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FHSU Management Development Center offers 5 workshops in July

Posted on July 1, 2019June 27, 2019

FHSU UNIVERSITY RELATIONS

Fort Hays State University’s Management Development Center will offer five workshops in July, focusing on Facebook marketing, Microsoft Excel, and tips on how to deal with difficult employees.

Introduction to Facebook Marketing – July 9
Participants will learn how to increase engagement and drive website traffic using the world’s most popular social platform by creating and curating content, using ads effectively and more. This half-day workshop, facilitated by Dr. Mary Martin, professor of applied business studies, will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon in FHSU’s Memorial Union Stouffer Lounge.

Intermediate Facebook Marketing – July 9
In this workshop, participants will build upon what participants learned in the Introduction to Facebook Marketing workshop. Participants will learn about Facebook apps and how to use them to run contests and promotions, add email subscribers, integrate user’s Instagram feed, offer customer support and more. This workshop, facilitated by Martin, will be from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Stouffer Lounge.

Introduction to Excel – July 16
Participants will learn the basics of Excel, such as setting up a spreadsheet, creating charts and graphs and other customizable features. Other basic features of the class include a tour through tabs and instruction on ribbons, menus and more. Participants will learn about merging, freezing and adding rows and columns, formulas, functions and keyboard shortcuts.

This workshop, facilitated by Dr. Cole Engel, assistant professor of economics, finance and accounting, will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon in FHSU’s McCartney Hall, room 114.

Intermediate Excel – July 18
Intermediate Excel will take an in-depth look at sorting and filtering data. Participants will learn how to format their Excel programs to include the Descriptive Statistics Analysis ToolPak and how to read the output. What-If Statements, logical statements and data validation will be reviewed, along with PivotTables and PivotCharts.

This workshop, facilitated by Engel, will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon in FHSU’s McCartney Hall, room 114.

Dealing with Difficult Employees – July 31
Participants in this workshop will learn the secrets to motivating difficult employees and correcting negative behaviors in the workplace. Common disruptive employee behaviors will be examined and the identification of potential risks to organizations will be identified if behaviors are not corrected. Strategies for constructively managing the performance of difficult employees will also be discussed.

This workshop, facilitated by Dr. Robert Lloyd, assistant professor of management, will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon in FHSU’s Hansen Hall, first floor meeting room.

The workshops will cost $119 each. A 15-percent discount applies for all Hays Area Chamber of Commerce members for a single session. Contact the MDC to receive the discount. A completion certificate and 3.0 continuing education units will be awarded to each workshop participant.

Registration is available online through the Registration link in the sidebar on the page at www.fhsu.edu/mdc. Registration closes one week before each workshop.

To learn more about this workshop or additional upcoming trainings, contact Hannah Hilker, MDC training development specialist, by phone at 785-628-4121 or by email to [email protected].

FHSU grad joins ABBB

Posted on July 1, 2019July 1, 2019

ABBB

The certified public accounting firm of Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, Chartered (ABBB) is pleased to announce the addition of Alexis “Alex” Crispin to their professional team. Crispin joins the firm as a staff accountant in the ABBB Audit Department.

“We’re very excited to welcome Alex to the ABBB team,” said Brian Staats, CPA, CGMA, managing partner of ABBB. “We look forward to witnessing her continued development and growth as an accounting professional.”

A summa cum laude graduate of Fort Hays State University, Crispin earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting in 2018. Originally from Shawnee, Kansas, she currently lives in Hays.

Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, Chartered provides a wide range of traditional and non-traditional CPA and consulting services to clients throughout Kansas, including agriculture organizations, construction companies, feed yards, financial institutions, governmental and not-for-profit organizations, manufacturers, medical practices, oil and gas companies, professional service firms, real estate companies and small businesses. Founded in 1945, today the firm maintains 13 office locations throughout the state. For more information about Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, please visit www.abbb.com.

Wilcox School in Trego County receives statewide restoration award

Posted on July 1, 2019June 28, 2019

TREGO COUNTY — Each year the Kansas Preservation Alliance Inc. recognizes exemplary efforts in historic preservation across the state of Kansas. The 2019 Awards for Excellence were presented May 17 at the Historic Fire Station No.2 in Topeka.

