Plum Creek Literacy Festival, Fall of 2017

As we have for the past few years, Dr. Gina Bitner took ten students to the Plum Creek Literacy Festival, where we all enjoyed the speakers, the banquet, and the chance to get books signed.

Thanks to another Student Enhancement Grant, the students got to purchase a book and then get that picture book or novel signed by either the author or the illustrator, sometimes both at the same time.


The festival brings to Concordia University a rich array of authors and illustrators who emphasize in their presentations not only their artistic excellent but also the processes each pursues where to illustrate a children's book or pen a Young Adult Novel.

This rich experience--one that provides a friendly atmosphere that allows students to talk with the people who inspire them--proves eye opening for many of the students, especially those who plan to pursue a teaching career, the reason Gina Bitner and I focus on Elementary Education and English Majors.

At the 2017 festival, in fact, I talked with Wendi Buggi, a high-school English teacher who attended the conference in 2014.

I posted photographs for this year and past years of the students and their experiences at this wonderful event:

2017
2016
2015
2014

Blog Pages for past events:

2016
2015
2014

John Janovy, Jr, Speaks at PSC

 Dr. John Janovy, Jr, visitedPeru State College on Wednesday, December 6, at 11:00 in the CATS Conference Room--everybody enjoy this special event; students and others filled the room, as these photographs illustrate.

The following description of John's keynote address last spring for the Alpha Chi National Honor Society National Convention highlights the knowledge and enthusiasm you can expect this Wednesday at 11:00 in the CATS Conference Room.

 

Keynoter Dr. John Janovy intrigued the audience at the Saturday evening gala. His talk, "Life Lessons fro a Parasite," merged biological truths from his 40-year career as a parasitologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with social and cultural truths by analogy and metaphor.

Incorporating humor, frequent references to popular culture and scientific evidence to underscore his key ideas, Janovy illustrated why he was an award-winning faculty member and a productive writer in multiple genres. 

On Wednesday at Peru State, Dr. Janovy Spoke about "Writing Books and Drawing Pictures," something that he does with considerable success.

The following video of 24 minutes, catches highlights of John's presentation as well as his insightful interaction with people in attendance:

 

As his webpage underscores, John pursues with great passion all his interests, from parasitology  to detective fiction.

Dr. Janovy's visit was another of the College 101 events that have included appearances by Nebraska poet Carol Carpenter, artist and writer Reuben Ironhorse Kent, and an all-day excursion to Kansas City that included visits to the WW I Museum and the Jazz and Negro Baseball Museums. 

Special thanks to VPAA Dr. Tim Borchers and both Alpha Chi and the Creative Writing Series for making these visits possible