specifically targeted at the off-campus student community. Starting in the fall, members will bike along a circuit of Whitman’s off-campus houses in order to make it easier for all students to deposit their compost.

Weld was the mastermind behind this new program. After observing a similar compost pick-up project at Earlham College in Indiana, she knew she wanted to make it happen at Whitman. In order to achieve this goal, she applied for grant money through the Outdoor Education Leadership Fund, affiliated with the Environmental Studies department, to pay for the cost of bikes and the trailer in which the compost will be collected.

She hopes that the bike composting program will serve as an opportunity to help student agriculture and to share information about composting on campus. Even though the green leaders are not involved with this program, green leaders in certain residence halls teach their sections about composting. The compost club as a whole will be educating those off-campus students who are participating in the program.

“The bike is supposed to create more compost for the Organic Garden and the student agricultural plot, which needs organic waste for their fertilizer. Also to educate off-campus students who aren’t getting the education through their green leaders about composting,” said Weld. “We just want people to be aware of where their food waste goes, and what to and not to compost.”

She didn’t feel that she was alone in planning the project, however.

“I wrote the grant and brought up the idea of it, but everyone in the club has been supporting it,” she said.

Grace Farnsworth Phillips Professor of Geology & Environmental Studies Bob Carson is on the committee that selects recipients of the OELF grant. He supported the project because he felt the students wrote an excellent proposal and requested little money.

Weld hopes to see the pick-up program grow just as interest in the composting club continues to grow. One of her long-term goals is establishing an internship to lead the bike composting pick-up program.

“We are trying to get as many people involved with the program as possible before we actually start in two weeks. Someone might be able to take this position as an internship next year, similar to the interns we have for the vermicomposting,” said Weld.

Walla Wallans are about to get cooking.

Since the start of the school year, the Walla Walla Small Business Development Center and its intern senior David McGaughey have worked with the Walla Walla Veteran Affairs Medical Center to build a test kitchen for community members.

Whitman’s Community Fellows visited an in-progress community kitchen last Thursday at the Veteran’s Association in Walla Walla, started in part by David McGaughey ’13. The fellows listened to Joe Jacobs (second from left), business advisor at the Washington Small Business Development Center of Walla Walla, discuss the kitchen’s progress. Left to right: Nick Marquiss ’13, Joe Jacobs, Director of Career Development Susan Buchanan, David McGaughey ’13, Srija Srija ’13 and Cate Sturtevant ’13. Photos by cade beck.

The kitchen is meant to be an asset for locals who want to cook without spending money on expensive kitchen equipment. After the kitchen opens, all community members will have access to the cookware and utensils. The Small Business Development Center does not yet have a date set for the kitchen’s opening.

David McGaughey ’13 spoke about his role in the kitchen project.

McGaughey interned with the Small Business Development Center as a participant in the 2012 Whitman Community Fellows Program. Throughout his year-long internship, he researched the policies, procedures and regulations implemented by other test kitchens to find the right model for the local project.

Walla Walla Small Business Development Center Director Joe Jacobs feels that McGaughey’s work has been invaluable to the process.

“If it wasn’t for David, I would still be working on the research part of the project. With all the hours he has put into the project, he brought everything together, and we’re now at the final stages of the project,” he said.

McGaughey is pleased to have been part of an experience that helps community members in such a practical way.

“The hope is that the kitchen will be up and running so that the people of Walla Walla will continue to use it. As a student, the experience cannot get much better than that, to be working on something tangible and collaborative,” he said.

Assistant Dean for Student Engagement Noah Leavitt, who helped to organize the program through the Student Engagement Center, feels that participants in the Community Fellows Program gain valuable experience by participating in longer internships.

“We believe that it’s better for the student to have a two-semester internship than a one-semester internship because the student will learn more and then be able to contribute more to their organizations, whatever their mission is,” he said.

McGaughey certainly feels that such an experience has helped him to make an impact.

“The experience has been incredible. I have [had] internship[s] elsewhere [where I] didn’t feel like I was making as much of an impact. Here, the harder I work, I know that it would be better off. I really appreciated the freedom to take what we had to do and run with it,” said McGaughey.

Jacobs also feels the program is beneficial for students and community members alike.

“The Fellow has made a great contribution to the community by participating in this project. This is going to have a lasting and positive effect on the community,” said Jacobs.

Whitman student volunteers recently teamed up with the Walla Walla Asset Building Coalition to combat poverty within the community.

Large amounts of money under the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) go unclaimed every year, and are available to millions of low- and medium-income individuals and couples across the nation, particularly to those supporting children. Workers who qualify for the EITC first file their federal income tax returns and then can claim the credit.

For low-income Walla Wallans, the EITC could mean gaining extra money to spend on necessary items like rent or medical emergencies. According to the IRS website, the 2013 preview maximum earned income credit was between $487 with no qualifying children and $6,044 for three or more qualifying children.

