Hometown Capsules YMCA OFFERS FLICK 'N'FLOAT: "Flick 'n' Float," a G-rated movie and open swim, will be offered at the Stevens Point Area YMCA, 1000 Division St., on Friday, March 2. The movie starts at 6:30 p.m. and the open swim begins after the movie. Children age 5 and under must be accompanied by an adult. Participants must register in advance by Wednesday, Feb 21, at the YMCA, 342-2980. * * * "CURVES" SPONSORS FOOD FOR FRIENDS: Curves for Women, a 30-minute fitness and weight loss center will be joining in the Curves "Food For Friends" nationwide food drive to benefit Operation Bootstrap. Any Curves member or member of the community may drop off non-perishable groceries during normal business hours: 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Anyone joining Curves March 12-17 may bring in a bag of non-perishable groceries and have the normal service fee waived. Curves for Women are located at 1152 Main Street in downtown Stevens Point. * * * LITERACY COUNCIL NEEDS VOLUNTEER TUTORS: The Portage County Literacy Council will begin training workshops for tutors on Monday, Feb.26, from 6:30-9 p.m. All those who are interested in working one-to one with a learner in reading, writing, basic math, or English as a second language are encouraged to attend. No previous experience is necessary. Pre-registration is required. Please call Jenny Howard at 345-5341 for more information. Classes will be held at the Job Center, 1001 Maple Bluff Rd., Suite 1, Stevens Point. * * * VASCULAR SCREENING SCHEDULED: A range of potentially life-saving screenings will be offered in Stevens Point on Feb. 27 at St. Peter Catholic Church. The screening is offered by Life Line Screening Corp., the nation's largest preventative health education outfit and mobile vascular screening service. Preregistration is required and can by done by calling 1-800-407-4557. Life Line will conduct four types of screening, primarily those designed to detect the early onset or risk of vascular disease and stroke. The tests include the cartoid artery screening test, ankle brachial index and an abdominal aortic aneurysm test. Bone density screening for women at risk will also be available. * * * BETA SIGMA PHI MEETING: Wisconsin Preceptor Alpha Nu Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi will hold its monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the home of Mary Lou Reilly. Members unable to attend should call 345-5151. * * * ST. PAUL'S SUPER AUCTION: A Super Auction will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at St Paul's United Methodist Church, 600 Wilshire Blvd., Stevens Point. The auction is open to the public and will include antiques, food, collectibles, handcrafted items, event tickets and sports items. * * * FRAME MEMORIAL ACTIVITIES: Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church will hold activities during the week of Feb. 18. Those events include: Sunday, Feb. 18: 9:30 a.m., Worship, Installation of Officers; 10:45 a.m., Brunch; 11:30 a.m., Sanctuary Task Force meeting; 6 p.m. Monteverdi Chorale. Tuesday, Feb. 20: 6:30 p.m., Deacons meeting; 7 p.m., Worship Committee meeting. Wednesday, Feb. 21: 3:30 p.m., Youth Group; 4:30 p.m., Women's Book Study; 7 p.m., Frame Choir. Thursday, Feb. 22: Noon, Men's Study Group; 4:15 p.m., Children's Choir; 6:30 p.m., ARCW. Friday, Feb. 23: 5:30 p.m., Family Game Night. * * * HOSPICE EDUCATION PROGRAM STARTS SOON: Hospice Of Portage County will be offering a Hospice Education Program beginning Wednesday, March 7, from 6-8:30 p.m. for the next eight weeks. Class will be held at the Hospice Office located at 5412 Highway 10 East. The program is recommended for anyone interested in learning more about hospice care and end-of-life issues. Programs will feature area professionals dedicated to providing quality end-of-life education. Class space is limited and pre-registration is required. Class cost is $25 for materials. For more information contact Shirley Bungert at 5412 Highway 10 East, Suite A, Stevens Point, WI 54481, or call 343-3490. * * * PONCZKA SALE: A ponczka sale will be held in the St. Joseph Room of St. Bronislava Church from noon until after the 5:30 p.m. Mass on Saturday, Feb. 24, and from 7:30 a.m. until after the 10 a.m. Mass on Sunday, Feb. 25. * * * LOCAL CLARINETIST HONORED: Clarinetist Jenni Nicewander Yang, 3347 Iris Lane, Stevens Point, a senior at UW-SP has received recognition in a clarinet competition on the regional level. Nicewander Yang was named first runner-up at the Collegiate Woodwind Competition of the Music Teachers National Conference in Terre Haute, Ind. She has been a student of professor Andrea Splittberger-Rosen since ninth grade. Yang will perform a recital of her program at UW-SP on Sunday, March 4, at 3 p.m. in Michelsen Concert Hall, Fine Arts Center. Her husband, Thomas Yang, piano instructor at the American Suzuki Talent Education Center, is her collaborative pianist. As first runner-up, Yang will perform at the national competition in March in Washington, D.C., if the first place winner would be unable to compete. Yang would represent the five-state region that includes Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. The daughter of Jim and Sue Nicewander, 130 Black Forest Circle, Plover, Yang is majoring in music education, clarinet performance and Spanish at UWSP. * * * HEALTHY WEIGH PROGRAM: SAINTS Health Services for Business (SAINTS) will offer a 12-week weight management program, Healthy Weigh. The program provides each person with the skills to create healthy meals, eat healthy while dining out and find time to keep a physically active lifestyle. The program begins Tuesday, Feb. 20. Call St. Michael's Hospital HEALTHLINE at 346-LINE to register or with questions about the program. * * * STOP SMOKING PROGRAM: SAINTS Health Services for Business (SAINTS) will offer a tobacco cessation program, Fresh Start for Life, beginning Tuesday, Feb. 20. The eight-week program provides individuals with the skills to manage the cravings, stress and weight gain associated with tobacco cessation. The program is designed to provide tools to quit using tobacco for life and teach about tobacco management techniques, stress management and healthy eating. Call St. Michael's Hospital HEALTHLINE at 346-LINE to register or with questions about the program. * * * UW-SP STUDENTS SURVEYED: During the next few weeks randomly selected first-year and senior students at UW-SP will join students from more than 300 other colleges and universities across the nation in completing a short survey called "The College Student Report." The survey will try to determine what is a really good undergraduate experience. