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Welcome to the November edition of the Warrior Family Association e-newsletter.
I am sure students are excited for a much-needed break. Let me take this opportunity to wish all of our Warrior families a Happy Thanksgiving! If your student is able to make the trip home to see you, I hope you enjoy some quality time together.
November has been an exciting month so far for our fall athletic teams. Women’s volleyball finished a solid season, making a great showing in the WHAC postseason tournament. Two cross country runners earned automatic bids to the NAIA championship race by their performances in the WHAC Championships. Our men’s soccer team was the regular-season WHAC champion, and it went on to win the WHAC postseason tournament, as well. As I write this, the team is preparing to host Mobile, Alabama, Saturday evening in Fort Wayne for a right to advance to the NAIA Men’s Soccer Championship tournament round of 16 in Irvine, California, Dec. 2-7. Men’s and women’s basketball and men’s hockey just began their seasons, and President Einolf and I are looking forward to going to as many of the games as we can.
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How to make your college freshman’s Thanksgiving break a success
Marlene Fischer – The Collegiate Parent
For many students and their families, Thanksgiving break will be the first extended trip home from college. It’s a bit of an appetizer for the longer winter break to come. You’re excited to have your student home. You have plans. You want to catch up and learn all of the details about your student’s life at college. Be careful not to expect too much.
There will be plenty of time for more extended conversations over the longer winter break, but you need to give your student some space to relax and regroup for the final push of the semester. This will be a good time for a check-in, and with some thinking and planning you can make the most of the short break. Here are a few things to consider before they arrive.
1. They'll need time to decompress. Despite a possibly hectic journey involving holiday traffic or jam-packed airports, your student will be just as thrilled to be home as you are to have them back in the nest. Give them a little space to settle in.
2. Finals are looming. Although you're anxious to spend time with them, remember that they might bring home school work. Finals are only a few weeks away. Thanksgiving will fly by and while no one wants to write a paper over vacation, the more they get done, the easier their last few weeks will be.
3. Spoil them...but maybe not too much. Given that it’s been a while since your student was home, your first instinct may be to do everything for them, including meal prep, laundry, etc. Feel free to indulge them but be careful because the cushy life you provide will set the stage for their next visit home at winter break, which is significantly longer, as well as their summer break, which is really long.
4. Expect (and support) change. Thanksgiving week may be the first time since summer that your student has had a chance to spend time with high school friends. Some reunions will be fantastic; other relationships may be starting to change. Prepare yourself for any angst that occurs as they discover that, while some relationships are for a lifetime, others will not last. Don’t be surprised if your student seems a little different — perhaps more independent and opinionated. Your tuition dollars are helping them discover themselves and the world.
5. Get the real scoop. When they aren’t sleeping, studying, running off to see friends or eating all the food you stocked in the fridge, try to catch up with them about how school is going. Although you have texted and talked, it’s easier to communicate in person, when they are not rushing to class or surrounded by other people. It’s a chance to hear about what is going right with school and perhaps discuss strategies on how they can improve what’s not going well, such as visiting the Office of Student Success, which offers many free resources to students, including the Writing Center https://studentsuccess.indianatech.edu/writing-center/ and tutoring https://studentsuccess.indianatech.edu/tutoring/.
When Thanksgiving is over, they will head back to campus laden with leftovers and clean clothes while you are left wanting more time with them. Comfort yourself with the knowledge that the end of the semester is fast approaching.
*If your student can't be home for the holiday for financial or logistical reasons, encourage them to take part in activities available for students who remain on campus. Resident assistants in the residence halls will be offering several activities over break, including game night and movie night. Your student can find details about these events in their CORQ app or online on Commons 803.
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Warriors Compete at NAIA National ChampionshipsIndiana Tech’s athletics program is hopping with with three different national championship events happening this weekend and winter sports in full swing. The Warrior cross country program had two individuals, Kara Kline and Jake Willison, compete at the NAIA National Championships on Friday in Vancouver, Washington. At press time, their results were not known. The men’s soccer team earned a host bid for the NAIA National Championship Opening Round and welcomed the University of Mobile (Alabama) and Vanguard (Costa Mesa, California) University to Fort Wayne this weekend for the three-team regional. Indiana Tech won Friday’s opening game, 2-0, over Vanguard and will play Mobile Saturday evening in the championship game. If you can’t make it to the game, you can follow along with live video and stats here. The winner will advance to the NAIA National Championship tournament round of 16 in Irvine, California, Dec. 2-7.