The Walla Walla EITC campaign is spearheaded by Steve Dickerson, coordinator of the Walla Walla Asset Building Coalition. The coalition is comprised of local banks, schools and local government officials that all aim to fight poverty within the community.

“The Walla Walla Asset Building Coalition as part of both state-wide emphasis on asset building as well as national level is interested to see asset building as reducing the poverty rate in the community,” said Assistant Dean of Student Engagement Noah Leavitt.

At Whitman, Community Service Coordinator Abby Juhasz organized the campaign for Whitman volunteers, who will help distribute educational materials about the EITC to community members. This is the first year that students have been involved with this initiative.

The EITC campaign is set into three stages. The first stage was to advertise the campaign to the public, and the students did this by hanging posters all over Walla Walla. With the second phase, the campaign has hung posters and handed out handbills to targeted employers in town to share with their employees and clients, reaching to more targeted people of the campaign. The final stage has been to partner with the volunteers from Blue Mountain Action Council’s AmeriCorps to set up information tables at Wal-Mart and the Community College.

Volunteers tabled this Tues. March 5 and Wed. March 6. Students handed out pie and educational pamphlets to community members to help individuals better understand the EITC and take advantage of it. Those who came to the table were also encouraged to spread word about the EITC to reach even more people.

Volunteering with the coalition gave many students an opportunity to be an active motivator for change in Walla Walla.

“We are surrounded by people who are at an economic disadvantage in comparison to us and living here, being middle- to upper-class … It’s an opportunity for us to give back to the community,” said first-year Katy Wills.

Whitman students have teamed up with the Walla Walla Asset Building Coalition to educate local families of Walla Walla about the possible tax returns that  low-income individuals, particularly working individuals with children, are eligible to receive.

Large amounts of money under the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) go unclaimed every year, and are available to millions of low-income individuals across the nation. Workers who qualify for the EITC first file their federal income tax returns and claim the credit. For low-income Walla Wallans, the EITC could mean gaining extra money to spend on necessary items like rent or medical emergencies.

The Walla Walla EITC campaign is spearheaded by Steve Dickerson, coordinator of the Walla Walla Asset Building Coalition. The coalition is comprised of local banks, schools and local government officials, among others, and aims to fight poverty within the community.

“The Walla Walla Asset Building Coalition as part of both state-wide emphasis on asset building as well as national level is interested to see asset building as reducing the poverty rate in the community,” said Assistant Dean of Student Engagement Noah Leavitt.

At Whitman, Community Service Coordinator Abby Juhasz organized the campaign for Whitman volunteers. Students can sign up to volunteer for the campaign until Wed., March 6 by emailing Juhasz.

“This is the first year Whitman students have volunteered with the Asset Building Coalition to support the EITC.  However, Whitman students have been involved with the Asset Building Coalition and BMAC, in general, in a variety of ways over the years,” said Juhasz.

For many students participating in the campaign, volunteering with the coalition gives them an opportunity to be an active motivator for change in Walla Walla.

“We are surrounded by people who are at an economic disadvantage in comparison to us and living here, being middle to upper class … Its an opportunity for us to give back to the community,” said first-year Katy Wills.

The EITC campaign is set into three stages. The first stage was to advertise the campaign to the public, and the students did this by hanging posters all over Walla Walla. With the second phase, the campaign has hung posters and handed out handbills to targeted employers in town to share with their employees and clients, reaching to more targeted people of the campaign. The final stage has been to partner with the volunteers from Blue Mountain Action Council’s AmeriCorps to set up information tables at Wal-Mart and the Community College.

Volunteers plan to table this Tues. March 5 and Wed. March 6. Students will hand out pie and educational pamphlets to community members to encourage individuals to understand the EITC and to spread the word around Walla Walla.

“Volunteers will engage with passers-bys and entice them to come get a slice of the pie, then bring up the Earned Income Tax Credit and ask if the passer-by will be getting their slice of the EITC pie this tax season. Anyone who comes to the table is welcome to take a slice whether they take literature or not, whether they have already filed their tax return or not, whether they intend to file one or not, but everyone who takes a piece of pie must be engaged about the EITC,” said Juhasz.

By participating with the Walla Walla Asset Building Coalition, Whitman volunteers are working as an active voice to reduce poverty in a cohesive and collective manner.

“At the state level, the Washington coalition can do things that local communities can’t do. It can talk to our U.S. senators about the need for increasing funding for financial education in Washington State. As a state, we can bring these local coalitions together to represent a voice to the government,” said Leavitt.

Students looking to volunteer on the campaign can email Juhasz at juhasza@whitman.edu

Whitman’s new pre-education advising program held its first event on Tuesday, Feb. 19: a networking dinner designed to give students interested in education careers the opportunity to meet expert educators from the Walla Walla area.

