VERNA PRESTEGAARD TO RETIRE FROM
MSUM FOOD SERVICES AFTER 35 YEARS
Verna Prestegaard, who started working for Minnesota State University Moorhead’s Food Services 35 years ago, will retire on Dec. 13.

An open house will be held in her honor Wednesday, Dec. 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the student union’s Union City Café.

“It’s been a great career,” says the 76-year-old great-grandmother, who isn’t shy about revealing her age. “I’ll honestly miss it.”

She and her husband Leslie, who retired after 17 years with the MSUM physical plant in 1985, have two grown children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Prestegaard started working at Kise Commons in September of 1967 as a line supervisor and the next year took over special salads in the salad department. Three years later, she became supervisor of the Union Station snack bar.

Her next move was to Owens Hall, where for the next 21 years she was the lunchroom supervisor. During those two decades, the Owens Hall lunchroom was central campus meeting place for faculty, staff and administrators. Some students also found it a comfortable spot to study, snack and hang out with professors.

A budget crunch combined with more stringent health restrictions for food services prompted the university to close the Owens Hall lunchroom. So she moved to campus dining’s Union City Café in the student union, where she’s been a cashier for the past six years.

She and her husband both grew up in Twin Valley, where they graduated from high school, married in 1946 and farmed for 15 years. They lived and worked in the Twin Cities for four years before moving back to Moorhead.

Show times are at 7 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays; and at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays. General admission is $3, or $1.50 for children 12 and under, Tri-College students and senior citizens.

Was it a comet, a supernova, a triple conjunction of the planet Jupiter with Saturn, or a miracle? Whatever it was, the event reverberated through the centuries and changed millions of lives.

The show will also explore the stars and constellations of the winter night sky.

The MSUM Planetarium is located in Bridges Hall 167 at the corner of 8th Avenue and 11th Street South. For details, or special group showings, contact the Planetarium office at 236-3982.

MSUM will host a study tour of Kenya next summer

The tour, running from May 17 to June 5, will include: a visit to Mt. Kenya, Africa’s second highest mountain; a weekend home stay with host families in a small farming village near the mountain; a two-night stay in Maasai Mara Game Reserve, part of  Serengeti ecosystem and home to both wildlife and the celebrated Maasai pastoralists; a trip to Olorgasailie Prehistoric Monument in the Great Rift Valley, geological wonder and cradle of the human species; and a two-night stay in Mombasa, Kenya’s second largest city and an ancient Swahili trading town, which
dates from the 14th century and is set on the beautiful Indian Ocean Coast.

The approximate cost of $3,950 includes airfare, ground transportation, accommodation (bed & breakfast), all program related activities (game park and museum entrance fees), and some meals.

For more information contact Bruce Roberts at 236-2043 (robertsb@mnstate.edu), or visit the Kenya Study Tour web site at web.mnstate.edu/robertsb/kenya/

Participants have the option of registering for three anthropology credits through MSUM’s Continuing Studies Program.

When the alarm rings in Pete Kleckner’s Ballard Hall dorm room at Minnesota State University Moorhead, his dog Snickers trots over the to bed and gives him a nudge with her paw.

It’s her job. The three-year old Akita/German Shepherd cross is Klecker’s hearing dog, trained to alert the MSUM student to ordinary sounds ranging from a knock at the door and a fire alarm to a ringing telephone or an intruder.

Snickers is Kleckner’s constant companion, accompanying him to class, restaurants, stores, campus events, even movies. She’s being trained and certified through Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota.

Kleckner, 39, wears hearing aids in both ears. A severe congenital hearing loss muffled his hearing ability to about 60 percent of normal.

“I got Snickers two years ago from the Ramsey County Humane Society because I thought I needed an extra set of ears in the house,” said Kleckner, a sophomore Speech/Language/Hearing Sciences major. “She’s made a huge difference in my life.”