The Wilcox School in rural Trego County received a Merit Award for Excellence with Distinction: Preservation. Cathy Albert and Jody Zeman, representing the Wilcox School, and Len Schamber, representing Schamber Historic Preservation, LLC, were present to receive the award. Sixteen projects across Kansas received Awards for Excellence and only two projects received Awards with Distinction, including the Wilcox School.

Jody Zeman and Cathy Albert, representing the Wilcox School, and Len Schamber, Schamber Historic Preservation of Damar, KS, attended the presentation and accepted the award.

Built in 1886, Wilcox School District 29 is significant as one of only a few remaining rural school houses in Trego County and one of a few remaining native limestone one-room schools left in the United States. The school served Wilcox Township for sixty years. District 29 was eventually consolidated with other rural districts and the Wilcox School closed in 1947. The school continued to be used by consolidated districts for several more years. Later. the building was purchased by the Hi-Plains Gravel Grinders Motorcycle Club and used as their clubhouse.

Restoration began in 2012, and today the school is a monument to the demanding manual labor and ingenuity of the early settlers of Wilcox Township who dreamed of making a better life for their families and neighbors.

You found it! Click on the Golden Egg for a chance to win FREE Wild West Festival VIP tickets!

Exploring Outdoors Kansas: State park dilemmas

Posted on July 1, 2019June 30, 2019

Most, if not all Kansas state parks are located at major lakes and reservoirs, so it’s no surprise that many of them were devastated by the flood waters; Kansas Dept. of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism reports that over one-half of our state parks were seriously affected by the flooding.

By the time you read this column, July 4th will be nearly upon us, a normally very busy time for state parks, but many will still not be open or will only offer limited services. KDWPT says that one-fourth to one-half of the annual state park revenue comes from visitors to state parks and lakes over Memorial Day weekend, which was literally a “washout,” and now the 4th of July holiday will bring in very limited revenue also.

KDWPT relies solely on park entrance fees, campsite & cabin rental fees and marina concessions to fund state parks operation, maintenance and repairs. The sale of hunting, fishing and fur harvesting licenses CANNOT be used for state parks. In 2018 about 6.9 million people visited KS State Parks, and the Park Fee Fund and Cabin Rental Fund together brought more than $10.5 million in revenue. As of June 15, the Park Fee Fund for just the months of April – May was down about $100,000 compared to 2018 due to lost entrance and campsite fees, and the income from cabin rentals was off by $30,000, and that doesn’t include refunds to people who had prepaid. Also lost was revenue from marina concessions and income from the annual Country Stampede held every year at Tuttle Creek that was moved this year because Tuttle Creek State Park was unusable. The Cheney State Park Manager estimated that income there at Cheney alone was down by $50,000 compared to 2018.

Besides tremendous loss of income, our state parks will now face enormous repair expenses to boot, and at some parks employees don’t yet know entirely what they’re dealing with. At some parks, power was turned off, electrical components removed from boxes and water heaters removed from showers because of the depth of the flood water. That meant no power to campsites and no power to pump sewage, etc. At Kanopolis, many trailers had to be moved to higher ground. At other parks, cabins were moved and myriads of picnic tables were chained down. One marina owner said they had no fuel to sell yet, but were thinking about getting T-shirts made to sell that read “I Didn’t Drown in the Flood of 2019.”

Cleanup and restoration will take months at best; electrical components and water heaters will need reinstalled. Mountains of debris will need hauled and trash sorted from it before it can be disposed-of or burned. Sand will need brought in to restore beaches, fallen trees and limbs will need cut-up and moved and hundreds of acres of grass will need cleaned or replanted. Boat ramps and docks will need repositioned and repaired and some structures rebuilt entirely. Cabin damage will need fixed and big rocks and other objects that got moved around by the rushing water will need repositioned. And none of this even addresses the miles of roads that will need repaired or replaced.

