April 7 - 11

Nobody Told Her Apparently, Mother Nature missed the memo that Spring has arrived, and as a result, she's placed much of Minnesota is under a winter storm advisory. The good news for CVA is that your college will remain open (and we won't need to tell you through our new emergency text messaging system that school is closed). The bad news is that you'll have "less than ideal," driving conditions, so plan accordingly, and to coin a phrase, "let's be careful out there." If you can identify the source from where this quote came from, email me your answer.

Camp Sunrise Director Visits CVA Jeff Xiong, Director for Camp Sunrise, will be visiting CVA on Wednesday, April 16, from 11:20 - noon, in Summit 101, to talk about Camp Sunrise, and hopefully to take names for summer camp counselors.

Camp Sunrise is a year round youth development program focused on bringing together youth and adults from diverse backgrounds to live and work in an outdoor multicultural environment.

Camp Sunrise is located on the St. Croix River, 60 miles north of the Twin Cities, near Rush City, MN. Annually, 300-350 youth, 13-18 years old who face social or economic barriers, are involved in Camp Sunrise summer and school year programs. Camp Sunrise has received numerous awards and recognitions including the 2000 Nonprofit Mission Award for Anti-Racism Initiative from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and the Eleanor P. Eells Award from the Fund for the Advancement of Camping.

A key focus of the Camp Sunrise Summer Program is to serve youth enrolled in the summer youth employment programs operated by the Minneapolis and St. Paul Summer Youth Employment Programs.

More than 90% of Camp Sunrise participants are youth of color. Participants come from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds (African American, Southeast Asian, European American, Chicano/Latino, Native American, and African).

This is a great opportunity if you like working outside and with youth from different backgrounds, and I look forward to seeing you at the presentation on Wednesday.

Tickets Available for Minnesota Timberwolves, April 16! We still have about 20 tickets available for the Timberwolves game, and expect a surprise during halftime... sorry, I can't tell you any more... you'll have to see for yourself.

Student Council 2008-2009 Interested in being a member of student council for 2008-2009? We are looking for candidates from each academic program, regardless of class year. Please contact Paul at pgaines@cva.edu. Elections take place in Summit on Thursday, May 1.

Peer Mentor Interviews We are interviewing peer mentors for the upcoming year, and interested students need to email or drop off a resume at my office. I will be interviewing through April, and expect to have a new team selected by the end of the semester. Applicants need to remember these dates: June 20, July 16, August 21, 26-27. You are required to be on campus those dates for registration, training, and orientation. Speak with Paul if you have questions.