News briefs
Olafesos ink scholarships with Concordia-St. Paul
The Olafeso brothers will be playing for the Concordia University-St. Paul next year.
Mavericks starters Peter and Kenny Olafeso will be playing together next year as both have been awarded athletic scholarships to Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn., men’s basketball coach Jay Pivec released next week.
The Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears are an NCAA Division II team playing in the same conference as Bemidji State, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State University, Mankato and Saint Cloud State.
The private, Lutheran school enrolls about 2,000 students annually and is best known athletically for their women’s volleyball team, which has won the past three NCAA championships.
Sustainability fair aims to teach
On April 21, Three Legged Frog, MCTC’s environmental club hosted the sixth annual sustainability fair.
The theme this year was “sustainability from the ground up.”The goal of the fair was to educate attendees about how to live a sustainable lifestyle that is symbiotic with the earth.
Dr. Tyrone Hayes, a biologist and herpetologist (an individual who studies amphibians) spoke at the event about how the use of chemicals affects frogs.
The fair also featured organizations and businesses that have sustainability and environmental responsibility into their business models and platforms. Among business and organizations represented were Peace Coffee and Common Roots. Organizations present included the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society and Friends of the MIssissippi River.
Another conference team, Winona State, won men’s basketball national titles in 2006 and 2008, with a runner-up finish in 2007.
According to Pivec, no other basketball players have committed to playing for a school next year, though there are schools interested in several former Mavericks players.
International students go without free tax software
This year, the International Student Association (ISA) made a request to purchase tax software for the international students who attend MCTC.
All of the potential liabilities were researched by members of the organization and by Kevin Kujawa, International Student Adviser. Based on their research, they learned that a liability could come from providing tax advice. However, the software would only be a resource.
ISA presented this information to the Student Live Budget Committee (SLBC).
The $500 software purchase was made based on SLBC’s recommendation.
After the purchase was made, Dianna Cusick, Director of Legal Affairs, expressed concern over the liability issues associated with MCTC providing the software to the students, citing the need for additional research in concern to those issues. Those concerns were not resolved by tax day, April 15.