Such is life; we often don’t know what we have till it’s gone. One park official also mentioned the lingering smell at his park; he commented “It all smells like the inside of a minnow bucket!” The KDWPT website, www.ksoutdoors.com has a new link in red letters at the top that takes you to a page called “State Park Alerts” that lists the status of all Kansas State Parks at any given time. Check that link for the status of your favorite parks and let’s continue enjoying them as we continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Three-day weather outlook

Posted on July 1, 2019June 30, 2019

Hays students earn honors at Cloud County Community College

Posted on July 1, 2019June 28, 2019

CONCORDIA — Jace Armstrong of Hays has been named to the Cloud County Community College Spring 2019 President’s List. To be named to the president’s list, students must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 hours of college coursework and must have earned a semester grade point average of 3.9-4.0.

• • •

Tanner Brown of Hays has completed the requirements for the General Business 30 Hour Certificate from Cloud County Community College.

Brown also was named to the Cloud County Community College Spring 2019 Honor Roll. To be named to this honor roll, students must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 hours of college coursework and earn a semester grade point average of 3.6-3.899.

Prairie Doc Perspectives: Misery to miracle

Posted on July 1, 2019June 28, 2019

Miracles still happen.

Some think that the scourge of smallpox was present around 12,000 years ago, however, we know for sure it was here 3000 years ago as it was found on the face of an Egyptian Pharaoh mummy. We know that it caused many large and devastating epidemics killing about 35 percent of infected adults and 80 percent of infected children. Even during the 20th century, smallpox still resulted in 300-500 million deaths world-wide.

Pictures of people suffering from this miserable viral illness show skin of face and body breaking out with dime-sized firm white or red blisters. People also commonly developed fevers, vomiting, spread of blisters into mouth and eyes, and too often came to a wretched and miserable death. If one survived, the common facial pox scars could be extremely disfiguring and sometimes affected the cornea of eyes causing blindness.

During the tenth century in China, someone began inoculating the fluid from a smallpox blister onto abraded skin on the arm or leg of a healthy individual, allowing for a single pox to get started in a controlled way. This worked fairly well except that the procedure made them infectious to others for a while and resulted in death to the recipient one percent of the time. Contracting smallpox killed about 35 percent of adults, so reducing the rate to one percent was an improvement. This rather dangerous process of inoculating live smallpox became popular in England during the 16 and 1700s.

Smallpox was given the medical term variola from Latin for spotted pimple. It had been commonly known as the red plague until in Britain during the 1600s it was called smallpox to distinguish it from great-pox or syphilis.

Noting that milk maids rarely got smallpox, in 1796 British rural physician Edward Jenner found that inoculating the fluid of the milder disease cowpox provided for substantial immunity from smallpox without significant risk to the recipient and without the danger of spreading smallpox. Jenner called the cowpox inoculate “vaccine” after vacca, the Latin word for cow.

With a vaccination campaign lead by the World Health Organization, world-wide deaths reduced from two million per year in 1967 to none in 1977. I find it nothing short of a miracle that in those ten years, human smallpox infections were virtually eliminated from this world. It was a miracle wrought by human intelligence, the ingenuity of creative and resourceful minds, and the scientific method.

It was the miracle of vaccination.

For free and easy access to the entire Prairie Doc® library, visit www.prairiedoc.org and follow The Prairie Doc® on Facebook, featuring On Call with the Prairie Doc® a medical Q&A show streamed most Thursdays at 7 p.m. central.

At FHSU, Hispanic students find the college dream can be an affordable reality

Posted on June 30, 2019June 28, 2019

By RANDY GONZALES
FHSU University Relations and Marketing

Adriana Cervantes remembers feeling uneasy about her accent while participating as a high school student in Fort Hays State University’s Hispanic College Institute back in 2016.

FHSU student volunteers helped her overcome her self-consciousness. Now a sophomore at Fort Hays State, Cervantes served as a student volunteer for this summer’s HCI. She provided similar support to participants in the program that is one of a kind in Kansas and one of only a few in the nation.

Cervantes, a double major from Shawnee, wanted to give back as a student “Tiger Team leader,” guiding a group of Hispanic students at this year’s HCI.

“I wanted to help other students who are in the same situation as I was and to tell them that everything is going to be OK, everything is going to be fine,” Cervantes said. “I understand them. I was in their shoes.”