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Crush Hunger Results
In this year’s 5th Annual U Can Crush Hunger campaign, all of the universities EXCEEDED our goal of 50,000 pounds, with a grand total of 57,208 pounds of food collected! This is the first time we’ve exceeded the collective goal for the food bank.
This year, many in the Warrior community stepped up in a big way to help Indiana Tech collect a total of 11,652 pounds of food. While we fell short of our goal of collecting 15,000 pounds, this was a dramatic increase from last year’s total of 7,422 pounds of food! While we can’t acknowledge each individual, we would like to highlight some groups who went the extra mile to contribute:
- The Lead Scholar group – Chloe Smithley, Kristen Forti, Brandon Sink, Jaxson Rinkenberger, led by Jessica Miller – coordinated the cupcake sale and worked with faculty members to encourage class participation in the campaign
- Student Executive Board – Gabrielle Brinkley, Paxton Simerman, Troy Quillen, Elizabeth Eaton, Dalton Hancher – coordinated student organizations Trick or Treating for canned goods in neighborhoods around Fort Wayne
- Athletics – Our fall athletic teams collected canned goods at home games and donated their gate proceeds
- Professor Spielman and his classes collected so many canned goods that it required a pickup truck to transport all the cans from Keene to Andorfer
- Beckman Lawson lawyers gave a generous donation to the campaign on behalf of Indiana Tech
- Athletic department staff won the department competition, followed closely by the College of Business in second
- Admissions, who took third place in the department competition, created a challenge for one another within their department which encouraged everyone to participate
- A plethora of faculty, staff, along with Dr. Einolf were willing to accept pies in the face for a good cause
Final Crush Hunger University standings:
1.University of St. Francis 20,529
2.Manchester 17,718
3. Indiana Tech 11,652
4.Huntington 3,842
5.Purdue Fort Wayne 3,098
6.Ivy Tech 370
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Lisa Brown - Accounting and Finance Department Chair, Associate Professor of Accounting
- She began her college days as an electrical engineering major, then discovered her love of accounting.
- She currently serves on the supervisory committee of a local credit union with a colleague and former student who is now an accountant. She serves the members by performing audits on the credit union.
- She grew up in Beavercreek, Ohio. The neighborhood had a “mini zoo” in the center so seeing llamas, camels and peacocks in her backyard was an everyday occurrence.
- As a child, she took skating and gymnastics lessons, which was quite common, but also karate and swimming and diving lessons (which was less common).
Carrie Duke, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor of English
- For her first career, she worked as a horticulturist before deciding to teach college English.
- Her love of travel has taken her to every continent except Antarctica. She has even traveled by herself to places like Mongolia when she took the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Beijing to Moscow.
- She and her husband climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in 2014.
- Her most exciting adventure, however, is being a mother to her three-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.
Jack Phlipot - Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
- His absolute favorite food is pizza followed by mashed potatoes.
- He makes a great grilled cheese sandwich with no pans.
- On occasion, he has been known to exhibit some minor sarcasm (as opposed to the normal full-on sarcasm).
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Final thoughts from a fellow mom
Like last year, Karl and I will be having Thanksgiving here in Fort Wayne with both of our sons. We have a new visitor this year, as Nick’s girlfriend, Mary, will be joining us, too. I am always excited when one of our extended family members or friends visits us for the first time. I love showing them Fort Wayne and giving them a tour of Indiana Tech. I enjoy seeing how much they admire our beautiful campus.
We started a tradition last year over the Thanksgiving holiday by getting a family picture taken on campus that we used in our Christmas card. Karl and I, at least, are looking forward to doing that again. We hope we can get our boys to wake up before noon on the day we do it.
Another tradition we enjoy on Thanksgiving is the 4-mile Galloping Gobbler in Fort Wayne. If you are in Fort Wayne and want to join us, please do! Karl, Mary and I will be walking while Nicholas and Thomas will actually race. Last year, Thomas was one of the first 200 finishers and he received the prestigious prize of a loaf of freshly-baked pumpkin bread. We ate it with our Thanksgiving meal, and it was fabulous. Nicholas has been training hard this fall to win a loaf of bread, too. Will he do it? Follow Karl on Instagram at "presidentkarleinolf" and we'll post a picture that morning!
The rest of our Thanksgiving Day will be spent talking, relaxing, watching football and being thankful for all the blessings we have in our lives. Of course, I end my day getting ready to go out late at night for some Black Friday shopping. I might have someone to join me this year since Mary will be in town.
I wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with safe travels, an abundance of food, and a great time with family and friends! THANK YOU for supporting your student’s journey at Indiana Tech. Go Warriors!
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