Carthage College

The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) announced the winners of their Cross Country Athletes of the Week Tuesday morning, with Carthage College junior Thomas Olenek receiving the honor on the men's side. The West Chicago, Ill. native led the Red Men this past Saturday at the Loyola University Lakefront Invitational with a time of 27:37.6 in the men's 8K. Up against a field that included student-athletes from NCAA Division I, II, and III, as well as JUCO and NAIA runners, Olenek placed 65th overall and helped Carthage finish 13th out of 31 as a team, fourth among NCAA Division III schools.

Carthage College senior Megan Behrendt was named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Women's Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday, October 1. In the lone match for the Lady Reds last week, Behrendt registered nine kills off 18 total attacks for a .500 attacking percentage in CCIW competition against Wheaton (Ill.). The Lindenhurst, Ill. native also tallied two aces, three blocks and one assist.

Carthage College football kicker and punter David Collins was selected as the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Special Teams Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday afternoon. The sophomore took the field four times on punt duty this past Saturday in the Red Men's 36-7 win over Carroll, netting a total of 172 yards with a 43.0 average. His longest punt of the day went a career-best 50 yards. Collins came on to kick following three touchdowns for Carthage, going a perfect 3-3 on extra points, while kicking off four times and recording three touchbacks. This marks the first CCIW player of the week honor for the Carthage football team this season, and first since Kameron Stubblefield won defensive player of the week on October 1, 2018. The Red Men's last special teams player of the week winner was Tommy Bazarek, who won the award on October 2 in 2017. Carthage will host Washington University this Saturday at Art Keller Field, with kickoff scheduled for noon.

Carthage biology major, Owen Lewer '20 recently took home the award for best poster at the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Conference. The poster outlines the undergraduate research project titled "Space Phage: Expanding an Undergraduate Course-based Research Experience" Owen is conducting this research with faculty advisors Dr. Deborah Tobiason and Dr. Andrea Henle, along with research team members from the University of Wisconsin River Falls. Their research centers around phages, viruses that infect bacteria, and their life cycles in space-like environments. So far, they have been doing controlled experiments in a lab setting and experiments in a simulated microgravity setting. They plan to send phages out to the International Space Station for 30 days where the phages will be monitored in a true space setting. The team will monitor how stable the phages are in space in order to determine if they could be used on future space missions to control bacterial numbers. The award comes with a prize of a $1,000 travel stipend, which Owen will use to present their research at other conferences.

Marquell Williams '20 has been hired as an intern for the fall semester by the American Enterprise Institute, a non-partisan policy research think tank in Washington, D.C. Marquell Williams '20, majoring in math and economics, participated in the 2019 AEI Summer Honors Program, where he studied poverty and a welfare policy agenda for the 21st century with AEI scholar Brent Orrell. Marquell feels the coverage of poverty in the Carthage symposium "The Spirit Level: A Humanistic Approach to Poverty and Inequality," with Professors Danielle Geary and Ronald Cronovich, and in intermediate macroeconomics with Professor Cassie Lau helped prepare him for the AEI program. After winning an essay competition in the summer program against students from top U.S. universities, Marquell was encouraged to apply for the internship by research fellow Mr. Orrell. This fall, he will research cross-disciplinary topics such as automated intelligence, criminal justice reform, and the opioid epidemic as they relate to workforce development.

After just the first week of the season, junior linebacker Kevin O'Boyle has begun to earn national recognition, as he was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week Tuesday morning. O'Boyle led the Red Men this past Saturday on defense against Wisconsin-Oshkosh, totaling 11 tackles, seven of them solo, for his most since October 13 of last season. The Plainfield, Ill. native also added 1.5 tackles for a loss, and returned a blocked field goal minutes before halftime 85 yards to give Carthage a 13-10 lead at the intermission.

