“We are very excited about our acceptance into the NAIA as it will mean a great deal for our Athletic Department and college,” said Brian Spielbauer, PC Athletic Director.

The news came during the 72^nd Annual NAIA National Convention in Kansas City April 19-23. Presentation College applied for acceptance into the NAIA back in October 2012 and after reviewing the application and touring the campus NAIA officials deemed that PC would be a great fit in the NAIA.

“This is a great day for Presentation College and the Athletic Department here,” said Jackie Witlock, Athletic Advancement Coordinator at PC. “This move will surely change the landscape of the college for years to come.”

The NAIA’s core values and philosophy on athletics in higher education played a vital role in PCs decision to apply for the association.

“This is much more than being able to offer athletic scholarships to potential students,” said Dr. Margaret A. Huber, PC President. “It’s about joining an athletic association dedicated to building the whole person through its core values and Champions of Character Initiative.”

The move from NCAA Division III to the NAIA means PC can now offer its student athletes with the possibility of receiving athletic scholarships, which should help PCs enrollment numbers and also help coaches recruit even more athletes.

“The opportunity to offer athletic scholarships will immediately impact our program’s ability to obtain a higher number of student-athletes, as well as assist us in gaining interest from high quality student-athletes,” said PC Head Football Coach Andy Carr.

The Presentation College Athletic Department is already gearing up and ready to offer a number of current student athletes and recruits the opportunity to play sports and attend PC.

“We look forward to signing the letters of intent with all the students and recruits that have committed to PC and look forward to stepping up our level of competition,” said Spielbauer.

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Seniors Tonie Lagodinski, Wyatt Sumption, and Lauren Stearns are dominating the virtual business world with their crafty decision making and shrewd business sense in their capstone business course.

Through an online program called Smartsims students get the chance to build a virtual company from the ground up and these three seniors are guiding their company called Outspokin Bicycles to the top—currently ranked 11 out of close to 10,000 other virtual companies.

“It seemed too far-fetched to think that we would ever rank amongst some of the other competitors,” said Lauren Stearns, Outspokin Bicycles team member. “It wasn’t until about week six or seven when Professor Wegleitner pointed out our standing that I really realized it was within our reach.”

“Once we broke into the top 100, I didn’t give it much thought, because I didn’t really think we could keep it up,” added Wyatt Sumption, team member. “There are a dozen decisions each week, and any miscue on any of those choices would drop us way down the list.  I think it is really amazing, because it is a world ranking.  It hits home what a big deal it is when you actually look at the colleges that are ranked, and there aren’t any from the Midwest.”

Each team of students, which are from all over the world, begin the simulation with the same mountain bike company and start-up capital and have to make decisions on everything from production rates to firm size in order to climb the ranks.

“This simulation prepares the students to make decisions at a managerial level,” said Jennifer Wegleitner, Department Chair of Business and course instructor. “They have the ability to make all the decisions for the company and have to rely on market research and advertising to move their product.”

The global ratings have been running since 2008, which makes the fact that Outspokin Bicycles is in the 99 percentile even more impressive for the three senior students.

“This takes a high level of dedication and is just an amazing accomplishment,” said Wegleitner.

The simulation is so in-depth that the students have to decide what kind of bikes they will sell, whether they will sell them to chains or in independent retail stores, and even when to launch a new product line all of which correlate to their shareholder value.

“The simulation is like running your own business,” said Sumption. “You make every decision from production to marketing to how the heck you’re going to finance it all.”

Each week comes with a set of new decisions that will either lead the students to great profits or to utter decline in the virtual business world.

“The simulation was very life-like,” said Stearns. “In the beginning we were Advertising/Brand Managers and only held a few responsibilities then each year (week) we were given more and more responsibility until we finally had full control of our company.”

Business principles and practices can be taught in a classroom or read in a book but with the hands-on-learning the simulation provides the students are able to see just how their actions affect their sales.