Kleckner—who’s worked as a truck driver, collections agent, skip tracer, bus driver, Wal-Mart greeter, radio newscaster and even as a lay clergy??recently came to terms with his disability and his future.

 “I did some growing up, and maybe Snickers played a part in that,” he said. “When I graduated from high school, my mother wanted me to go to Gallaudet University for the deaf. I didn’t want any part of it because I never really accepted being hard-of-hearing.”

Tired of jumping from job to job, last year he took at aptitude test through Minnesota Rehabilitation Services and one of his interests pointed towards special education. “I guess that’s when I decided I wanted to be an audiologist to help other kids better understand and deal with hearing loss. I came to Moorhead because it had a degree program that seemed to fit.”

Although his parents and teachers knew he had a hearing problem as early as kindergarten, he said he wasn’t screened properly until the fifth grade. “That’s when I finally got my first set of hearing aids,” he said. “I should have had them much earlier.”

While guide dogs for the blind have been popular since the early 1900s, hearing dogs didn’t become prevalent until the 1960s.

But Klecker didn’t know much about them until a couple years ago when, while working as a Wal-Mart greeter in Rochester, Minn., he met a woman entering the store with a hearing dog.

“Like a lot of deaf and hard-of-hearing people, I was starting to withdraw from society,” Kleckner said. “So I thought, maybe a dog would improve my self-esteem and confidence because I’d be less dependent on others for help.”

Kleckner talked with Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota, an organization that pointed him in the right direction and helped train Snickers.

Because most hearing dogs are rescued from shelters and pounds, Kleckner found Snickers at the Ramsey County Humane Society. “I walked six dogs there, but she seemed to be the most alert to outside sounds and seemed more attune to noises.”

While hearing dogs come in all breeds and sizes—from Pomeranians to Rottweilers--sound has to be their first priority. “Not all dogs are like that,” Kleckner said. “They also have to be friendly, intelligent and inquisitive.”

Trained to identify sounds, hearing dogs respond by touching their owners with a paw or wet nose, then trotting over to the source of the sound (called touch and tell).

Larger dogs like Snickers, however, might be better in public places, where they’re less likely to be stepped on.

Kleckner said Snickers has helped him become more sure of himself in public. “I don’t worry so much about having someone walk behind me closely because she’s right there. And when I’m in a store or elsewhere in public, she nudges me when someone comes close by or when something is going on that I should be aware of.”

Snickers not only responds to verbal commands, but also to American Sign Language visual commands. “I’ve always been able to lip read, but I’m just now learning ASL because it’s part of my major. As I said, I never really accepted being part of the deaf community until recently.”

In class, Snickers sits obediently by Kleckner, who always sits in the front row. “I haven’t had a single problem so far,” he said. “One of my professors uses a microphone to accommodate me, but the others speak loud enough.”

Because deafness is an invisible disability, Snickers looks like an ordinary pet. But her orange collar identifies her as a hearing dog. Sometimes she also wears a cape in public that clearly marks here as a hearing dog, including this warning in large letters: “Do Not Pet, I’m Working.”

“Snickers is trained not to bother other people,” Kleckner said. “For the most part, I don’t allow anyone to pet her, even if I might know them. It’s a safety factor, and Snickers is on duty.”

Under the American With Disabilities Act of 1990, a hearing dog has all the same public access rights as other service dogs, including supermarkets, restaurants, stores and public transportation.

Snickers, who started her training in Rochester, Minn., where Kleckner worked before coming to MSUM, still has a few things to learn. Mary Lee Warnock of Moorhead, who helps train dogs for the Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota, is working with Snickers to respond to fire and smoke alarms. “She does real well with the rest of her responsibilities,” Warnock said.

Like most service dogs, Snickers has become more than a pet and an extra set of ears for Kleckner. “She’s my companion and friend,” he said. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable without her.”

A good story still trumps gimmicks when it comes to buying books for children and teens.