Last spring, Carthage student Miranda Paikowski '20 traveled to Aix-en-Provence, France for study abroad. Miranda studied at the Institute for American Universities (IAU), where she took advanced French courses in French and Francophone literature, linguistics, and translation. She was also a member of IAU's French Honors Program, which consisted of its own seminar. While studying in Aix, she was awarded a certificate for Excellence in French, which was appointed during her program's graduation ceremony. Her professor and head of the French Honors Program, Muriel Cros, appointed her the award for her determination to succeed and advanced comprehension of the French language and culture. The Excellence in French certificate is given to one student each semester at IAU and is the highest achievement one can earn in IAU's French Program. This year, Miranda will act as the French fellow for students studying French at Carthage, and she will complete her French thesis in Spring 2020.

Every month National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) members write and submit "Of the Month" (OTM) nominations. These OTMs are submitted in a variety of categories including resident assistant, advisor, diversity program, educational program, and institutional faculty just to name a few. These nominations are then submitted to GLACURH (Great Lakes Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls), who then pick one winner per category for the entire region.

Carthage College senior setter Ellie LeCount was named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Women's Volleyball Setter of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday, September 10. LeCount helped the No. 19 Lady Reds go 3-1 in play last week with victories over Concordia (Wis.) (3-1), Lakeland (3-0) and Bethel (Minn.) (3-1) at the Pointers Invitational hosted by Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The native from Racine, Wis. collected a total of 127 assists during the week along with 46 digs. Carthage turns their attention to their home-opener in the Tarble Arena this Wednesday, September 11, as they host Lake Forest College at 7 p.m.

Carthage senior setter Ellie LeCount was selected as the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Women's Volleyball Player of the Week following her performances during opening weekend. A native of Racine, Wisconsin and St. Catherine's High School, LeCount was named the Tournament MVP at the Southwestern Fall Invitational as the Lady Reds opened the season with four three-set sweeps. She averaged 11.17 set assists (134 total) including 30 against Whitworth, 26 vs. Hardin-Simmons, 38 against Whittier and 40 against Southwestern. LeCount also had 10 digs against Southwestern and nine each against Hardin-Simmons and Whittier.

Carthage sophomore forward Morgan Verbeten was selected as the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Women's Soccer Player of the Week. A native of Libertyville, Illinois and Libertyville High School, Verbeten became the first Lady Reds player in six years to tally a hat trick as she scored all three of her team's goals in a 3-1 win over Kalamazoo on Saturday, August 31. All three of Verbeten's goals came in the second half as Carthage moved to 2-0-0 on the season.

Every month National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) members write and submit "Of the Month" (OTM) nominations. These OTMs are submitted in a variety of categories including resident assistant, advisor, diversity program, educational program, and institutional faculty just to name a few. These nominations are then submitted to GLACURH (Great Lakes Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls), who then pick one winner per category for the entire region.

Paige Hollendonner '21 was a speaker at the Enactus USA National Exposition in Kansas City, Missouri earlier this month. Hollendonner, the Vice President of Carthage Enactus was selected as a Hallmark Brand Ambassador. While in Kansas City, Hollendonner had the opportunity to tour Hallmark Headquarters and meet with business leaders from the company. She was also awarded a $500 scholarship from Hallmark. She will be hosting Hallmark events on Carthage College's campus next year.

Two members of the Carthage College women's track & field team earned All-American honors on day two of the 2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship at the Spire Sports Complex in Geneva, Ohio.

Over the past month, the Carthage Activities Board has been hard at work electing their new leaders for the 2019-20 academic year.

Five students from Carthage's inaugural nursing class were inducted into the Phi Beta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing on Saturday, April 27. Sigma Theta Tau is committed to fostering excellence, scholarship, and leadership in nursing to improve health care worldwide.

17 Carthage Model United Nations students, accompanied by Professor Jeffrey Roberg of the Political Science Department and Professor Emerita Penny Seymoure of the Psychological Science Department, traveled abroad to Amsterdam, Netherlands to participate in the Amsterdam University College Model United Nations Conference April 4-9, 2019. AUCMUN had approximately 200 participants from 64 countries.

Sabiella Gomez '19 was presented with the Distinguished Senior Award at the Celebration of Scholars Award Ceremony on Friday, April 26. Sabiella was recognized for her dedication as a student and volunteer, and for her leadership in on-campus student organizations and activities.