“It wasn’t about just making decisions and having no idea how the software was going to react to them,” said Stearns. “Instead, with each year we could see exactly how our decisions affected our company and then relate them back to the knowledge we had from the classroom.”

Its courses like the business capstone at Presentation College that make learning fun and very beneficial to the student’s academic and career goals.

“Students have an opportunity to assimilate all of the information they have learned throughout their college career and apply it to real-world decisions,” said Wegleitner.

“While it certainly feels incredible to achieve such a high rank, the knowledge and the value that I have gained from this experience will far surpass the reward of the accomplishment,” added Stearns.

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PC Athletic Director Brian Spielbauer said Coach Plocher’s work ethic was a key component for this decision.

“I am happy to introduce Jacob Plocher now as the Head Coach for the Men’s and Women’s Program,” he said. “He has done an outstanding job of recruiting in his short time here and I have every reason to believe he is ready for this great opportunity. The future of both programs is bright.”

Coach Westbrook will be leaving PC to move back to Mobile, Ala., to be closer to his family.

“We want to wish Scott the best of luck in the future,” said Spielbaurer. “He did a great job for us this past year getting the program going again, and also helping out with our Intramural Program that affected a lot of our kids in a very positive way.”

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In September 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition spent four days with the Teton Sioux (Lakota) near the Bad River in present-day central South Dakota.

Tennant gives presentations on a variety of topics related to state and regional history and is listed in the South Dakota State Humanities Council Speakers Bureau.

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“We congratulate the awardees and the students for their dedication to service,” said Wendy Spencer, CEO of CNCS. “These institutions have inspired students and faculty alike to roll up their sleeves and work alongside members of the community to solve problems and improve their neighbors’ lives.”

The Honor Roll recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities. The selection to the Honor Roll is recognition from the highest levels of the federal government.

“This is a great honor,” said Presentation College President Dr. Margaret A. Huber. “This award really speaks to the hard work and dedication of our students, faculty, and staff, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, the Social Innovation Fund, and Volunteer Generation Fund, and leads President Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. Through the agency’s Segal AmeriCorps Education Award Matching Program, CNCS gives education institutions access to tens of thousands of AmeriCorps alumni with millions of dollars in Segal Education Awards for tuitions and fees. For more information, visit http://www.NationalService.gov.

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The Wein Gallery is located on the second floor of the campus’ main building and is open to the public Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.

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“Presentation College is excited to announce that we are adding men’s and women’s golf to our Athletics Department offerings for the Fall of 2013,” said Spielbauer. “Bryant Kucera, our current assistant Men’s Basketball Coach, will be taking on the challenge of building this program as we move forward. Bryant has done a remarkable job for us and is a tremendous recruiter and avid golfer. He will do a tremendous job for us in this area.”

As mentioned above, Kucera will assume the head coaching duties. Splitting responsibility between basketball and golf is worth the effort on his part, as it will serve to better Saints athletics as a whole.

“I’m happy to bring another competitive sport to Presentation and I’m excited to make more opportunities for student athletes to compete in another athletic program,” he said. “I look forward to taking over the men’s and women’s golf program and will do whatever I got to do to make sure our student/athletes compete as hard as they can on and off the course.”

Saints golf will “tee off” as part of the 2013 fall athletics calendar.

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Since 2007, PC has shared an articulation agreement with Kilian Community College.  An articulation agreement is an officially approved agreement between two institutions which allows the student to apply credits earned in specific programs at one institution toward entry or transfer into a specific program at the other institution.

As part of this agreement, PC has shared facility space on Kilian’s campus.  Even though PC will move to an independent location, the articulation agreement with the Social Work program will continue to be honored and will not affect the completion of your degree.

PC continues to experience enrollment growth and this expansion will allow us to more effectively meet the emerging needs of our students.  With more than 1,300 square feet, the new space will include offices, a conference room, classroom, and a reception area.  An official open house will take place in late May.

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