Since the inaugural HCI at Fort Hays State in 2016, Hispanic sophomores and juniors in high school spend three-and-a-half days on campus in June learning about college life.

Cervantes can look back now at how even after her high school graduation she still was not sure if she could succeed in college. She credits her HCI experience in contributing to her confidence to attend college and is glad she chose Fort Hays State.

“Last year, I thought I wasn’t college material,” said Cervantes, who will be a sophomore at FHSU this fall. “HCI helped me. I really fell in love with the campus and the faculty members. I’m really happy with the decision, and right now, I have really good grades.”

Cervantes and her family immigrated to the Kansas City area from Mexico five years ago, and she attended HCI two years. HCI student leaders helped Cervantes think differently about her accent.

“They really helped me open my mind, not be embarrassed about my accent,” Cervantes said. “They helped me see that being Hispanic is fine.”

HCI is just one example of how Fort Hays State cares about education and opportunity.

“What I love about the DNA of Fort Hays State University is that we provide the access, give students the opportunity at an affordable cost,” said Dr. Joey Linn, vice president for student affairs. “I think Fort Hays State is perfectly poised for a program like this to let students know that there is an institution here that truly cares about them.”

Cervantes came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant as a freshman in high school and did not know a word of English. She recalled how HCI helped her in the summers after her sophomore and junior years at Shawnee Mission North High School.

At HCI, Cervantes met other Hispanic high school students who also had an interest in attending college. She felt at home.

“I think it’s good that Fort Hays State makes Hispanic and Latino students feel welcome,” Cervantes said.

Alicia Santos, a first-time HCI participant this year, appreciated Fort Hays State hosting the program again this summer.

“I think it’s amazing,” said Santos, who will be a junior this fall at Dodge City High School. “Hispanic people need to come together and do this kind of thing. I think it’s good that they’re encouraging people to go to college and get that education that they need.”

Sixty-four high school sophomores and juniors from Kansas and Colorado at this year’s event learned about college life and how to get into college. The FHSU community – from President Tisa Mason to student volunteers who served as Tiger team leaders – made the high school Hispanic students feel like they were part of a “familia.”

“You can go to college and you can succeed,” Mason said at Saturday’s closing ceremony, adding she was a first-generation college graduate. “I just want to thank you for being here and continuing to believe in your dream and taking the chance to learn during this week. We’re going to believe in you, and your dreams will come true.”

Linn was all smiles while handing out scholarship money at the closing ceremony. FHSU awarded $9,500 in scholarships.

He said the final day is the most transformational, because parents who come to pick up their children marvel at the difference they see. He surprised the HCI students by announcing that one of the program’s sponsors had agreed to pay everyone’s application fees to Fort Hays State.

“It’s truly exciting to know that their dreams can come true,” Linn said. “I think Fort Hays State does a tremendous job of making these students understand it can be done. They just need that extra push, that extra support. That’s what Fort Hays State University does well.”

Skills and information gained at HCI are part of the success story. Among other activities, participants learn about college life, the application process and obtaining financial aid. They participated in a service project and had fun times, too, highlighted by a lip sync battle among “familias.”

Linn told the students that Fort Hays State wants to make sure they have the opportunity to succeed.

“You’re not just a student here,” Linn said. “We take great pride in making sure we help you get across the finish line.”

Xavier Hernandez, whose son Ezra participated in this year’s HCI, liked how FHSU helped get students to the starting line. Having buses pick up students from all across the region made a difference, he said, especially since they live in Overland Park.

“That’s initially why I jumped on it,” Xavier said of having his son participate. He added that he had never heard of FHSU, but the opportunity for his son to spend time on campus was a big selling point.

After the HCI experience, which included receiving a $500 scholarship during the week, the Hernandez family now has FHSU on its radar as a college choice.

“I thought it was a really cool thing to do, just give a college experience and surround ourselves around our culture,” said Ezra, who will be a senior this fall at Shawnee Mission North. “It’s been incredible.”

Cervantes has a younger brother, Jesus, who will be a sophomore in high school this fall. She said she is going to make sure he attends next summer’s HCI program.