Three Carthage Chinese students were recognized by the Wisconsin Association of Chinese Language Teachers as outstanding learners with certificates in Excellence in Chinese Learning.

Professor Darwin Tsen and target language expert Tianhua Lei took students from Carthage's Chinese Program to participate in the annual Midwest Universities Chinese Speech Competition at Loyola University of Chicago on Saturday, April 27. This event is sponsored by the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China.

Carthage held its ninth annual Celebration of Scholars on Friday, April 26, 2019, during Spring Family Weekend. Students, families, staff, faculty, alumni, and members of the community celebrated student and faculty research, scholarship, and creativity with a poster exhibition and award ceremony.

Several Carthage students have earned scholarships, internships, and research opportunities through the NASA Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium for the 2019-20 school year. This year, the NASA WSGC awarded $54,570 to Carthage students, funds which were made available through the NASA National Space Grant College and Fellowship program for the pursuit of undergraduate space-related studies.

The Carthage College men's track & field team had select members compete in the Augustana College Meet of Champions in Rock Island, Illinois, while a handful embarked on the UW-La Crosse Phil Esten Challenge in La Crosse, Wisconsin on Friday, April 19th. The 10000 meter run field at UW-La Crosse had senior Logan Engberg licking his chops as he shattered the school record with a time of 30:33.90, which broke 2017 Carthage Hall of Fame Inductee Glen Schumacher's 43-year record of 30:55.64 accomplished in 1976. Engberg, who's perpetually improved throughout his four-years with the Red Men, also owns the indoor 5,000 meter run school record (14:52.57). Engberg's time on Friday put him in fourth place out of 37 competitors.

Eta Sigma Phi, the Carthage classics honorary society, attended the national convention at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota March 22-24. Five Carthage students attended and were able to develop connections with classics students and professors from all over the country. The Carthage contingent won one round in the certamen, a classics trivia game. The Carthage chapter earned their third consecutive award for "Best T-Shirt," and two of our students also earned individual awards. Sociology major Alissa Marek-Spartz '20 was awarded best dressed female in the vir et femina vestiti splendidissime competition. Music and classics major Cole Pantano '22 won the Latin Declamation contest and presented his rendition of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech in Latin at the closing banquet.

Eta Sigma Phi, the Carthage classics honorary society, attended the national convention at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota March 22-24. Five Carthage students attended and were able to develop connections with classics students and professors from all over the country. The Carthage contingent won one round in the certamen, a classics trivia game. The Carthage chapter earned their third consecutive award for "Best T-Shirt," and two of our students also earned individual awards. A student was awarded best dressed female in the vir et femina vestiti splendidissime competition and a Music and Classics major won the Latin Declamation contest and presented his rendition of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech in Latin at the closing banquet.

Congratulations to the 2019-20 Carthage College Student Government Executive Board.

Each year, the English Department conducts a competition for the best essays on a Shakespeare play. Winners receive scholarships for the annual fall trip to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

The Economic Report of the President, which was published together with the Annual Report of the Council of Economic Advisors in March, contains the names of two Carthage students. The students are cited in the Annual Report of the Council of Economic Advisors for their work as interns in Washington, D.C. Troy Durie, an economics major, received the internship post-graduation. Jackson Bailey, an IPE and finance double major, interned full time in fall 2018. Carthage College's Accounting and Finance Department is currently engaged in amending the catalog internship language in the hope that such prestigious opportunities can be experienced by additional Carthage students in future.

Nine Carthage students were inducted into Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honorary society. Phi Alpha Theta, founded in 1921, is second only to Phi Beta Kappa in its requirements.

The Carthage College Mock Trial team took third place in the 32-team tournament and will now advance to the Opening Round Championship Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa the weekend of March 8-10. The season started with 13 new team members who had never before participated in mock trial at any level. Only one student returned from last year's team. At their first tournament of the season last October, also in Minneapolis, the Carthage teams finished a combined 1-14-1. Their performance in the regional is a quintessential reflection of the hard work, energy, and commitment put forth all season.