Pre-education advising dinner, Feb. 19. Photos by Halley McCormick.

Over 15 local professionals were expected to attend the event. According to Associate Professor of Sociology Michelle Janning, one of the program’s advisers, there was a high amount of student interest in the dinner and the program in general.

“This was amazing,” she said, regarding the 80 students who signed up to attend. “It’s a dinner and so we have a limited number of spots, and so we used a registration system and the spots filled in a day or a day and a half, which showed me the need for students to know what the program is like.”

Language Learning Center Coordinator Jennifer Mouat, another of the program’s advisers, said the educators invited to the event were selected to represent a variety of backgrounds and career paths in the educational world.

“Dr. Linda Boggs, assistant superintendent for Walla Walla public schools, suggested panelists for the event, and we asked her to suggest educators from a diversity of disciplines and backgrounds to speak about their journeys into this field. We hope there will be something for everyone,” she said.

When the education minor at Whitman was removed in 2010-2011, Mouat, Janning and Assistant Director of Admission Robert Street discussed possible methods to continue the study of education at Whitman. The pre-education advising program started last year when Street, Mouat and Janning received an Innovation in Teaching and Learning Grant that began in late spring 2012. This is a competitive internal Whitman grant that is administered through the Provost and Dean of the Faculty Offices. Grant applications are reviewed by faculty members on the Center for Teaching and Learning Committee.

Michelle Janning, sociology professor and provost of faculty.

On top of applying for the grant, Janning also decided to apply for a separate piece of the grant to develop a new course about the sociology of education.

“I’ve spent the last year researching and writing and collaborating with colleagues here and internationally to develop that course. I spent a part of my sabbatical in Denmark to research international issues in education,” Janning said.

Street said he thinks the absence of the education minor has been mostly good for students and fits Whitman’s purpose as an institution.

“I think not having the education minor has been a good experience for students since they are able to major in an area that they are really interested and passionate about. From there, they are able to go into a teaching program that will then train them, after they had the broad education here at Whitman,” Street said. “I feel that teaching a teacher how to teach should come from a master’s program, and does not need to come from a place from Whitman.”

According to Street, the purpose for setting up a pre-education advising program was not to develop a credentialing program or be attached to a graduate program, but to help students who are interested in the curricular aspects of education be more aware of resources that are present on campus to help them pursue that path.

“I saw a need not necessarily for a minor or for students to get a pedagogical experience at Whitman, but more importantly to have an advising system in place [so] that students who are interested in education knew how to go about their different and unique interests,” Street said.

All three members of the advising team not only have strictly educational relations to the new program, which will be added to the 2013-2014 College Catalog, but also have personal reasons for their involvement. With it, from the beginning, the program shows great interests from students and educators with the amount received from their grant.

Erin Pahlke, professor of psychology

Jennifer Mouat runs the Language Learning Center at Whitman.

Illustration by Tyler Schuh

Although the Associated Students of Whitman College (ASWC) feels confident that it is addressing many of students’ short-term goals for the College, they have begun plans to create a student committee to discuss some long-term goals for Whitman and ASWC.

In order for a student to be considered to become a part of the committee, he or she must apply for a position and be interviewed. The main criterion to join the committee is that the student should be interested in the future of Whitman and ASWC.

The committee will be composed of a diverse group of students with varied interests.

“We’re trying to get a group of students from a wide variety of campus backgrounds, from clubs, athletes, Greek, non-Greek. Sort of all across the board of grade levels, and we want to bring all these students together in order to create long-term goals for the college and ASWC from the students’ perspective,” said ASWC first-year senator Jack Percival.

“We are speaking with two professors and the Student Engagement Center to ask for help on understanding the goal-setting process and the importance of it, getting some basic skills on how to start and background information. We want the committee to have the full resources to start making the goals,” said ASWC Vice President and Student Affairs Chairman senior Marcial Díaz Mejía.

They hope that the committee will have met, finished basic training and begun discussing some specific goals by spring break.

“[The committee] was a long-term goal for this particular administration from the beginning of the year, and it was a second-semester project,” Percival said.

By the end of this semester, Díaz Mejía and Percival hope that some of the goals discussed by the committee will be presented to the Senate for consideration. Although the committee is separate from the Senate and ASWC, the goals that the committee comes up with must pass through the regular channels to be approved.

“It will be different from the ASWC Senate. At the same time, the committee is going to present these goals and the Senate is going to have time to review them before the last Senate, and we are going to present them at the last Senate,” Díaz Mejía said.

Díaz Mejía is confident that the addition of such a committee will be beneficial for the student body as a whole.

“We understand that each [year] ASWC might have different goals, and we don’t want to shut that down. But we just want to give people a more comprehensive vision and the knowledge that goals can be expanded into longer-term goals,” said Díaz Mejía.