“I’m sure he can go to college,” she said. “HCI will help him.”

🎥 Green & Growing 2019: Timely Topics for July

Posted on June 30, 2019June 26, 2019

Your horticulture questions can be answered Monday and Wednesday between 1-4pm by calling the extension office’s help desk at 628-9430 or visit them online at Cottonwood.K-State.edu.

🎥 Hays Public Library will update strategic plan with public input

Posted on June 30, 2019June 29, 2019

Brandon Hines, Hays Public Library director, tapes up a list of aspirations for the library generated during a recent stakeholders session.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

More than 50 plus-sized sheets of information and ideas were taped to the walls of the Hays Public Library (HPL) meeting room following two library stakeholders meetings earlier this month.

Now director Brandon Hines and his library staff of 33 are awaiting compilation and analysis of the two public sessions led by Gail Santy, Central Kansas Library System (CKLS) executive director. CKLS is based in Great Bend.

“The purpose of the sessions is to solicit feedback and ideas about the role of the library in our community and to guide future priorities of the organization,” Hines told the 40 or so attendees at the beginning of each session. “Specifically, we are looking to establish goals and actions that will optimally benefit the community and uphold the mission and values of the Hays Public Library.”

CKLS consultants were at each table as facilitators, consolidating and then writing the answers from their groups to the questions asked by Santy.

Patty Collins, CKLS Youth Services Consultant listens to a stakeholder at her table as Celeste Lasich, First Presbyterian Church pastor, looks on.

Two of the consultants have ties to Hays. Patty Collins, CKLS Youth Services Consultant, and Christie Snyder, CKLS School Library Consultant, are both graduates of Fort Hays State University.

Santy guided them through “SOAR – Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results – What can we build on? What are our possible future opportunities? What do we care deeply about? How will be know we are succeeding?” The SOAR design comes from the Aspen Institute, an international nonprofit think tank founded in 1949 as a nonpartisan forum for values-based leadership and the exchange of ideas.

The questions in each category were created by the HPL staff and library board members early in the day prior to the public sessions. HPL staff members were also at each stakeholders table giving their input.

“We’re here to kind of push us through the end of our strategic planning process,” said Hines who was hired as HPL director last summer. He worked previously at HPL in charge of the children’s department, then left to be director at two other Kansas libraries.

“When I came on there was a lot of work that had been done around here but just quite hasn’t been executed on. So we made a one year action plan to finish up some of this work,” explained Hines. “We’ve really progressed well with that.”

The library is looking to the public and its patrons to help guide its future.

“We’re at the point now where we need to sit back and get some ideas, feedback on some of the changes we’ve already made and also on some of the work we want to do,” Hines said.

Part of the action plan is to remodel some areas of the library within the next couple of years. The current building was constructed in 1968; Hays Public Library opened in 1911.

The last major renovation was in 2004. “We know our needs for the space has changed quite a bit since then,” Hines told the group gathered around eight tables. “All this information we gather here today will help guide that.” He said the library intends to soon form a design committee to address space changes in the building.

Earlier this year the library completed its Mission, Vision, Values statement.

The information was at each table which Hines hoped would help “establish the right mindset” during the discussions.

“This is why you’re here,” Hines explained. “We need help with specific goals and outcomes and then specific actions we want to take or some ideas to get us to that point.”

Once the report and compiled data is returned by CKLS, it should give HPL a directional map for the next three years.

Santy urged the attendees to be candid. “We can’t move forward unless we know how you really feel.”

Margie Sheppard, CKLS Library Technology Consultant, listens to input from her group.

The groups spent an hour discussing questions including the greatest value the library provides to the community, key areas of untapped potential, the look of library space in 10 years and what excellence looks like.

Those offering their input in the afternoon session included representatives of USD 489 and TMP-Marian schools, the Hays Arts Council, churches, Northwest Kansas Area Agency on Aging, Downtown Hays Development Corporation, Friends of the Hays Public Library, and local residents.

After 60 minutes, the meeting room walls were covered with sheets listing each table’s ideas of strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results.

Gail Santy, CKLS executive director, led the HPL stakeholders sessions.