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) focuses on items that are most important to a high quality undergraduate education. The report takes less than 15 minutes to complete and is available in paper or Web versions. The questions are about how and where students spend their time, the nature and quality of their interactions with faculty members and peers and what they have gained from their classes and other aspects of their college experience. The survey is supported by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts and is co-sponsored by the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The results from the NSSE survey are used to help colleges and universities improve undergraduate education by providing information about student engagement in learning and learning outcomes. Additional information about The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) is available on the Web at http://www.indiana.edu/~nsse/. * * * CELEBRATION OF LANGUAGES: The 12th annual Celebration of Languages, featuring poetry and songs from around the world, will begin at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 21, at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The informal event in the Encore of the University Center is open to the public without charge. Those who wish to participate must register ahead of time in the University Center Concourse at the South Asia Society Information Booth through Friday, Feb. 16. The celebration is an annual gathering at which students, staff and community members observe other languages and cultures. Sponsors are the South Asia Society and the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Refreshments will be available throughout the event. For more information call 346-3829. * * * HEBERT RECEIVES SCHOLARSHIP: Katie Hebert of Junction City has received a $2,000 Alumni Honors Scholarship at UW-SP. A senior biology and secondary education major, she is a 1997 graduate of SPASH. At UW-SP she has a 4.0 grade point average and is one of the top students in the College of Letters and Science. She was awarded highest honors and was named to the dean's list for three semesters. A member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, she also is a biology peer adviser. She is the daughter of Fred and Carol Hebert, 2465 Lake Road, and plans to complete her student teaching in the fall and graduate in December. * * * UW-SP STUDENTS GO ABROAD: Nearly 200 students are traveling abroad during winterim and spring semester study tours, through the sponsorship of International Programs at UW-SP. Two groups went to Central America for UW-SP's three-week winterim tour of Costa Rica. One group was led by Joe Passineau and Nancy Turyk of the College of Natural Resources (CNR) and the other by David Staszak of International Programs and David Naugle of CNR. Both groups departed for San Jose, Costa Rica, on Dec. 28 and returned to the U.S. on Jan. 17. The 50 participants in the study tour experienced a broad spectrum of the country's tropical ecology while visiting national parks and biological reserves and staying with Costa Rican families. The 43 students traveling and studying in Britain are being led by professor of communication Leslie Midkiff DeBauche. They will be headquartered at the International Students House in London from Jan. 6 through March 30 and end the semester touring throughout Europe to France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany. Professor Karen Lemke of geography/geology is leading 40 students to the South Pacific beginning with a tour of the North Island of New Zealand arranged by the University of Canterbury. They will spend the majority of the semester at Dunmore Lang College in Sydney, Australia, with field trips to the Blue Mountains, Canberra and the Outback. In April they will return to New Zealand for a tour of the South Island before coming home on May 1. A seven-member group will depart for Germany this month, spend several days in Berlin, then travel to Magdeburg where they will live and study at Otto-von-Guericke University until early June. Professor of Foreign Languages Mark Seiler will spend two weeks with the students until they are settled at Magdeburg. Seventeen students left for France on Feb. 1, will spend several days in Paris then locate at the International University in Caen until the end of May. They will be led by professor Marcia Parker, also of the foreign languages department. Daniel Breining of the foreign languages faculty left on New Year's Day to spend two weeks leading a group of 27 to Spain. They began the journey with three days in Madrid before traveling to northwestern Spain, where the students will live and study at the University of Valladolid for the remainder of the semester. Area students participating in the study tours include Travis P. Cooper, Amherst; Brandi L. Deptula and Reesa E. Plymesser, Custer; Benjamin D. Hall, Bridget L. Konopacki, Ellen A. Sowka and Tara K. Matthews, Plover; Craig G. Buttke, Curt D. King, Ellen L. Paul, Gretchen A. Marx, Koren M. McCarrier, Margaret M. Domka, Michael J. Cummins, Molly R. Olsen, Renee L. Eismueller and Ross W. Hassinger.