Mermaid helps maintain unity at NIC

It’s been a time of change at North Idaho College. New students. New programs. New administrators. A cardboard mermaid named Mahala Mae that’s passed around from department to department on a weekly basis.

Yes, North Idaho College now has a mermaid.

She’s the brainchild of new vice president for Student Services Eric Murray – intended to boost morale and aid in team-building.

The mermaid came from NIC student body president Ryan Robinson’s office. Robinson was cleaning out his office at the beginning of the school year and was ready to pitch the cardboard mermaid in the garbage when Murray spotted it.

He moved it into his new office and soon realized it could serve a better purpose.

Mahala Mae now travels around campus, staying in department offices for a week at a time, where she garners more accessories, such as the blond wig, swim goggles and jewelry she’s collected over the past few weeks.

“She’ll probably be too heavy to carry by the time we’re done,” Murray said.

Mahala Mae spent last week in the bookstore and the week before in the registrar’s office. It’s up in the air where she’ll be next week – that’s for the bookstore employees to decide.

“I am kind of thrilled by the amount of unity this small thing has brought us,” Murray said.

Students win art contests

Three of the four students who placed in the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor and the Idaho Housing and Finance Association’s statewide art contest are from Kootenai County schools.

Lakeland High School graduates Michele Morgan and Brittany Tanner placed second and third, respectively, and Mary Roskovich, of the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy placed fourth.

First place went to a student from Nampa High School in Ada County.

All will have their drawings featured in the 2007 Fair Housing Calendar and were recognized last week at the Idaho Conference on Housing in Boise.

Sandpoint High School’s Jeremiah Hatch wrote a poem that also will be included in the calendar, and Lake City High School graduate Brittany Smith also will have the drawing she submitted featured.

The students who placed earned prizes including a new camera or a video iPod. The other students whose art will be featured each received $100 gift certificates to Circuit City, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com.

Nearly 80 students from around the state entered the contest. Just 13 drawings and one written work will be featured in the calendar, available Dec. 1 at Commerce and Labor offices around the state, including the office on Ironwood Boulevard in Coeur d’Alene.

A Viking birthday present

New Coeur d’Alene High School Principal Randy Russell knew exactly what to do with the present his colleagues gave him for his 40th birthday Sept. 29. After opening the package and discovering the miniature Viking ship inside, he marched right into his office and placed it on the bookshelf behind his desk.

“Did you guys see this?” Russell asked two student office workers. “This is awesome.”

Russell took over as head of Coeur d’Alene High for Steve Casey, who retired after 17 years at the school – 13 as principal. Casey’s office was jammed full of Viking memorabilia and other things he’d gathered during his tenure, so Russell’s nearly bare office is quite a change.

“It’s just a start, Randy,” a secretary remarked after Russell placed the ship on the shelf.

“This is just awesome,” Russell said repeatedly. “Now it’s going to feel a little more like home.”

A lot of money, and one soaked principal

Students at Hayden Meadows Elementary did so well in their fall fundraiser that they’ll be given the ultimate reward – the chance to see their principal get soaked in a dunk tank.

Principal Patty Woodworth and Parent-Teacher Association President Joan Burnham set a fundraising goal of $17,000 and told the students if they meet it, Woodworth would go to the dunk tank in an all-school assembly.

And $20,000 later, it happened.

About 340 of the approximately 610 students at Hayden Meadows participated in the fundraiser, which involved selling merchandise from a catalog. Students had from Sept. 8 to Sept. 25 to sell items. The merchandise company keeps about half the money, meaning the students sold about $40,000 worth of goods in less than three weeks.

The money will buy a new sound system for the school’s gymnasium and also will be given to teachers as “mini grants,” among other things, Burnham said. Money will also be given to each grade level, and teachers will decide how to spend it. The idea is to ensure that all grade levels benefit from the fundraiser, the only one the PTA holds all year, Burnham said.

The fundraiser is held in the beginning of the year so that the money raised can be spent on the students currently enrolled.

“We try to make sure that this money is spent to benefit kids this school year,” Burnham said. “The main goal is to just let the kids who are selling it benefit from it.”

Teacher Kristin Childers’ fourth-grade class was the top seller, so her students were the ones who threw the balls that landed Woodworth in the dunk tank during an assembly Wednesday. Burnham’s daughter, Janelle, is a student in the class.