Steve Sabin starts out his Twin Cities Marathon

By Steve Sabin

MSCSA President

Healthy living and an affordable higher education have been two causes near and dear to my heart for several years. It was not until the last couple years, after losing almost 90 pounds, when I realized the opportunity I had to blend these two causes. I decided to champion these causes and create awareness by training myself for a marathon and raising money for the MSCSA Student Leadership Scholarship.

Last year, the campaign was kicked off with a fundraising goal of $3000 and my marathon goals of finishing both Grandma’s and the Twin Cities Marathon. With an outpouring of support, almost $3500 was raised. Everyone’s generosity also helped me cross the finish line at Grandma’s marathon. Unfortunately, I was forced to drop out of the Twin Cities Marathon earlier on in the race because of an injury. However, I was determined to not let this stop my journey of seeing this campaign through to completion. 

Almost right away former Director of Development Emily Harrison and I began to plan a new fundraiser with the creation of the 26.2 Scholarship Crew. I then began my training and committed to raising an additional $2000 for the MSCSA Student Leadership scholarship. From the time the campaign was kicked off, I was blown away by the generosity of colleagues, students, family, and friends. In less than the time it took to reach my fundraising goal last year, over $4000 was raised for the MSCSA Student Leadership Scholarship. Unfortunately, for the second year I was forced to step out of the marathon as a result of an asthma attack and hypothermia. While I was not able to finish, the 26.2 Scholarship Crew really showed the runners what student voices could do. 

To help cheer on all the marathon runners, MSCSA hosted an official Cheer Zone along Summit Avenue. With all the enthusiasm and great cheering, MSCSA was judged to be the best non-profit cheer zone and given $400 dollars, which was donated to the MSCSA Student Leadership Scholarship.

I have always been a proponent to the phrase “never give up, and never give in” throughout my entire life. As a result, I am making the pledge to you all today that I will return next year to finish what I started as I train to run the 2013 Twin Cities Marathon and promote the MSCSA Student Leadership Scholarship.

Rochester Community and Technical College accepts the Voter Cup from Secretary of State Mark Ritchie

By Shannon Glenn

MSCSA Vice President

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, for making the 2012 Speak Up campaign a great success. I am excited to say that this campaign is the most successful Get out the vote (GOTV) campaign that the MSCSA has ever had! As an association we were able to register 6,718 voters and we pledged 3,626 students to speak up for higher education. 

At the October Minnesota Student Leadership Summit, Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and I awarded Voter Cups to Rochester Technical and Community College and Itasca Community College for registering the most voters and for registering the highest percentage of students on their campus. All of our campuses worked so hard during the campaign and each of them made it a real success. Specifically, I want to spotlight the hard work of Normandale Community College, Anoka Ramsey Community College-Coon Rapids and St. Paul College.

Thank you again to all of the students that participated in the statewide phone banks. Also a huge thank you to all of the student volunteers, including Sara Huffman, Matthew Koenders and Esteban Rodriguez, who spent hours at the office, to the cabinet for staying late into the night doing data entry, to MSCSA Director of Civic Engagement Sarah Clarke for her hard work and lost sleep over the campaign, and to Brad Conley for being the greatest GOTV intern we could have asked for. 

The number one reason why people vote is because they are asked! We asked and were able to have a successful campaign. I cannot wait to see what the next legislative session will bring. 

Itasca Community College

DCTC student senate at the 2012 MSCSA Leadership Scholarship Dinner

By Michael Flannery

MSCSA Public Relations Coordinator

This year marks the sixth anniversary of the annual MSCSA Leadership Scholarship Dinner and Silent Auction. We are hopeful that we will have more attendees than ever before, so we are opening up the second section of the ballroom at the Hilton MOA in Bloomington, MN. The silent auction will be out in the hallway this year and we will also see the return of the popular “Wall of Wine.” Register for the dinner now at www.mscsa.org/scholarshipdinner. 

All proceeds from the event support the MSCSA Leadership Scholarship program, which recognizes Minnesota State College and University students who demonstrate leadership on a community, campus, or state level. Contribution levels include $60 for an individual dinner, $110 for a couple, $400 for a table of eight, a Supporting Sponsorship for $250 (includes program mention with logo and mention on the MSCSA website), Student Leadership Sponsorship for $600 (includes a reserved table for 8 with name, program mention with logo and mention on the MSCSA website), Mentorship Sponsorship for $700 (includes reserved table for 8, program mention with logo, mention on the MSCSA website, priority seating, entertainment sponsorship and 8 raffle ticket entries). All donations are tax deductible (excluding $30 per plate cost for the meal). If you are not able to attend the event, you can still donate online at mscsa.org/scholarshipdinner or by calling the MSCSA office. 

