Jewell Student is Rhodes Finalist, USA Today Academic Team Member

Christopher Rosson was named a finalist in this year’s Rhodes Scholarship competition, and has been named a member of USA Today’s Academic All-American First Team. Rosson is a senior business administration and economics major at William Jewell.

Rhodes Scholarships provide two or three years of study at Oxford University. The Rhodes Scholarships, the oldest of the international study awards available to American students, were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, a British philanthropist and colonial pioneer. The first class of American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904. Rhodes applicants are chosen on the basis of high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor.

USA Today’s All-USA College Academic Team program honors 60 undergraduates as representatives of all outstanding students at the nation’s colleges and universities. The 20 members of the First Team have their photographs published and accomplishments noted in a two-page color spread in the national publication and receive a $2,500 cash award. The criteria are designed to find students who excel not only in scholarship but also in leadership roles on and off campus.

Educational Advancement Program Students Honored at Corporate Bound Academy 2005 Leadership Challenge

William Jewell College students scored the top two positions among emerging leaders during a recent executive leadership development program hosted by the 2005 Corporate Bound Academy Leadership Challenge at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Sarah Fletcher was the grand prize winner and was awarded a $500 scholarship, a trophy, a new DVD/CD player, and the choice of a 10-week internship in either Orlando or Chicago with CNA Financial Corporation. Chris Glenn was first runner-up and was awarded a $250 scholarship, a new DVD/CD player, and a crystal plaque.
 
Team winners for the three corporate challenges included the following Jewell students:  Lynda French, first place, and Staci Robinson, second place, for the First American Corporation Challenge; Chris Glenn and Lilia Toson, first place, for the Wells Fargo Challenge; and Sarah Fletcher, first place, and Calvin Straughter, second place, for the CNA Financial Corporation Challenge. Each team was given a corporate and industry overview and asked to offer a solution to a corporate challenge.

Jewell Debate Teams Receive National Bids

Two William Jewell debate teams were awarded first-round bids to the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence. Juniors Kevin Garner and Lilia Toson were ranked second in the NPTE rankings, and senior Phil Fuhrman and junior Luke Landry were ranked third. The NPTE awards first-round bids to the top 16 ranked teams for its national tournament in March, this year hosted by Oregon State University. Other first-round bid schools include Loyola Marymount University, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Wyoming and the University of Puget Sound.  

Both teams returned from tournaments at Cal State-Fullerton where they dominated a field of teams representing 20 colleges and universities from ten states. The two teams closed out finals at the first tournament, with Fuhrman and Landry taking first place without dropping a ballot. Fuhrman was the 2nd overall speaker and Landry was 3rd. 
Garner and Toson were 5-1 in the preliminary rounds and took second place. Landry was top speaker, with Fuhrman 4th, Toson 5th and Garner 7th.  The teams’ success continued in the second tournament, where both teams were undefeated. Only top-ranked Loyola Marymount challenged the Jewell teams, defeating Garner and Toson in semis and Fuhrman and Landry in finals.   

The two teams have dominated the competition so far this season. Of the nine tournaments in which the two teams had competed at press time, the teams won five tournaments and finished in either second or third place in four tournaments.

National Student Engagement Survey Gives High Marks to Jewell Students

The results of a recently administered national survey indicate that students at William Jewell College scored measurably higher than their counterparts nationwide in several important indicators of academic success. According to results from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which surveyed first-year and senior students at 529 colleges nationwide, Jewell students scored higher than their counterparts in the areas of active and collaborative learning, academic challenge and enriching educational experience. They also scored above national averages in the categories of “Developing a deepened sense of spirituality” and in “Participation in a learning community or some other formal program where groups of students take two or more classes together.”

The survey results indicate that Jewell students scored higher than their counterparts when measured against those in three key groups: the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Baccalaureate Liberal Arts category; an institutionally selected group of aspirant colleges; and all institutions participating in the survey. The National Survey of Student Engagement is designed to obtain, on an annual basis, information from scores of colleges and universities nationwide about student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for learning and personal development.

Students Present Papers

William Jewell students Kenneth Hartman and K.C. Maynes were selected to present research talks at the American Physical Society APS March Meeting in Baltimore. Physics professors Dr. Pat Bunton and Dr. Blane Baker served as faculty mentors for the students. Both faculty members also gave talks at the meeting. 

Jones Receives HAAC Award

Brett Jones has been selected as the recipient of the 2005 Heart of America Athletic Conference Commissioner’s Scholarship Award. Jones is a senior history and political science major at William Jewell College. Male student-athletes at William Jewell have recorded the highest average GPA out of 11 schools in the HAAC for three years in a row. Jones, with an impressive 3.977, achieved the highest GPA in men’s sports and is being recognized with a $1,000 cash award for his accomplishments. Jones is the tight end for the Cardinal football team and a member of Phi Gamma Delta. Taking an average of 16 credit hours a semester, he is double-majoring in history and political science. 

Athletes of the Year Named

William Jewell College has announced the 2004-05 Female and Male Athlete of the Year award recipients as selected by the Cardinal head coaches. The Vicki Larason Landman female award recipient is Kristin Neher, a 2005 Jewell graduate and former women’s soccer student-athlete. The Cecil Martin male award recipient is Ben Blanton, a 2005 Jewell graduate and former baseball student-athlete.
 
Neher, who graduated from Oak Park High School, is the 31st recipient of the Vicki Larason Landman Award, which she earned after four outstanding years playing women’s soccer. This is Neher’s second time as a Vicki Larason Landman recipient, having been selected as Jewell’s 2003-04 Female Athlete of the Year. She graduated in May 2005 with a dual degree in Communication and Business Administration. Neher was named an NAIA Academic All-American with a 3.89 GPA. She is the all-time career points leader in college soccer history with 362 points over her four years at Jewell, and she led the Cardinals to a third-place finish at the NAIA Women’s Soccer National Tournament in 2004.

 The 67th Cecil Martin Award winner is Ben Blanton, who graduated from Liberty High School. This is Blanton’s second time as a Cecil Martin Award recipient, after being selected as Jewell’s 2003-04 Male Athlete of the Year. He graduated from Jewell in May with a business administration degree. After graduation, Blanton was drafted as a shortstop by the Philadelphia Phillies organization, where he spent the summer playing with the Philadelphia farm teams in New York and Florida. At Jewell, Blanton’s 2005 honors include a NAIA First Team All-American selection.

Neher and Blanton were honored during a recent Student-Athlete recognition event on campus, along with Jake Wyllie, 2005 R.E. “Dad” Bowles Scholarship recipient; Chelsea Holmes, 2005 Omar William Nadler Scholarship recipient; and 2005 HAAC Commissioner’s Award winner Brett Jones.