The White Falcon


The White Falcon - 14.01.2004, Síða 10

The White Falcon - 14.01.2004, Síða 10
------------ Year, from pg. 1 uct we can to our customers.” The Commissary and Proctor and Gamble also sponsored a Viking Festival Art Contest last year in which elementary and high school students submitted their artwork and received many prizes to include a Dell computer. Another first, was the institution of the Annual DeCA Safety Week with sup- port from the Safety Office. The Commissary here also fully supported the DeCA Scholarship Program. Looking ahead to the coming year, Marino says the Commissary is going to stay on track with the service they have already been providing while making some changes to benefit the entire community. “Our major project for the coming year is to bring in a representative from DeCA headquarters’ marketing busi- ness and various commercial vendors to reset our entire inventory,” said Marino. “It’ll really help organize the store and the new look will more accu- rately depict what stores in the States look like.” The reset, scheduled for the end of February, will include a product evalu- ation in which slower moving items will be replaced with new items, changes in product placement, and the installation of new shelving units. The completion will be marked with a grand reopening ceremony. Other improvements the Commissary hopes to make over the coming year, are to continue to search out and intro- duce new items, reduce logistical snags so they can provide better quality prod- ucts, especially produce, and to contin- ue to support the Viking Festival Art Contest and provide information about the DeCA Scholarship. “We try to take care of our military community as well as we can because we realize we are a big part of the qual- ity of life here at NAS Keflavik,” Marino said. Navv College The staff at the Navy College was busy this year with enrollment increas- es for many of their programs. Two new team-members to the Navy College, Embry Riddle University and Central Texas College, saw a 20 per- cent increases in their bachelor and associate degree programs while Keflavik’s University of Maryland University College remained very high- ly ranked for enrollment among other UMUC campuses throughout the European Theater. Master’s degree pro- grams saw a 10 percent increase in enrollment and the Navy College Learning Center had an improvement of 12 percent participation over the pre- vious year. Increases were also noted in the number of students taking CLEP and other college credit examinations. Karen Stanbery the director of the Navy College here said, “We were very pleased with the improvements we made in our numbers of enrollment. One of our main goals is to let people know "what their options are in begin- ning or continuing their education and it’s wonderful to see people taking advantage of those options.” A very recent addition to the Navy College was the installation of new multi-media computers in the Navy College Learning Center. The new computers will allow students a wider array of options to help them solidify their basic skills or prepare for upcom- ing tests or classes they wish to do well in. The major project the Navy College is working on for the next year is to improve the selection of classes. “We’re trying to push for the univer- sities to offer more core classes so that students can more easily finish up their majors and minors. The philosophy behind it is that you can pick up elec- tives almost anywhere, but the core classes are more difficult to get and often require more prerequisites. So if we offer as many core classes as we can, the students will have more options in how to pursue their degree.” More options are also on the way in associate degree programs. The Navy College is hoping to add paralegal and emergency medical technician pro- grams before the end of the year. Stanbery said, “We want to totally support the slogan for Navy education, It’s for anytime, anywhere.” FFSC The past year was a year of renova- tion and innovation at the Fleet and Family Support Center. Major renovations were done to the main building which allowed the FFSC to move the Loaner Locker, Women Infants and Children (WIC) and Red Cross offices under its roof. A new class, CONSEP, a mid-career Transition Assistance Program (TAP) style class was offered for the first time last year. Tim Vohar, the transition assistance program manager at the FFSC said the CONSEP courses were very successful. “Everyone seemed to love the CON- SEP classes,” said Vohar. “Many of them said that it really opened their eyes to things they needed to start working on now to be ready by the time they exit the service.” While they continued to provide their mainstream services, the FFSC also expanded some of their existing pro- grams. One specific example is when they expanded their Spouses of Deployed Servicemembers program to help spouses deal better with the 56^ Rescue Squadron’s deployment to Liberia this past year. Another highlight for the FFSC was the Veteran’s Affairs representative visit. Many people were able to sched- ule appointments and get the informa- tion they needed about their specific concern. Vohar said that the FFSC is looking for alternative solutions to help them accomplish their mission. One such example is the increased use of com- mand and financial specialists (CFS). “We’re hoping to let our CFS’s have an expanded