The MSCSA Staff and Cabinet would love to see a strong showing of alumni at the dinner and are planning a fun evening activity for alumni. We will also be doing a raffle where you can try your luck at winning some great prizes at the end of the auction. One of these prizes will be the new iPad Mini! 

We are excited to announce that the keynote speaker at this year’s Scholarship Dinner is former Senator Larry Pogemiller. Pogemiller was appointed by Governor Mark Dayton as the Director of the Office of Higher Education on October 28, 2011. He served as a leading voice in higher education issues for more than three decades in the Minnesota Senate. When Sen. Pogemiller was selected by Governor Dayton to serve as the Director of the Office of Higher Education he said, “It is an incredible honor to be asked to join Governor Dayton in his efforts to support our Minnesota higher education institutions in generational quality improvements. I’m extremely excited by the opportunity and cognizant of the challenge of making quality post-secondary education affordable.” Pogemiller graduated from the University of Minnesota with his Bachelor of Science in transportation engineering and earned his masters of Public Administration from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. 

I don’t know about you, but I cannot wait for Friday, January 11, 2013 to roll around and to help make this the most successful MSCSA Leadership Scholarship Dinner yet. Hopefully we will raise even more money than ever before at the annual Scholarship Dinner in an effort to make the burden of a higher education just a little less stressful for some of the state’s greatest student leaders! Have you registered yet? What are you waiting for! Register now at mscsa.org/scholarshipdinner 

Preparing for election night partiesBy Sarah Clarke

MSCSA Director of Civic Engagement

On Tuesday, November 6, Minnesota voters headed to the polls in record numbers. According to Secretary of State’s office, 2,938,947 Minnesotans voted in the recent general election. That is approximately 77 percent of all eligible voters. This year, Minnesota had the highest voter turnout in the country.

Nationally, President Barack Obama defeated Governor Mitt Romney to win a second term. Obama gained 332 electoral votes compared to Romney’s 206 electoral votes. Democrats retained the majority in the Senate with 49 seats compared to the 47 Republican members. Two independent Senators were also elected. Bernie Sanders, an independent Senator from Vermont earned re-election and Angus King, former Governor of Maine, won election as an independent. Sanders and King intend to caucus with the Democrats. The United States House of Representatives remains under Republican leadership. 

Before the end of the year, Congress and the President must find a budget deal or automatic funding cuts as result of sequestration will be enacted. With the exception of Congressman Chip Cravaack of the 8th Congressional District, all of Minnesota’s congressional delegation won re-election. Cravaack was defeated by DFLer Rick Nolan who previously served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1981. Senator Amy Klobuchar bested challenger Kurt Bills to win a second term. 

In Minnesota, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party won majorities in both the state House and Senate. Previously, both legislative bodies were under Republican control. The DFL elected Senator Sandy Pappas from St. Paul as Senate President, Senator Tom Bakk of Cook as Majority Leader, and Senator Katie Sieben of Cottage Grove as Assistant Majority Leader. Senate Republicans chose Senator David Hann of Eden Prairie as the Minority Leader. The House of Representatives named Representative Paul Thissen of Minneapolis as the Speaker of the House and Representative Erin Murphy of St. Paul as Majority Leader. House Republicans selected Representative Kurt Daudt of Crown as Minority Leader. The last time the DFL had a majority in both legislative bodies and a DFL Governor was in 1990. 

Senator Terri Bonoff was named as chair of Higher Education and Workforce Development. Senator Bonoff was first elected in 2005. She represents Senate District 44, which includes Minnetonka, Plymouth, and Woodland. In the House, Representative Gene Pelowski was named as chair of Higher Education Finance and Policy. Representative Pelowski has been in the House since 1986 and serves District 28A. In addition to serving in the House, Pelowski teaches history at Winona High School

In addition to electing state and federal offices, Minnesotans voted on two proposals to amend the state constitution. The amendment to define marriage in the Minnesota Constitution between one man and one woman received 47.47% of “yes” votes. The amendment to require voters to provide a photo identification for voting received a 46.20% of “yes” votes. Under state law, constitutional amendments need a percentage of more than 50% of “yes” votes to pass.