Catawba College celebrated its annual Christmas Tree Lighting Service on Monday, November 23 in the Cannon Student Center. Music Business major Monica "Momo" Ostroska serenaded the crowd with a few songs from her new album "Merry Little Christmas." Then the audience sang along to a wonderful rendition of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" with acting by different groups and organizations on campus.

Catawba College Provost Dr. Rick Stephens believes experiential learning "puts flesh on the bones of classroom teaching." He and his faculty colleagues urge students to seek internships and experiential learning opportunities to round out their classroom experiences.

Three children of a Lexington, N.C. family who will be featured on an upcoming episode of "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" (EMHE) have a chance to go to college thanks to Catawba College. Catawba will provide the children of William and Tricia Creasey, twins Makenzie and Makayla, age five, and older sister Brittany, age 12, with two years each of full tuition scholarships to attend the College.

National education consultant and motivational speaker, Larry Bell, will speak on "The Power of a Teacher" at 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 3rd in Tom Smith Auditorium of Ketner Hall at Catawba College. Bell's presentation will focus on the power of high expectation, strategies for motivating, the importance of classroom culture, and overcoming barriers.

Author and Journalist Kevin Sites, dubbed by some as "the granddaddy of backpack journalists," turned the spotlight on himself during his November 14 visit to Catawba College. Sites spoke to first-year students, faculty, staff and community members about his book, "In the Hot Zone: One Man, One Year, Twenty Wars," selected as Catawba's 2009 Common Summer Reading...

In small plastic pool on Catawba College's Stanback Plaza Monday, Nov. 16th, 2,309 plastic ducks waited to be plucked from the water by College Chaplain Dr. Kenneth Clapp. It was Dr. Clapp's annual duty to draw the ducks in the sixth year of Catawba's Duck Draw Community Service Fundraiser. The project, coordinated by Catawba's Residence Life staff, uses the plastic ducks to raise money to buy turkeys – actually, turkey dinners to feed needy local families on Thanksgiving.

Three outstanding business leaders were inducted into the Catawba College Business Hall of Fame on Saturday, November 7. The event was held in Peeler Crystal Lounge of the Robertson College-Community Center on campus.

Catawba College students are anticipating Thanksgiving Break, scheduled November 25-29. The last day of classes before the break is Tuesday, Nov. 24. All college offices will be closed Thursday, Nov. 26 and Friday, Nov. 27. Fall semester classes will resume and all offices will reopen for normal business hours on Monday, Nov. 30.

For the twenty-second consecutive year, the Catawba College Department of Music presents its annual Service of Lessons and Carols. The Thursday, December 3 performance in the Omwake-Dearborn Chapel is the only one open to the general public. A Tuesday performance is for invited guests of the College.

By Susan Shinn, Catawba College News Service. What do you get when you mix 24 college students, a tour of an historic downtown, teambuilding, a city high school and an ecotour hosted by Captain Joe? The West Scholars' first-year trip from Catawba College to Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach. This is the third group or cohort of West Scholars. Each year, each class takes one excursion together.

by Catawba Students Elvis Torbush, Laura Davis, and Christian Rogers. Professor Pamela Thompson NEEDS YOUR HELP! "I'm going behind bars for 'GOOD'. On November 19th I will be incarcerated and need to raise $3000 for Muscular Dystrophy in order to bailed out of jail. Your donation is my key to freedom! Be proud of the fact that together we're providing help and hope to kids and adults served by MDA in our community."

By: Devin Rodgers, Catawba Student. It was 6:00pm and primetime at the Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks. The technicolor daisy centerpieces with the improvised yellow brick road, and the arching balloon rainbow it led to, transformed this plainly carpeted enclosure into an enchanted ballroom that clearly defined the chosen theme: Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Dale Wilson of Troutman, N.C., says he prefers to fly under the radar and keep a low profile. It's hard for him to do that right now since he learned in August that he was selected as the 2009 National Outstanding Disabled American Veteran of the Year.

Catawba College announced Monday, Nov. 9, that it has terminated its women’s field hockey program, effective immediately. The announcement was made by Dr. Craig Turner, College President. Turner, along with Catawba’s Vice President for Athletics Tom Childress and Athletics Director Dennis Davidson met with the current squad on Monday evening. They informed the student athletes that their athletic scholarships would be honored if they chose to remain at Catawba.

A brief quiz in preparation for the next Catawba College Community Forum: If you believe the Bible is inerrant, then you may be: (a) a Defender of the Faith. (b) stuck in a Modernist rut. (c) the Antichrist.

When the Chief Executive Officer of New Breed Logistics, Inc., Louis DeJoy, visited Catawba College’s campus October 29th, he came with encouraging words and “food for thought” for students about to enter the work force. DeJoy spoke at the Ralph W. Ketner School of Business’ Fourth Distinguished CEO Lecture Series. His remarks were entitled “Tactical Leadership in Changing Environments.”

By Susan Shinn, Catawba College News Service. What do mathematics, alternative rock, bats and the N.C. Transportation Museum all have in common? Students at Catawba College had summer internships related to these topics. Four students shared their experiences in a colloquium Oct. 29 in Ketner Hall.

Thanks to a Catawba College service project, soldiers in Afghanistan have been receiving some comforts from home since August. Three separate shipments, a total of 110 packages, have been shipped to soldiers in the 159th Air Support Battalion, 563d Trans Platoon, part of the 101st Airborne Division stationed at Ft. Campbell Kentucky. The battalion is currently serving at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, Afghanistan.