Sibley, a specialist in children’s literature who helped annotate “The World Through Children’s Books,” a recently published bibliography of the best of international reading for kids, has compiled her own list of what she believes are good stories for children.

“The most recent crop of books follow a couple trends,” she said. “Picture books include better art and a more creative use of text, primarily because of the advent of computers in graphic design.”

Meanwhile, the success of the Harry Potter novels have changed the standard for middle and junior high school readers. “Once publishers agreed that children and young adults just wouldn’t read a book over 200 pages,” she said. “But this year I’m seeing books over 200 and 300 pages aimed at this age group. We’ll have to thank J.K. Rowling for that.”

She’s also seen an increase in bilingual books for children.

Her suggested list of Christmas gift books for children, she admits, focuses on the more uplifting kinds of stories. “But I think that’s what parents are looking for during the holidays,” she said.

Books for Children and Teens: Recommendations for Holiday Gifts

Preschool Level
Barton, Byron.  My Car.  Greenwillow, 2001.

Burningham, John.  Hushabye.  Knopf, 2001.

Cobb, Vicki.  I Get Wet.  Illus. Julie Gorton.  HarperCollins, 2002.  Also recommended I See Myself (HarperCollins, 2002).

Cotten, Cynthia.  At the Edge of the Woods: A Counting Book.  Illus. Reg Cartwright.  Holt, 2002.

Emberley, Rebecca.  My Animals/Mis animals.  Little, 2002.  Also recommended My Clothes/Mi ropa, My Food/Mi comida, and My Toys/Mis juguetes (Little, 2002).

Falconer, Ian.  Olivia.  Atheneum, 2000.  Also recommended Olivia Counts (Atheneum, 2002), Olivia Saves the Circus (Atheneum, 2000), and Olivia’s Opposites (Atheneum, 2002).

George, Kristine.  Little Dog Poems.  Illus. June Otani.  Clarion, 1999.  Also recommended Little Dog and Duncan (Clarion, 2002).

Hindley, Judy.  Does a Cow Say Boo?  Candlewick, 2002.

Hoberman, Mary Ann.  “It’s Simple,” said Simon.  Knopf, 2001.

Horse, Harry.  Little Rabbit Lost.  Peachtree, 2002.

Hort, Lenny.  The Seals on the Bus.  Illus. G. Brian Karas.  Holt, 2000.

Jeram, Anita.  I Love My Little Storybook.  Candlewick, 2002.

Lawrence, John.  This Little Chick.  Candlewick, 2002.

McCarty, Peter.  Hondo and Fabian.  Holt, 2002.

McKay, Hilary.  Was That Christmas?  McElderry, 2002.

McMullan, Kate.  I Stink!  Illus. Jim McMullan.  HarperCollins, 2002

Meyers, Susan.  Everywhere Babies.  Illus. Marla Frazee.  Harcourt, 2001.

Peters, Lisa Westberg.  Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duck.  Illus. Sam Williams.  Greenwillow, 2000.

Schertle, Alice.  All You Need for a Snowman.  Illus. Barbara Lavallee.  Harcourt, 2002.

Shannon, David.  Duck on a Bike.  Scholastic, 2002.

Sis, Peter.  Madlenka’s Dog.  Farrar, 2002.

Stoeke, Janet.  Minerva Louise and the Red Truck.  Dutton, 2002.

Tafuri, Nancy.  Mama’s Little Bears.  Scholastic, 2002.
 

Primary Level
Andersen, Hans Christian.  The Ugly Duckling.  Illus. Jerry Pinkney.  Morrow, 1999.

Bang-Campbell, Monika.  Little Rat Sets Sail.  Harcourt, 2002.

Bierhorst, John, reteller.  Is My Friend at Home? Pueblo Fireside Tales.  Illus. Wendy Watson.  Farrar, 2001.

Bruchac, Joseph.  Crazy Horse’s Vision.  Illus. S.D. Nelson.  Lee & Low, 2000.

Brutschy, Jennifer.  Just One More Story.  Illus. by Cat Smith.  Orchard, 2002.

