Hometown Capsules PRESCHOOL STORYTIME REGISTRATION BEGINS: Registration will begin Monday, March 4, for Preschool Storytime at the Charles White Public Library and the Plover Branch Library. Storytimes at the Charles White Library will be Mondays at 6:30 p.m. for 3-5 year olds and Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9:45 a.m. for 2-3 year olds with adult and 10:30 a.m. for 3-5 year olds. The six-week session begins Monday, March 18. Call the Youth Department at the Charles White Library at 346-1549. Preschool Storytime at the Plover Branch Library will be held on Mondays at 10:30 a.m. and Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. for 3-5 year olds. Call the Plover library at 341-4007 to register. * * * ST. PAUL LUTHERAN STUDENTS PRESENT PLAY: The seventh- and eighth-graders at St. Paul Lutheran School, 1919 Wyatt Ave., Stevens Point, will present the play "1969" at 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, in the school gym. The play is a walk back in time to 1969 when the fun-loving spirit of the country was embracing the intrigue surrounding sending a man to the moon. * * * JUMP ROPE, SWIM AND CLIMB FOR HEART: The 22nd annual Jump Rope, Swim and Climb for Heart event will be held at Stevens Point Area Senior High School on Sunday, Feb. 24, from noon to 3 p.m. The activities teach children the importance of physical fitness for a healthy heart and that exercise should be fun. The events will include teams from 14 elementary schools. Team members take turns jumping during scheduled times and swimmers can do laps or swim for enjoyment. Rock climbing and ropes course events were added to the program last year to help promote healthy physical activity. Members from all 14 schools will participate in the rock climbing events at the SPASH indoor climbing wall. Events are open to elementary students from all Stevens Point area public and private schools to encourage physical fitness and healthy attitudes about exercise. The event is a fund-raiser for the American Heart Association of Wisconsin. Participants are encouraged to solicit pledges or donations to help the AHA fight heart disease and stroke through medical research, education and community programs. * * * WASHINGTON STUDENTS RAISE FUNDS TO SAVE RAINFOREST: The students at Washington Elementary are actively participating in conservation projects in order to better their world. The students in fifth grade, with the help of other volunteers from other grades, are taking part in a special Rainforest Adopt An Acre project being conducted in more than 10,000 schools across the country via a special network of educators called Earth Foundation. This year the students also decided to raise funds to help build an education center at the Mead Wildlife Area. By selling environmental T-shirts, Washington students are raising funds that help protect countless species of the rainforest, as well as marine plants and animals in Bocas del Toro, Panama. So far Washington School has protected 14 acres of endangered land over a four year period. In the balance lie thousands of plant and animal species, indigenous tribal groups, and the health of our planet. Washington Elementary encourages other schools to join its efforts in the race to rescue fragile ecosystems; call Earth Foundation at (713) 686-9453. To help build the educational facilities at MEAD Wildlife area, call Kent Hall, Chair (715) 344-8081 or e-mail khall@.uwsp.edu * * * GARDENERS BUS TRIP: Portage County Master Gardeners is organizing a bus trip to the Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier in Chicago on Saturday, March 9. The trip will leave from Copps in Plover at 6:25 a.m. with loading beginning at 6:15 a.m. The bus will leave Chicago at 7 p.m. Cost is $39 per person, with $27.50 covering the bus fare and the other $11.50 covering general admission to the show. The show will include more than 25 themed gardens on display, hourly educational lectures, hundreds of gardening products for sale and ongoing demonstrations and workshops. For more information contact the Portage County University of Wisconsin-Extension at 346-1316. * * * INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE FACULTY WILL MAKE PRESENTATIONS: Faculty members in the Division of Interior Architecture at UW-SP have been invited to make presentations at professional conferences throughout the country. Architect and UW-SP associate lecturer Thomas Brown presented "Case Study: A Wisconsin High-Performance House" at Performance of the Exterior Envelopes of Whole Buildings VIII in December in Clearwater, Fla. Nisha Fernando, an architect in her home country of Sri Lanka, UW-Milwaukee doctoral candidate and associate lecturer at UW-SP, will present a paper, "Changing the Way We Look At Change: An Analysis of Open-Ended Spaces," and lead a workshop, "Immigrants and Culture Change," at an international meeting of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) in Philadelphia in May. She will discuss another paper, "Open-Ended Urban Spaces: The Case of Streets," at the International Association of People-Environment Studies (IAPS) Conference in Corunna, Galicia, Spain in July. Division head and professor Kathe Stumpf and associate lecturer Jane Kangas will present a co-authored poster, "Sustainability Through Diversity and Unity of Design Organizations" at the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) national meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico in March. Also presenting will be assistant professors Donna Zimmerman and Christina Burton, and associate professor Mark Nelson. Nelson, Burton and professor Patricia Kluetz presented at the International Design Communication Association Conference in South Carolina in January. Kluetz serves as president of the organization. Professor Patricia Williams will present at the Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences in June. The title of her presentation is " Diversity and Design: An Approach to Cross Disciplinary Teaching." * * * WEEB SEEKS BOARD MEMBERS: The Wisconsin Environmental Education Board (WEEB) is seeking nominations for a labor representative and a higher education representative for terms from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2005. WEEB was created in 1990 by state legislation to identify needs, establish priorities and provide grants for environmental education in the state. The board is also responsible for administering a small grants program for grass-roots environmental education, forestry education and energy education efforts. To submit a nomination, contact WEEB at 110B College of Natural Resources, UW-SP, Stevens Point, WI 54481, by e-mail at weeb@uwsp.edu or by phone at 346-3805. The nomination deadline is March 29. * * * ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION RECEIVES GRANT: The Alzheimer's Association - Greater Wisconsin Chapter has received a $2,000 grant from the Gannett Foundation to fund an initial printing of "Communication is More than Words: Conversations through Love." The booklet was authored by Leslie McClain-Ruelle, associate dean and head of the School of Education at UW-SP, and offers tips on how family, friends and caregivers can better communicate with individuals who have dementia. McClain-Ruelle's pocket-size guide contains suggestions for improving communications through emotions, touch, simplified conversation, unspoken support, quiet, flexibility, smiles, reminiscing, validation, favorite foods, music, spirituality and daily rituals. The "tips" are based on McClain-Ruelle's personal experiences in maintaining a loving relationship with her mother who has had Alzheimer's disease since the mid-1990s. "It is my background as an educator, the struggle to preserve my mother's individuality, and the lessons of letting go that have led me to offer these suggestions for others," writes McClain-Ruelle in her author's notes. The Gannett Foundation grant makes it possible for the Greater Wisconsin Chapter to stock the booklets in each of its seven regional offices. A minimal fee will be charged for each copy to fund reprints. For more information on Alzheimer's Association programs and services in the Portage County area, call 888-297-6605. * * * BEE-EATERS ADDED TO UW-SP MUSEUM: Two brightly colored greenish-yellow birds have joined the African Savanna exhibit at the UW-SP Natural History Museum, thanks to a staff member who received them as a gift from her home country. Carmen Luque, a native of Castilleja del Campo, Sevilla, Spain, a teacher's aide at the University Child Learning and Care Center, donated the European bee-eaters to the museum. Curator Ed Marks added them to the Savanna exhibit because the birds are widespread throughout Europe and Africa. Luque said a friend sent the mounted specimens to her as a reminder of her home in Spain where thousands of the slim and graceful birds spend the spring and summer. An Egyptian goose, mounted at no cost by Randy Mayes of Mayes Taxidermy, Stevens Point, and donated by Woody and Zachary Bishop and Mike Okray, also has found a home in the Savanna exhibit. The large birds, which eat mostly grass and seeds, prefer a variety of wetlands in open country and avoid forested areas. Both the African Savanna and its companion exhibit were made possible through the generosity of Helen Godfrey, emeritus assistant chancellor for Student Affairs. Other donations were made by Okray Family Farms, the William Bond Estate and County Concrete Corp. * * * SEXUAL ASSAULT SUPPORT GROUP: A Sexual Assault Support Group is held every Monday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at UW-SP. Sponsored by the UW-SP Women's Resource Center and Sexual Assault Victim Services (SAVS), the meetings in Room 113 University Center are open to students and women in the community who have been affected by sexual assault, abuse or rape. The free and confidential sessions are coordinated by a representative from SAVS. More information is available through Alexa at the Women's Resource Center, 346-4851, or through Marsha at SAVS, 343-7114. * * * CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION: The Multicultural Resource Center and the Chinese Culture Club will host a celebration of the Chinese New Year in the Laird Room of the UW-SP University Center on Sunday, Feb. 24. The event is open to students and members of the community. Chinese cuisine, including tea eggs, dumplings, fried rice and noodles will be available. After dinner a Chinese comedy film, Bu Jain Bu Shan ("If I don't see you, I will be waiting for you") will be shown. Cost is $3 per person and free for children less than 5 years old. For more information call Multicultural Affairs at 346-3829 * * * GRAPHIC DESIGN EXHIBIT WILL OPEN AT UW-SP: The 2002 Biennial Wisconsin Statewide Juried Graphic Design Exhibition will open Sunday, Feb. 24, at UW-SP. The show opens with a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Carlsten Gallery on the second floor of the Fine Arts Center. A juried exhibition open to design students from Wisconsin, it includes work from artists at UW-SP, UW-Green Bay, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Parkside, St. Norbert College and Madison Area Technical College. Twenty awards will be given to students who have work in the show. The exhibition runs through March 17. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekends from 1 to 4 p.m., and from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays and evenings when performances are held in the Fine Arts Center. Steven Ferlauto, art director of Penguin Putnam Publishing in New York, juried the show. * * * 'TOGETHER FOR CHILDREN' CONFERENCE SET AT UW-SP: "Together for Children," the 15th annual Wisconsin Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, will be held Wednesday, April 10, through Friday, April 12, at the Stevens Point Holiday Inn. Sponsored in part by UW-SP Extension, the conference is designed to improve prevention, treatment, investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect. Sessions are planned to address emerging issues in child welfare and protection as well as share creative solutions and improve cooperation among public and private services and systems. To register or for more information, contact UW-SP Extension Outreach Education at (800) 898-9472 or 346-3838. An online brochure and registration forms also are available at http://www.uwsp.edu/extension/programs. Registration fees range from $75 to $150, depending on days of attendance, and include program materials, attendance at events and meals. Members of the Wisconsin Professional Society on the Abuse of Children and Prevent Child Abuse Wisconsin have reduced fees. Registration fees increase after March 20. Advanced training institutes will be held on Wednesday, including sessions on creating a bully-free school, interviewing children credibly, child development and its relation to child maltreatment, the importance of fathers, prevention programs in the penal system, keeping safe when children are exposed to domestic violence and anger as a fear driven emotion. Sessions held throughout the conference cover topics such as fetal alcohol syndrome, shaken baby syndrome, hidden pregnancies, cultural diversity, substance abuse problems and others. * * * MINISTRY PROJECT RECEIVES FUNDS: The Central Wisconsin HIV/AIDS Ministry Project, a ministerial project of the Diocese of La Crosse, has been awarded $4,877 as its portion of the funds raised at AIDS Walk Wisconsin held on the Milwaukee lakefront and Madison on Saturday, Sept. 29. Two busloads of supporters from central Wisconsin joined the thousands of walkers in Madison and Milwaukee, raising a total of $621,850 for continued support to those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS statewide. For more information about the Central Wisconsin HIV/A1DS Ministry Project, contact Marge Schumann at 345-6500. The Ministry Project's annual "Blind Volleyball Tournament" will be held on Saturday, April 20, 2002. * * * LENTEN LITANIES: The Chapel Arts Series at Trinity Lutheran Church of Waupaca will present Lenten Litanies by Dean Billmeyer of the University of Minnesota on Sunday, March 10, at 7 p.m. Billmeyer will be leading a Lenten Hymn Festival. The concert will include hymn settings and descants for female voices using the Cecelia's Singers Girls Choir and the women of the Trinity Choir. The public is invited to this free concert. * * * FRAME MEMORIAL ACTIVITIES: Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church will hold Worship with Communion at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 24. * * * HINDU PRIEST SPEAKS AT UWSP: The head priest at the Sri Rajarejeshwari Goddess Temple in Rochester, N.Y., will present "Balancing Male and Female in Heaven and on Earth: An Evening With a Hindu Guru," from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 26, at UW-SP. The address and slide show in Room 235 University Center is open to the public without charge. Sri Chaitanyananda (a.k.a. "Aiya"), originally from Sri Lanka, is the head priest at a temple dedicated to the Sri Vidya tantric tradition. His tradition focuses on the Goddess as the Supreme Being and his belief and practice reflect his understanding that male and female principles are interdependent. Aiya defies Hindu convention by giving women a central role in temple ritual and by providing equal access to the "secrets" of Sri Vidya. The event is sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies, Philosophy and Anthropology, Women's Resource Center, Multicultural Affairs, College of Fine Arts and Communication, College of Letters and Science, and Alumni Affairs. * * * ELSENRATH NAMED CHAIR OF PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT: Dennis Elsenrath, a longtime member of the faculty, has been named chair of the Department of Psychology at UW-SP by Justus Paul, dean of Letters and Science. Elsenrath began his career in the UW-SP Division of Student Life in 1965. He will chair the department for a three-year term beginning in August. He succeeds Coralie Wells who has served as chair for the past nine years. During his 37 years at UWSP, Elsenrath has served as deputy assistant chancellor for Student Affairs, executive director of Student Enrichment and Retention Services, and director of counseling and staff psychologist at the UW-SP Counseling Center.