role by screening the clients so when they come here for an appointment they know what questions to ask and what their specific need is so we can save some of our time to allow The Whit us to continue to increase the quality of the programs we offer,” said Vohar. The FFSC is also looking for volun- teers to help them fill positions that would free them up to be better able to provide quality programs. “By having volunteers man the front desk or hand out items at the loaner locker we can free ourselves up to meet with more customers or spend more time improving our programs,” said Vohar. “It helps the volunteer by allow- ing them to gain valuable work experi- ence.” Morale. Welfare. & Recreation For MWR 2003 was a year of com- pletion. Several major projects were completed, such as the opening of Service Central, renovations at Andrews Theater, the Three Flags Club, and The Top of the Rock Club kitchen were all completed in 2003. New athletic equipment was added to the A.E. House Gymnasium and the Arctic Circle Indoor Running Track and improvements were made to the youth outdoor activity field. Also improvements were made to the main offices at MWR. While all of these projects were being completed, youth, liberty and fitness programs were expanded. An ongoing project is improving the internet service on base. MWR is plan- ning on implementing ADSL service sometime in the near future. With the new year, MWR is working with Commander, Navy Region Europe and other MWR departments that fall under their command to come up with region wide strategies for success. “A wide variety of topics and strate- gies have occurred from discussions for an MWR business plan,” said Dennis Merkel, the director of NASKEF’s MWR Department. “They are being assembled into a set of loosely termed ‘business principles’ so that we can reach our goal of establishing some common approaches to issues so that bases in the region can become more alike in areas that it makes sense.” Merkel added, “The entire MWR team will be helping to achieve the type of success that will benefit all of us. We would like to ask that our patrons join us in this effort by becoming open to the idea of change.” Some plans that are currently in the works for MWR here is to work close- ly with PWD again this year to create some “in-house” improvements. Possible expansions at the Teen Center, Library, Bowling Center and Gym weight room as well as the construc- tion of a climbing complex at the run- ning track are some of the things MWR is hoping to accomplish this coming year if their budget permits. Merkel said he looks forward to serv- ing the community and overcoming as many obstacles as possible in the com- ing years. “Every challenge is an opportunity in disguise,” said Merkel. “Our challenge over the next few years will be to con- tinue to offer the successful MWR pro- grams on which our Sailors and their families depend. They deserve no less than our best!” Falcon DeCA offers Scholarship By Rebecca Eusey As university tuition fees increase, many high school stu- dents and their parents feel pres- sure to find alternate sources of funding for university bills. The college-bound students of NAS Keflavik and military installations worldwide have an opportunity to take advantage of the financial help offered by DeCA’s commis- sary scholarship program. Started in 2001 as a way for the manufacturers and suppliers that provide support for commissaries worldwide to say thank you to America’s military families, the scholarship is wholly funded by the industry and administered by Fischer House, in association with DeCA. An independent panel examines the entries submitted by high school seniors and current college students and selects at least one winner from each commissary across the world. Last year seven students from Keflavik applied. The past winners from our com- munity were: 2001-Aaron Hendricks, 2002-Brandon Niles, 2003-John Andrew Anderson. According to Commissary director Maj. Gen. Michael R Wiedemer, “At least 550 students will receive a $1,500 scholarship.” The pro- gram awarded 400 scholarships in its first year and 520 in 2002. For students at NASKEF that spells a very good chance to be awarded the scholarship since each of the 276 commissaries must have one winner. Students can pick up an application at the commissary or online at www.commissaries.- com. The deadline for the applica- tion package to be turned in at our commissary is Wed., Feb. 18. The package includes an essay compo- nent on the topic “What aspect of military life has had the greatest impact on you”, a copy of the stu- dent’s transcript and a recommen- dation from a teacher, guidance counsellor or principal. The schol- arship is open to all dependent, unmarried children under age 21 (23 if enrolled as a full-time stu- dent at college) of active duty per- sonnel, reserve/guard and retired military members, or survivors of deceased members. Families must be enrolled in the Defence Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) and have current ID cards. Applicants must be plan- ning to attend or is attending a full time, four-year accredited college or university as of Fall, 2004. As corporate donors give more support to the program, the awards given to the students increase. Last year the scholarship winners were --------- DeCA, pg. 15 Page 14 January 14,2004

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