Byars, Betsy.  Little Horse.  Illus. David McPhail.  Holt, 2002.

Christelow, Eileen.  The Great Pig Search.  Clarion, 2001.

Cronin, Doreen.  Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type.  Illus. Betsy Lewin.  Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Cushman, Doug.  Inspector Hopper.  HarperCollins, 2000.

dePaola, Tomie.  26 Fairmount Avenue.  Putnam’s, 1999.  Also recommended Here We All Are (Putnam’s, 2000), On My Way (Putnam’s, 2001), and What a Year (Putnam’s, 2002).

Geisert, Arthur.  The Giant Ball of String.  Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Harris, Robie.  Hello Benny! What It’s Like to Be a Baby.  Illus. Michael Emberley.  McElderry, 2002.

Hines, Anna.  Pieces: A Year in Poems and Quilts.  Greenwillow, 2001.

Hoberman, Mary Ann. You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together.  Illus. Michael Emberley.  Little, 2001.

Holabird, Katharine.  Angelina’s Christmas.  Illus. Helen Craig.  Crown, 1985.

Hopkins, Lee, selector.  Sports! Sports! Sports!: A Poetry Collection.  Illus. Brian Floca.  HarperCollins, 1999.

James, Simon, illus.  Days Like This: A Collection of Small Poems.  Candlewick, 1999.

Jenkins, Emily.  Five Creatures.  Illus. Tomek Bogacki.  Farrar, 2001.

Jimnez, Francisco.  The Christmas Gift/El regalo de Navidad.  Illus. Claire Cotts.  Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

Krensky, Stephen.  How Santa Got His Job.  Illus. S.D. Schindler.  Simon & Schuster, 1998.  Also recommended How Santa Lost His Job (Simon & Schuster, 2001).

Kvasnosky, Laura.  Zelda and Ivy One Christmas.  Candlewick, 2000.

Lowry, Lois.  Gooney Bird Greene.  Illus. Middy Thomas.  Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Lunge-Larsen, Lise.  The Race of the Birkebeiners.  Illus. Mary Azarian.  Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

Lupton, Hugh.  The Story Tree: Tales to Read Aloud.  Barefoot Books, 2001.

Mathers, Petra.  A Cake for Herbie.  Atheneum, 2000.

Nelson, S.D.  Gift Horse: A Lakota Story.  Abrams, 1999.

Pinkney, Jerry.  Noah’s Ark.  North-South, 2002.

Prelutsky, Jack.  The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders.  Illus. Petra Mathers.  Greenwillow, 2002

Rylant, Cynthia.  Christmas in the Country.  Illus. Diane Goode.  Scholastic, 2002.

Teague, Mark.  Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School.  Scholastic, 2002.

Thomas, Shelley.  Good Night, Good Knight.  Illus. Jennifer Plecas.  Dutton, 2000.

Wiesner, David.  The Three Pigs.  Clarion, 2001.

Winslow, Marjorie.  Mud Pies and Other Recipes: A Cookbook for Dolls.  Walker, 2001.

Worth, Valerie.  Peacock and Other Poems.  Illus. Natalie Babbitt.  Farrar, 2002

Intermediate Level
Burgess, Melvin.  The Copper Treasure.  Illus. Richard Williams.  Holt, 2000.

DeLaCroix, Alice.  The Hero of Third Grade.  Illus. Cynthia Fisher.  Holiday House, 2002.

Doyle, Malachy.  Tales from Old Ireland.  Illus. Niamh Sharkey.  Barefoot Books, 2000.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm.  Hansel and Gretel: A Fairy Tale.  Illus. Dorothee Duntze.  North-South Books, 2001.

Haskins, Jim.  Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali.  Illus. Eric Velasquez.  Walker, 2002.

Heard, Georgia, selector.  This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort.  Candlewick, 2002.

