July 5, 2005

GREENSHEET HEADLINES • Lyon SAFARI program is five years old • Alumni and friends enjoy 'Lyon Night' •  Chemistry paper accepted • Adcock, Ellis unite in marriage		Lyon announces new faculty for 2005-06 Gary A. Baker, assistant professor of psychology, has a B.A. in psychology from the University of Toledo, an M.S. in psychology from Augusta College and a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Mississippi. Dr. Baker has most recently been employed as an assistant professor of psychology at William Penn University.   Brooks Blevins, assistant professor of history, has a B.A. in history from Lyon College, and an M.A. and a Ph.D., in history from Auburn University. Dr. Blevins has been serving at Lyon College as director of regional studies and adjunct instructor in history. Thomas Carpenter, professor of education, has a B.S. in social science from New York University, an M.A. in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in human development and social relations from New York University. Dr. Carpenter is beginning a tenure track appointment this year and has served as a visiting professor of education at Lyon College for the past three years.

David A. Koch, instructor of mathematics, has a B.S. in mathematics from Lyon College, an M.S. in mathematics from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is and ABD in computational science from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Mr. Koch has most recently served as visiting instructor in mathematics at Lyon College.

Nathan Ponder, assistant professor of mathematics, has a B.S. in mathematics from Louisiana Tech University, an M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School, an M.S. in mathematics from University of Texas in Dallas and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Tulane University. Dr. Ponder has most recently been employed as an assistant professor/lecturer at Louisiana Tech University.

David Wood, instructor in Spanish, has a B.A. in history from Brigham Young University, an M.A. in history from California State University, an M.A. in Spanish literature from Louisiana State University and expects to complete a Ph.D. in Spanish literature from University of California at Los Angeles in 2005.

Lyon SAFARI program is five years old

By ERIC RAMIREZ
Public Relations Student Assistant

Lyon College’s SAFARI program has been bringing the community and college closer together for the past five years.

SAFARI (an acronym for Summer Academics Fund and Recreation Included) is a summer program that allows children in grades K-7 to come to the campus each day and participate in a variety of classes and activities. It concluded the second of its two two-week sessions last week.

It all began in 2000 when Peggy Roettger, the wife of Lyon President Walter Roettger, suggested a “kid’s college” to help get the community active and involved in what Lyon had to offer. Local businesses and organizations such as the Kiwanis Club provide donations to the program as well as small scholarships to some youngsters who enroll in the program.

Each day the kids come to campus from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and participate in three academic courses and one recreational course. Students in grades K-2 may choose to attend for half a day. The courses range from cooking classes, cultural learning, and enrichment activity for English, math, and science. The students have lunch in the college dining hall.

The goal of SAFARI is to bring Lyon and the surrounding area closer together. Melissia Cooper, the program director, wants kids to “broaden their educational horizons” and “not be panicked when they go to college.”

Although it is hoped that many will enroll at Lyon, the important thing is that the children diversify their education and prepare themselves for college after high school early in their education.

Five years ago, when the program started, SAFARI offered 16 courses. Since then that number has doubled. Cooper says that they offer programs not offered in public schools such as medieval science, foreign cuisine and Japanese language and culture.

Enrollment in the program went from 30 the first year to more than 130 in just three years. Since then, enrollment has leveled off at around 90. Roughly 40 percent of the kids who attended SAFARI the previous years return every summer.

Cooper wants the program to continue to stabilize so that it can attract a wider range of students from around the area. According to Cooper, one of the best things is “meeting the kids and watching them have fun and grow.”

The program is maintained by a handful of dedicated instructors who are teachers from the surrounding area. They include program director Cooper, Suzanne Beaumont, Rebecca Caraway, Darla Christensen, Deanna Massey, Mieko Peek, Amanda Price, Rosanne Rogers, Angie Vest, Carla Vredenburg and Donnice Woodward.

Cooper has been the program director of SAFARI since its inception five years ago. She holds a B.A. in office administration from Lyon with teacher certification in business education. She also holds a master’s degree in Science in Library-Media from the University of Central Arkansas. She works as the library-media specialist for K-12 at Mount Pleasant School. She lives in Mount Pleasant.

Beaumont holds a master’s degree in elementary education and this is her fifth year in SAFARI.

Caraway, also of Mount Pleasant, holds a B.A. degree in elementary and middle school education, and has had 14 years of teaching experience.

Christensen, of Melbourne, has taught swimming for many years and this is her fifth year in SAFARI. She lives in Melbourne. 

Massey, of Batesville, has studied and taught Highland dance to college students. This is her second year in SAFARI.

Peek is a native of Japan and is currently teaching Japanese language and culture at Lyon. This is her fourth year in SAFARI. She lives in Batesville.

Price, who lives in Walnut Ridge, holds a P-12 Health/PE degree, and this is her third year in SAFARI. 

Rogers is a graduate of Ole Miss with a triple major in English, Spanish, and Classical Civilization. She has lived and taught on the Choctaw Indian Reservation in Mississippi and is currently teaching Latin and Spanish in Newport.  She lives in Newport.

Vest, of Melbourne, holds an Early Childhood Education degree and is a fourth grade teacher. This is her fourth year in SAFARI.

Vredenburg, of Dolph, is a language arts teacher and holds certification in Middle School Language Arts and Social Studies. This is her second year in SAFARI.

Woodward, of Batesville, has had many years of cooking experience and is the owner of D&D Cake Crafts. This is her third year in SAFARI.

The program also has a set of volunteers from the area who mainly consist of students from either the high school or Lyon.

Cooper would like to encourage parents to check out the program for themselves. For more information on SAFARI, please e-mail Melissia Cooper at mcooper@lyon.edu.

	Alumni and friends enjoy 'Lyon Night' A good crowd of Lyon alumni and friends gathered at Lyon Night at Ray Winder Field as the Arkansas Travelers took on the Corpus Christi Hooks at War Memorial Park in Little Rock Thursday, June 23.

Chemistry paper accepted Dr. David Pace, assistant professor of chemistry, has had a paper accepted to the peer-reviewed American Chemical Society journal, The Journal of Chemical Education. Yagya Regmi ’05 is a coauthor of the paper. The paper is titled: “The Finkelstein Reaction: Quantitative Reaction Kinetics of an SN2 Reaction Using Nonaqueous Conductivity.”
		Adcock, Ellis unite in marriage Sarah Beth Adcock ’04 and Roger Lee Ellis were united in marriage on April 16 at the First United Methodist Church. The bride is the daughter of James and Elizabeth Adcock of Heber Springs. The groom’s parents are Roger Ellis Sr. of Little Rock and LaFran Vaughn of Sherwood. Sarah was a standout basketball player for the Pipers during her years at Lyon.

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