Santy quickly read aloud each answer and suggestion.

Ideas included starting a bookmobile, more charging stations for personal electronic devices, more meeting space and areas redesigned for smaller groups, finding annex locations for programs already offered by the library, providing ESL (English as Second Language) interpreters, and getting more involved with the local governing bodies.

Then the stakeholders were invited to use sticky dots to vote anonymously for their top two priorities.

Pat Hill (left) wants to see smaller meeting places available at HPL.

Pat Hill feels the library should concentrate on books and literacy, and opportunities for children.

“We have a lot of good connections with Hays schools,” Hill noted.

She’s a member of Friends of the Library which operates the used book store in the library.

Hill is new to Hays, moving here from Michigan about 18 months ago.

“There’s a lot of things I didn’t realize the library does, and all the community participation,” she said, “but I can see we need to make a few improvements although we have a lot of strengths.

“We had a wonderful discussion at our table. I’m very proud of our library.”

Phillipsburg business receives Governor’s Regional Award of Excellence

Posted on June 30, 2019June 28, 2019

Photo #2 (L to R): Lt. Governor Lynn Rogers, CEO – Joe Kreutzer
(photo credit: Nick Poels, Executive Director Phillips County Economic Development)

PHILLIPSBURG — The Kansas Department of Commerce awarded local business, Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy, with the Governor’s Regional Award of Excellence on Tuesday. This award kicked off the KDC Business Appreciation Month to spotlight businesses that contribute jobs and support their local communities. The award presentation took place in conjunction with the Lieutenant Governor’s Office of Rural Prosperity Listening Tour in Phillipsburg.

The KDC Business Appreciation Month program has been in place since 1995 and serves as a statewide tribute to Kansas businesses for their contributions to our state. Businesses are nominated in one of four categories: Service, Retail, Manufacturing/Distribution and Hospital/Non-Profit.

One winner in each category is chosen from each of the seven designated regions of the state by a panel of judges from the business and economic development community. “We were honored to receive the award and thank PECD for nominating us. Phillips County thrives on support from all of its’ area businesses and residents. We are proud to be part of Phillips County and give back to our community,” said CEO, Joe Kreutzer. “Every year the Governor of Kansas recognizes the very best of trade and industry across the state. Award winners are notably businesses that exhibit strength with both internal success and community impact; Prairie Horizon is a shining example of these qualities,” said Nick Poels, Executive Director Phillips County Economic Development.

Prairie Horizon Board President – Monte Abell, Rep. – Ken Rahjes, Sen. – Rick Billinger, CEO – Joe Kreutzer, Lt. Governor Lynn Rogers, Prairie Horizon Board Member – Lloyd Culbertson

The ethanol plant was one of many stops during the Lt. Governor’s visit to Phillipsburg on Tuesday. Topics of discussion during the tour included: the importance of ethanol to the ag community and in offering consumers a choice at the pump, as well as the challenges the industry faces today. The tour is intended to foster new ways to help rural Kansas communities by hearing from the residents themselves.

Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy is a limited liability corporation, founded in November 2003 in the rural community of Phillipsburg, Kansas. Our company is owned by 300 area investors and employs thirty-six people. Annually, Prairie Horizon produces over 40 million gallons of ethanol and grinds 15 million bushels of grain; yielding just around 127,000 tons of high protein livestock feed. Prairie Horizon’s USA Clean Fuels on East Highway 36 in Phillipsburg, KS offers the consumer a fuel choice that is cleaner, more affordable and better performing.

— Submitted

VIRTUAL Golden Egg Hunt: Win Wild West Fest VIP tickets for all three nights!

Posted on June 30, 2019June 28, 2019

The second annual VIRTUAL Golden Egg Hunt: Win Wild West Fest VIP tickets! Made possible by JD’s Country Style Chicken.

Hidden somewhere in Hays Post stories is the Virtual Golden Egg! The egg is posted as a picture in articles published no earlier than June 30. Click on the Golden Egg, fill out the entry form and be entered for a chance to win TWO VIP tickets for all three nights of shows at the 2019 Wild West Festival.

The winner will be announced Tuesday.

Good luck!