Herrera, Juan.  The Upside Down Boy/El nino de cabeza.  Illus. Elizabeth Gomez.  Children’s Book Press, 2000.

Hickman, Janet.  Ravine.  Greenwillow, 2002.

Hoeye, Michael.  Time Stops for No Mouse: A Hermux Tantamoq Adventure.  Putnam, 2002.

Hopkins, Lee, ed.  Hoofbeats, Claws and Rippled Fins: Creature Poems.  Illus. Stephen Alcorn.  HarperCollins, 2002.

Hopkins, Lee, selector.  My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States.  Illus. Stephen Alcorn.  Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Janeczko, Paul, selector.  A Poke in the I:  A Collection of Concrete Poems.  Illus. Chris Raschka.  Candlewick, 2001.

Kennedy, X.J.  Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh.  Illus. Joy Allen.  Little, 2002.

Kindl, Patrice.  Goose Chase.  Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

Lawrence, Caroline.  The Thieves of Ostia: A Roman Mystery.  Roaring Brook Press, 2002.

Lewis, J. Patrick.  A World of Wonders: Geographic Travels in Verse and Rhyme. Illus. Alison Jay.  Dial, 2002.

Lunge-Larsen, Lise, reteller.  The Troll with No Heart in His Body and Other Tales of Trolls from Norway.  Illus. Betsy Bowen.  Houghton Mifflin, 1999.

McKay, Hilary.  Saffy’s Angel.  Simon & Schuster, 2002.

Paterson, Katherine.  The Same Stuff as Stars.  Clarion, 2002.

Polacco, Patricia.  A Christmas Tapestry.  Putnam, 2002.

Sierra, Judy.  Can You Guess My Name?: Traditional Tales Around the World.  Clarion, 2002.

Soto, Gary.  Fearless Fernie: Hanging Out with Fernie and Me.  Illus. Regan Dunnick.  Putnam, 2002.

Spinelli, Jerry.  Loser.  HarperCollins, 2002.

Zwerger, Lisbeth, illus.  Stories from the Bible.  North-South, 2002.

Middle School ­ Junior High Level
Bang, Molly.  Picture This: How Pictures Work.  SeaStar Books, 2000.

Brashares, Ann.  The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  Delacorte, 2001.

Cadnum, Michael.  Forbidden Forest: The Story of Little John and Robin Hood.  Scholastic, 2002.

Crossley-Holland, Kevin.  The Seeing Stone: Arthur Trilogy, Book One.  Scholastic, 2001.

Durbin, William.  The Journal of Sean Sullivan: A Transcontinental Railroad Worker.  Scholastic, 1999.

Geras, Adele.  Troy.  Harcourt, 2001.

Hoobler, Dorothy.  The Demon in the Teahouse.  Philomel, 2001.

Hoose, Phillip.  We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History.  Farrar, 2001.

Jennings, Richard.  Orwell’s Luck.  Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

Kindle, Patrice.  Lost in the Labyrinth.  Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Lisle, Janet.  The Art of Keeping Cool.  Atheneum, 2000.

Marrin, Albert.  Sitting Bull and His World.  Dutton, 2000.

McKinley, Robin.  Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits.  Putnam, 2002.

Napoli, Donna Jo.  Daughter of Venice.  Random, 2002.

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds.  Simply Alice.  Atheneum, 2002.

Nye, Naomi.  19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East.  Greenwillow, 2002

Pearce, Philippa.  Familiar and Haunting: Collected Stories.  Greenwillow, 2002.

Salisbury, Graham.  Island Boyz: Short Stories.  Random, 2002.

Taylor, Mildred.  The Land.  Phyllis Fogelman Books, 2001.
 
Weaver, Will.  Memory Boy.  HarperCollins, 2001.

Weaver, Will.  Striking Out.  HarperTrophy, 1993.  Also recommended Farm Team (HarperCollins, 1999) and Hard Ball (HarperCollins, 1999).

Wittlinger, Ellen.  What’s In a Name?  Simon, 2000.