Community Voices, March 2016

Spring break has come and gone on campus and there are just five weeks left in another academic year.  Our students have been busy this semester and many are taking their talents off campus to compete and shine on a state and national level. 

Our SMSU Forensics team claimed its second straight Limited Entry State Title this past month at the Minnesota State Championship at Concordia College in Moorhead.  SMSU had eight students competing and were led by Megan Bruns, who placed third in Informative Speaking and Dylan Curfman, who placed sixth in Extemporaneous Speaking.  Megan has now qualified for the American Forensics Association National Tournament in Gainesville, Florida.

Four members of our collegiate DECA chapter brought home first place finishes at the Minnesota state Career Development Conference in Minneapolis where 14 colleges participated. DECA is an organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.

SMSU had two DECA team wins and two individual wins at the competition.  Kenneth Lam took first place in restaurant and food service business simulation; Lam and Rodney Hoffbeck placed first in an international marketing case study; Luther Brown took first place in the team management meeting case study and third place in a human resources management case study; Peter Olojo-Nwosu was a first time participant in the event for SMSU and advanced to the finals in two categories: hospitality and tourism and business ethics.  Hoffbeck, Luther and Lam teamed up to win the team challenge event for SMSU. The SMSU Chapter members will now advance on the National Competition in Washington, D.C. in April.

Two SMSU student-athletes also qualified to showcase their talents at their respective national competitions.  Will Hanson was a national qualifier in the 60m hurdles at the NCAA DII National Indoor Track & Field Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas and finished 15th at the national championships.  Mustang Wrestler Cole Wilson was a national qualifier at 285# for the NCAA DII national Wrestling tournament.  Cole earned an 8th place finish at the tourney in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and earned All-American status, becoming the 10th Mustang to earn All-American honors.

Finally, the SMSU Culinology Team was one of six finalists chosen to compete at Research Chefs of America Student Culinology Competition in Denver earlier this month.  The SMSU team of Payton Irlbeck, Shakiru Abu Samah, Hannah Dressen and Joe Quiinlan proudly represented the Mustangs against teams from Kansas State University, Taylor’s University (Malaysia), University of Wisconsin-Madison, Johnson & Wales, and Guelph (Canada).  This year’s competition category was Southwest Rocky Mountain Regional Cuisine.  The competition saw teams develop a frozen entrée around the theme and then freshly prepare a gold standard entrée with the goal of the two entrees being as similar as possible in quality.  Our SMSU entry was a Southwest Street Taco featuring locally grown “Heaven on Earth” bison from Lynd, MN.

As you can see, SMSU students are achieving great feats and we are proud of every one of them and their many accomplishments, both in the classroom and on the state and national stage. Go Mustangs!

Published in the Marshall Independent, Saturday, March 26, 2016.